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What is The Sun Runner?
Conceived in 1994, The Sun Runner magazine was born during the Revitalization of 29 Palms - when this quiet desert community, asleep in an economic slump, suddenly awoke and began to reinvent itself. Residents and merchants were busy creating the Mural Project, cleaning up the streets, remodeling commercial facades, starting new visitor-friendly businesses, and spawning new annual events and fund-raisers for 29 Palms. A vehicle was needed to “get the word out” to the community and to the world. “Something is happening in 29 Palms: Catch the Spirit!” was the motto.
Capturing the spirit of the renaissance, resident Vickie Waite founded The Sun Runner Arts & Entertainment Magazine, became its Publisher & Editor, and sought local writers
and artists to contribute to its pages. The first issue was distributed on January 1, 1995, offering photography, art, intelligent writing, and a social calendar to a culture-hungry community.
By January 3, the community’s response to this new publication was overwhelmingly positive. Subscriptions began rolling in. Advertisers began to call. The rest is history.
Over the next nine-and-a-half years, Waite grew The Sun Runner’s coverage area, advertising, and distribution, to include all of the hi-desert/Morongo Basin. But wanting to
eventually retire, Waite actively sought out someone to take over the growing publication.
On June 1, 2004, Yucca Valley resident, award-winning journalist and musician, Steve Brown, joined The Sun Runner as Publisher and Executive Editor to continue the magazine’s growth. The magazine moved from a quarterly publishing schedule to a bi-monthly basis, beginning with the Oct./Nov. 2004 issue and increased its print circulation at that time as well.
In 2005, the Sun Runner Showcases were launched, intimate concert performances at the Hi-Desert Playhouse in Joshua Tree. A host of regional and even international musicians performed at the Showcases, prior to the Playhouse’s disastrous freeze in January 2007. The Sun Runner also began hosting Sun Runner Salons,
with featured guest authors and poets from around the region. A free, weekly e-mail newsletter, the Sun Blast, was also added, along with a weekly radio show Friday mornings on KX96 FM (heard throughout the
Morongo Basin). The Sun Runner began sponsoring arts events throughout the desert, from the Palm Springs Art Museum to Calico Ghost Town, while a new blog, Mojave Winds (see our Desert Blogs page), and a My
Space page (www.myspace.com/thesunrunner) have added to the magazine’s reach.
As of 2007, The Sun Runner had expanded its editorial coverage and distribution network to include all of the California deserts region, and publishes twice as many copies of
the magazine per issue as when Brown took over the publication in 2004, reaching more than 30,000 desert residents and visitors from El Centro and Borrego Springs, through the Coachella Valley/Palm Springs area and
the hi-desert/Morongo Basin, and on through the Mojave Desert to Ridgecrest and Death Valley. The magazine has become increasingly involved with regional tourism efforts for the California deserts, as well as
with its diverse cultural community, participating in efforts ranging from Operation Sun Runner (sending CDs from musicians around the country to our troops overseas), to speaking at engagements, and producing a
variety of events.
New features such as the annual Desert Writers issue, give voice to creative spirits throughout the California deserts, while contributors to the magazine add to The Sun Runner’s regional voice.
While we hope you’ll enjoy the new features we’ll be bringing your way, don’t fret - we have no intention of losing the magic that has made The Sun Runner the delight it has been over the past 13 years. As always, feel free to contact us with your ideas, comments and criticisms. We may put the magazine out, but it belongs to our desert community.
As we entered 2005, The Sun Runner celebrated its tenth anniversary with a gala party at the 29 Palms Inn. More than 200 contributors, subscribers, advertisers, readers, artists, musicians and community leaders braved blustery winter weather to enjoy a memorable evening, with laughter, music, and good conversation.
Thousands of copies of The Sun Runner are distributed at more than 400 locations throughout the California deserts, and the subscription list has grown to include hundreds of subscribers throughout the country. More than 125 writers, poets, columnists, artists and photographers have contributed to the magazine to date. With our website online since 1999, more than 60,000 readers have visited our site from all over the globe!
Who says there’s nothing to do in the desert?
Each issue of The Sun Runner brings you the people, places, and events that make the California deserts unique. To find out more about the complete hard-copy version of the magazine, or to receive a free sample copy, click on Subscriptions.
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