Tribune's four-section Wednesday edition is the largest ever published

WILLMAR -- Wednesday's edition of the West Central Tribune will land on subscribers' doorsteps with a much heavier thud than usual.

Four sections, 40 pages and 19 advertising inserts will make it the biggest newspaper of the year.

The day before Thanksgiving has historically marked the Tribune's largest edition each year, as advertisers line up to launch the holiday shopping season.

This year it will be the biggest ever, said Mark Herman, circulation director.

"I think this tops it by two or three more inserts," he said. "It's the record."

Each copy of the Tribune on Wednesday will weigh approximately one pound, 10 ounces.

The press will churn out close to 17,000 newspapers Tuesday night. If you could stack all of them on a giant scale, they would tip the balance at somewhere between eight and nine tons.

For carriers, it will mean delivering anywhere from 15 to 500 pounds' worth of newspapers -- all by 6:30 a.m. Wednesday.

"It's a big challenge. It takes weeks of planning, especially in production," said Steve Ammermann, publisher of the West Central Tribune. "It's a challenge for our carriers. All of a sudden the newspaper is four times the size of the regular newspaper."

Herman and the crew of the Tribune's distribution center have been preparing for almost a month.

The advertising inserts, which are printed elsewhere and shipped to the Tribune for distribution in the newspaper, start arriving two to three weeks ahead of time.

"We really have a full warehouse during the holiday season," Herman said.

Because of the volume, the inserts must be pre-packaged, using a combination of automation and stuffing by hand. Ten inserts were gathered and packaged inside a paper jacket last week; the remaining nine were pre-packaged at the beginning of this week.

"Everything is done in advance, otherwise we'd never get it done," Ammermann said.

In the newsroom, editors have been working ahead of time as well.

Instead of the usual 20 or so pages to design and lay out for the Wednesday edition, there are 40, said Editor Kelly Boldan.

"The news department challenge is laying out some additional pages early in the week," he said. "Various editors start on this paper several weeks ahead."

The A and B sections will contain daily news and sports coverage, he said. A third section will consist of Showcase, the Tribune's arts and entertainment section. The fourth section features a collection of reader responses to the riddle "Why DID the turkey cross the road?"

The press will gear up an hour early tonight to handle the load. As the newspapers come off the conveyor belt, they'll be bundled out the door for distribution.

"Everything will be put together in four hours. That's impressive," Herman said. "The veterans have been through it. They know. For people that are new, it's an eye-opening experience."

The Tribune has morning carrier service in 11 counties. It operates 223 routes by 175 carriers. Some routes are more than 100 miles long and take five hours to complete. About 4,000 Tribunes also are delivered via the U.S. Postal Service.

Herman is keeping his fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly.

"There's things you can never predict, like production problems," he said. "If the weather doesn't cooperate, that throws another wrench into it. ... We'll be challenged to meet our deadline. That's why we start a little earlier -- because we know that."