Dozens of people from the Wanaka community, including staff members, were at the Edgewater Hotel function to toast the beginning of the Sun’s new era.
Allied Press became the 100% owner of the Wanaka Sun title at the start of this month.
The company is the leading media outlet in the South and publisher of the daily broadsheet, the Otago Daily Times, founded in 1861.
It has employed staff in Wanaka for more than two decades and established a permanent office at 82 Brownston St in 2003.
The company also has newspapers in Canterbury, Westland, Otago and Southland, and a Dunedin television station.
Its Wanaka staff of four have been producing the Wanaka Sun through the four-week transition, with today’s edition the first with the new masthead.
In another change, the Wanaka Sun is now distributed on Fridays. A new digital version is on digital.thewanakasun.co.nz.
Allied Press chief executive Grant McKenzie was delighted to have secured the title.
"Communities are at the heart of our strategic plan. Ownership of the Sun gives us a vital stake in a rapidly growing area.
"We have an experienced editorial and sales team working from the ODT office in Wanaka and they have exciting plans for our coverage and engagement with readers and advertisers."
The first edition of the Wanaka Sun was published on September 13, 2001, when the town and surrounds had 4840 people. Now it is 16,400.
Co-founder, retired journalist Cris Johnston, said she and her Wanaka business mentors, the late John Alldred and the late Reuters correspondent Ian McCrone, believed the town had come of age and deserved its own paper.
"I am really heartened to see the paper has survived 21 years, especially in present times when print media has had some very fraught times . . . Under the Allied Press stewardship it can go so much further."
Ms Johnston’s connections to the Wanaka Sun ended when Aaron Heath became the 100% owner and formed the Wanaka Sun 2003 Ltd.
Ms Johnston worked for Allied Press for many years after finishing with the Sun, before retiring to the Bay of Plenty six years ago.
