IRL meets Ink: A blueprint for bringing community builders and local newspapers together
In an age of shallow scrolling, something deeply analog-and deeply human is making a quiet comeback: the third place. It's where people gather not for home or work, but for connection. And in Midcoast Maine, a newspaper is leading that revival in a surprisingly modern way.
Meet The Villager Café, the newest venture of The Midcoast Villager, a newspaper with nearly two centuries of local roots. It's part coffee shop, part event space, part newsstand and it might just be the blueprint for how local journalism and IRL (in-real-life) community builders can shape the future of human connection, together.
A new role for local newspapers: from reporting to hosting
For much of the past century, newspapers told the stories of their communities. Today, the most forward-thinking local papers are starting to host them.
The Midcoast Villager is proving that a newspaper doesn't have to be just ink on paper or pixels on a screen, it can be a living, breathing space. The Villager Café is more than a place to grab coffee. They say, it's a physical manifestation of what local journalism is about: gathering people around shared interests, timely issues, and hometown stories.
With regular events, town hall-style conversations, and a standing invitation to linger over the news of the day, the café has become a social hub in Midcoast Maine. It's where community meets content and where journalists don't just cover community life, they help shape it.
Why IRL Community Builders should partner with local newspapers
There's a natural synergy here one that many IRL community builders may be overlooking. We IRL builders and the local newspaper don't have to open a café right away. A pop-up project is perfectly adequate to start with. Pop-ups, meet paper. Local newspapers have trust, reach, and brand recognition. IRL community organizers have fresh ideas, dynamic programming, and the ability to draw new audiences. Together, they can test pop-up cafés, mini-libraries, social workshops, supper clubs, wellness circles, or creative markets, inside newspaper, led venues or co-branded spaces like The Villager Cafe.
The benefits are mutual:
For IRL Builders: Access to a loyal, local readership, a built-in communications platform, and a space that already attracts foot traffic.
For Newspapers: Relevance among new, younger audiences; community-generated programming; and real-time engagement that feeds back into better, more grounded storytelling.
Imagine hosting a monthly "community builders breakfast" at a local paper's space-or co-producing an event series spotlighting underrepresented voices, with follow-up coverage in the next issue. The possibilities are as endless as the stories in your town.
Newspapers as community infrastructure
We often think of newspapers as archives of local memory. But when they evolve into gathering places, they become community infrastructure-like parks or libraries, but with a pulse on current events and a platform for civic dialogue.
At The Villager Café, people don't just consume the news-they create it. A parent organizing a school board meeting might end up on the front page. A local meet-up might give rise to a new tradition. The newspaper becomes the stage, the storyteller, and the shared notebook of the town.
This is the future of local journalism, not just documenting community, but convening it.
What's Next: A call to co-create
For IRL community builders looking to root their work in place and purpose, local newspapers are ideal partners. And for newspapers seeking relevance in a fragmented media landscape, IRL gatherings are a smart and soulful move. It's time to move beyond thinking of news as content and start thinking of it as context. Context for meeting your neighbors. For sharing space. For building something bigger than any one headline. The Villager Café in Midcoast Maine is already doing it. Who will be next?
Best,
Gerrit
Gerrit Dokter is an expert in IRL Community building, creating loneliness solutions for Gen Z and Y, and social entrepreneur based in Munich, Germany. When he’s not exploring the future of friendships and IRL connections, he’s probably diving into the latest research on loneliness, sharing knowledge about IRL community that sparks real-world connection, or curating unique experiences that bring people together. Say HEY on LinkedIn — he’s always up for a good conversation.