San Juan Silver Stage
Lifestyles Publication 1996-2021…and beyond
December 2021 | Vol 25, No. 12 | Last Full News
NEW News |
Articles, Activities, Adventures |
Archives |
By Kathryn R. Burke, Publisher
Over 25 years! More than a quarter-century. Hard to believe. But like the stagecoaches of yore, replaced by trains, trucks, and automobiles, I thought it was time for the San Juan Silver Stage to head for the museum. It’s been a great ride and our editorial content consistently outstanding. Except for a few bumps in the road, it’s also been an incredibly rewarding experience. We’ve enjoyed having you ride along with us and are grateful for your loyal support…but we’ve reached the end of the trail.
Well, not exactly. Seems the Stage wasn’t quite ready to stay behind closed doors. When it headed for the museum, so did—and wound up at the Museum of the Mountain West where I am now the Assistant Executive Director. Talk about a perfect fit! (We even have a real-life stagecoach at the museum.)
So, I get to keep on doing what I love best, promoting cultural activities and events, artists and artisans, and the region’s colorful history that supports it all. It was those interests that caused me to found the Silver Stage in the first place.
The Silver Stage started out in 1996, in Ouray, Colorado. My late husband coined the name—based on the historic Silver San Juans (history and heritage) and my focus on our “on stage” creative community providing arts and entertainment around the region. The publication began as a single section monthly newspaper and soon grew to three or more sections twice monthly with over 60 pages each edition. By reader request, we then morphed into a “slick” (or glossy) magazine, soon adding six more, all topic- or location-specific and all published by San Juan Publishing group, Inc. (SJPG), our parent company.
SJPG was ahead of its time—we saw the digital future coming, and we quickly developed related websites for our publications. In print and online, we were once the only trusted source for events around the Four Corners region, with emphasis closer to home, here in Western Colorado. Our Stage Events Calendar was a bible for those hunting for things to do.
Now our time of publishing the region’s only comprehensive community calendar has come to an end. The combination of Covid and subsequent ramping up of social media has irrevocably changed the need for that service. Today there are hundreds, make that thousands, of digital locations—if you want to take the time and know how and where to find them—that catalogue current events, by area or region, topic or interest, or just proximity to where you are or plan to be if traveling. It takes a bit of concentrated searching, and accuracy can be somewhat dubious—but it’s all out there…somewhere.
ou just have to hunt for it. And trust that what you do find is current and correct. (Sometimes true, sometimes now.) You can find what’s happening, did or did not happen, or will happen (hopefully) on your own now, by tapping into the myriad of websites and social media pages. Today, almost everybody, regardless of age or technical ability, relies on the Internet as their primary news source.
Remember the magazines in the doctors’ offices? Gone. Everybody is scrolling through their smartphone. Remember the printed newspaper delivered in the dark and perused with your morning coffee? Not in the driveway anymore. Instead of turning a paper page, you tap, click and scroll.
For most of us, print has been replaced by a digital format. We Google, Zoom, YouTube, Facebook, Email, Text, and TicToc. And log in with face-recognition (or hard-to-remember passwords). We shop online, order food, book our travel, balance our bank accounts, pay bills, and take free classes (and pay-per-view webinars) online—mostly from our phones (or a tablet, laptop, or desk computer if we need a bigger screen).
So, sadly (because I’ve really loved doing this), it seemed it was time for the Stage to make its final run, another icon that will, hopefully, be remembered with love…or at least fondness. Although an archival version will still be accessible online, the San Juan Silver Stage as you’ve known it, will be permanently parked as a museum piece at the end of this issue, Holidays 2021. Please stop by for a visit at Silverstage.news and share in the memories.
Kathryn Burke, Publisher
Postscript. And now, because I can’t quite quit, click back in and read the Silver Stage NEW news—articles I write for other publications, promotions for the museum and regional cultural sources. You can also find more of them on my personal website at kathryrburke.com. I’m no where near ready to ride off into the sunset…yet.
Publisher: Kathryn R. Burke
Owned and operated by San Juan Publishing Group, Inc., PO Box 945, Montrose CO 81402
Online. Older issues: https://sanjuanpub.com/silver-stage. |. 2019-2021: /https://silverstage.news
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