PETERSON DELIVERS
Retiring StarPhoenix promotions man retraces paper route after 47 years
Craig Peterson went out the same way he came in — delivering newspapers.
On Thursday, at 57, Peterson retired as The StarPhoenix promotions manager. He marked the occasion by distributing newspapers on the same downtown route he maintained for five years in the late ’60s and early ’70s.
Peterson, known throughout Saskatoon for his work in the community, began delivering newspapers for The StarPhoenix in 1967, when he was just 11 years old. He left the paper at 16 to deliver pizzas, but returned four years later.
“This is my last day at The StarPhoenix. I’m delivering my route,” he told downtown shop owners and patrons as he handed out the paper on Thursday.
“It’s about coming full circle. It’s a way to close out my career at The StarPhoenix,” he said.
Not surprisingly, Peterson didn’t come across the same customers he knew as a youth, but he did pass out papers to many longtime friends who were excited to see him.
“I’m delighted I’m on his route and to be a part of this,” said Wanda Underhill, owner of Rouge Gallery on Third Avenue South.
“Was this really your route?” asked Joy Friesen, owner of Etceteras on 21st Street East.
Both owners were sad to hear of Peterson’s retirement.
“He still has to come and deliver papers,” Friesen joked.
Peterson founded the Huskie Football Foundation, created the StarPhoenix Bridge City Boogie and was awarded Saskatoon’s B’nai Brith We’re Proud of You Award in 2010 for his contributions to the city. This year he was the chair of the board for the PotashCorp Children’s Festival of Saskatchewan.
“He’s one of the most recognizable people in Saskatoon,” StarPhoenix Editorin-Chief Rob McLaughlin said. “He’s one of the most positive, energetic and enthusiastic people I’ve ever met. We’re going to miss him at The StarPhoenix.”
Peterson is known by many in Saskatoon as “Beep,” a nickname given to him in his early days with the newspaper because he used to drink Beep, an orange drink, instead of coffee in the morning.
“It stuck, to the point where a lot of people in the city didn’t know my real name,” he said.
Beep walked his old route Thursday with his wife Marilyn, wearing a delivery bag similar to the one he used in the ’60s and ’70s — though he didn’t carry 121 papers, the number he used to deliver.
“I have a recurring nightmare that I’m still delivering papers,” he joked.
He said he used to run the entire route and would always skip every second step while running up and down stairs — a habit he continued even after he got promoted to an office job.
“I took all the stairs in twos,” he said. “I couldn’t break that habit. People would laugh at me.”
Peterson was awarded a gold watch — which he still owns — when he was just 12 years old, for excellent service in his first year as a delivery boy.
He used to run to the newspaper office after school and would hitchhike home after his route ended at the YMCA on 22nd Street East.
He hitched a ride with the same woman every day, he said. She drove a red Mustang, but she never told him her name. They never spoke, aside from the first time she picked him up and he told her where he lived.
Peterson isn’t sure what he’s going to do now in retirement, but he plans to take the summer off before finding something else to do.
“It’s my time. I feel like I’m due. I’m ready to go on to different things,” he said.