The Valley Voice

Say hi to Jan and Dan, the owners of the Valley Voice. They’ve owned the newspaper for 19 years now but the paper itself is in its 29th year! When asked what they love most about running the only newspaper in the Slocan Valley, they replied in unison, “because it’s a lot of fun!”. Jan and Dan feel lucky to live in a great community and cover all the great things going on. They see the work they do at the Valley Voice as community service and it drives them every day.

Jan and Dan work on the paper non-stop. Jan does the writing and admin and Dan does the production and graphic design.They do almost absolutely everything themselves (minus the printing), with some help from their fabulous writers and mail room workers. They also deliver the paper all the way from their business in New Denver to Nakusp, Nelson and Kaslo.

The way Dan got into the newspaper industry is pretty wild. Back in 1986, Dan got busted in Montreal for possession of marijuana. While he was in jail, his mom won the lottery. She flew out to Montreal, bailed him out of jail and told Dan the way he was living his life wasn’t really working for him (ha!) and asked him what he wanted to do instead. He loved running a newspaper back in university so his mom gave him $25,000 from her lottery winnings so Dan could start up a community newspaper in Souris, Manitoba. This is where he met Jan and fell in love with her at a conference. Jan studied journalism at Carleton University, has a degree in translation and has travelled the world.

This power couple and their service to the Slocan Valley community is truly extraordinary. The Slocan Valley is really lucky to have them and their smiles and zest for life are extremely contagious.

When you choose to buy local, you support business owners like Jan and Dan. And our whole community thrives. #shopslocanvalley

Check out our Slocan Business Valley Directory for full business listings.