10 APRIL 2017 ARCAD A NEWS Arcadia News publisher reveals the process and passion behind paper’s iconic covers As a monthly publication, the Arcadia News only has 12 chances a year to make a first impression on readers. Our cover format is unique as far as newspapers go, since we allot 65% of it to photo space. That cover needs to encourage readers to dive in and see what else we have to offer. It needs to set the tone, whether it’s seasonal or a part of one of our feature stories. We have won several national awards specifically for our covers. I think many of the overall “Best of Show” and “General Excellence” awards for Arcadia News were decided because we stood out with our unique appearance. The cover might make all the difference to the judges for the content inside, (insert joke about judging a book by its cover) whether it’s for a contest or a reader. Here are my 10 favorite covers, in no particular order. I’ve added some comments about each, for a peek behind the scenes at what went into these creations. — Greg Bruns, Publisher of Arcadia News . 1. Matt McMurry. One of the most popular covers of all time, this image just exudes cool. At the time, 14-year-old Matt McMurry had his sights set on the LeMans 24-hour car race, which he accomplished in 2014. He’s still racing and we’re hoping to do a follow-up story soon. 2. Barney. If you want to move newspapers, put a 180-pound gentle giant like Barney on the cover. With his cute little cask of happy juice and a Santa hat, this loving therapy dog brought smiles to everyone in the Arcadia News office, which made him an obvious choice for the cover. Barney is a huge Cardinals fan (read the story to find out why) and visits Phoenix Children’s Hospital and other hospitals, facilities and organizations around the Valley. 3. 100 Years of Change. If it weren’t for the McCulloch Brothers, there would be little visual history of Phoenix and the surrounding area from 1890-1950. This image looking south from the slope of Camelback Mountain on 56th Street told a simple tale of the changes in Arcadia over the past 100 years. I waited up on that mountain for about an hour for that Cadillac Escalade to come into view for my “today” shot, to give a little contrast of what appears to be an early model Ford Town Car in the original. 1 2 3 Arcadia News 25 th Anniversary Feature

11 APRIL 2017 ARCAD A NEWS 4. Roller Derby Mamas for Mother’s Day. The “Coffin Draggers” (team name) compete in the Arizona Derby Dames league and were featured in a special Mother’s Day exposé. The Derby Dames compete locally and nationally on one of the few banked roller tracks in the country. The women all pay to play on their own time and dime, purchasing their equipment and crafting their unique costumes (and providing their own health insurance). These audacious ladies are tough and the competition is fierce. I loved the unorthodox nature of the cover and the photo story that went with. Award-winning photographer Brant Clinard captured some spectacular shots. Just so you know, the Roller Derby Dames playoffs start in April: arizonaderbydames.com. 5. The Marvin Bunch. Our search for a unique Mother’s Day story led us to the Marvin family. Joe and Danya are special people, who have adopted children from China, Korea and Ethiopia. They have since started fostering children as well. The Brady Bunch idea of a blended family seemed appropriate, so we put together a photo shoot at our office. We built a blue background and photographed everyone individually (except for Joe – sorry!). We found the actual Brady Bunch font and designed the page to match the logo of the classic ‘70s show. 6. David Wright House (DWH). As a fan of architecture and design, I feel fortunate to live in Arcadia, with the David Wright House (DWH) just a short walk away. While researching the history of Arcadia and FLW, I came across an unattributed photo. The background seemed obvious to me, so I went over to the DWH property and snapped some shots from a few different angles, hoping this photo was indeed shot in Arcadia so we could use it for our upcoming feature about the DWH. I created an overlay in Photoshop and matched up one of the photos I took to the one on the cover. I sent my forensic photo details to the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, and after some verification they added my new information to the image. This gave the foundation a historic account of FLW in Arcadia, and it gave us an outstanding cover photo. 4 6 5 Arcadia News 25 th Anniversary Feature