Dec 1, 2002 – Sun Peaks, B.C.
It was on this day 20 years ago that my wife Cathy and I launched and delivered the first copies of Sun Peaks Independent News (SPIN) as the first independent news source in the rapidly expanding community of Sun Peaks, B.C. It was a hectic day as we delivered SPIN Vol. 1 Issue 1 to the world, knowing nothing about publishing a local newspaper a mere eight months earlier.
In hindsight, SPIN was our destiny as Dec. 1, 2002 was also the day we closed on our first house on Burfield Dr. and one of the only things left by the sellers was a huge treasure trove of Kamloops newspaper clippings of Mt. Tod and Sun Peaks going back decades… serendipitous to say the least.
Up until that date, local news was sporadic at best and usually came from multiple invested sources like Sun Peaks Resort, Tourism Sun Peaks and of course the local rumour mill. Kamloops media might have shown up twice a winter season but there was no free voice for the community.
The original idea for SPIN News magazine started in early 2002 with coloured pencils and a piece of paper sketching out ideas while enjoying dinner and wine with friends in a condo at “The Peaks.” While we doodled the name Sun Peaks News on paper, the thought that it needed to be an independent news source came to light and the word Independent was added. SPIN had a great ring to it and Sun Peaks Independent News Inc. (SPIN) was born.
Little did we know that 20 years later, SPIN would have published nearly 260 issues, dozens of visitors guides, literally millions of pages of local print and online news, and would become the true fabric of this ever growing town.
Twenty years of SPIN… WOW. To all the past staff, contributors, advertisers and readers over the years, a huge “Thank You” for making our crazy vision a decades-long “good news” story. A huge hats off to Brandi Schier and her team for keeping our original dream alive after taking over SPIN’s helm in 2015 when we moved to the beach in Australia.
Publishing a small town newspaper is no easy task when businesses are booming, let alone during a global pandemic. Thousands of local news outlets throughout North America have shuttered since 2019 and watching SPIN adapt and evolve during these crisis times shows even more the need for supporting local news outlets.
We will be watching all your powder turns from afar with our feet in the sand and look forward to 20 more years of following SPIN and the great community of Sun Peaks.
Adam Earle
Kewarra Beach, Oz
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