Hometown newspapers are small businesses, just like the hardware store, the cafe, or the auto repair shop. They’re not just “media.” They’re employers, sponsors, storytellers, and neighbors, and their work ripples through every corner of the community. This year, collaboration is a focus of ours at SaveYour.Town, and I want to talk about how newspapers and local businesses can truly work…
You want to open a place to eat in your small town. Maybe a coffee shop, a little cafe, a bakery. You’ve been thinking about it for months, maybe years. But you’re not sure if enough people will come. You don’t know what they’ll actually order. You’re not certain you can handle running it day after day. Here’s how to find out before you spend serious money: borrow the community hall and start…
Hometown newspapers are small businesses, just like the hardware store, the cafe, or the auto repair shop. They’re not just “media.” They’re employers, sponsors, storytellers, and neighbors, and their work ripples through every corner of the community.
This year, collaboration is a focus of ours at SaveYour.Town, and I want to talk about how newspapers and local businesses can truly work together. Both sides bring value. Your newspaper can be an incredible resource for your business, and your support helps keep local journalism strong.
Newspapers still do something better than almost anyone else: they get local information in front of local people. When you’ve got something to share—a new product, an event, a success story—send a press release to every paper you can: your hometown, nearby towns, and regional outlets.
A good advertising department won’t just print your story, they’ll help you build on it. They might mock up ads, stop by your business, or help turn that small piece of news into a bigger presence. Local stories and local advertising work hand in hand, keeping attention, dollars, and pride right where they belong: in your community.
If they don’t do this automatically, you can do it yourself: mockup your own ad and ask about it when carrying the press release.
In one small town, the local newspaper ran photos of everyone who bought a seat in the Save the Webster Theater fundraiser. People cut out their pictures, shared them, and proudly showed them off. That’s the magic of local journalism—it celebrates people, connects neighbors, and turns ordinary moments into community pride.
No social media algorithm can do that. Only someone who knows the people and the place can.
What could you do like that in your community?
Marketing in newspapers used to be the way to reach your audience. Now, it’s part of a mix that includes social media, email newsletters, and websites. Successful newspapers have adapted; they’re publishing both online and in print, meeting readers where they are.
Your local paper might even offer digital ads, social media promotions, or direct marketing campaigns. Those “new ways” are built on the trust and relationships newspapers have earned over decades. Going digital doesn’t replace print—it expands your reach while keeping your connection local.
Your hometown paper already captures the heartbeat of your community—business updates, church events, reunions, and celebrations. Now’s the time to think about how to collaborate more deeply.
How can your business and your newspaper co-create campaigns, share stories, and build relationships that last? When you work together, everyone benefits. The stories are richer, the economy is stronger, and the sense of pride runs deeper.
Supporting your local newspaper is part of “shop local.” A town that values its local news invests in its own future. When local media lose revenue, you feel it—in fewer stories, less coverage, and fewer opportunities to connect. Supporting your paper means investing in your town’s voice—and your business benefits from that, too.
Newspapers can strengthen their community connection by telling their own story. Don’t assume people know what you do—show them.
Many of you already show up at council meetings, Friday night games, and ribbon cuttings. You share obituaries, honor rolls, and community milestones—let us know where to find those stories online, too.
A simple “Work With Us” webpage or one-sheet can make advertising easier for local businesses. Include who your readers are, which sections perform best, and when seasonal peaks happen. That turns your newspaper from “a place to buy ads” into “a partner that helps small businesses grow.”
Here’s what could go on that page or a simple one-sheet:
Small businesses and newspapers need each other. Let’s move beyond “Do you want to buy an ad?” and instead ask, “How can we work together long-term?”
Try things like:
These steps can turn newspapers from simple ad vendors into trusted community partners and problem-solvers.
You want to open a place to eat in your small town. Maybe a coffee shop, a little cafe, a bakery. You’ve been thinking about it for months, maybe years.
But you’re not sure if enough people will come. You don’t know what they’ll actually order. You’re not certain you can handle running it day after day.
Here’s how to find out before you spend serious money: borrow the community hall and start testing.
Try Wing Night Wednesdays (or make it your own)
At the Canadian Beef Industry Conference, a couple from a town of just a few hundred people mapped out their action on one of my postcards:
Before they left the conference, they’d texted someone about using the hall. By the next day, they had permission and had recruited friends to help make wings and invite others.
They’re testing whether their town wants a place to eat, and they’re doing it without buying equipment, signing a lease, or quitting their jobs.
What you learn
Running regular meetups at the community hall tells you things you can’t learn any other way:
Do people actually show up? You might think everyone wants a coffee shop, but will they come out on a Tuesday morning for Coffee and Pastries?
What do people want? You’re planning a lunch place, but you discover people keep asking if you’re open for breakfast.
What time works? You thought dinner would be big, but your town empties out at 6 PM because everyone’s at their kids’ activities.
Can you handle it? Cooking for 20 people once a week is different than running a daily operation. This lets you test your own capacity.
What does it actually cost? You’ll learn your food costs, your time investment, what you can charge, and whether the math works.
Who are your customers? Maybe you’re targeting families but it’s retired folks who show up consistently.
Build your base before you open
Here’s the bonus: everyone who comes to Wing Night Wednesdays is a potential customer when you do open. You’re not starting from zero trying to convince strangers to try your new place. You’ve already got relationships.
They know your food. They trust you. They’ve been rooting for you to make this happen.
Some of them might even invest or help when you’re ready to take the next step.
You don’t need much to start
Can’t afford a food truck or trailer? Don’t need one yet.
Most small towns have a community hall, church kitchen, or VFW post you can use. Some will let you use it for free or minimal cost, especially if you’re serving the community.
All you need is enough to make your test menu. Wings and fries. Coffee and muffins. Soup and sandwiches. Whatever you’re planning to serve.
Start monthly if weekly feels like too much. Start with just desserts and coffee if a full menu is overwhelming.
The point is to start small enough that you actually do it.
What if it doesn’t work?
Maybe you discover your town won’t support daily operations, but monthly gatherings work great. That’s valuable information before you invest in equipment and commit to overhead.
Maybe you learn people want breakfast, not lunch. Or they want a food truck at the farmer’s coop, not a sit-down restaurant. Now you can adjust your plan.
Maybe you realize you don’t want to do this every day. Better to learn that now.
Or maybe someone else in the group says “I’ve always wanted to do this” and you end up partnering or handing off the idea entirely.
None of these outcomes require you to lose money or make a commitment you can’t undo.
Start testing
You don’t need a business plan or a loan or perfect conditions. You need permission to use a kitchen and enough food for your first gathering.
Pick a date. Send some invites. Make some wings (or muffins, or soup, or whatever you’re planning to serve).
See who shows up. See what they order. See if you can handle it.
Then decide what comes next.
What’s your Wing Night Wednesday?
In 1938 LIFE magazine took its readers to a place that is even more exotic today than it was back then—the streets of a hastily constructed oil boom town in South Texas.
The town was called Freer, which is a little more than 100 miles south of San Antonio. It wasn’t much of a place at all until some wildcatters struck oil there in 1928, and then a massive well began pumping in 1932. As described by the Texas Historical Society, “By 1933 Freer was the second-largest oilfield in the United States and had attracted a flood of settlers from Oklahoma, Kansas, and other midwestern states.”
LIFE staff photographer Carl Mydans visited Freer in 1938 about found a town that was bustling but ramshackle, set up to suit the needs of roughneck mercenaries. The story was headlined “Freer: Biggest of Oil’s New Boom Towns Squats in the Muds of Texas.” The magazine described the residents of Freer by saying, “They buy only essentials for living, gamble away most of their earnings.” LIFE declared that “Freer may well be last the of the tough frontier oil towns.”
Mydans’ photos do a wonderful job of taking viewers to a place that looks like a slightly modernized version of the old West. There are cars downtown, for sure, but men sit in saloons in to drinking and play dominos. One restaurant is a shack with a tarp for a roof. The main street of the town was unpaved, which meant that when it rained cars got stuck in the mud.
Perhaps the image that best captures the sobering reality of life in Freers is one of a group of kids crowded into in a shack that would be smaller than a living room in most modern homes. That shack was the entire living quarters for two families.
The population of Freer in the 1930s is estimated at between 5,000 to 8,000 people. In 2024 the population was 2,352. So at least from that one narrow perspective, these images are of the town at its heyday—and LIFE’s photographer was one of many who came to plumb its riches.
The frontier oil town of Freer, Texas, 1938.
Carl Mydans/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
The frontier oil town of Freer, Texas, 1938.
Carl Mydans/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
The frontier oil town of Freer, Texas, 1938.
Carl Mydans/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
The frontier oil town of Freer, Texas, 1938.
Carl Mydans/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
The frontier oil town of Freer, Texas, 1938.
Carl Mydans/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
The frontier oil town of Freer, Texas, 1938.
Carl Mydans/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
The frontier oil town of Freer, Texas, 1938, where the unpaved streets could get muddy after a rain.
Carl Mydans/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
The frontier oil town of Freer, Texas, 1938, where the unpaved streets could get muddy after a rain.
Carl Mydans/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
The frontier oil town of Freer, Texas, 1938.
Carl Mydans/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
The frontier oil town of Freer, Texas, 1938.
Carl Mydans/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
The frontier oil town of Freer, Texas, 1938.
Carl Mydans/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
The frontier oil town of Freer, Texas, 1938.
Carl Mydans/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
The barber in Freer, Texas., a frontier oil town, 1938.
Carl Mydans?Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
The frontier oil town of Freer, Texas, 1938.
Carl Mydans/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
The frontier oil town of Freer, Texas, 1938.
Carl Mydans/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
The frontier oil town of Freer, Texas, 1938.
Carl Mydans/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Carl Pugh was the chief of police in Freer, Texas, a frontier oil town, 1938.
Carl Mydans/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Carl Pugh was the chief of police in Freer, Texas, a frontier oil town, 1938.
Carl Mydans/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
The frontier oil town of Freer, Texas, 1938.
Carl Mydans/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
The frontier oil town of Freer, Texas, 1938.
Carl Mydans/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
The frontier oil town of Freer, Texas, 1938.
Carl Mydans/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
The frontier oil town of Freer, Texas, 1938.
Carl Mydans/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
The families of two oil workers shared this shack as their residence in the frontier oil town of Freer, Tex., 1938.
Carl Mydans/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
A church in the frontier oil town of Freer, Texas, 1938.
Carl Mydans/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
The frontier oil town of Freer, Texas, 1938.
Carl Mydans/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
The frontier oil town of Freer, Texas, 1938.
Carl Mydans/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
The post “The Last of the Tough Frontier Oil Towns” appeared first on LIFE.
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