Official Legal Publication serving Lincoln County and the Towns of Arriba, Genoa, Hugo, Karval and Limon
By Lyndi Huelskamp
Six months ago, we took a step forward to fill a gap in our community. On April 9, 2025, the first issue of Flagler Forward hit stands. Since then, we have grown, not just in pages, not just in people, but in purpose.
It started with several community members stepping up and reaching out. A request became an idea and the idea a mission of storytelling, celebration, and connection.
Our readership continues to expand, with 76 electronic subscribers and 115 print issues picked up every other week. Thanks to the support of local businesses, we’ve added convenient newsracks throughout town including a shared subscription at the Lincoln Health Clinic, ensuring that anyone who wants to read about what’s happening in Flagler can easily do so.
Our partnership with the Limon Leader has been a highlight of these early months, and we’re grateful for their collaboration and guidance. As they prepare to print their final issue this month, we’re reminded how vital local journalism is—and how proud we are to continue that legacy here in Flagler.
We’ve discovered what we truly love to share: stories that celebrate our neighbors, highlight our schools, spotlight local businesses, and capture the heart of small-town life. We’ve also launched a new series (Unsung Heroes) and are planning others (Flagler Connections), are developing sponsorship opportunities and working to expand our social media presence to keep our community informed and inspired.
Going into the future, we hope to continue covering school and community events but also to help spread kindness and connection through card showers, thank-you notes, birth announcements and death notices.
The only thing we really can’t do is print legal notices that require proof of publication because we are an information source not a “legal” newspaper.
We welcome all submissions and the easiest way to send us news, photos or requests is by emailing us at flaglerforward@af20.net.
You can call the school as well, but our staff is also busy teaching and learning, so sometimes they are not available to answer questions or take an ad.
Looking ahead, we’re excited to offer our first Flagler Forward scholarships at graduation in May—a small but meaningful way to give back to the students who represent our future. We’re also exploring new grant opportunities to fund additional equipment and expand our storytelling capacity.
The best part of this journey has been the people. From community members who stop us to share story ideas to alumni like Carolyn Coulter Gilbert. I was grateful to meet Mrs. Gilbert at homecoming as her parents were once longtime publishers of The Flagler News and she reminded me of the lasting bonds of this town and how every connection fuels our purpose.
I was encouraged by a national FBLA board member when he told me to “keep building out this vision,” as I presented Flagler Forward as my capstone project, and felt pride in our body of work when The Colorado Sun mentioned us in a recent article discussing the closure of The Limon Leader writing, “One journalistic bright spot. A story introduced the staff of the Flagler Forward, a student-run publication that Thurston said she hopes inspires similar efforts at other area schools.”
Thank you for reading, sharing and believing in Flagler Forward. Six months in, and we’re just getting started—continuing to move Flagler, and its stories, forward.
