The Courier-Times
KNIGHTSTOWN - Three Knightstown publications are back in the hands of the Mayhill family.
The weekly newspapers - Farm World, Antique Week and The Auction Exchange And Collectors News - were recently sold by DMG World Media to Gary and Merry Thoe under the company Midcountry Media.
Merry Thoe said her parents, Tom and Peg Mayhill, started the Knightstown papers as Mayhill Publications. Later, her husband ran the company for several years before selling it to DMG about 10 years ago.
But Merry said they missed working there. The products were great, she said, and they loved the employees.
So when the papers went up for sale, the Thoes worked for nine months to buy them back. Merry Thoe said they created Midcountry Media as the name for the umbrella company of all three publications.
She said the papers will stay in Knightstown where they were started. Since the sale was final Sept. 17, she said it's good to be back.
"It's been great," she said. "We feel very blessed."
Tony Gregory, publisher of the Knightstown publications, said the sale was not money-related. When DMG purchased the papers in 2000, it was a large producer of exhibitions and owned a few newspapers in other countries.
But DMG changed its strategy a few years ago, he said. Officials decided to sell the newspaper operations in Knightstown and focus on exhibitions instead.
Gregory said there were several offers on the table, but Midcountry Media was the final purchaser.
Peg Mayhill said she and Tom were very happy to hear their daughter and son-in-law wanted the company.
She was also glad that the business was staying in Knightstown. When it first went up for sale, she said she wasn't sure if that would happen.
"We feel since Merry grew up with the business, they know what it's all about," she said. "We're very pleased that they have it. We want them to have all the success in the world. Our time is over. It's their time now."
Merry Thoe said Farm World and Antique Week were very much a part of her life growing up in Knightstown. She was expected to help out, she said, whether it was carrying mail bags or doing whatever was necessary.
Taking on the business as an adult was never what she expected. But then her father asked Gary Thoe to come into the business with him.
A Knightstown secret
Gregory said the company has two downtown offices and a press facility east of town. It employs 85 people.
Farm World is the oldest publication. When the Mayhills started it in 1955, it was originally called Farm Week.
With a circulation of 40,000, he said, it's a regionally-based farm newspaper with one of the largest agriculture classifieds in the Midwest. It also produces an annual show, called Farm World Expo.
Antique Week is a national newspaper with a national edition as well as three regional editions. Gregory said the company produces 60,000 copies for those titles.
Auction Exchange is the most recent addition to the Knightstown office. Purchased in 2004, it's based in Indiana, Ohio and Michigan and has a circulation of 20,000.
But Gregory said many people in Knightstown would be surprised to hear that the newspapers have such a national scope.
"It's pretty much a secret," he said. "I don't think people really understand what it is we do here and what kind of reach we have."
Gregory said the newspapers grew under DMG's leadership, and he expects that to continue with Midcountry Media.