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Serving Our Community

Text Box: Most people didn’t read “Robyn’s Table Chat” when it first started back in 2005 as a special type of flyer to advertise the Centerville Junior Men’s curling team’s “Chicken-Q (Photo on left). It was a little 8-1/2 x 11 sheet, that ran 50 copies and then came back and printed 10 more. The printing was first done on my little HP5500 Ink Jet. The next flyer to help promote the Chicken-Q and earn money for the boys going to Scotland was 100 copies and then back to print about 40 more. The first advertiser was Wason’s and was quickly followed by Duffy’s and Critzman’s, then the Common Market, Toad’s Cove (then Centerville Stop and Shop) and the Bank of Galesville. The size went quickly from 8-1/2 x 11 to 8-1/2 by 14 to 11 x 17. It didn’t take long and Keith Cook, Bill Crogan, Philip Jensen and Mary Jane Hilton were steady resources. The Chat was still only one sheet. Then all sorts of combinations came about with an extra sheet of some size to 2 sheets plus some kind of extra sheet, and the Chicken-Q had already been held and the boys had returned from Scotland. The advertisers were paying $2.50 an ad to start, but they quickly agreed to a raise in prices as I was delivering to over 20 places and things were growing. During all of this, the HP was certainly not usable and Severson & Associates said “You can do them here”. John & Audrey McKeeth pitched in about this time to start helping, by folding the papers. And people began sending in money for postage, so I started buying envelopes and pretty soon Florence Oanes was helping with the mailing, We, the team, thought we were doing quite a few papers and were up to over 400. At that time we still had time to keep track of how many issues were printed. The invoicing for the ads was becoming something else again that I never envisioned as the local businesses joined in and people kept sending me more information to help out, and more people wanted it mailed to them. Since there wasn’t a business plan to help, because I never thought it would be a business, rules developed that reacted to the situations that arose. Such as this question, “I have a business in _____. I’d like to put an ad in your paper.” I needed to make a decision right then. The response : “I’m sorry. Not right now. Currently the advertiser needs to be a local business or have a local connection to the area. But if things change, I’ll let you know.” Or, “It’s really hard to find a copy of your paper, can I get mine mailed to me ? I’ll pay the postage.” … Another decision was made. “Where do you live?” And then there were those that were in the hospital and they always read “The Chat.” or some that just couldn’t get out of the house. So I delivered to some of them. And others paid postage and had it mailed. There was a period, where people began thinking The Chat was something to collect and I was making copies of requested issues to fill their collection. The “Been Around Long” section kind of went by the wayside as time for research became an issue. All this time I was running the paper on a copier. And the circulation was now up over 600, and it seemed like the more I printed, the more I ran out. John and Audrey were folding like mad and some of the Marinuka Manor Residents joined in to help fold. Florence had become a mail expert. Bill, Keith, Philip, and Mary and my family were constantly on call and searching. People started looking through their items to share in The Chat. The local government offices and assembly office in Madison were always willing to help. Finally, I ended up looking for somebody to print it for me and found a “Gem” in Bob Howard. The service was superb. But the circulation kept growing. He was printing up to 900 and I was copying about 300 and the paper had grown to 3, sometimes 4, 11 x 17 sheets on both sides. And now I was really running out of papers everywhere, and I was dropping off papers at over 40 businesses. And the mailing list was over 50. The information kept coming in and I now had boxes and envelopes in my living room- marked with the names of the people it belonged to. Finally, I bought my own printer to save on travel time and expense. And Ione Dykstra went shopping for paper to find the most reasonable. And the Postmaster and I came up with a different way to address the paper and mail it. When some of the places run out, I just come back and have to print more. The mailing list has grown to 100 and others send them out all over the country. I’m now on my third camera and my third printer. And have two computers. My stairs have long since disappeared beneath the stacks, my laundry room consists of two computers and four drawer filing cabinets and more stacks and toner cartridges. And the front porch has become the paper storage bin. John & Audrey McKeeth and residents from Marinuka Manor are still folding papers. Florence is still doing the mailing. My niece, Laura, helps with the bookwork and Kim Cook with the ad layout. And robynschat web site gets hits in the thousands per month. I don’t have time to figure out how many copies I print.
I do know that copies of R obyn’s Table Chat are now being kept at the Wisconsin Historical Society and the Arcadia Historical Society as well as our own area.
Yes, I still run out. And sometimes my printer acts up. And I am well aware that this is no longer my paper, it belongs to the people that live here, or once lived here, or have some connection to the area; to the businesses that support it, the folks that contribute information, to the people that read it, and to the volunteers that make it possible.
The plaque from the Heritage Registry of Who’s Who is not issued to Robyn Docken, it is issued to Robyn’s Table Chat and belongs to everyone. This is the only way I can share it with you.