The Vail Trail Ceases Publication after 43-Year Run

The Vail Trail published its final issue yesterday after a 43-year run. The primary cause for the venerable weekly magazine's end was, as it has been for so many failing print publications of late, the struggling economy. The Vail Trail was founded in 1965 by George Knox and was then a daily publication (The Trail switched to a weekly format in 2001). It was Vail's original and only newspaper until The Vail Daily was born in 1981. The two publications maintained a vigorous rivalry until 2004 when Swift Communications, The Vail Daily's parent company, purchased The Vail Trail. Don Rogers, editor and associate publisher of The Vail Daily and The Vail Trail, had the following to say in the magazine's final issue.

Don Rogers in The Vail Trail:

"The economic downturn that hit the entire community this fall has forced the hard decision here to focus on the Daily, one of the most successful newspapers in the entire country, and to end the quest to bring the Trail back to its golden age.

The publication was a worthy foe, a great challenge to take on, and now painful to shutter as a stand-alone weekly newspaper.

Starting next week, the best of the Trail will continue in the pages of the Daily and assuredly help make the Daily stronger for the combination of efforts.

So we’re not quite at the end of the Trail for continuing the spirit of Vail’s Greatest so much as integrating it to get the best of both papers finally into one."

Thanks for the memories, Vail Trail.