Longtime editor Pat Mulvaney is retiring this week after 22 years with the Monroe County Herald, the Sparta newspaper announced Tuesday.
Mulvaney started in 1999 as a reporter for the Sparta Herald and Monroe County Democrat. He went on to be named editor of the Herald in 2005, and he stayed on in the role in 2015 after the Herald was combined with the Democrat following the sale of the papers to Evans Print and Media Group.
As he said goodbye to readers in a column, Mulvaney noted he still plans to contribute to the Herald occasionally in retirement. His plans also include home improvements, traveling and other things he didn’t have the time for while working as editor.
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Taking over for Mulvaney will be Kariann Farrey, a Wisconsin Rapids native and newspaper industry veteran of more than 20 years.
Farrey started her newspaper career with Gannett, working in the advertising department at her hometown paper, the Daily Tribune. She later moved from Wisconsin Rapids to Manitowoc, where she joined the advertising team at the Herald Times Reporter.
She then shifted to the newsroom, serving as a copy editor from 2000 to 2003. Farrey left Wisconsin in 2006 to join the Rapid City (S.D.) Journal, where she covered music and the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. After three years in South Dakota, Farrey returned to Wisconsin, serving as a copy editor for the La Crosse Tribune.
Most recently, Farrey has worked remotely as a freelance copy editor for two newspapers. Her first freelance role was with The Mason County Journal in Shelton, Wash., from 2015 to 2018, and the second was with The Buffalo (Wyo.) Bulletin from 2014 to 2021.
