Hello Winter Texan Friends! This here is our Volume 40 – 40 years of the Winter Texan Times!

It’s amazing how things have changed in the last 40 years. I began working for Mission Publishing in 1996. Back then we used our computers mostly for writing our stories and formatting it for our column width. We would use clip art from CD’s and make it the size we needed or border tape for building ads – along with using the computer to format text. Then, nearly everything was built using lined paper and a light table, and a lot of melted wax.

It was a tedious task, and we had to make sure everything stayed together. A roller was a big help, but sometimes things would fall off. The term, ‘check for any chickens’ became a saying in the office when things were being finalized and proofed before sending it off to the press. This came about when an image of a chicken fell off someone’s ad and landed where it shouldn’t have been – and it got published that way. So before sending it off to the press, we would say ‘Check for any chickens’ just to make sure we took a closer look at those fine details.

I remember taking clip art out of a book, making a copy of it, and then using the copier to either make it bigger or smaller, to get exactly what we needed for an ad. There was a lot of resizing and finessing in those tasks.

We would cut up the printed-out stories, send them through the hot wax machine, and then put it on the grid sheet. Measure lines, even things out where needed, and make sure things fit just right. This is when we would decide if a paragraph needed to be left out, if there needed to be some extra editing, or anything else to make sure the story got published.

Oh…. And don’t forget about the dark room. Developing our own photos for print, again trying to get the exact size needed – there was some math involved.

It’s amazing the progress that has been made in graphic design that what a team of four or more did 30 years ago, can now be done by one person. Everything is on the computer now. From photos, to stories, to artwork, everything can be found online, in a program, or with software. Formatting is a breeze. You don’t have to reprint something if you accidentally cut it wrong, or your hand slips. It’s a quick cut and paste, insert this or that, and wham – you have a masterpiece.

Okay, it isn’t that easy, but it is definitely faster than it used to be.

As we go about this season, we would like to celebrate our 40 years, by sharing your 40 years in the Valley. We want to see how long you have been coming to Valley or know how long your park has been seeing Winter Texans. Share your times with us, share your photos from back then. If you have been coming here for more than 20 years, we want to know, we want to know what you enjoyed back then, and what keeps you coming. Send your items to us at news@wintertexantimes.com.