Sun Valley Magazine purchased
By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer
In a deal negotiated over the past three months, Sun
Valley Magazine was purchased Dec. 18 by Valley Publishing, a new,
locally-owned partnership.
The new owners are "dedicated to continuing the
tradition of excellence of publishing in the Wood River Valley,"
states a press release from Valley Publishing.
Sun Valley Magazine entered the for-sale market in
August when NW Publishing Group, a corporation that owned Sun Valley
Magazine and 80 percent of Boise Magazine, voted to dissolve,
according to plan-of-liquidation papers filed with Idaho’s secretary of
state on Aug. 22.
NW Publishing bought the two magazines from Earls
Communications less than a year prior to the liquidation filing. The
magazine, in its current incarnation, was formed in the early 1990s when
Earls Communications bought it from Picabo resident Michael Riedel and
merged it with Valley Magazine.
The new partnership, Valley Publishing, will be managed
and operated by Laurie Sammis, who is the largest shareholder among Valley
Publishing’s four local partners, three of whom are "silent
partners." Sammis will be publisher and editor of Sun Valley
Magazine.
"It is exciting to be a part of a community
institution," Sammis said in the press release.
Sammis worked as editor of Sun Valley Magazine from
1990 to 1993 under Riedel’s ownership.
The initial response from the community to the news of the
sale and new leadership has been "overwhelming," she said.
"Nobody wanted to see the magazine
discontinued," she said. "It is now in its 27th year of
publication and, clearly, many members of the community feel it is a part
of the history and heritage of the Wood River Valley."
Sammis indicated Valley Publishing may explore other
avenues of print publication.
"We will continue the tradition of excellence that
the community has come to expect from the magazine, and hope to expand
into exciting new products and publications that we believe will enhance
and contribute to the community," she said. "We’re looking to
add things to the community that aren’t currently provided right now.
"We’d [also] like to make the magazine more
compelling for the locals, give them something they want to read
about."
On Sun Valley Magazine’s recently troubled past,
Sammis said: "Sun Valley Magazine was always profitable when taken
along on its own. What we have going for us is that we’re all local, it’s
a small group and we really believe in it."
According to an operating agreement between the four
stakeholders, the three stakeholders in Valley Publishing are to be
"silent" partners, Sammis said, meaning they will not take part
in managing the business.
Because of the recent purchase, a winter 2000/2001 issue
of Sun Valley Magazine will not be published, but Sammis said she
anticipates publishing Spring 2001 and Summer 2001 issues. Thereafter, the
publication will return to its bi-annual publication schedule, she said.
The magazine will continue to operate from its Bullion
Street office in Hailey.
