Elkader 10-year-old starts newsletter
Collin Holdsworth holds a copy of the first issue of The Elkader Gazette while visiting the Times-Register office in Elkader. (Photo by Willis Patenaude)
By Willis Patenaude, Times-Register
An ambitious, young entrepreneur resides among us. Ten-year-old Collin Holdsworth is trying to break into the world of newsprint media with a monthly newsletter called The Elkader Gazette.
The homeschooled Collin, who arrived from Texas earlier this year when the Holdsworths decided to move closer to family, was excited to “see something new” and to experience shorter summers without the blistering deep south heat. There is also the scenery—the hills, bluffs and Mississippi River—which has been stirring. “Nice, positive” people have also been encouraging.
The idea to start his own media empire began with a book about careers, plus a tornado in early 2019 while in Texas, and the media coverage that followed.
Collin also had the desire to “do more than run a lemonade stand.”
“There is no profit in lemonade stands,” he said.
But the idea sat dormant until the middle of August, when Collin put the idea to action, declaring, “If an idea could work, I try to do it.” And so, The Elkader Gazette was born.
The newsletter features stories on local places, Collin’s adventures around town, visits to local parks, family snippets, a crossword and a sudoku challenge, as well as advertising for 106.3 FM, which is currently playing Christmas music. The entire operation, from creation to completion, takes place at the family’s home, where Collin writes, researches and crafts the features and his mom edits. The newsletter is printed on the family printer.
One of Collin’s favorite parts about the job is writing the articles, as well as the process of finding stories and “dissecting them.” As the paper moves forward, Collin hopes to expand into more substantial, local news stories and to be taken seriously by the community as an aspiring journalist.
He constantly encourages people to sign up for The Elkader Gazette for free through email at theelkadergazette@yahoo.com, because he “wants everyone to have it.” It also cuts down on production cost, like paper and ink, for the small operation.
When he’s not writing or researching articles, Collin enjoys riding bikes, fishing, listening to Christian radio, reading books like the Boxcar Children and playing with his siblings and other family members.
One of his favorite activities is collecting newspapers, looking at the advertisements and searching for design ideas. Currently, he has over 100 newspapers in his collection, which was featured in the first issue.
“When I was thinking about my newspaper company, I wanted to see different newspaper designs,” Collin said.
Another hobby of Holdworth’s is stopping at the Times-Register office in Elkader to ask questions, seek advice, gather insider information on what it takes to run a newspaper and pick the brain of editor Audrey Posten and reporter Willis Patenaude.
But as is common in new endeavors, Collin encountered a setback during the production of the first issue, when the printer broke down. But Collin is not easily deterred and, thanks to quick thinking and supportive parents, the incident only delayed publication by a month.
The printer fiasco led to the family investing in a new printer, and on Oct. 1, the first edition of The Elkader Gazette was printed, hand delivered and available for public consumption.
When it was all over, Collin said, “I felt like I accomplished something. It’s fun, takes time and is something I wanted to do for a job.”
While his parents are unabashedly proud, Collin’s three younger siblings, Oliver, 8, Evelyn, 3, and Asher, eight months, “are not amazed,” as Collin puts it. “That’s just Collin being Collin,” in their estimation.
Regardless, they are active participants and are sometimes featured in the newsletter. Oliver plays what Collin called the “newspaper game,” where they pretend to print and sell papers from his growing collection.
As for the name of the newsletter, Collin said quite matter of fact, “It just seemed like a nice name.”
It’s a nice name for a nice place. A place where the entrepreneurial spirt is alive and well, especially for a motivated 10-year-old.
