× Expand Courtesy of Lilley Halloran Lilley Halloran, now 12, founded Wyoming Street News in 2013.

Lilley Halloran keeps a pile of unfinished books in her desk drawer with notebooks full of writing. Four or five years ago, she got a typewriter, and began writing with that. She sent a newsletter out to her family, and she loved school projects. When she moved to Wyoming Street in 2013, Halloran found herself between projects. She started to wonder: Would the neighbors want to read a newspaper?

“I’ve never really been satisfied if I don’t have some project going on that involves writing,” says Halloran, now 12.

Wyoming Street News began as Halloran, then 8, handwrote one-page newspapers with four short articles each, whenever it struck her whimsy. She released a copy every three or four months. “Most of my articles were about Gelateria del Leone and new flavors of gelato,” she recalls.

In 2015, Halloran’s friend Esme Marshall offered to—as their website puts it—“help make Lilley make Wyoming Street News a thing.” The result was a seven-page paper featuring Sweet Traffic Candy Bar. They did it again. Seven pages became eight, and a sporadic publication schedule became a monthly one.

Now, Halloran runs a newsroom of seven other teenage creators—mostly relatives of Halloran and Marshall, all South City residents—who cover local issues for over 40 subscribers and distribute 50-75 papers around the South Grand area every month. WSN is distributed at the Gelateria del Leone (3197 S. Grand) and Dunaway Books (3111 S. Grand); with their larger staff, Halloran says they’re also hoping to offer the paper at more locations, so they can bring hyper-local news to more readers.

The articles range from newsy to editorial. They’ve explored the role of Starbucks—does it disturb local coffee shops?—and polled local business owners on what they want to see in the vacant Bread Co. building; they’ve discussed the Loop Trolley construction and the St. Louis Public Library hacking. Often, WSN includes book-to-movie comparisons. And there’s usually a monthly puzzle and comic to look forward to.

For her part, Halloran sees herself doing something more or less like this for the rest of her life. “I really want to end up being a journalist, a writer, or an author of some sort,” says Halloran.

As CEO and editor-in-chief, Halloran monitors article quality, keeps writers on track, runs marketing, edits the website, and focuses on expansion. They launched a new website last month. WSN’s newest development is the Best of South Grand awards. The team nominated popular businesses and restaurants, then reached out to the public for votes. They received 373.

On April 1 at Ritz Park from 12–2:30 p.m., WSN will host the event. Halloran’s dad, local jazz musician Tommy Halloran, will provide live music, and there will be kid-friendly games, snacks such as popcorn, info about the paper, WSN swag—and plenty of copies of March’s special issue, a 10-page paper written for the event.

Best of South Grand winners will receive a window decal declaring their victory, and will be featured in a guide to South Grand (which Halloran says is slated for publication late 2017 or early 2018).

“We want people to know how cool and how much talent there is in the local vicinity,” Halloran says. “We want people to know that there’s really awesome stuff in the local area. We want to support local businesses.”

You can subscribe to Wyoming Street News for free via their store. The Best of South Grand Awards are scheduled for 12–2:30 p.m. on April 1 at Ritz Park (3147 S. Grand).