HOPE E. TREMBLAY
It seems surreal that the last edition of The Longmeadow News was published last week.
The weekly paid paper was under the umbrella of The Westfield News for most, if not all, of its existence. The Enfield Press was also part of this news group and it, too, was published for the last time Feb. 20.
Those papers did not fit The Reminder Publishing model of free, weekly community newspapers and there is already a Reminder paper that covers those communities. They were not sustainable and had to end in order to make room for growth in other areas. I get that, however, I’m saddened any time a quality community paper closes, especially one that is near and dear to my heart.
I spent nearly a decade as the Longmeadow News editor. My first foray into Longmeadow was for about a year in 1996. I had been a reporter at The Westfield News for about a year when I was laid off (last one in, first one out according to union rules). My time as an unemployed writer was short-lived because just a few weeks after being laid off, I was called back by our former publisher Carol Mazza, this time to take over as Longmeadow News editor.
I did not know a lot about Longmeadow when I started. I knew the town’s reputation, of course, but I quickly grew to love the community. Yes, it had its quirks (no fast food establishments or funeral parlors allowed, for instance), but it was, well, charming.
After a year or so, my publisher asked me to go back to the daily as features editor. Then I was editor of The Holyoke Sun for seven years until one day, I received a call from Carol asking me, once again, to take over Longmeadow News. I agreed and delved into the unique community once again, where I remained until 2016.
Over the years I covered many school events and interviewed numerous students who have gone on to achieve great things — I took a photograph of The Voice winner Brynn Cartelli on her first day of kindergarten at Wolf Swamp School; last year I wrote about Longmeadow’s Meghann Fahy, who I first interviewed as part of the cast of The Wizard of Oz at Longmeadow High School. She is now a working actress on TV and Broadway; and just last week I was feeling old and nostalgic when I saw a Facebook post that state Rep. Brian Ashe’s son took the oath to join the National Guard. I took his photo at his fifth grade graduation ceremony at Center School.
I covered more school committee and select board meetings than I can count. I covered the controversial vote to fund the renovation/addition to Longmeadow High School. I sat for hours through town meetings where resident voices were allowed to be heard. I covered the select board run of Michael Clark, who at the time was the town’s youngest candidate for the board, and who lost his bid but landed a seat on the school committee. I covered three different police and fire chiefs, two town administrators and cultivated working relationships with department heads, teachers and more throughout the community. I became part of the Longmeadow community.
And, I made friends, many of whom I keep in touch with today.
Community journalism is so important. While newspapers are closing around the world, here at Reminder Publishing we are doing something unheard of (despite the closing of those two papers) – we are growing. I feel lucky to work as a journalist and share people’s stories and report the news of Westfield and Southwick. There is no fake news here. There is no propaganda. There is, however, dedication and commitment to this city and surrounding communities and a staff that works very hard every day to deliver local news, and nothing else. And I hope to be here for many years to come.
