My staff is trying a different kind of scoop to serve you this coming week – behind the ice cream counter.

Several months ago, Stacie at Main St. Scoops and Sweets asked if my staff would be interested in working her shop one night. The increased business would help them while the (hopefully huge) tips could then go toward our newspaper.

My team thought that sounded like fun, so the day is finally almost here. From 6 to 9 p.m. Friday (June 20), our staff – Sara, Annalynn, Cuyler, Maya and I – will be on hand downtown to visit with readers and dish you up some ice cream. Bring plenty of cash to buy yourself a good treat and then put some extra bills in our tip jar.

As I’ve noted in prior columns, my family has a long history of owning small businesses. I know how important it is to support local. Our community businesses in my hometown were the first ones asked to give donations for every fundraiser under the sun by people who would then turn around and do their shopping in Bismarck instead.

The Chamber recently noted 60% of local residents’ money is being spent outside the city. We must all band together and drop that number.

That includes giving more donations to keep the newspaper going. We know how much people appreciate The Eudora Times and, frankly, local news in general. A recent national study found 85% of people believe local news is important in a community.

Yet only 23% of people pay to support their local newspaper. And, believe me, I run our books and know the number in Eudora is far lower than that.

The plea to get people to support local is widespread around the country. The person to solve it would be a millionaire. Yet it starts one decision at a time.

We hope to see you Friday night to support your local newspaper and downtown businesses.

***

One final note: Sara and I recently attended the Kansas Press Association convention when the conversation took an interesting turn.

To my surprise, someone briefly mentioned America 250. Now, as someone who researches White House history, I’m well versed in the upcoming huge national celebration of 250 years since 1776 and American independence that is set to start next year. I spent a few weeks in May working with the Truman museum to create programming ideas for it. (Tangent: If you haven’t been to the Truman museum, drop everything and go. It’s great.)

Yet, with all of my focus on presidential history, I somehow hadn’t considered my other line of work – journalism and the Eudora Times – and how it could fit into anniversary plans.

Therefore, I’m now going to be in various meetings in the coming weeks to start brainstorming how to incorporate America 250 into our journalism work.

Should we have local kids write essays for the paper about their favorite people in U.S. history? Could we offer an America 250 trivia night? Should we increase our work with the Community Museum and run old Eudora newspaper stories to highlight the town’s history next year? Should we increase our work with students in the schools to teach them about the critical role that journalism has played in our nation’s history? Could I use my vast network and bring in some interesting speakers to town? Should we add another food event to expand on our successful holiday cookie contest and host a patriotic foods contest?

I’m interested to hear your ideas as well. The possibilities are endless. Reach me at [email protected].