The Grapevine

About: The Grapevine is a once-every-two-week, arts & culture publication for the eastern end of the Annapolis Valley. Serving an area from Windsor to Canning to Berwick (Falmouth, Hantsport, Grand Pre, Gaspereau, Port Williams, Wolfville, Acadia University, New Minas, Kentville & Coldbrook also included), the 4100 copies focus on upcoming events while offering a wide-array of local submissions. An official survey conducted by the Town of Wolfville and the Centre for Rural Sustainability in 2007 stated that the Grapevine was the number 1 source to go to for upcoming events. Is this still the case? We’d like to think so. History: Adam Barnett, who went on to publish the paper until the middle of 2007, facilitated the first issue in May, 2004. It was his dream to bring together and create attention for all the amazing things happening culturally in the Greater Wolfville area. The first tagline for the paper was (and still is) Awareness – Community – Involvement. Change, as in most things, is inevitable and the Grapevine saw it’s first major shakeup in August of 2007. This is when Andy Flinn & Ariana Nasr (as in, local musicians, Andy & Ariana) took over the reins. This duo put their stamp on things by increasing the scope and perspective of the local music scene. In fact, although they may downplay their accomplishments, they can truly be accredited for furthering and promoting the remarkable music scene in the Annapolis Valley. Fortunately Wolfville just so happens to receive the benefitial brunt of their efforts. Jeremy & Jocelyn: Change once again occurred in June of 2009. After careful consideration, the Grapevine (3.0?) transitioned to a new team consisting of Jocelyn Hatt and Jeremy Novak. It is our desire to continue and strengthen this community-focused publication; we have new ideas and we are open to your ideas. We want to be innovative while demonstrating continuity. After 101 issues on the white photocopied paper, The Grapevine made the jump to newsprint in May, 2013. This has allowed us to: increase our print run & page count, add colour, and, probably most importantly, enable us to think bigger. Event Listings & Other Publications: Back when Adam started the paper, there was no comprehensive list of all the events in the Valley found at valleyevents.ca. The Coffee News sure wasn’t focusing on anything local and the Flying Cow wasn’t in existence. Now there are even more publications (the Annapolis Valley Scoop, Gazpereau Gazette, and others) adding to the local awareness while (directly or indirectly) competing for: counter space, eyeballs and advertisers. Although there are many good options for print advertising and readership (the Advertiser/Register continues to be the weekly news source), we like to believe that there is a special space in the hearts of the Grapevine’s loyal readership. The paper wouldn't be exciting for us if it wasn't as well-received as it is. Involvement: Without the continued involvement of various: writers, photographers, advertisers, deliverers, editors, and readers, this paper would not be possible. It’s the community that gives the Grapevine shape and it is the community that we embrace. Thank you for your attention. If you would like to contribute, please do so. Space is always tight so we can never guarantee a placement, but we also can't include what we don't have. Although we intend on increasing the team of regular writers, we still heavily rely on community submissions. Next: We look forward to seeing where the slow and steady growth will take us as we progress through our fifth year. We've dabbled with podcasts, flirted with merchandise, and created a wishlist of potential projects. We can see 2014 being a very important year for this lovely paper. As Adam would say, Beauty Times Ahead… - Jeremy (& Jocelyn)