ABOUT US

Paid Circulation of 3,600

With nearly 100 years in publishing, there is not much The Community Press has not done.  Here is a little bit about us:

History

The Community Press evolved from the Sedgewick Sentinel which was established in 1908 by A.J Honey, who had come from England to Canada.

     In 1915, A.L. Eastly purchased the paper and began expanding and buying out other local newspapers. In 1930, he changed the name to the 'Community Press' and began serving all the towns along Highway 13 in the County of Flagstaff.

     Arthur W. Eastly took over the operation of the weekly newspaper from his father in 1942. Art added new equipment and built a new building. With the help of his son Ace, the Eastlys continued running the newspaper until the senior Eastly's retirement.

     In 1969, Monte Keith bought the business from Art, ending a 54 year Eastly ownership run. The new owner moved the operation from handset type into the modern age of offset in the mid-1970's. In 1975, The Community Press encompassed the entire County of Flagstaff with the new purchase of The Alliance Enterprise, and joined the entire Flagstaff area into one news and information district. In 1977, Rick Truss purchased half of Monte's company and they installed a web press, an offset camera and new photo equipment. The partnership dissolved in 1985 and Rick took over the entire Community Press operation himself. In 1985, after closing out a partnership with the Keiths in Wainwright, Kerry Anderson came to the 'Press and entered into partnership with Rick in 1989. One year earlier The Community Press moved the newspaper portion of the company to its present Main Street location in Sedgewick.

     In 1992, The Community Press took another technological step forward by purchasing Macintosh computers with the very best desktop publishing programs in the business. The entire system was connected by modem to the Alberta Weekly Newspaper Association office in Edmonton and three mobile units by modem to the main workstation in Sedgewick.

     In 1993, the partners bought out Dick Morris and purchased the Weekly Review in Viking. The two papers, only 45 km apart, now work hand in hand.

     In 1999, Kerry and Rick bought shares in The Tofield Mercury, and now operated the three newspapers--connected by e-mail and internet.

     In 1999, the CP officially expanded to Killam, Alberta where an office was built to accommodate billing and accounting, as well as further ad and stationery sales. 

     In late 2004, the business received a face-lift again, when CP staff were forced to adapt to a huge change from pagination by hand and wax, to putting all graphics, ads, and news on to the newspaper solely by way of computer. 

     In Mid-2005, Kerry Anderson became sole owner of the Tofield Mercury and The Community Press, buying out all other shareholders. With that move, Kerry moved to Tofield to begin a further expansion in that general area. 

     In October of 2005, Kerry Anderson founded the Lamont Leader newspaper in Lamont, Alberta. Lamont, a community that was virtually without any local news source, has already proven a prosperous area. 

     In March of 2006, the four newspaper partnership began having weekly publications printed by Star Press Inc. in Wainwright. The recent agreement with Star Press has led to several technological updates and upgrades.

     The Community Press, Weekly Review, Tofield Mercury, and Lamont Leader also publish a monthly East Central Times special edition newspaper, which reaches a much larger demographic of readers (roughly 35,000). Further expansion plans at this time are not available. 

Awards

In 1987, The Community Press was honoured by the Alberta Weekly Newspaper Association for what it judged as third best news story of the year.

In 1988, The Community Press was ranked 10th overall in Canada, 1st overall for advertising, as judged by its peers in the Canadian Newspaper Association.

In 1992, The Community Press was honoured by the Alberta Foundation for the Arts for the best coverage by a weekly newspaper.

The CP Fire Prevention Week supplement won recognition for 2nd place in Alberta in 1994 .

The CP Fire Prevention Week supplement won 1st place recognition in Alberta in 1996 .

"The efforts to help Manitoba flood victims by organizing and shipping supplies..." earned The Community Press a certificate of merit from the Canadian Red Cross in 1996 .

The CP Fire Prevention Week supplement again won 2nd place in Alberta for 1997 and 1998.

In 1999, The Community Press, along with the Viking Weekly Review and Tofield Mercury, spearheaded a movement to collect and ship supplies for the refugees in Kosovo.

The CP Fire Prevention Week supplement won 1st place in Alberta for 2000 .

In 2001, The CP won 1st place in Alberta for excellence in Creative Advertising through the Alberta Weekly Newspaper Association.

In 2002, the CP Fire Prevention Week supplement took 1st place again in Alberta.

In 2003, the CP Fire Prevention Week supplement again won 2nd place in Alberta.

In 2004, the CP Fire Prevention Week supplement won 1st place in its circulation category and 1st place overall in Alberta as awarded by A.W.N.A.

In June of 2005, The Community Press was given a certificate by the Red Cross in appreciation for raising funds for Tsunami relief.

In January of 2007, The CP Fire Prevention Week supplement won 2nd place in Alberta for 2006.

As well, The Community Press is known for its support of 4-H.

The Community Press also gives a yearly $500.00 scholarship to Central High School in Sedgewick. The donation is for the top English student in honour of long-time owner Art Eastly.