New Canaan is, happily, a community of participators. Residents show up—to council meetings, to concerts, ice cream socials, ribbon cuttings, to food drives, fundraisers, and Turkey Bowl games. People volunteer, donate, coach, serve. Amid this civic symphony, there is one question we are asked at the New Canaan Sentinel more than any other: “How do I get my event—or team, or initiative—into the paper?”
It’s a reasonable question. And the answer, perhaps surprisingly, lies in a smaller one: “Do you read the paper?”
For those who do, the process is not a secret. In almost every edition, on nearly every page, there are invitations—quiet but constant—to contribute. Email addresses are listed; links are included. Submission guidelines are printed. Photographs are welcomed. And now in our daily email, The Top 5 Things To Do in New Canaan Today, there are requests for submissions often.
Community events are not just covered—they are cultivated through partnership with those who make them happen. The newspaper is not a one-way medium but an open forum of shared experiences.
This bears repeating: supporting your local newspaper is not solely an endorsement of journalism, though it is surely that. It is an affirmation of the value of common life. “To be civilized,” wrote Walter Lippmann, “is to be able to read the newspaper and know how to respond.” A local paper is more than newsprint and ink—it is the record of how a community responds to itself.
Within its pages, one finds the essential infrastructure of civic memory: the listing of worship services, the announcing of events, the honoring of lives well lived. One reads the results of last week’s sporting matches and sees the young athlete mid-stride, hopefully suspended in a photograph of fleeting triumph. One finds budget discussions laid plain, not buried in bureaucracy but rendered legible, civic, and, yes, often passionate. It is here that a resident learns of the new business on Elm Street, which card and board games are hotly contested at the Lapham Center, or the triumphs of a local volunteer organization.
All this, of course, is costly. Not morally, but materially. Paper, ink, delivery, editing, design—these are not abstractions but real expenses. Subscriptions matter. So do advertisements. Each dollar is not just support—it is participation in a shared civic undertaking.
We say this not as reproach, but as encouragement. For the best newspapers are not scolds—they are stewards. And this one seeks, above all, to be a faithful steward of the life of this town. If you have a story to tell, tell it to us. If you have a photo, send it. If your nonprofit is hosting an event, share the details. If your house of worship is reflecting on a season of meaning, let us print those words. Email publisher@NewCanaanSentinel.com or visit www.NewCanaanSentinel.com and choose the “Submit A…” dropdown menu.
The community paper is not the sidelines—it is the field. Join us on it!
The newspaper is not a distant narrator—it is a local mirror. And mirrors only work when someone steps in front of them.
And so we invite you: read the paper. Subscribe. Send a clipping to a relative. Buy an ad for your business or bake sale or blood drive. Celebrate your children in these pages. Celebrate each other.
We are already a town of participants. Let’s make sure we are, as well, a town of readers.
Submit a letter to the editor here: https://www.newcanaansentinel.com/letter-to-the-editor/
