Bargain Hunter editions merge into countywide paper

If you live in Tuscarawas County long enough, you learn that communities can change without really changing at all. Stores come and go. Schools consolidate. Roads get renamed. But some things stay steady, and one of those things has been The Bargain Hunter showing up week after week, full of ads, announcements, photos, community notes and all the little pieces that make a county feel connected.

Now that familiar name is entering a new chapter.

Beginning Jan. 3, the Northern Tuscarawas County Bargain Hunter and the Southern Tuscarawas County Bargain Hunter will combine with the Tuscarawas County Bargain Hunter to form one publication. Instead of three separate editions, there will be one paper serving the entire county.

On paper, that sounds like a simple change. Fewer versions, one publication, one start date. But if you have ever depended on a local newspaper, you know it is never just paper.

For many readers, The Bargain Hunter is a routine. It is something you flip through at the kitchen table, or keep on the counter for a few days because you know you are going to go back and look at something again. Maybe you are checking sales. Maybe you are looking for a church dinner, a fundraiser, a school honor roll or a schedule you forgot to write down. Maybe you want to see who won a game, who won an award, or who you need to pray for this week.

The point is, local news is not the kind of thing you stumble across. It is the kind of thing that shows up and becomes part of your life.

So when three editions merge into one, it is worth pausing for a second to consider what that means.

For starters, one publication can bring the whole county together a little more. Tuscarawas County has distinct corners. What matters in New Philadelphia may not feel like the center of the universe in Bolivar. What is happening in Strasburg might not always make it into the everyday conversations in Uhrichsville. And yet we are one county, and there is value in seeing more of each other.

Maybe that means you will read something about a community you do not usually hear much about. Maybe it means a school event or an organization fundraiser gets a few more eyes than it would have before. Maybe it means more people show up to support something that really needs support.

That is the best-case scenario.

Of course, there is also the worry that when things combine, something gets lost. People fear their town will get fewer mentions or their local section will shrink. It is a fair concern, because if there is one thing small towns know, it is that attention matters. When your community gets covered, it feels seen.

But I also think it is worth remembering that local newspapers have been fighting to survive for years, and any move that helps keep a community paper strong is a move worth supporting. It is not easy to keep print alive. It is not easy to keep people reading. It is not easy to keep reporting local news when everything in the world is pulling readers in a thousand different directions.

So if combining editions helps keep the publication healthy, keeps coverage consistent and helps ensure that local voices still have a place to be heard, then it is a change that deserves encouragement.

Because here is what happens when local news goes away: People stop knowing what is going on. They stop hearing about school board decisions. They stop learning about local safety issues. They stop reading about community events until it is too late to attend them. And eventually, a county begins to feel less connected, because the information that once tied it together disappears.

The Bargain Hunter is more than ads. It is a record of who we are and what we do.

So as these three papers become one beginning Jan. 3, I hope readers give it a fair chance. Read it. Support it. Submit your items. Share your announcements. Keep sending in photos and results and community notes. If you want your town covered, help make sure the paper knows what is happening.

In the end, local news only works when it is truly local, and that means all of us have a role in keeping it alive.

Here is to the new year, and here is to one paper telling the story of one county.

Kyle Valentini is the editor of the Tuscarawas Bargain Hunter. She can be reached at kvalentini@alonovus.com.