Thanks to our partner, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, over 45 years of The News-Journal (Raeford, N.C.) have been added to our website. This batch fills in previously large gaps between 1957 to 1967 and 1986 to 2021. Still active today, The News-Journal has been publishing articles covering news in North Carolina’s City of Raeford and Hoke County since 1905. Contents of the newspaper focus primarily on the coverage and accounts of notable resident accomplishments, community growth, issues, and local events.

Cat with a Job: Jaguar Darkfire of Eyre Completes Hoke Public Library’s Halloween Display.

One of the best times to visit Hoke County to experience their fun local events is in the autumn. Every autumn The News-Journal highlights the area’s traditions such as the Turkey Festival, Fall Festival, decorations around town, and the newspaper’s Halloween costume contest. In Hoke County, the Halloween costume contest is particularly popular with submissions totaling over 100 entries each year. Unable to resist the All Hallows’ Eve spirit, the NCDHC would like to share with you some of the cutest, most original, and funniest children’s costumes that have been submitted to the paper over the last 45+ years. Don’t worry about scary clowns, nothing but laughs and cuteness ahead!

Wild Child(ren)!

Dressed as some of the most adorable creatures you can find out in the wild, these three—Kentrell, Casey, and Tasheona—look excited to start trick or treating!

Casey Garrison, Bird

Kentrell Burse, Frog

Tasheona Davis, Lady Bug

Baby Biker Beshilas

No biker look would be complete without Harley-Davidson apparel and an awesome horseshoe ‘stache.

Beshilas easily takes the award for funniest costume.

Nicholas Beshilas, Biker

Hendrix Household Costume Trifecta

If there was a prize for the greatest number of most original awards given to one family the Hendrix Family would win by a landslide! Each child is dressed up as a familiar household item including a washing machine, bag of groceries, and a basket of laundry. 

Emily Hendrix, Bag of Groceries

Samantha Hendrix, Basket of Laundry

Kayla Hendrix, Washing Machine

 To view more Hoke County Halloween costume contestants, take a look at our issues of The News-Journal.

To view more newspapers from around North Carolina, please visit our North Carolina Newspapers Collection here.

To learn more about the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, please visit their website. 

Thanks to our partners at the University of North Carolina at Chapel-Hill and the Raeford News-Journal, 15 more years of the Raeford News-Journal are now available on DigitalNC!  With this addition, more than 1,000 issues of the paper are now online, dating back to 1943.

Local newspapers served an important role in the life of small communities, detailing happenings in town, including milestones in the town’s growth and development.  For example, the issue pictured below from October 1972 describes the plans for a new shopping center in the area. Researchers interested in genealogical research or community development over several decades of the twentieth century will find these local papers useful.  Check out all of our digitized community newspapers browsing the North Carolina Newspapers Collection.

The News-Journal, October 19, 1972, page 11

You can view all of the digitized editions of the News-Journal from Hoke County at the following link. To learn more UNC-Chapel Hill, which contributed this paper, please visit the contributor page where you can see many other community newspapers that are preserved at the university.