By Ken Magri
Newsletters come from everywhere these days, often to the point of annoyance. ‘Subscribe to our newsletter!’ is a common pop-up that appears the moment one arrives at a web page.
Why so many requests to subscribe?
Research shows that emailed newsletters are an increasingly effective way to share information. Although some people hate them, 90% of all internet users subscribe to at least one newsletter, and one-third of those subscribers have a separate email account exclusively for them.
Fortunately, Chico produces several kinds of newsletters that don’t pop-up onto your screen and don’t involve direct marketing. They discuss art, food, activities, the outdoors and local news from different perspectives. Some are private and some are public. For anyone trying to stay connected during the cold and lonely winter months, these local newsletters can be a reliable link to activities around town.
The News & Review went searching to differentiate a few useful Chico newsletters from the flood of promotional emails that are rarely asked for. Each newsletter is free and worth a subscription, but they won’t come looking for you. You have to find them.
ART TALK newsletter
ART TALK is a monthly newsletter that showcases artists in the North Valley. Created and maintained by retired Chico State art history professor Dolores Mitchell, each issue features a new theme and showcases up to a half-dozen local artists, including a brief background and several images of their works.
Mitchell also includes her own discourse on painting by showing her vivid van Gogh-esque landscapes and cityscapes. Expanding on the monthly theme, she discusses formal considerations like color, lighting and spatial depth.
Mitchell co-founded Chico’s former Avenue 9 Gallery with Giovanna Jackson and Maria Phillips in 2004. “After Maria’s death, I retained the Avenue 9 Gallery mailing list and have been sending out an ART TALK ten or so times a year since 2014,” said Mitchell.
By relying on her contacts and experience with the local art scene, Mitchell has no problem finding artists to show in the newsletter.
ART TALK features painters, sculptors, jewelry makers and artists working in stained glass, porcelain, ceramics, photography and watercolors. She also writes about art teachers and annual events like ARTober Fest and the Open Studios Tour.
“Local media vehicles for art publicity have diminished drastically in the last decade,” Mitchell reflects. “It’s not that the papers don’t want to do it, they just don’t have the personnel, don’t have the space.”
But ART TALK is welcoming submissions by local artists and craftspersons for its 2025 newsletters, which Mitchell makes no money from.
“I pay a monthly fee of $45 to Constant Contact for maintaining my mailing list and doing the distribution,” she notes.
To subscribe to ART TALK, go to this link.
Chico Sol newsletter
Although Chico Sol calls itself “border-crossing journalism from the Sacramento Valley,” it is much more than a hyper-focused online newspaper.
This not-for-profit news organization covers issues overlooked by traditional media. It provides investigative reporting for everyone in the North Valley with a particular emphasis on underrepresented communities. Chico Sol generally writes longer, more in-depth articles that take time to develop. It also publishes some stories in Spanish language.
Chico Sol subscribers receive monthly newsletters that explain which stories the newspaper is working on at the time.
“We have a story we are about to post on Tuscan Ridge,” says Leslie Layton, Chico Sol’s co-founder and managing editor.
Chico Sol has been covering the controversial Tuscan Ridge housing project, for example, which is located at the old golf course west of Paradise. In advance of an upcoming Environmental Impact report, this project has locals worried about zoning and vanishing scenery along the Skyway.
A recent article by Yucheng Tang and Layton documented 18 homeless people who recently died during the storms and cold weather. Other stories have included the Sikh community in Yuba City, Dia de los Muertos events in Chico and an Oroville man who operates a shower and laundry truck for the unsheltered.
For 2025, the Chico Sol newsletter will also take a more behind-the-scenes look at current articles, using quotes, additional photos and reporter’s notes not included in their original stories.
To subscribe to Chico Sol and request a monthly newsletter, send an email to chicosolnews@gmail.com.
CARD, the Chico Area Recreational District newsletter
This informative ‘what’s happening’-type of newsletter promotes indoor and outdoor activities throughout Chico. Each issue features one news story and a calendar of events appropriate for the season.
Links to an interactive map and a list of upcoming classes offer wide-ranging recreational opportunities for both adults and children.
Adult classes include fitness dancing, watercolor painting and self defense. Want to learn how to fight Filipino style with martial art of escrima? For an hour every Tuesday night, Carlos Casarez teaches his class on street-style self-defense using rattan sticks, improvised weapons and empty-hand techniques.
The newsletter also has a link to sign-ups, beginning on January 6, for a number of spring sports leagues. These include softball, soccer, basketball, pickle ball, volleyball, flag football, bocce ball, kickball and futsal, a fast-paced indoor co-ed sport based on soccer.
There are youth classes that primarily focus on being out in nature and gathering together even during the cold months when it’s nicer to be indoors. Playtime classes for toddlers allow them to interact with other children, while classes in cooking and sewing help homeschoolers learn additional skills.
For teens, there are a series of Dungeons and Dragons themed classes that include making art, crafting and playing interactive mini-games. The CARD newsletter sign-up page can be found here.
Chico Certified Farmers Market newsletter
The Chico Certified Farmers Market operates on Saturdays in downtown, on Sundays in Meriam Park and on Wednesdays in the North Valley Plaza mall. It sends out a newsletter every month, or what it calls a “blog.”
Its newsletter has seasonal information on fresh produce and flowers. It runs articles on how to garden in winter, how to hydrate in the summer, and how to prepare easy snacks for a road trip.
The newsletter also posts lots of recipes for vegetarians, vegans and meat-eaters alike. Dishes like roasted vegetable tartlets, stuffed mushroom caps, grilled sirloin cap (Picanha) and vegan lentil loaf with mushroom gravy are explained in detail. Subscriptions to this newsletter can be requested here.
Honorable Mention: Stoble Coffee Newsletter
Despite being a commercial retailer, Stoble Coffee is worth a mention because it publishes two newsletters, and one of them has almost nothing to do with selling coffee.
Their “events newsletter” lists all of the free promotions that Stoble hosts in its effort to bring people inside. You don’t even have to buy coffee. These highlights include trivia nights, pop-up local vendors and holiday-themed events that give locals an opportunity to hang out with one another. Here is where to subscribe to Stoble’s newsletter.
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