About Masthead News

Masthead News

Overview

The Masthead News is a free monthly community newspaper published in Hubbards, on Nova Scotia's South Shore, serving the communities around St. Margaret's Bay, the Aspotogan Peninsula and the northern South Shore. It has been published since 1991 by Ocean Blue Publications Ltd. and is delivered free once a month to households and businesses across its territory by Canada Post and private carrier. The paper carries the long-standing slogan "The Eyes and Ears of the Community," and its contents are those of a classic community monthly: neighbourhood news, municipal and school items, community events, gardening and home columns, book recommendations, letters to the editor, a crossword and extensive coverage of the volunteer organizations that structure life around the bay. Its inventory listing describes it as a weekly, but the paper is in fact a monthly publication, a point its own masthead states plainly: "The Masthead News is distributed once a month free."

History

The Masthead News dates to 1991. Its masthead carries the line "Copyright 1991 by Ocean Blue Publications Ltd." — an earlier imprint of the same publishing operation was Ocean Breeze Distributions — and the paper has repeatedly described itself in its own pages as serving the community "since 1991." Its volume numbering tells the same story: Volume 7, Number 4 appeared in April 1998, when the paper reported on the Halifax Regional Municipality's acquisition of the Boutilier's Point wharf and lands; by August 2015 it had reached Volume 26, with the slogan amended to "The Eyes and Ears of the Community for 26 Years," and Volume 32 followed in 2020.

For most of its life the paper's heartland was the St. Margaret's Bay and Hubbards–Chester corridor on the western edge of Halifax Regional Municipality. Around 2021 it expanded significantly, announcing that it covered "the stories from Prospect to Lunenburg" as the free community newspaper expanded down the South Shore for the first time, welcoming some 8,000 new readers in communities such as Mahone Bay and West Dover. The paper has continued on its monthly rhythm through the 2020s, publishing its June 2026 issue online at the beginning of that month.

Programming and Content

Each monthly edition of the Masthead News mixes reported community news with contributed columns and service information. Its 2026 issues have carried stories on the St. Margaret's Bay Food Bank and Thrift Store's move to a new Tantallon location, the second annual youth entrepreneur fair hosted by the St. Margaret's Bay Community Enterprise Centre, the Bay Pride festival, bicycle and e-bike safety, and the Chester Yacht Club's community role. A recurring institution in its pages is the Bay Treasure Chest, the community 50/50 lottery association whose proceeds support local groups and scholarships; the association marked its twelfth year in April 2026, and the paper follows its draws, scholarship recipients and grants in detail.

Around the reported news sits a thick layer of community-generated content: letters to the editor on everything from road maintenance to wildlife, gardening advice tuned to Nova Scotia conditions, a "What we are reading" book feature reviewing local and national titles, a monthly crossword produced by Classic Canadian Crosswords, event listings, and columns such as the Teacup Tattler, a humorous Mahone Bay letter written under the pen name Lady Spillington. The paper also covers the area's trail associations, libraries, seniors' organizations and heritage groups, and it regularly publishes submitted photographs and stories from residents, actively inviting story ideas and pictures from its readers.

That community texture has characterized the paper for decades. Its August 2015 edition, for example, led with the 33rd annual Tuna Flat Races in Hubbards, the community's dory-racing festival, alongside Canada Day celebrations in the Beechville–Lakeside–Timberlea area and waterfront news from the Hubbards Community Waterfront. The St. Margaret's Bay Rails to Trails Association has republished a long run of Masthead News articles about the trail that links Hubley to Hubbards — pieces on interpretive signage, surfacing upgrades and new picnic shelters — evidence of the paper's role as the written record of the bay's volunteer sector. More recent editions have ranged from the Second Story Women's Centre in Lunenburg to a Seabright author's national mystery-award shortlisting, reflecting the paper's widened South Shore brief.

Audience and Reach

The Masthead News is a free, advertising-supported paper delivered to homes rather than sold. Its own masthead in 2019 stated that it was "distributed once a month free to approximately 18,000 households and businesses via mail to communities served by Canada Post offices in Lakeside, Tantallon, Hubbards, Chester, Bedford Routes #41, #42 and #43; and by private carrier to Uplands Park." When the paper expanded down the South Shore around 2021, it stated that its total circulation reached 29,000 households and businesses through Canada Post. Both figures are the publisher's own claims, published in the paper at the time, and no independently audited circulation is published. Its readership spans the suburban communities at the head of St. Margaret's Bay, the villages of the Aspotogan Peninsula, and the Chester–Mahone Bay–Lunenburg corridor, an area within commuting distance of Halifax that retains a strong village identity.

Digital Presence

The paper's website, themastheadnews.ca, carries the current month's stories, features and columns, organized by category and month, along with PDF editions and advertising information. Its print publishing calendar follows a fixed monthly rhythm — in 2022, for example, its masthead listed publishing dates of October 5, November 2 and December 7, each with an advertising and editorial deadline one week earlier — and that schedule has remained the paper's pattern in the years since. Content from the June 2026 issue was posted at the start of June 2026, and the site's homepage carries seasonal features into the autumn of 2026, including coverage of Mahone Bay's scarecrow season. The website mirrors the print paper's community focus, with sections for community news, events, gardening, books, letters and crosswords, and it gives the monthly paper a continuous presence between editions. Stories from the Masthead News are also republished by community organizations in its coverage area, such as the St. Margaret's Bay Rails to Trails Association, extending its reach online.

Ownership and Organisation

The Masthead News is published in Hubbards by Ocean Blue Publications Ltd., an independent local company; it is not part of a newspaper chain. Mastheads published in recent years have named Richard Learmonth as publisher and editor, Kevin McGrath responsible for graphic design and layout, and Ronald Driskill in sales and marketing, working from the paper's Hubbards office; an earlier masthead listed Driskill as publisher and editor, reflecting the small team's overlapping roles over the years. Long-serving contributors, among them writer Keith Ayling, supply much of the paper's community reporting and columns. The business operates weekday office hours, Monday to Friday, from its Hubbards base.

Contact and Availability

The Masthead News is published by Ocean Blue Publications Ltd., Box 280, Hubbards, Nova Scotia B0J 1T0. Its office telephone number, published in its masthead, is 902-857-9099, and its publisher can be reached at the published address richard@themastheadnews.ca. The paper appears once a month, free of charge, delivered by Canada Post and private carrier to households and businesses from the St. Margaret's Bay area through Chester to Lunenburg, and each edition is also available on its website.