March is a special month for The Parkes Phoenix as we turned six on the 4th and today we celebrate our 300th issue!
When The Parkes Phoenix first hit the streets on 4th March 2016 as a free community paper, residents were not too sure what to make of it. It has since become a Friday feature and stood with the community through tough times of the drought and the COVID pandemic, and celebrated the happy times and achievements.
The Parkes Phoenix is part of the Phoenix Group of Newspapers and over the past six years the paper has changed ownership three times. It was started by Cheryl Newsom, and her daughter Sarah Maynard took over when Cheryl retired in January 2017. The current owner, Joshua Matic, took over in October 2019.
“In the three years that I have owned the Parkes Phoenix we have been through some great challenges, including drought and COVID-19, that have made it difficult to continue to thrive, but I am extremely proud of the way that we’ve done it,” said Joshua.
“To make it to 300 issues after starting in 2016 under the original owner is a wonderful achievement. We are very proud to be a part of the Parkes community and communicate the best news in the Parkes Shire each week.
“We are very excited to see the return of the Parkes Elvis Festival next month. The last installment of it in January 2020 was a huge one and after one year off I think this year’s event will be even bigger and better.
“I would like to thank all of the staff that have worked on The Parkes Phoenix during my time as its owner, particularly Editor Maggi Barnard who has been a part of it since it first began six years ago.”