Nothing like a year-end column, which kind of writes itself.  And I’ve been doing it now for the 23rd time.

I could leave the rest of the column blank and just say this is what I wish for our readers and advertisers. But there are reasons for those feelings today.

First off, let’s address the 23 years thing, which is more than three times longer than any other job I’ve ever had. It’s a job I have no formal education or training for or to accomplish it in any way. The ONLY experience I brought to my new “profession” was I loved to read my subscription to The Detroit News/Free Press. I also liked Crain’s Business Detroit because it was a good-looking, full-color newspaper delivered to the high-end men’s clothing store where I worked.

So yeah, in those senses, I was a newspaper guy. But that’s not why I took a job six states away way. Nor does it give any credence to my story. I took the job after losing my two, older, identical twin brothers — Kurt and Karl — to heart attacks earlier that year. What’s more, I was in transition in my life. A fresh start seemed like a good idea at the time. Some of you might recall Karl was publisher of the Business Times before me. Kurt was his business partner, and I consulted with him before making the decision to move to Grand Junction — right before his passing as it turned out. After the shock of those events, being near my parents was indeed the best life choice I could have made.

So I arrived in the summer of 2000 with no experience, the love of newspapers, a high-end retail background, the tragic passing of my brothers and little to no clue what I was doing in the newspaper business. So I did the simplest of things: I didn’t try to fix what wasn’t broken. Coming from a retail background where I served folks in giving them what they wanted, not what they needed, I created a paper in the image of what people wanted. Most important, I wanted to do it in a quality, attractive way.

That’s about the only place my background in retail came into play in my new job. I just knew the paper had to be the highest quality and look its best every time we printed. The story end of the business was already taken care of in having Phil Castle (the best writer in Western Colorado) at the helm along with my immediately discovering the people of the Grand Valley have a wealth of great stories to tell. It was just a matter of putting it together. That’s why we were the first full-color paper in Western Colorado and continue to this day to use the best quality newsprint you can use to tell all those great stories.

I would say over 23 years of “putting a paper together” like Phil is doing today while waiting for my contribution to the opinion page has gone pretty well. But it wasn’t always so.

A little over a year into the business and just as we were getting our footing, we experienced 9/11 and the recession that followed. I had luckily traveled home on 9/10. Otherwise, I would have learned “sleepless in Seattle” literally. The test came back positive and we were expecting my oldest in May the following year. If I had to guess, I’d say those two events happening simultaneously pushed both the attention to, and success of, the paper in its early days.

During the time which followed the joy of my 9/10 and tragedy of 9/11, I tried many other avenues of publishing — some successfully, some not — which came and went. But we made our way through the ups and downs. During that time we also bought the first home I ever owned — and which I live in to this day. Ironically, after deciding while pulling up old carpet to wait to have a second child, the test was positive on our youngest. That’s OK, I had to work even harder with a mortgage to pay. And of course, that mortgage came into being right before the housing crisis of 2008. Just another difficult time to survive. And we did.

And it was done by always going back to the basics. Which for me was removing everything I was doing in publishing except the one product that matched my abilities: the Business Times. Luckily, I put that into place before single dad life and the passing of my mom and dad. And of course, I’d be remiss to not mention COVID and the insanity that ensues to this day.

Through it all, there’s been this mighty, little, local paper making its way and growing in its quality and popularity. That’s not because of me. It’s because of you — our readers, advertisers and all the great folks we get to write stories about. 

So I’m thankful for you, no matter how you’ve interacted with the paper. My experiences with all of you over the years continue to give me hope for the future. And I cherish the joys in my life living in Grand Junction through the good and the bad.

None of that happens over 23 years without you. Have a blessed Christmas and all the best in the new year.

Craig Hall is owner and publisher of the Business Times. Reach him at 424-5133 or publisher@thebusinesstimes.com.