Monthly newspaper in rural Colorado goes nonprofit, part of a trend that encourages supporters of local news

The latest rural newspaper to go nonprofit is the Crestone Eagle in the San Luis Valley of southern Colorado. Founder-owner Kizzen Laki sold the monthly to Crestone Eagle Community Media, and is gradually retiring. "The paper, however, has been given a new lease on life," reports Dan Boyce of Colorado Public Radio. "It’s the latest positive sign for local news in Colorado, which until recently had been dominated by decades of steady decline."

“I would say right now is one of the most optimistic times that I have seen in my career as a journalist,” Laura Frank, who co-founded the Institute for Nonprofit News after losing her job during the closure of the Denver-based Rocky Mountain News in 2009, told Boyce, noting several examples across the country. He reports, "Frank says she and her INN colleagues are now fielding calls every month from other news sources of all sizes looking to do the same."

“And Crestone — tiny Crestone, Colorado — has been at the forefront of that,” Frank said. “They are on the leading edge of a growing trend all across the country.”

Laki, 70, found a few years ago that people in her tiny community were willing to dig into their pockets to support the paper, which asked, "We need $10,000 to survive the winter, can you help us?" That raised $15,000.

Wikipedia maps, adapted

The town is on the foot of the western slope of the Sangre de Cristo range. "There’s only one road leading in and out of Crestone," Boyce reports. "The 2020 census recorded 141 inhabitants. Yet, the Crestone Eagle still boasts a circulation of about 2,500 paying readers across its print and digital products per month, and its pages are heavy with columns submitted by unpaid local writers on subjects ranging from stargazing tips to birdwatching reports."

The Eagle is one of two newspapers in Saguache County, population 6.368. The other is the weekly Saguache Crescent, thought to be the only newspaper still produced with a Linotype. It's in the county seat of Saguache, pop. 550, says Wikipedia.