Thurs Feb 22: How Are We All Doing? A Quick OS Current Check-In

Plus: RTO7 shares plans to expand electric vehicle charging infrastructure in Grey and Bruce; $40,000 car recovered after search warrant executed in Dundalk

👋 Welcome to The Owen Sound Current, your source for what’s happening in and around Owen Sound. Community-contributed content is open to free subscribers, while full subscribers get premium content, curated news, local events, and commenting features in these weekday briefs. Thank you for supporting independent local journalism!

---

Photo by Adi Goldstein on Unsplash

The Owen Sound Current is fast approaching the end of our fourth month in existence! (Do we get to have birthday parties yet?)

Maryann and I weren’t sure what to expect when we answered the community’s call for a local news source. Canadian media organizations of all sizes have been struggling financially as media megacorporations have scooped up local publications and advertising-driven business models have faltered.

We decided to go for it – so long as the community had our backs and was willing to support an independent, subscription-based, ad-free online publication.

And you’ve shown up! 🎊

As we close in on 1,000 subscribers and 500 articles, we want you to know how grateful we are to be part of a community that values independent journalism and the curation of local stories.

Each weekday, between 1,000 and 3,000 people read our daily brief. In January alone, we had over 43,000 reads – and you know what’s awesome? That has zero impact on the stories we’ll write and share this month and next. We’re not getting paid by the click or pageview. We don’t “succeed” by riling up our audience to get social shares or selling your data on to the next company.

Instead, your support and feedback tell us how we’re doing.

We’ve listened as you’ve told us you want to see more content from the wider Grey and Bruce areas. We appreciate your participation in our polls, and we’re meeting again with our Advisory Group very soon. We’re always open to suggestions from subscribers about how to make this a more useful and fulfilling space.

There are things we probably won’t invest in, mind you. Although we are exempt from Facebook’s news ban as a small publisher with zero employees, we have no plans to create a Facebook Page or Group. If you’d like to share Owen Sound Current news articles there, you can! But we’ve decided that moderating a free social media community isn’t the best use of our time and may actually take away from the local stories we’re available to cover.

If you haven’t yet joined us with a full subscription, we hope you’ll consider it. Independent local journalism relies on supportive people who understand the value of an informed, engaged community.

People like you.

Thank you for reading. Thank you twice over for participating with your comments on articles, emails back to me, visits to see Maryann at The Ginger Press – even shouting across the road downtown that you enjoyed this article or that (and scaring the daylights out of me in the process lol… you know who you are!).

As we continue to experiment with our daily brief format, we’re curious…

Public Notices

• The City of Owen Sound reminds residents that the next interim tax bill deadlines are coming up soon. Visit http://OwenSound.ca/Tax for more information.

• Good Cheer outdoor ice rink at Harrison Park is temporarily closed again. Staff are working hard to minimize the impact of the warmer weather.

Full subscribers, there’s more for you below, including:

• Details about a new program at Georgian College’s Owen Sound campus – the only one of its kind in Central Ontario

• A report from police involving a 49-year-old man from Dundalk charged after a search warrant on his property turned up a stolen $40,000 car

• Info on funding available to Grey, Bruce, and Simcoe organizations for installing electric vehicle (EV) chargers

• How to apply for a vendor booth at downtown Owen Sound’s Hottest Street Sale in July

• A reminder from the City about the upcoming deadline for Arts, Culture, and Volunteer awards nominations

• An update on the collision involving a school bus on Tuesday

~ Miranda

P.S. Don’t forget to visit and bookmark OwenSoundCurrent.com. Full subscribers can access local events listings and our entire archive of content on the website.