Ellie Sevigny became publisher of the weekly newspaper earlier this year after its owner, Tony Scott, retired and sold the business to her. Sevigny plans to maintain The Burg’s tradition of local ownership and community coverage. She works from the Bondi Building and is the paper’s only full-time employee. The Burg also employs 10 contract workers.
Sevigny’s path to owning and running a newspaper surprised her.
“I never saw myself being in the newspaper business,” she said. “What inspired me to start writing as a kid was my family watching The Waltons. I really liked the character John Boy. I thought, ‘That would be fun.’ So I started writing my own stories, and like John Boy, instead of writing only fiction and books, I ended up in the newspaper business.”
Sevigny began working at The Burg in 2020 as a way to help support her family.
“I was looking to make some extra money that year,” she said. “It was tight for everyone, and I wanted my kids to have a good Christmas.”
Recommended by a friend, Sevigny started by assisting with The Burg’s website and writing a few articles.
“I made about $25 every two weeks,” she said. “Then it just grew from there — from doing the events calendar to working on ‘Around the Burg,’ and it just kept growing and growing until I became the manager about a year ago.”
Sevigny decided to take over the paper because she wanted to keep it local.
“I want it to continue being what it’s been for everyone — not something that covers, say, mostly the Peoria area,” she said. “I want to cover things like the honor roll, student-athlete of the month — things that help everybody know what’s going on around the area.”
At this crossroads, Sevigny said her main goal is to maintain normalcy at the newspaper.
“A lot of people were concerned when they saw the ownership change,” she said. “They worried The Burg wouldn’t be local anymore or that we’d raise costs. That’s not my goal.”
Sevigny’s goal is to broaden the newspaper’s reach.
“We’re looking to expand how many newspapers we print and where we deliver,” she said. “We stock papers at both Hy-Vees, Aldi, Wordsmith, Tres Café and the library — lots of spots. Typically, by Saturday, it’s hard to find copies, and people call asking for extras. That’s one reason we’re looking at expanding.”
The Burg recently added a weekly email subscription and is exploring delivery into Monmouth, Sevigny said. The paper already circulates in Knoxville and around Galesburg, with subscribers in 25 states and a total weekly print circulation of 5,000. The paper plans to expand circulation to 10,000 within the near future.
Sevigny said it’s important that people understand her commitment to Galesburg and its surrounding communities. Raised in Oregon, she came to Galesburg to attend Knox College. She met her husband here, and they decided to stay. The couple now has three children.
“We could have moved, but Galesburg is a great place to raise kids,” she said. “You can’t beat the parks or the library. While I didn’t grow up here, I love Galesburg and am involved in the community. I’m a Girl Scout leader and PTO president for King Elementary.”
Among the challenges she’s faced, Sevigny said she has lost some advertisers.
“When the billing changed, some advertisers dropped because they didn’t recognize my company name — Prairie Fox Media LLC — and thought it sounded like a big corporation, similar to what happened with the Register-Mail,” she said. “It’s just hard to find an unused name. I chose ‘Prairie Fox’ as a nod to Knox College — something local and Midwest-themed. We even have a column called ‘Knox News,’ so it fit. People don’t always make that connection, though.”
Her commitment to local ownership comes at a time when many small-town papers — including The Register-Mail — have been hollowed out by corporate buyouts.
Sevigny emphasized that any money advertisers or subscribers invest in The Burg is reinvested directly back into the community.
She has also received some emails from readers concerned about the paper’s political leanings.
“I just want to make it clear: we have no political opinion,” she said. “We’re here to deliver the news people need to be informed.”
Sevigny said she is grateful to The Burg’s former general manager and owner, Jeff Holt and Tony Scott.
“Jeff took a chance on a stay-at-home mom who knew nothing about newspapers,” she said. Scott taught her the business side of running a newspaper. “I really appreciate the opportunity they both gave me that led to where I am today.”
Sevigny’s overarching goal is to preserve The Burg for what it is — a community-focused weekly paper.
“We cover weekly things, and we’re open to publishing anyone’s opinion in letters to the editor,” she said. “But at our core, we’re here to deliver the news.”
