This week, The Wednesday Sun newspaper published it’s (possibly) last issue.  The owners, the News Press & Gazette Co. plan to consider ‘alternative formats’ for the paper.  The Sun has been publishing since 1937, serving local news and advertising to the residents and merchants of Brookside/Waldo.

I think many people found the weekly Wednesday delivery annoying. So often I would see these papers left on lawns on driveways for days, smashed and wet, driven over repeatedly by cars. I didn’t read it every week–but when I did, I always found some good information about the neighborhood. I used their classified section to find local services, and appreciated their features on area  newsmakers.

Ah, but times have changed and I’m sure that just like the Kansas City Star, ad revenue is declining drastically.  So many of us are now used to turning to the internet for information these days, and just don’t have a spare thirty minutes or so to read this weekly paper. When expenses are up, advertising is down and new owners look at ways to cut costs–that equals layoffs and shutdowns.

But kudos to The Wednesday Sun for publishing their final issue this week as a commemorative issue.  The front page featured a history of “The Wednesday Magazine” from “The Brookside Story” book by LaDene Morton, and the masthead with stories from that first issue on October 13, 1947. Inside, I loved seeing the old advertisements ($3.95 for back to school shoes and .35 for marshmallow gold cake!). They also sprinkled in old stories regarding civil rights and the JFK assassination.

I doubt if The Wednesday Sun will be back as a free weekly, delivered to your home. It may not come back at all.  But it has served the Brookside/Waldo area well during it’s years of publication, and we’re grateful for that.