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September, 2005
Message from the Publisher
By Nick Callanan
We hope you liked No Umbrella this summer. We are genuinely proud to bring it to you.
The summer of 2005 saw Maine’s outdoor athletes and recreational-ists continue to maintain their independence of being, and their love and respect for the outdoors. This, despite the ever-present inflow of new ideas, demands and proposals from all sides of the spectrum, pushing and pulling at this perceived commodity: The Outdoors.
I love putting out the No Umbrella because it gives us a place to share our knowledge, our stories and our thoughts about the places we love … in a small way, this publication helps paddlers to get at their own roots, to measure their own personal reasons for getting out there against those expressed in the articles on these pages.
That’s pretty cool, because over time, it’s easy to forget the reasons why you started doing something in the first place. Reading helps add depth to perspective.
In this issue we have several original articles, ranging from a three-river Western rafting tour, to a wild canoe mis-adventure during rainy season on the Androscoggin, to a California Hi-water tour, to the Taylor Pelotte Surf-a-thon, to my article about No Umbrella’s first trip to the Deerfield River fest, to the trusty, crusty Ugly Box.
And so ends the fourth volume of No Umbrella.
The past four years represent a period of tremendous activity in my life. At the beginning of the period, I was fresh off a winter of traveling around America, back in Maine staring straight at a third straight season of full-time Kennebec raft guiding.
To mix things up for myself (and to put my new Journalism degree to good use) I started a raft guide and kayaker newsletter: No Umbrella. Kristen made the drawing that is still on the cover. The publication was two Xeroxed legal-size pages, folded in half to make a booklet. We printed 500 copies of our first issue, June 22, 2002. I had just turned 22.
As I grew, my project grew. The issue you’re holding now is our 25th, and there are 10,000 copies.
The best part about publishing (besides being able to write and print rants like this one) is seeing and meeting all the people your project involves … there’s those who read it, or talk about it; then there’s advertisers or storeowners bouncing crazy ideas around; cashiers grabbing it out of your hand to see who is the Guide of the month; kayakers on the river joking about upcoming articles; then there’s the average citizens suddenly turned published writers, stoked with their name in print.
I think after putting out 25 issues, I can say this: What started as a raft guide/kayaker newsletter, has grown into a raft guide kayaker newsletter that won’t go away!
Seriously, the past four years are a treasure. No matter what happens from here on, I will always have this time. It has been the best four years of my life.
However, I’ve had to make a tough decision. I’m not quite making it back to even with the current setup I have with the No Umbrella: free paper based mostly in the Upper Kennebec Valley and the Katahdin region.
But, this summer was very successful in terms of the quality of stories published and the new people who became involved in No Umbrella.
I am counseled by an overwhelming majority to not fold her up just quite yet.
So, here’s what I’m doing with the No Umbrella:
I am proud to announce our intent to publish 40-page editions of No Umbrella Magazine, available for 75 cents throughout Maine, 8 times a year (four summer issues: JUN, JUL, AUG, SEP. And four winter issues: DEC, JAN, FEB, MAR) beginning with Volume V, Issue 1 in June 2006. That will be our 26th issue.
Why 75 cents? Well, in Maine, a dollar is an awful lot of money to pay for reading material. We’re not exactly Uncle Henry’s here…
But, I know this rag is worth reading – and worth buying. Especially after you see what it will look like next year … 40 pages of No Umbrella!
We hope you like and take advantage of the Holiday Gift Package we have put together for your friends to enjoy come late December. It’s a great deal for you and it’s really going to give your favorite magazine a boost.
So thanks for taking part in No Umbrella this summer. You are it.
Have a great winter.
Email nick [at] noumbrella [dot] com with your questions, comments and concerns.
Design and Content © 2002 to 2006 No Umbrella
