The Agassiz-Harrison Observer just turned 25 years old and we'd like to take a moment to acknowledge this moment in history.
The paper was launched in 1990 with Chris and Valerie Nickles and editor Rick froese, at first as a competition to The Advance and later as the sole paper covering these communities.
1990 doesn't sound like that long ago, until you start considering what the world looked like back then. That year saw the launching of the Hubble space telescope. The Edmonton Oilers won the Stanley Cup. Brian Mulroney was the prime minister and Bill Vander Zalm was B.C.'s premier. The Liberal Party of Canada elected Jean Chretien as its leader and the GST came into law.
Our first edition, published Wednesday, March 28, featured the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Agassiz-Harrison seniors social and child daycare centre, now referred to as the Friendship House. A school board budget was approved that included money for a driver / mechanic position to have a more consistent maintenance of the bus fleet. A fire gutted a house on the Lougheed highway near the (former) Kent Hotel. Inside the first edition’s pages are many familiar names and businesses along with stories that have resurfaced over the years in different forms with different advocates and adversaries.
And that was just the beginning. We've had 1,300 editions covering local life in Agassiz, Harrison and surrounding communities. Breaking news, politics, arts, sports and entertainment spill ink across the pages over the last quarter of a century.
We are proud to be serving this community 25 years later. We will continue to shine a light on the good that happens here, line the pages with the stories you need to know and follow the lives of the locals we love so much. Thanks for sharing your stories for 25 years, thanks for bringing us into your homes and making us part of your lives. We're proud to be Agassiz and Harrison's newspaper and we hope to continue serving you for a long, long time.
Watch upcoming editions of The Agassiz-Harrison Observer for stories celebrating the past 25 years and commemorating our 25th birthday.