New publisher happy to bring back The Buzz after 3-month COVID break

After a three-month break due to COVID-19, P.E.I.'s free monthly entertainment guide The Buzz is back with a July issue.

Nobody could be happier than Yanik Richards, whose first job as the new co-publisher was not to publish.

"As the world was shutting down we were signing papers to take over, which we did officially on the first of April, so we had to just do nothing in the beginning."

Richards took over the business from his father, Peter, who started it with business partner Derek Martin in 1993.

This year was the first time in 27 years The Buzz didn't publish a paper, though the website has remained up to date.

We thought we might have to sit out the summer. Yanik Richards

"We weren't too concerned about whether or not we were going to resume publishing but we really had no idea when that would happen," Richards said.

"We thought we might have to sit out the summer and then look at the fall and the upcoming shopping season to get back into it."

But around mid-May, when it looked like restrictions might be starting to ease and advertisers began making inquiries, they began planning for a July issue.

Summer, when most events happen on P.E.I., is a "really big deal" for The Buzz, Richards said. And while the upcoming issue still won't have the revenue to support a double July issue as in years past, Richards said it feels good to be back to work.

"We're pretty enthusiastic about having the opportunity to be the voice again for what's going on."

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