The ''Neepawa Banner & Press'' is a newspaper in Neepawa,

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

. Established in 1989 by Ken and Christine Waddell, the paper was originally named the ''Neepawa Banner''. The paper's first edition was printed on October 29, 1989, and included an initial print run of 3,000 copies distributed to Neepawa and surrounding communities. The ''Banner'' office was originally located in the Moyer Dental building on Mountain Avenue and employed a staff of four. In 1990, the Banner moved to 272 Hamilton Street and later in the ‘90s, to 275 Hamilton Street in Hamilton Square (currently the Town of Neepawa office). In 1998, the paper once again moved, this time to its current location at 243 Hamilton Street. In 1993, the ''Neepawa Banner'' expanded into

Rivers A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

, Manitoba with the purchase of the ''Rivers Gazette-Reporter'' and renamed it the ''Rivers Banner.'' For a short period of time, a third paper, the ''Hamiota Banner'', was established in Hamiota, Manitoba. It operated from 1992-1995. By 2014, the ''Neepawa Banner'' had established its weekly circulation numbers at 8,036 copies.2 - Verified circulation numbers September 6, 2014
The Canadian Community Newspaper Association
/ref> It is currently one of the largest circulation weeklies in rural

, and largest rural weekly in

Western Manitoba The Westman Region (also known as Western Manitoba or simply Westman) is an informal geographic region of the Canadian province of Manitoba located in the southwestern corner of the province. Brandon is the largest urban centre in the Westman R ...

. In September 2015, the ''Banner'' purchased its competition and one of Manitoba's oldest community newspapers, the ''Neepawa Press''. The ''Neepawa Press'', which first published in 1896, was sold by

Glacier Media Group Glacier Media is a Canadian business information and media products company. It provides news, market information and sector-specific data within North America and internationally. Glacier is headquartered in Vancouver. Its primary operations a ...

to the Waddells. The ''Press'' would publish weekly, albeit with some changes in format and distribution. After two years of running the ''Banner'' and the ''Press'' as separate newspapers, the pair were amalgamated. The final edition of the ''Neepawa Press'' as a stand-alone paper was published on September 27, 2017. In 2018, the ''Banner & Press'' employs a workforce of seven full-time employees, several columnists as well as numerous part-time workers who perform flyer stuffing and newspaper distribution duties.

References

{{Reflist Weekly newspapers published in Manitoba