METAMORA TWP. — View Newspaper Group celebrated 20 years of community newspaper publishing with clients, community members, family, friends and staff Thursday, Oct. 5 at their Customer Appreciation Celebration event held at Metamora Golf & Country Club.
Around 120 guests enjoyed food, beverages, networking and live entertainment.
The View Newspaper Group was founded by Lapeer native Rick Burrough and launched in August of 2003 with the first edition of the LA View. In the 20 years since, the newspaper group has grown to include 14 local newspapers through startups and acquisitions, the latest of which was the purchase of the North Oakland County papers Oxford Leader, Lake Orion Review, Clarkston News and The Citizen in Ortonville. The group also owns Sanilac County News, Jeffersonian, Your Buyers Guide, Huron County View, Tri-County Citizen (Chesaning), Genesee County View, Tri-County Times (Fenton), Daily News in Greenville as well as The County Press.
Burrough, now the company’s president, and View Group Publisher Wes Smith issued a joint statement saying, “We are truly appreciative of our advertisers and readers in Lapeer County for their patronage and loyalty over the last 20 years. Without their trust and support, View Newspaper Group would not exist today to bring independent, local, quality journalism and a viable advertising platform to communities across the state. We are grateful to our hardworking team who work tirelessly to keep our readers informed and entertained and our advertisers uppermost in the minds of our readers.”
Burrough and Smith also thanked all who attended the Customer Appreciation Celebration event as well as View Brand Manager Emily Caswell, Marketing Specialist Michele Guerra, Graphics Manager Jen Ward and the staff of Metamora Golf & Country Club for planning and producing the event.
View Newspaper Group is a locally-owned community newspaper group covering 11 Michigan counties. The company publishes 14 newspapers, including The County Press and Lapeer Area View, with print editions reaching more than 250,000 households each week plus an additional 400,000 monthly online readers.

PHOTO: View Newspaper Group team members gathered from across the state to celebrate 20 years. Photo: Patrick McAbee