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A Disservice to Readers

Thanks to everyone who came out for the June 24 Blue Wave Fest at the Chester Fairgrounds to celebrate the rising tide of democracy, and the importance of voting in every election. We especially thank the organizing efforts of an unprecedented coalition of 15 Democratic town committees from the entire Lower Connecticut River Valley and Shoreline (Chester, Clinton, Colchester, Deep River, Essex, East Haddam, East Hampton, Haddam, Killingworth, Lyme, Madison, Old Lyme, Old Saybrook, Portland, and Westbrook). The work and outreach of these town committees was crucial to the success of the day.

The festival attracted more than 700 people, 21 issue speakers, and another 20 candidates for local, state and federal office, along with 35 exhibitor organizations covering every major issue. Food, donated by the 15 towns, along with refreshments, children’s activities, and great music donated by local artists punctuated the festive afternoon. (For more information, visit Blue Wave Fest on Facebook and www.bluewavefest.com.)

With such a major local event, we were disappointed that the Valley Courier provided no news coverage about it—before or after. Our press release, sent a month prior (and followed up), was ignored; we were finally forced to buy an expensive, last-minute ad to alert local residents. For an event of this size and scope, the lack of news coverage (beyond a digital, three-line skeletal calendar notice) was shocking to our 15-town co-sponsors, and a disservice to many readers who might have wanted to attend. As the region’s largest and most widely read newspaper, is there not a public service obligation to provide local, timely, substantive hard-copy news to your readers? We think so.

Marta Daniels, Chair

Blue Wave Fest

Chester

Editor’s note: In addition to the above-mentioned online notice, the Courier and its sister papers the Harbor News and The Source, which serve the participating communities, included the event in our printed calendars and as a separate news item in the June 21 editions.