Wick buys Splash, Current

Former Spokane Valley City Council member Ben Wick has purchased the Liberty Lake Splash and the Current, two monthly publications based in Liberty Lake.

“I’m especially looking forward to writing the editorials,” Wick said. He added that as a lifelong Spokane Valley resident, he feels he has much to contribute and that he knows the community well. “I’m pretty excited about it.”

He was barely done serving his four-year term on the Spokane Valley City Council before he purchased the publications from Josh and Kim Johnson. Wick has no prior publishing experience, but said it’s important to keep local publications alive.

“We are not going to make many changes right off the bat,” Wick said.

Splash contributor Craig Howard will become the editor and Wick’s wife, Danica Wick, will be a graphic artist. Howard was previously the news editor for the Spokane Valley News Herald and has covered the Liberty Lake City Council since the town incorporated in 2002.

The Splash was founded in 1999 by Shaun and Nathan Brown and has been owned by Johnson’s Peridot Publishing since 2004.

The Splash focuses on Liberty Lake and the Current covers a larger geographic area, including Spokane Valley and surrounding smaller towns. Wick said the two papers reach about 18,000 people and the next edition will be out on Jan. 29.

Wick said the publications may add more historical coverage and perhaps a student of the month feature.

“For now we are keeping the look and feel very close to the same as it has been,” Wick said.

Peridot Publishing will continue to publish annual community guides for Spokane Valley and Liberty Lake.