Haines Junction newsletter still going strong after 41 years

The sound of scotch tape, scissors and friendly chatter fill the meeting room in Haines Junction's public library. Sheets of white legal paper, old photos and file folders are spread across the table.

Elaine Hurlburt, Sharyn Riedl and Charlotte Clark are busy putting together the December issue of the St. Elias Echo — the Yukon community's only newsletter, which the volunteers have published almost every month since December 1977.

At a time when many community newspapers are moving online, the St. Elias Echo is from another time. Published once a month, photocopied at the village office and sold for 50 cents, it's the place to find the arena schedule, landfill hours, and even works of fiction.

"I think it's a little more personal. You actually have to go and pick up the paper and make an effort and sit and read it," said Riedl.

"I think it's still important that we give people a chance to put their news in a different format. Not everybody has a computer and is on the social media," said Clark.

That includes these three. They are not on Facebook and prefer to stay behind the scenes. They do not want their faces on social media. They did not even want their photo taken for this story.

Hurlburt says people rely on the Echo less because of Facebook, but they know it's still relevant. 

"If it's not out, you get calls and emails like, 'When's the Echo coming out?'" adds Riedl.

Record of history

Hurlburt has boxes of St. Elias Echo issues sitting in her house; it's a record of Haines Junction's history over the past four decades.

Over 41 years, the Echo's content has changed slightly as the village has grown. Riedl says they used to publish birth announcements, as well as notifications about people going on trips, or of newcomers moving to town.

Today, Haines Junction's population is just over 600. The paper is named for the St. Elias mountains, which border the village.

In the early years, a former volunteer would type the issue on a typewriter during her night shift at the weigh station. Now Riedl says they take "camera-ready" submissions — bulletins and notices already prepared by community groups that they compile in the newsletter.

Once all the announcements and news are taped on 11x17 pieces of paper, the issue is delivered to the village office where it's photocopied 80 to 100 times.

Then the newspaper is delivered to wooden news boxes around Haines Junction — at the bank, the village office, library, and the Fast Gas service station. Pop $0.50 into the box and you can grab a copy.

'Swat flies with us'

The origin story of the Echo bounces back and forth between Riedl and Hurlburt as they finish each other's sentences.

Riedl says the idea came during a regular Friday night get-together with Hurlburt.

Riedl was working as a clerk at the health centre, and Hurlburt was a teacher. Riedl told Hurlburt that she had worked on a newspaper when she lived in Dawson City, and Hurlburt thought something similar could work in Haines Junction.

"We just sort of put it together from there, sitting on the floor in my living room," said Riedl.

"We say it hatched," Hurlburt adds.

Clark, a former secretary at the school, moved to town a few years later.

From the very first issue, Hurlburt and Riedl hoped to pull the community together. 

"We hope you will read with us, write with us, laugh with us, cry with us, bear with us, even swat flies with us, or wrap your garbage with us. (And the latter two items are the weightiest advantages we have over television!)," reads the first page of the issue.

Those past issues still have a purpose, too. The women often reuse items from past issues in current ones. 

For the December issue, Hurlburt needed an image to fill a page, so she picked up the front page of the December 1998/January 1999 issue, snipped off the date and taped the picture of a snowman sitting under a banner of "Season's Greetings" onto a piece of white paper.

She joked that they are literally cutting and pasting. 

After they finish an issue, the ladies often go to dinner or, in the summer, grab an ice cream.

They are still at it because it's fun.

"It's not because we get paid a whole lot," jokes Hurlburt.