Rainy River Record publishes final edition

The Rainy River Record is officially ending its nearly-century-long run today, but there's hope the northern Ontario community's history will continue to be documented.

The Record publishes its final edition today after spending 98 years covering news and events in and around Rainy River, Ont.

The Record's closure has the community "concerned," said Rainy River library CEO Michael Dawber.

"There is a second community paper in town, the Westend Weekly, that is going to continue," Dawber said. "So the Westend Weekly is going to, hopefully, still be there for us to document the history of the community."

The publisher of the Rainy River Record, Jim Cumming, told CBC Thunder Bay that ad revenues have fallen, largely due to a change in federal and provincial government policy — they now mainly advertise online rather than in print publications.

"It's actually rare for a community this size to still be a two-paper town," Dawber said. "There aren't that many two-paper towns that have 800 people — very few, very unusually. So it is sad that the paper is gone."

Cumming also publishes the nearby Fort Frances Times, which is now expected to cover more Rainy River news.

Back issues still available

Back issues of the Rainy River Record are also available at the Rainy River Public Library, Dawber said. 

"The library has the Rainy River on microfiche ... back to 1985," he said.

Editions back to 1942 are also available in scrapbooks.

Dawber said the Record's office actually caught fire twice, most-recently in 1970.

"The survival of the papers before 1970 is kind of haphazard," he said. "The scrapbook collection is gold, because these, in some cases, may be the only surviving copies of clippings."

"We're very, very happy to have those."