To our readers, who are we?

As the saying goes, we’re back – yes it’s the usual gang of misfits from the original Sea to Sky News, and a couple of new faces, back to give Squamish another locally owned independent newspaper, the only one in the Sea to Sky Corridor. Just as Mt. Garibaldi and the Chief come together to create our gorgeous landscape here in Squamish, our goal is to complement our 'competitor', the Squamish Chief newspaper, by focusing specifically on the important issues facing our town while providing a fresh and unique angle to every story.

Why would anyone start a newspaper in this day and age? Yes it’s true big city newspapers are a dying breed and independent community newspapers, that is newspapers not part of the three newspaper chains that dominate B.C. are growing rarer by the day. But our reception locally, so far has been one of great enthusiasm. And perhaps our greatest booster is none other than Tongue in Cheek publisher Karin Shard, she sees a need for an alternative to the corporate giants, a publication that offers a different point of view, one that strives to be a little more off the beaten track, plus she knows if she sees me in the pub I’ll probably buy her a beer.

Squamish is a town as varied in it’s community make-up as it is in its geography, in a single day we could find ourselves interviewing extreme athletes BASE jumping off the Chief, reviewing the aftermath of the SERF festival on the oceanfront, talking to downtown merchants on a newly bustling Cleveland Ave or searching for eco tourism operators in the wilds of the Squamish Valley. Garibaldi Times wants to be a voice for those people and tell the stories of the people behind the news, ‘if it bleeds it leads’ is definitely not our motto. We chose the name, mainly for the mountain that dominates our landscape from almost any vantage point and Times because we hope to be a reflection of the times we live in. Our photographer Dave Buzzard also nostalgically approved of the Times moniker as he once worked for another Times locally, the original Squamish Times.

This is in many ways is a unique community, it attracts athletes of all descriptions, artists and wild-eyed dreamers, normal, bland, average, those are not adjectives that apply to this community. We hope the same will be said of Garibaldi Times.

-Alan Forsythe, Publisher

Visit Squamish Online, the official website of The Garibaldi Times