‘Connection’ magazines publisher calls it quits amid economic pressures

NORTH OGDEN — The publishers of six community magazines, known as Connection are shuttering their operations for good. Ryan and Melissa Spelts say costs have been rising since the pandemic, as advertising revenues have dropped.

“68% over about a nine-month period,” Ryan Spelts explained “And, it was a low margin business anyway, it wasn’t super high.”

The couple published their first magazine eight years ago.

“It just started as our community in North Ogden,” Ryan Spelts said. “And then about a year in, we got a phone call from Syracuse and they’re like, hey, could you come do that for us?”

The product grew from there, spreading to Ogden, Roy, Clearfield, and West Weber County.

The Spelts family ran their magazine with features like city updates, recipes, students of the month, and overall positive stories while avoiding politics and anything negative.

“We felt like there’s enough of that in the world already, you know, we didn’t need that anymore,” Melissa Spelts said.

Over the past two years, the couple says they’ve had to lay off staff and cut publications that brought in less revenue. Eventually, they say the financial losses were too much.

“It’s hard to look back on sometimes,” Spelts said. “It’s a little emotional. We tried really hard.”

The Spelts’s, however, say they are grateful for the connections they built while getting to know the communities around them.

There are so many good people out there and we just don’t see them every day,” Melissa Spelts said. “I hope that the people in our areas know how blessed they are to live where they live, and to know that there are amazing people out there.”

The Spelts say online archives of the magazines can be accessed online, as well as recipes from the magazine.