The Sprawl’s pop-up press is an all-ages, kid-friendly letterpress experience—and an ongoing experiment in community engagement.

It started in the summer of 2023, when Meta blocked all news on Facebook and Instagram in Canada. Sprawl editor Jeremy Klaszus quipped at the time that The Sprawl should get a printing press, as the unpredictability of social media platforms meant it was time for journalism outlets to get creative.

Then he realized he wasn't joking: "We should get a printing press!"

And we did—a very small one. It's a Kelsey Excelsior 5x8 tabletop platen press that was manufactured in Connecticut in 1967, used in Edmonton for awhile, and eventually ended up on Vancouver Island—which is where we found it (on Facebook Marketplace, of all places!) before hauling it back to Alberta with only a foggy idea of what we might do with it.

We started experimenting and learned the basics of printing well enough to invite Sprawl members for a few printing nights. From the get-go, the idea was to put the press in the hands of the people—literally. We'd set type and plates in the press, but leave the last step, the actual printing on paper, to you.

And people loved it! Young and old can’t help but smile when experiencing the analog joy of letterpress, which is how journalism (and everything else) used to be published.

Then it was time to take our pop-up press on the road, experimenting in a more educational setting. In partnership with the Calgary Public Library, we introduced a Grade 2/3 class to the printing press while cartoonist Sam Hester (creator of our Curious Calgary comics) showed students how to make their own one-page zines about their neighbourhoods.

We’ve since taken our pop-up press and zines to the Calgary Folk Music Festival (where we added a button press into the mix!), the Shelf Life Books + CommunityWise Zine Party, and the Panel One Comic Creator Festival, among other community events.

We continue to experiment as we go. These pop-ups are a fun way to introduce Calgarians to The Sprawl and our Curious Calgary zine comics. They're also a creative way to get more people signed up for our weekend newsletter—while also giving them a memorable experience and a paper-and-ink keepsake.

If you're interested in having The Sprawl's pop-up press at your event, or in your classroom, drop us a note at hello@sprawlcalgary.com.