About Shootin' the Breeze

Shootin' the Breeze

Overview

Shootin' the Breeze is a locally owned community newspaper published in Pincher Creek, in the ranching country of southwestern Alberta. Founded in 2011, it appears in print every Wednesday and serves the Town and Municipal District of Pincher Creek, the neighbouring municipality of Crowsnest Pass and the Piikani Nation. The paper is, as its masthead proclaims, "proud to be locally owned and locally staffed," and it operates from a storefront office on Main Street in Pincher Creek. It is a member of the Alberta Weekly Newspapers Association, is registered as a Qualified Canadian Journalism Organization, and employs a Local Journalism Initiative reporter. Since the Pincher Creek Echo ended its print edition in February 2023 and continued in digital form only, Shootin' the Breeze has been the community's locally produced print weekly, publishing alongside the Echo's website and the online Pincher Creek Voice in a small but competitive three-outlet local news market.

History

Shootin' the Breeze began serving the Pincher Creek community in 2011, the same year the online Pincher Creek Voice was established, as a locally owned alternative in a market long dominated by the Pincher Creek Echo, which by then belonged to the Sun Media chain and passed to Postmedia in 2015. The new paper built its identity on local ownership, local staffing and a full print presence, appearing each Wednesday in a tabloid format sold for $1.25 a copy. Its development coincided with the period in which chain-owned Alberta weeklies were shedding local offices and print editions, and the Breeze's emphasis on a staffed Main Street office and locally written content positioned it as the community's homegrown paper.

The paper's growth was recognized early: it won the Pincher Creek and District Chamber of Commerce Small Business Award of Excellence in 2013, an honour it won again in 2020, and its masthead records multiple Alberta Weekly Newspapers Association awards between 2016 and 2024. In 2024 the paper was showcased by News Media Canada during National Newspaper Week. When the Echo's print edition ended on February 27, 2023, the Breeze remained in print, and municipal and regulatory bodies continued to rely on it as a newspaper of record: the Alberta Natural Resources Conservation Board placed a statutory public advertisement in its November 12, 2025 issue, and the Municipal District of Pincher Creek advertised a public hearing in its issues of August 28 and September 2, 2026.

Programming and Content

Shootin' the Breeze covers the civic, social and sporting life of Pincher Creek and district. Its reporting includes town and municipal district council coverage — its civic desk handles council and community-events news for both Pincher Creek and Crowsnest Pass — RCMP and public-safety reporting, agriculture and ranching, land-use and energy questions, school news, and extensive local sports, including the region's junior hockey. A Local Journalism Initiative reporter adds federally supported civic reporting capacity: in the paper's October 9, 2024 issue, for example, reporter Somya Lohia's coverage of the Crowsnest Pass council's Grassy Mountain vote and of Canyon School's Orange Shirt Day was published under the Local Journalism Initiative banner. The paper carries a historical column by Farley Wuth, curator of the Kootenai Brown Pioneer Village, connecting readers with the frontier history of the district. Content seen in recent issues includes council budget and land-use decisions, among them Crowsnest Pass council's setting of a date for a community vote on the Grassy Mountain coal mine project; police reporting on drug enforcement in the Brocket and Pincher Creek area, in which its reporters questioned the local RCMP detachment about pink fentanyl pills circulating in the district; coverage of a Crowsnest Pass school honouring Piikani Elders at the Tecumseh Apartments and of Canyon School's Orange Shirt Day observance for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation; junior hockey coverage, including a Rivermen team bus crash en route to Crowsnest Pass; and community features such as a November 19, 2025 story marking thirty years of the Pincher Creek Community Adult Learning Program. Wuth's historical column has proved durable enough to be adapted beyond the printed page: the Kootenai Brown Pioneer Village's podcast series has read his Shootin' the Breeze columns aloud as episodes. Letters to the editor, submitted story ideas, photographs and sports results from readers are actively solicited, with a submission deadline of the Friday ahead of publication.

Audience and Reach

The paper's stated territory is the Town of Pincher Creek, the Municipal District of Pincher Creek No. 9, Crowsnest Pass and the Piikani Nation — a combined market of ranching communities, small towns and a First Nation in Alberta's southwestern corner, anchored by a town of about 3,600 people. The town lies 57 kilometres north of Waterton Lakes National Park, and the district's ranching and wind-energy economy — Pincher Creek has been described as a wind energy capital — shapes much of the news the paper covers. Individual copies sell for $1.25 plus GST. The paper's own published subscription offers, as printed in its 2024 masthead, are $45 a year plus GST for print mailed within Canada, $45 a year plus GST for a digital subscription available anywhere, and $55 a year plus GST for a combined print and digital subscription. No audited circulation figure is published, and none is claimed; the paper's role as a vehicle for statutory public notices by municipal and provincial bodies documents its standing as a newspaper in general circulation in the community.

Digital Presence

Shootin' the Breeze publishes online at its own website, which carries its news, subscription and advertising information and complements the Wednesday print edition with digital subscriptions sold worldwide. The paper describes itself in its own marketing as "more than a weekly newspaper or news website" and "your community connection," and it sells print, digital and combination advertising packages, including custom merchandise, with a booking deadline of the Friday ahead of publication. The paper also states that it proudly supports local nonprofit organizations, a commitment visible in its sponsorship of community events. The paper maintains dedicated email channels for its editorial, civic, advertising and office functions: readers can reach the newsroom at news@shootinthebreeze.ca and civic@shootinthebreeze.ca, the publisher at publisher@shootinthebreeze.ca, advertising at ads@shootinthebreeze.ca and the office at office@shootinthebreeze.ca. These published addresses, and the paper's 403-904-2227 telephone line, appear in its print masthead.

Ownership and Organisation

Shootin' the Breeze is locally owned. Its publisher and owner, as listed in its 2024 masthead, is Shannon Peace. Cary Robison serves as accounts manager, editor and technical lead; reporting is provided by William Cockerell and Somya Lohia; Gary Andrews is the paper's Local Journalism Initiative reporter; Farley Wuth contributes the historical writing; and Jaiden Panchyshyn handles office accounts. The paper is a designated Qualified Canadian Journalism Organization, QCJO number Q9440934, and a member of the Alberta Weekly Newspapers Association, through which it has won multiple awards. It also supports local nonprofit organizations and community events, appearing, for example, as a silver sponsor of the Pincher Creek and District Chamber of Commerce's 2026 Awards of Excellence.

Contact and Availability

Shootin' the Breeze is published every Wednesday from its office at 697A Main Street, Box 811, Pincher Creek, Alberta, T0K 1W0, with office hours from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday to Friday. The paper can be reached by telephone at 403-904-2227, through its website, and through the published email addresses listed in its masthead. Print subscriptions are mailed within Canada, and digital subscriptions are available anywhere.