Watrous newspaper celebrates 90 years

A small-town paper is marking a major milestone.

This year, the Watrous Manitou is celebrating its 90th anniversary.

“Being able to share stories of the people in the community is really a privilege and an honour,” said Daniel Bushman, owner and publisher of the paper.

“I’m so excited that we’ve been able to mark 90 years at the newspaper this year, and looking forward to being able to celebrate throughout the rest of this year and share people’s stories through that.”

Bushman and his wife Kim have run the paper together for the last 10 years. He does the reporting and photography, and she handles the bookkeeping and business side.

The paper reports on the events happening in the neighbouring towns of Watrous and Manitou Beach. Weddings, funerals, local sporting events and town achievements are the paper’s main priority.

“I love the small-town atmosphere where you can say ‘Hi’ to everyone on the street and they give you a friendly ‘Hello’ back and you’re able to invest in relationships like that,” said Bushman. “That’s really important to me; being able to invest in people and being able to share their stories.”

The first issue of the paper was published Feb. 9, 1933. The paper has cycled through many different owners since then, most of whom were also married couples. Bushman and his wife are the fifth generation of owners for the paper.

Bushman is originally from Watrous, but his career started in radio in Melfort. He moved to Saskatoon, but eventually made his way back home to Watrous and was a reporter for the paper for five years before purchasing it himself. He purchased a sister paper, the Lanigan Advisor, a few years after.

“It’s been a lot of fun to be able to share people’s stories through the newspaper,” said Bushman. “I really enjoy being able to meet new people and also to connect with familiar faces with those that I grew up with.”

Bushman said seeing those familiar faces helps a lot in the stories that he writes. He said that he gets most of his story ideas from conversations with people in the community.

One of the most popular regular features of the paper is “The Watrous Manitou Around the World.” Bushman encourages his readers to take a paper with them on their travels and pose with it to be featured in the paper. Bushman has a world map in his office and marks off all the places the paper has visited.

A former owner of the paper said he couldn’t be happier about the 90-year milestone.

“I think it’s an integral part of the community. It carries news that is not carried in print anywhere else,” said Frank Wilson, who owned and published the paper along with his wife from 1985 until 2002.

Wilson is an artist in Watrous, and used to draw comics for the paper, which were a beloved part of the publication for many in the town. Wilson drew comics for the paper for 30 years, and even after his retirement from running the paper.

“When we had the newspaper I started doing a cartoon every week,” said Wilson. “There was usually some funny things happening in the farm community.”

Bushman said he is proud the paper continues to stand strong after so many years, and hopes it continues that way.

“I hope that we’re able to celebrate 100 years of the Watrous Manitou,” said Bushman.

“Being able to share stories of people in the community is something I very much value, and to be able to just have that in the pages and document it I think is very important too.”