Mid-America Publishing Corporation is pleased to announce its purchase of The Aurelia Star and Marcell Publishing, LLC from Marci Brown, of Cherokee, effective December 14, 2016.

The Star will be added to the Hampton-based corporations growing roster of 31 Iowa weekly newspapers and shoppers.

Other nearby papers also owned by Mid-America include those in Holstein, Ida Grove, and Lake City.  “We are excited to assume the ownership of The Aurelia Star,” said Mid-America Publishing’s President and CEO, Ryan Harvey. “We believe this fits naturally with our western Iowa properties and our company as a whole. Marci has done a phenomenal job at re-building the Star and we are eager to carry her momentum forward.”

Marci’s decision to sell the paper was ultimately related to her decision to retire.

“We want to thank Marci for allowing Mid-America to continue the legacy of the Star,” Matt Grohe Mid-America Publishing Corporation added. “We know she’s put her heart and soul into the paper and we look forward to working with the local community to provide the most robust news product possible going forward.”

Harvey will assume the duties and title of publisher of the newspaper while the staff of the Courier and Advance will remain responsible for day to day operations in the interim.

As part of its new ownership Mid-America will be looking to add a part-time local writer and photographer to enhance coverage of local news and events.

“We believe a local newspaper needs to have local content,” Grohe said. “That’s why our mission going forward with the Aurelia Star is the same as with every paper we publish, and that is to use the paper to tell the stories of the local residents, report on local events, and provide strong coverage of local government at the city, county, and school district levels. We’ve been very happy with the product the staff in Ida Grove and Holstein has been able to produce since ownership changes there and we fully expect to replicate our success there here in Aurelia by providing unique content, compelling photos and quality journalism for the folks in the region.”

The publication will join Mid-America’s portfolio of weekly newspapers which aside from the Courier, Advance, and Ida County Reminder also include: The Calmar Courier; Postville Herald; The Outlook, in Monona; The Eldora Herald-Ledger and Hardin County Index, with an office in Eldora; The Leader, with offices in Garner and Britt; the Grundy Register, in Grundy Center; the Buffalo Center Tribune; the Parkersburg Eclipse-News-Review; the Wright County Monitor, in Clarion and Dows; the Eagle Grove Eagle; the Buffalo Center Tribune, The Pioneer Enterprise (Rockwell-Thornton), The Sheffield Press; The Hampton Chronicle; The Butler County Tribune-Journal (Allison); the Clarksville Star, The Ogden Reporter, and The Graphic-Advocate, with offices in Lake City and Rockwell City.

The company also owns and operates newspapers in southeast Iowa, namely, The News-Review, in Sigourney, The Keota Eagle, Keota, and The Sun with offices in New Sharon and Fremont. The company additionally produces two weekly political newspapers, the Conservative Chronicle and the Liberal Opinion Week as well as several TMC shoppers, such as The Hampton Chronicle’s Bonus in Hampton, The Spectrum in Lake City-Rockwell City, The Leader’s Shopper News Review in Garner, The Reminder in Ida Grove; and the Wright County Reminder in Clarion; plus monthly shoppers such as The Dual County Leader in Eagle Grove and the Keokuk County Chief in Sigourney.

Additionally, the company publishes north central Iowa’s only Latino-oriented newspaper, Viva Iowa! which serves Franklin and Wright Counties. Mid-America also operates a custom printing division, Mid-America Business and Personal Printing, that offers individualized printing and publishing solutions such as banners, posters, postcards, direct mailing, mailing list management, letter head design, newsletter management and dozens of other marketing and promotional products which it plans to make available locally in the Alta and Aurelia area. Mid-America Publishing Corporation is a closely held family run company owned primarily by the granddaughter of the founder, Willard D. Archie, Jeanette M. Grohe, and her husband Matt Grohe, who also serves as the company’s Chairman and corporate Vice President. The Grohe family has extensive ties to area with the board secretary, Ronald Grohe, having grown up in Alta, Storm Lake and Hartley. Ron is also the brother in law of Nona Grohe and uncle to Sue Grohe Roberts and Kelli Hirschman, Aurelia residents.

From the outset, several major changes will be evident with the Star. Namely, as part of the changeover the newspaper’s billing and circulation will be consolidated to the company’s home office in Hampton effective immediately. The printing of the newspaper will also move to the company’s Hampton facility and a new website and Facebook presence for the newspaper will be launched within a few weeks. The newspaper will continue with its same email address however which will remain Aurstar@gmail.com. The paper will also retain its current mailing address.

To reach the office, please call the Ida Grove location at 712-364-3131 for immediate assistance during business hours. Readers will note that the newsstand price will also be increasing from .75 cents to $1 effective next week and will be available at all of the same newsstand locations by Tuesday afternoons at 3 p.m. Also, effective immediately fees for publication of full obituaries will be $25. Engagement and birthday announcements will now cost $5 as well while a wedding announcement will be $10.

As far as the actual paper itself, the paper size will be a slightly wider format, expanding from a 25.5-inch web to a 28-inch web format.  The format reflects the width of all other Mid-America papers which will allows advertising customers the opportunity to easily place advertising from the Star into any of the company’s other newspapers, and allows Mid-America to include other area social news and photographs of possible interest to local readers seamlessly into the format.

Readers can find more information on this story and additional coverage of the newspaper’s transition in next week’s Star. Thank you for your past, present and future support of the Aurelia Star!