Pass Herald Celebrates Ninety Five Years!

The Pass Herald is celebrating ninety five years this year, marking nearly a century of stories, people, and community life in the Crowsnest Pass. The paper began in 1930 as the Pass Daily Herald, founded by Orlando Albert Al Botter and printed on a simple Gestetner duplicator for the mining towns along the valley. In those early days it carried the everyday heartbeat of the community. Mine news, council arguments, union meetings, family milestones, new businesses, and the small moments that defined life in the Pass.

As the decades moved on the paper changed hands, and by 1950 Trevor Buddy Slapak had become editor and owner. He shaped the Heralds modern voice through his lifelong commitment to community journalism, a career honoured with a Gold Quill Award for more than fifty years of service. In 1968, Gail Wrixon later Sygutek purchased the paper and guided it into a new era of independent family ownership. Gail also earned a Silver Quill for more than twenty five years in the industry. Today, that family tradition continues under second generation publisher Lisa Sygutek, who joined the paper in 1999 and has also earned a Silver Quill.

Even as printing methods changed from typewriters and darkrooms to modern digital tools, the Herald has stayed true to its roots. It still covers the same kinds of stories it carried in 1930. Council decisions, school news, local sports, business changes, community debates, and the milestones of daily life.

Out of eighty two newspapers still publishing in Alberta and nearby regions, the Crowsnest Pass Herald ranks as the eighth oldest, with its history reaching back to 1930.

At ninety five years old the Pass Herald remains the second oldest business in the Crowsnest Pass, and above all, the written memory of a community that continues to grow while still valuing a strong local voice.

Written by Lisa Sygutek, Pass Herald, Crowsnest Pass

Visit passherald.ca