Austin Lewter/Jefferson Jimplecute
Holiday cheer is in the air.
Local businesses are bustling in Jefferson and Christmastime is upon us.
Holiday events and traditions are rolling on.
Lions Club Park is aglow with Christmas trees.
The annual Christmas Parade returned to Polk and Austin Streets.
And the annual Candlelight Tour of Homes entered its second weekend yesterday.
Hugh Lewis and I are ending 2021 by celebrating 16 months of ownership of the 4th oldest newspaper in Texas.
Operating the Jimplecute has been the honor of our lives.
I hope our passion for Marion County has been evident to you—our readers. It’s been a blast and we are excited about the year to come.
Hugh and I have been friends for over a decade.
We’ve worked together multiple times for other people.
We have varying skill sets and both brought different expertise to the partnership.
We trust one another and respect one another.
It’s because of this, I can honestly say we’ve yet to argue about anything concerning the Jimp.
We have disagreed, but never harshly.
When this has happened, the other usually defers to the other’s expertise in manner.
We’ve never argued, though we’ve had several conversation about how to move forward on an issue.
We also brought different outside projects to the partnership while brainstorming new ideas with which to grow our business.
One of the projects Hugh brought to the table was his “Discover Jefferson & Marion County” publication.
No doubt, you’ve seen this booklet around town.
When we partnered, he had published one issue with the blessing of the city Tourism Board.
We publish it every three months. It’s a full color, glossy book that is designed to bring folks to Jefferson and the surrounding area.
Contrary to uneducated gossip, the Tourism Board does not subsidize any part of the actual publication.
We print 6,000 copies, distribute them for free all across Marion County and ship them to points all over Texas to market our area to visitors.
The books are shipped to 21 different Visitor Centers and Tourism Racks across the state and Tourism dollars cover the cost of that shipping—but that’s it.
The guide is a publication of Marion County Media, LLC—our company that also publishes the Jefferson Jimplecute and the online Marion County Herald.
As with any for-profit media company, we cover the cost of producing the Guide by selling ads.
One of our early conversations was the ad rate on the Guide.
I looked at it and told Hugh, “We aren’t charging enough for this. This a great product with some steep costs and the margins aren’t as they should be.”
To which, he replied, “Maybe. But our local businesses need something affordable. The pandemic has been hard on tourism and we need to be part of the solution. The margin might not be as much as the corporate newspaper ledgers you have had to maintain in the past, but it can work here. There is enough for us to make a little bit and give our advertisers a great marketing vehicle that they can afford.”
He made a compelling case and I left it at that. He’s the man on the ground there, and I trusted his judgment.
I’m glad I did. I think our advertisers are too.
When Hugh and I worked at the Jimp a decade ago for Bob Palmer, the newspaper contracted to handle production of the “Jeffersonian.”
At that time, it was a quarterly tabloid published by the Historic Jefferson Foundation.
They sold the ads and produced the editorial content.
The newspaper was paid by the hour to do the layout and then print each issue.
Profit margins from their ad sales serve as a fundraiser for the Foundation.
I produced a few Jeffersonians back then with Mrs. Bobbie Hardy and was proud of the jobs we turned out.
Sometime after I left Palmer’s employment, the Jeffersonian quit contracting with the Jimp.
I’m not sure why, but I did think it uncanny an organization dedicated to preserving the history of Jefferson would cut business ties with the oldest business in Marion County.
Somewhere along the way, the Jeffersonian went from quarterly to annually.
Nonetheless, upon our purchase of the Jimp in August 2020, one of the first meetings I scheduled was with the Historic Jefferson Foundation.
I wanted to see if the Jimp could assist the Foundation again with production of the publication.
The meetings were cordial. They said they were transitioning to a gloss, full color magazine.
I said I thought that was great and that I had years of experience producing magazines.
In the end, I gave them a quote that was very much under market rate.
Harkening to Hugh’s previous advice, I was projecting a smaller margin on our end to increase the margin on their end.
The end goal was to assist the Foundation in its mission and, in turn, afford the Foundation an opportunity to support the oldest business in Jefferson—the 4th oldest newspaper in Texas.
A Foundation board member told me that I was the cheapest bid and they had no questions about our quality of work, but they would not move forward with us because our quarterly Visitor’s Guide was “in direct competition with the Jeffersonian.”
I told them that I respectfully disagreed.
I explained that our guide was a different format with a different circulation frequency.
I explained that our guide was geared towards current events and theirs’ was geared towards chronicling the history of Jefferson.
I told them I thought, if done right, both could compliment the other and serve as superior marketing vehicles for the Marion County tourism industry.
“If we are both truly interested in aiding tourism, above anything else, there shouldn’t be a problem. There should be room for both of us and our community should reap the benefits,” I said.
My comments were shrugged off and the contract was awarded to an out-of-town company.
In the ensuing months, “Discover Jefferson & Marion County” has stuck to our mission and schedule.
We print 6,000 books every three months and give them away all across Texas.
Our holiday issue publishes every October.
In each of these issues, we have dedicated editorial space to one of the biggest holiday events in Jefferson—the Foundation’s Candlelight Tour of Homes.
We provide a picture and description of each home along with a feature story about the tour.
We also published this same information on the front page of the Jimp during the first week of December each year.
We’ve never charged for this editorial space. It’s news.
And it’s news that helps market our community as the tourism destination it is.
Each holiday issue has included a full page about the Home Tour, but that ad has never been paid for by the Foundation.
A local individual has covered the cost of that spot out of their own pocket—a donation, of sorts, since the Foundation won’t do business with the competition.
The donor is just as vested in bringing visitors to town as are we.
While this arrangement has not been ideal, it has worked.
Until last weekend.
Hugh delivered a box of Guides to Candlelight Headquarters last Thursday.
The idea was to provide every Candlelight ticket holder with a copy of “Discover Jefferson & Marion County.”
That way, guests would have their hands on local listings and maps and ads about local businesses—B&Bs, eateries, attractions.
They were already here. Let’s keep them here—the thought was.
And, “Discover Jefferson & Marion County,” along with the Jimp, are the only two publications featuring every home on the tour.
Giving a guide to every guest provided a great service to our tourism community.
We did it last year. It makes sense.
At least, that’s what we thought.
Apparently, the Foundation disagrees.
We were informed last Thursday that the Guides had been removed from the public space used as their tour headquarters.
The competition wasn’t welcome there.
The competition who is interested in helping local businesses grow.
The competition who provides affordable tourism marketing.
The competition who does business locally at all costs.
The competition who markets their event for free in multiple mediums.
We told them the City liked the Guide and the Courthouse is a public space—there is no reason it shouldn’t be there.
We were told we were “politically bullying” the Foundation and our publication wasn’t welcome there.
So, in essence, we were told that Jefferson tourism wasn’t welcome there.
We were told the coffers of the Foundation were more important than the bank accounts of local businesses.
The were told the organization committed to preserving history wasn’t interested in supporting the oldest, most historic business in town.
I don’t pen this editorial with any malice in mind.
Marion County Media is thriving.
Response to our Guide is increasing with each issue.
We haven’t lost any money or sleep over this.
But I’d hate to think any local enterprises have lost any business over it.
I am tired of everyone being asked to pick a team.
No matter to which local entity or organization your hours are spent, we should all be on one team—“Team Jefferson.”
We are all in this together.
The pie is big enough for everyone and we get out of things what we put in them.
We all have different roles to play, but the end goal should be the same—the prosperity of Marion County and its people.
So, to all of you—and the Historic Jefferson Foundation—I ask, “What team are you on?”
Austin Lewter is the co-publisher and editor of The Jefferson Jimplecute. He can be reached at jeffersonjimplecute@gmail.com
Locations Discover Jefferson & Marion County is distributed:
- Businesses in City of Jefferson
- Businesses in County (Crestwood, Avinger, Brushy Creek areas)
- Atlanta State Park
- Lehnis RR Museum, Brownsville
- Corsicana Texas Visitor Information Center
- Dennison Texas Visitor Information Center
- Fredericksburg Texas Visitor Information Center
- Gainesville Texas Visitor Information Center
- Grand Prairie Texas Visitor Information Center
- Grapevine Texas Visitor Information Center
- Holly Lake Ranch
- Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce
- Bay Area/Houston CVB
- Longview Chamber of Commerce
- Orange Texas Visitor Information Center
- City of Plano
- Stephenville Chamber of Commerce
- Terrell Chamber of Commerce
- Tyler Area Chamber of Commerce
- Village of Salado
- Texarkana Texas Visitor Information Center
- Waskom Texas Visitor Information Center
- Wichita Falls Texas Visitor Information Center
- Individual Subscribers