Top 10 West Carleton Online stories for February
WEST CARLETON – It’s the shortest month of the year, but we were so busy covering West Carleton, we had more stories, and more visitors than ever before.
February was a wild month for news in West Carleton so we expanded our monthly Top Five stories look-back to include our Top 10 stories. In February, we published 142 stories on West Carleton Online.
Lots of variety in February’s Top 10, but the one thing they all have in common, West Carleton Online was either the first media outlet to publish these stories, or the only news outlet to cover these stories. We are growing every day, but we still need your support to make sure West Carleton has a reliable, current and accurate news service covering our wonderful community.
- Warriors good deeds getting noticed (720 views)
If we were a betting news service, this would have been our pick for Number One – it’s no surprise the biggest story in February was also the biggest story in Ottawa. This was the first one in our continuing coverage of this amazing story. We were the first to share the good news of the West Carleton Warriors making the Top 10, we were the first to report the Warriors making the Top Three, we were there when the team brought out the buckets on Sept. 22, 2018 and we were there when the players hoisted the cup on the Rideau Canal.
It was a huge fire that has left five homeless. We weren’t allowed on site during the fire, but we have been covering the story ever since – see top story number 10.
Our competition scoffed at our publication of this story a week or so ago on our social media account. They said people could find out that information somewhere else. We think the competition may need to refine their ‘news sense.’
Another West Carleton fire in a month that had four – three homes and one barn. Twenty years of experience working with fire departments from Ottawa to Deep River has taught us, the coldest months of the year are also the most dangerous for fires.
A fun story on a new brewery and restaurant in the middle of Carp, owned and operated by four local boys from Dunrobin and Carp, including NHL’er Calvin de Haan.
Another Warriors story. We wanted to encourage the community to continue to support their Warriors even though the voting portion of the contest was over. We also wanted to shine a spotlight on the parents of the players who were working as hard as their kids to serve their community.
Three of our Top 10 stories are related to those incredible Warrior hockey players. This story was just a small update, but its popularity shows how important the Warriors are to their community. We have no doubt, our story on the winning announcement will be on next month’s Top 10 – Warriors win $100,000 for WCDR, only posted two days ago, already has 590 reads.
We loved this story. In our mind it captured the spirit of a community. The carnival was a newsmaker because of what it represented – all the different ways a community responds following a tragedy (the tornado). The kids, were there to have fun, not talk tornado. This story also has our favourite photo we have taken so far – an egg race on skates. The smiles in this photo brings a tear to our eyes.
- Cavanagh talks concrete (173)
This growing story, about a potential concrete batching plant on Carp Road, is growing each week, and so far, we are the only media outlet covering it. So far, we have spoken to nearby residents, the Huntley Community Association and Cavanagh Construction representatives in our continuing coverage. This week we find out if the zoning amendment will be approved at the Agriculture and Rural Affairs committee level.
Always difficult to speak to the victim of a tragedy (less difficulty than being the victim though). We spoke to Samantha Phillips who lived in the home with her husband and three close friends. They lost everything in the fire including several beloved pets. We thank Samantha for talking to us (which was very difficult for her) and we only hope brining attention to the tragedy will help those affected recover that much quicker. Because it takes a community to support a community.
We hope you enjoyed our February Top 10. We hope you will add additional comments on your thoughts of these, and any stories we write. And if you haven’t subscribed yet, we hope you will consider doing so. Absolutely nobody covers West Carleton better (and currently we are doing it on a shoestring budget). For $50 a year, you will have access to the best, the fastest and the most reliable news service covering West Carleton available. We are locally owned and operated and we love West Carleton.
