If you didn’t already know, Homer News — the one that covers news and happenings in Homer, Alaska — has sister-relationships with two other Alaska papers, the Peninsula Clarion and the Juneau Empire. But did you know that we also have a secret twin? Surprise! We do!
Homer News staff received a letter from Kim L. Hubbard, the editor of The Homer News in Homer, New York, this spring after they received some “rather wacky, yet wonderful” inquiries that seemed a bit, shall we say, out of place. Local Alaskans looking to place obituaries or advertisements in their Homer News found themselves speaking to staff members of the New York paper — a rather baffling yet interesting experience for all. Reactions ranged, Hubbard said, from “Oops! Sorry to bother you!” to “What! There’s another Homer News somewhere else?”
Yes, there is — and not only that, but the two Homers and Homer Newses, though separated by nearly 4,500 miles, share some entertaining similarities.
Serving a local population of about 6,500 residents, the eastern Homer News currently circulates to about 4,800 subscribed readers, though that number is growing. Like yours truly, the New York folks work to publish a community-based newspaper — which also prints on Thursdays, though biweekly — that informs readers of current events and issues and “celebrates the people, businesses, places and happenings” that make Homer a unique and special place to live.
According to their website, the New York paper was established by the Finkbeiner family in 2009, when they relocated to the Village of Homer from Vermont and were “inspired” to create a “hometown newspaper” like the one they’d had in their previous small town. The paper’s first publication was delivered to every mailbox in the village, free of charge, on July 15, 2010.
The paper was sold to Don Ferris in April 2012, who “tirelessly and singlehandedly” kept it alive through 2023. The Homer News was then purchased by the Center for the Arts of Homer, which continues to operate and publish it today.
The Homer News operates as a nonprofit and is run by a small staff, with Hubbard as editor-in-chief and head writer, Mike Riley running advertising, Center for the Arts of Homer Executive Director Ty Marshal as publisher, and a few contributing writers that share local features and goings-on, including the village chief of police and a member of the local historical society.
“I write when it’s needed to fill the space,” Hubbard said. Endeavoring to share local creative voices, he created a writer’s corner in the paper to provide space for residents to tell their stories to the wider community.
“I’ve had an 88-year-old woman (who) wrote me and was telling me wonderful stories about when she was a kid growing up her, because she had read one of the stories that I wrote, and I said, ‘I want you to write that down,’” he said. “Maybe six weeks later, I got this wonderful, heartfelt remembrance of what life was like in this village 80 years ago.”
Another regular feature of the New York paper showcases where The Homer News is being read.
“We’ve had people literally take it all over the world,” Hubbard said. “They take a photo of them(selves) holding our paper, and they make a point of leaving it in a coffee shop, or a diner or a little restaurant.”
The Homer News has travelled to the North Pole, to the pyramids in Egypt, to Australia, the Amazon, on the Great Wall of China — and to Homer, Alaska.
“We got (a photo) from somebody standing in front of your village sign,” Hubbard said, referring to the welcome sign that stands by the overlook at the top of Baycrest hill, “holding The Homer News in Homer, Alaska. We thought, this is just too fun.”
Learn more about The Homer News in New York at thehomernews.com/, or visit them on Facebook.
