Taylor County trivia game connects the past with the present
We love our local history in Taylor County. Whether you’ve been here for five years or your family has lived here for generations, the people in this area have always had a hearty appreciation for where they came from. Folks come into the office of the Star News and talk about how their grandfather was a reporter at the paper when he was a spry young man, or how their family was one of the first to settle in their township.
And it seems what we remember most are the stories, the collective memories passed down from our loved ones that have shaped us into the people we are today. It’s the same reason why people love the living section and the time machines. For fifteen minutes each week, we travel back in time, 15 years, 50 years, 150 years, reliving the events that were important to those who came before us. We chuckle at some of the things that made the news at the time, like in 1885 when the paper proudly declared the skating rink’s name is Dennis. And we empathize with the disasters and sicknesses that our predecessors faced seemingly all too often, thankful for their grit and their resolve to stick it out, for where would we be if they hadn’t?
As a community we’re proud of where we came from, and just like our grandparents and great-great grandparents we’re working to preserve history and honor our traditions. Every year we each attend festivals and parades, meetings and luncheons, celebrations and grand openings. We take pictures and share them with our friends and we wait for the layout in the paper, hoping to spot someone we know or that our own picture wasn’t the most awful thing that anyone has ever seen.
There’s nothing newspapers love more than documenting history and retelling your stories for those who will come after us. Our team blazes the same trail as some of the first publishers, editors and reporters in Taylor County. We connect with the community and showcase your victories; we celebrate with you when your business expands and when your kid takes the regional title and we mourn with you when we see your loved ones’ obituaries, reading their names aloud when they come across our desks.
The connection between newspaper and reader has always been strong and deep, especially in Taylor County, and we celebrate the chance to connect with you every opportunity we get. We do it through our coloring contests, raffles, and picture searches. We’re constantly seeking ways to honor and mark that relationship. It’s how the Taylor County Trivia game was born.
When we look at it, we don’t see a game board and trivia cards. To us here at the Star News, Taylor County Trivia represents you, our readers. The board is comprised of the businesses that you and your forebears founded with your own blood, sweat, and tears. It’s made of the foundations and programs that are the heartbeat of Taylor County. From the cover to the cards, every centimeter was created to revel in the unique blend of people and experiences that make this region what it is.
44 area businesses and programs participated in the project, each submitting trivia questions related to services or products offered and the history of their organization, like Broadway Theatre who challenges you to remember the original name of the cinema on Hwy 64, or the Rotary Club who quizzes you on their logo. The Romig family of Romig’s Hardware & Plumbing in Gilman recognizes the value in maintaining our history. Their old-fashioned ice cream parlor is decorated with photos that offer a glimpse of a time where cars were just starting to replace horses and buggies. They believe that businesses play a part in part in preserving and promoting the history of our community by helping to remind people where they came from. Darrell Romig hopes that their participation in Taylor County Trivia will help build connections, stating, “It may get the locals and visitors to meet each other and become friends.”
As a business, of course we want people to buy the game. That goes without saying. But the focus of the Star News has never been money, and the purpose behind the creation of Taylor County Trivia goes beyond that. It’s an opportunity, a chance to sit down with your family at the kitchen table with a bowl of popcorn, ribbing each other about who among you is the biggest cheater and laughing as you try to guess which area business claims to be #1 in a #2 business.
The game is a time capsule, a snapshot of a moment of time in Taylor County because change is inevitable and nothing stays the same. Maybe you’ll play it with your neighbors or your kids a few times before putting it on the shelf to rest with your other games as you look for opportunities to create new memories. Maybe you’ll pack it away in the basement and forget about it until your junk piles up and it’s time for a yard sale. Years later you’ll pull it out of an old tote and dust it off, and you’ll hold a living, breathing chronicle that represents both our past and our future at the same time.
When we offer our online subscription to our customers most of them request to have the digital newspaper as well as the flesh and blood copy, preferring to hold the paper in their hands. If you’re like us, you look forward to the smell of the ink and the brisk crack of the pages as you turn them each week. As gatekeepers of our history, we’re so excited to offer you another piece of our collective narrative that can be held in your hands.
Thank you for always sharing in these opportunities with us. We look forward to playing with you.
