The recent editorial in The Beachcomber about changing delivery to Thursdays indicated that The Beachcomber has been delivered on Wednesdays “For as long as anyone we have talked to can remember.”

In this digital age, memories are growing short. The return to Thursdays publication has a long and hallowed history on the island. The Vashon Island News was printed on Fridays in 1907 but soon changed to Thursdays when its rival the Vashon Island Record began publishing on Thursdays in 1915.

Yes, Vashon did have two rival newspapers, one printed in Burton, the News, and one in Vashon, the Record. When the News was sold to the Record in 1919, the combined Vashon Island News-Record continued to be printed on Thursdays until the News-Record printed its last edition in 1958. The newly created Beachcomber, which bought the News-Record, also printed on Thursdays until 1995, when it was purchased by Sound Publishing and the print date was changed to Wednesdays. Changing the print date of The Beachcomber back to Thursdays is nothing new, but rather a return to the long tradition of Thursday printings that began in 1915 and persisted until 1995.

We should celebrate the return to this 80-year tradition of Thursday printing and delivery of our Vashon newspaper.

— Bruce Haulman