25 Years!

25 Years!

– By Josh Warburton –

So, 25 years ago this month, four ragtag young adults published the first edition of The Revolution, which within one year would become The Independent.

Last month I wrote my version of our “origin story” and in this issue, you’ll get a chance to read a few other perspectives of that story. That’s because, in addition to our core slate of content, this special 25-year anniversary edition contains other snapshots on the history of The Independent, from varied contributors.

They are relevant because what we are today is a product of our past, and The Independent is no different now. But rather than continue that story where I left off, I wanted to use this space to bring the story up to today, as well as to express my immense gratitude for the opportunity to be here today typing this.

You’ll see my name mentioned in all of the “retrospective” features starting on page seven of this edition, and it’s not by accident. It’s true, I’m the sole survivor from the very beginning, and it’s basically been my baby since year one. That’s not to say I asked any of our past contributors to give me props, kind of the opposite in fact. Our editor James and I reached out to several past writers, contributors, editors, and co-founders with a request to “say whatever you want” about your experience with The Independent. Two of those founders, Heather McNamee and Mike Gardener, were happy to chat but having parted ways with the paper in the first few months of existence they decided they had little to add, except to send “love and well wishes” to you, our readers.

That was fine with me as it has literally been 25 years and memories fade. That said, I thank them both graciously, as I do the fourth co-founder, German Reyna, who does have a piece in this issue. And based on its contents, I’m guessing it’ll be the last from him. If we make it to the 30-year mark, I’ll have to accept they’ve all said what they needed to say about their time with The Independent.

But let me back up, or move forward, as is this case, to bring y’all up to date with where The Independent is today. Starting almost 10 years ago now, and having somehow survived the 2008 financial collapse, we made a few changes to our overall program. With “print ad dollars” in newspapers slowly diminishing, and “web ad dimes” replacing them, we needed to get creative. We launched a new website at SUindependent.com. It was not super modern at the time but functional, and with space for sponsors and advertisers.

Tourism to southern Utah, with Zion National Park being the largest draw, had seen dramatic increases in visitorship year after year. I shifted some of my energy, and the paper’s resources to capturing some of that audience of the millions of people trekking through our scenery, and with it, hopefully, advertisers to support what we do. While print readership everywhere decreasing, and our unique geographic location with increasing tourism, our position in the market gave us a unique opportunity to serve this audience. So, what started as a single page of Zion Park and Springdale content slowly expanded until we launched Zion Guide as a separately printed edition inserted into The Independent. That addition was a godsend to The Independent. Without that pivot, it’s hard to say if we would have made it.

By 2015, and with other print revenue becoming more and more difficult to come by, I moved to a small apartment in Springdale to be closer to Zion and the supporting Springdale businesses. That move turned out to be somewhat temporary as I made trips out to Kanab starting in early 2016. By that fall, I’d bought a house in Kanab with my former girlfriend. And while I kept the Springdale apartment until 2019, shifting continued in the form of near-continuous change such as opening and then later closing a Kanab office, and eventually shutting the doors of our home office in St. George. This was a time of deep contemplation for me, resulting in cost-cutting, consolidation, and streamlining, all in the interest of preserving The Independent.

Then, we couldn’t possibly have known what was coming in 2020, when Covid-19 basically shut the world down.

This last year has been a whirlwind, both personally and professionally. Working on and through our 25th year amidst a global pandemic was challenging to say the least. We hunkered down. We shored up all the advertisers we could. We got a PPP loan in the second round (I was too wary to apply at first). All of that and just having the will to survive carried us through. But the thing that helped the most was the support of our advertisers. Not every business was able to continue to advertise, and with the future very uncertain, so many businesses spent what they could with us, and we, in turn, gave all we could to help support them.

As we turned the corner into 2021 with this anniversary on the horizon I felt such a sense of gratitude. Gratitude for all the support and encouragement over the years. Gratitude to be able to be my own boss, get a paycheck (most months), serve the community, and help amplify the voices of others. This is where we’re at today as I type this…grateful, thankful, and humbled by the opportunity life has given me.

So, like I said, those “retro” features mention me a lot. So much so, they’re a bit tough for me to read. I’ll take credit where credit is due, but I also like to give it the same way. And that’s what I’d like to say here.

Thank you, you the readers. Without an audience, there wouldn’t be The Independent. Your interest in what’s happening locally and around the world makes this all possible. Thank you to all of our advertisers over all of these years. Every single one of you made this paper possible. And all of the businesses in this issue I’d like to give special thanks because I know some of you did it just to support me and The Independent, making it possible to continuing publishing. And a special thanks to all of our contributors over the last two and a half decades. There are far too many for me to list here, and it must be a few hundred writers by now, but there is a handful that have had unique contributions including Adam Mast who started reviewing movies in the third issue and has continued to this day. I’d also like to give a special shoutout to my mom, who worked with and for me off and on throughout the years, and even gave me a cash infusion in the first five years when we almost folded.

I’d also like to thank each of our editors who spearheaded The Independent’s editorial content for their terms, having to deal with me, and the balancing act that it is.

What the future holds is always uncertain, but I’m feeling good that for the time being I’ll be standing here (at my standing desk, after too many years of sitting) and connecting you to the best southern Utah has to offer. Happy reading.

Viewpoints and perspectives expressed throughout The Independent are those of the individual contributors. They do not necessarily reflect those held by the staff of The Independent or our advertising sponsors. Your comments, rebuttals, and contributions are welcome in accordance with our Terms of Service. Please be respectful and abide by our Community Rules. If you have privacy concerns you can view our Privacy Policy here. Thank you! 

Click here to submit an article, guest opinion piece, or a Letter to the Editor