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By Gretchen Wehmhoff

Publisher, The Skagway News

This summer Joe and I spent five months at Garden City RV Park. Part of the deal meant that I spent about 20 hours a week greeting guests and answering questions. That was enjoyable. I love sharing Alaska and Skagway with visitors. They love talking to Alaskans. In the evening, some would drop by the trailer and we’d sit around with coffee, wine or ice cream and learn about each other’s travels.

We stayed in Garden City because The Skagway News has no office and does not generate income to provide a place to live or work while in town – or ever for that matter. Jon Hillis, this summer’s manager of the park, needed an onsite host, and we needed a place to stay.

In addition to the opportunity at Garden City, Joe and I also relied on the food exchange to supplement our groceries when we were short on cash.

It was a good situation. I worked on the paper and in the park office, while Joe got up every morning with the Newsies, rain or shine. He also kept the town supplied with The Skaguay Alaskan, distributing nearly 7000 bundles over the summer.

We did this because we made a commitment to advertisers who placed ads in The Skaguay Alaskan. Newsies needed to be in place, and the publication needed to be distributed. The Park Service, alone, gave away at least 10 bundles a week.

In addition, the Skagway News Forum needed to go on, and it did.

Now that the year is ending, the local elections are finished and Skagway is falling into its off-season peace and beauty, it’s time to look at the future.

On March 3, 2025, I will have been laying out, writing and handling business for The Skagway News for five years. That was my promise, that I would give this journey five years.

While it has been enriching, it has had its difficult moments.

The beginning of those five years started with a pandemic and no way to print the paper, few email addresses and a fledgling website. At the end of the first year, our daughter died and our two grandchildren needed us.

The most my former co-owner and I ever made was $15,000 each in 2020 due to the CARES Act grants. Since February 2024, I have made $400.

We missed a summer of watching our grandchildren grow, and they have both expressed their feelings about us being gone.

I love Skagway. I love the friends I have made. Joe and I truly enjoyed the town, the people and the experience.

But it’s time to look to the future. A friend in Skagway who loves the paper keeps checking in on me to see if the last negative comment or Facebook post was going to be “the last nail in the coffin.” for me, and subsequently for The SN.

I usually pushed through those. There was criticism that I wasn’t a resident, yet there was no look at the consequence of my leaving. The funny thing is, I’ve been running this paper for five years, and only during the last year did these comments arise.

The time I give to this paper is also impacting my own finances and committing to the paper deters my ability to find financial success elsewhere. It’s not just writing, or layout, or website updates. It’s advertising, billing and subscriptions. It’s a lot.

These past few days the last nails came in.

I’ve been losing sleep for months trying to figure out how to pass this paper on. I was endeared to the past news of this town as I sorted through 50 years of papers for the archives in order to protect original copies.

Opitmistic thoughts of continuing with all of the great ideas are dramatically deflated when it is only me.

One person commented that working on the paper must be a “labor of love.” While I enjoy it, it is actually a “labor of commitment” to a town that values the printed paper. Going back to print was a good thing. Advertisers returned and subscriptions went up.

This is an 8-page paper because it is all I could afford. It is lacking in news because I’m tired.

I have been struggling to make sure I wasn’t the person who held the reins when the paper couldn’t continue. But here I am.

Those nails?

I received a letter from an advertiser explaining that the business would no longer advertise in the Alaskan, sharing a list of reasons (all my failings) and topping it off with our failure to remove the plastic straps off the bundles for all businesses. If I had a more concrete system in the future they might reconsider, the letter said.

Then the next day, a text listing several errors, not factual errors, but style errors, in the last issue that I “needed to know about.”

And in the same week, a “Hail Mary” attempt I made for a grant didn’t succeed.

I can’t do what this paper needs by myself and to continue trying is not good for my health, my writing goals, my family and Skagway.

So I am opening the channels to seeking a new owner for The Skagway News. I have given my time and skills to this paper and have adored the town it represents. Age teaches you to be selective about what you’re willing to do and put up with. I love Skagway and I hope the News will continue, but I know that I can not continue as things are.

I will certainly help and support new owners, non-profits and such who want to talk to me because I believe in this paper as a community paper. I will continue to produce the paper as long as I can. I know that the town needs a paper to celebrate their children, entertain their morning and prove that the town is still alive and well. But then, maybe not.

I tried. That’s the best I can offer.

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Summer in Skagway comes to an end – SN seeks new owner(s) - The Skagway News.