NorDak North, a publishing and printing company in Garrison, North Dakota, prints the Northern Sentry every Wednesday afternoon. We thought it might be fun, and informative, to take a group of our Junior Journalists, carriers, and their families, to Garrison and do a tour of the production and press facility of NorDak North.
Knowing that the tour would more than likely have to be a summer event, we sent out an invitation on social media. The date would be June 26th, with the production & printing tour starting at 1:30 PM.
Our first stop would be in the graphics department where Karen Krzmarzick and LaVaughn Watson-Rustad who are in production explained to our guests that graphics specialist, Nikki, would actually take all of the ads and stories and organize them into what would be the June 28th edition of the Northern Sentry.
Some of the kids had submitted photos for our summer photo contest and were excited to see their photos displayed in the paper. On our end at the Northern Sentry, we begin to organize next week’s edition almost immediately after this week’s edition hits the press. All of the pages of the paper are transferred electronically to Garrison and NorDak North by 12 Noon on Wednesday, or earlier if possible.
Once the pages of the paper are electronically downloaded, they go to another area where the printing plates, huge sheets of aluminum, are produced. This area kind of sounds like a scene from Star Wars, with humming and buzzing and mechanical movement as the plates are produced. This is where we met Paul Kolden, who has been running the press area at NorDak North for over 26 years.
The kids and parents were able to see the final step of the preparation process, the bending of a small lip on the edge of the plates to hold them in the press. In perhaps a simpler explanation, each plate is a page of the paper. Each part of the plate picks up a different colored ink. You can print a page of the paper in full color, or in black and white. There are several plates for each section of the Northern Sentry. The plates can only be used once.
And then we are off to the press room, where huge rolls of newsprint get transformed into pages of the Northern Sentry. Darla Mautz, our main tour guide, explains that NorDak North prints 29 different papers each week. The Northern Sentry is a weekly paper. It prints on Wednesdays, gets delivered to Minot on Thursdays, and should reach its’ final destination no later than Noon on Fridays. The Northern Sentry prints around 4,700 papers each week. It is the largest paper that NorDak North prints in Garrison. It is absolutely amazing to watch as the large, almost two story, press prints out each page. Once printed the pages are cut and folded.
From the press room, where we see final copies of the second section of the Northern Sentry coming off the press, we go to the assembly area where all of the sections, and the inserts, of the Northern Sentry are assembled into one paper, and organized into bundles of 100, or other amounts needed by the different carriers and other folks who deliver the Northern Sentry. In the old days if there were a special story, you would hear the phrase, stop the presses, which meant we wait for the new story to be inserted into the paper. It would take a new page, a new plate and of course all of the papers already run would need to be thrown away. No stopping the presses today. The Northern Sentry is printed, soon to be assembled and transported to our readers at Minot Air Force Base and the community of Minot.
Garrison Tour, Part II
Once our tour of NorDak North ended, we were invited to board the very unique, Wally Trolley! The Trolley was purchased in Florida, and would be our transportation to Fort Stevenson State Park, and the Fort Stevenson guard house area. Here our guests would be able to take a self-guided tour and stop in at the guard house gift shop. The guard house overlooks beautiful Lake Sakakawea. In the distance we can see the Garrison Dam and powerhouse area.
But the tour doesn’t end here. Our driver, Nick, once again boards us all and we are headed to the Garrison Bay Marina where Ted Bolton, owner of the Northern Sentry treats the kids to ice cream. What better end to a warm afternoon that Pride Dairy ice cream!
Our thanks to Nick and the Garrison Convention and Visitor’s Bureau for providing our ride on Wally Trolley. And speaking of Walley…on the way back to our starting area we drive by the newly painted Walley the Walleye. He looks absolutely stunning.
We hope our guests, Kristin & Waylon, Amanda, Leon and Felix, and Sarah, David, and Michael, had a great time watching and learning about how each and every edition of the Northern Sentry is produced.
A Perfect Day
“We had the perfect day…. it was fantastic! Felix has been talking about it all day! He loved the trolley so much! Everyone was so incredibly sweet to the kids, they are just the nicest people ever.” -Amanda Rivera.
Everyone one is talking about a return trip next summer.
