From Publisher Rollie Atkinson: Newspapers, and the people who work at them, are usually too busy gathering news and meeting deadlines to pause for a celebration, but the staff and owners of Sonoma West Times & News are making an exception on Nov. 7.
On that date, the entire community is being invited to attend a party and help celebrate 130 years of continuous publication of west county’s and Sebastopol’s hometown newspaper.
The gathering will take place from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Sebastopol Grange, 6000 Sebastopol Ave. (Hwy. 12), east of Sebastopol. The event is free and will include historical displays, food, and music.
The Sebastopol Times was first published in 1889 and has been published every week (and sometimes daily) ever since. The newspaper was renamed Sebastopol Times & News in 1984 when it merged with the West County Times. Then, it was renamed Sonoma West Times & News in 1995 when it combined publication of the Russian River News under a single newspaper flag. The current owners are Rollie Atkinson and Sarah Bradbury, of Sonoma West Publishers, which also publishes The Healdsburg Tribune, Cloverdale Reveille and Windsor Times.
“We’re hoping to see lots of old friends, subscribers, local business owners and history buffs at our party,” said Atkinson. “People can just drop by and hopefully there will be lots of old stories to share. Crusty old journalists like me try to act like a newspaper should have no friends — just sources or subjects — but we’re going to make an exception this one time.”
Please RSVP to editor Laura Hagar Rush at
la***@so********.com
An RSVP isn’t required, but it will give us a sense of how many people to expect. See you there!
