Local company wins national award
Jennifer Stefano loves “the smell of all that ink.’ Which means some day she may be the fourth generation in a family business that was honored recently with a national award for its work.
Stefano’s Printing in Dunbar was selected as one of a trio of American printers to receive the GrifBest 2001 award.
Each year, George (Grif) Griffin, promotion column writer for Instant and Small Commercial Printer Magazine, presents three printers with his award for ad or promotion excellence.
Griffin honored Stefano’s for its two six-month calendars entitled “Gems of Fayette.’ The calendars depict special images of attractions in the county, including Youghiogheny Station in Connellsville, photographed by Torrey Witt, and coal baron J.V. Thompson’s summer home, which Stefano’s colorized for its calendar.
Officially, Stefano’s issued the following statement upon winning the award:
“We are proud of this award and very happy our hard work has been recognized. And we’re also very proud to be the printer of choice of so many Fayette County businesses and organizations.
“We will continue to work hard to ensure that each client gets our best, award-winning craftsmanship. Our goal is to put our efforts into creating even better promotional products, not only for our own business, but also for the hundreds of other businesses that put their trust in Stefano’s Printing.’
However, while the award recognizes the work done on the calendar, walls in Stefano’s Printing are covered with years worth of samples of its work in printing.
Campaign cards, brochures, booklets, flyers, pamphlets and even copies of former local newspaper editor and historian Walter J. Storey’s books on Uniontown and Fayette County demonstate the effort the small firm has put into its trade in its more than four decades of work.
“We have received other awards over the years, for our newsletter, for example. But this is the first time we made a national magazine cover,’ Pat Stefano said.
His grandfather, James, founded the business in 1958. His father, also Jim, taught in Connellsville Area School District for 20 years while helping out at the print shop. He retired in 1984 from teaching and is full time in the family business.
Pat Stefano, who went to Penn State Fayette, helped out on weekends “with the others in my family. I always enjoyed it.
“My grandfather was an entrepreneur. He always had his feelers out to get involved in something. He had a grocery store, a sporting goods store and then developed the print shop.’
There are nine people involved in the business today: Anna Stefano is the matriarch of the family. Others are Tina Tesauro Stefano, Pat’s wife; Francis Molinaro, Patty Kissinger, Laura Szepesi, Stephanie Stefano, Jim’s wife and Pat’s mother; Ericka Johnson and Judy Anderson.
Pat and Tina have four children: Nathan, 1, Francesca, 3, Marina, 6, and Jennifer, 10, the one who so far has expressed interest in the business.
While the calendar was his father, Jim’s, idea, “to highlight different attractions in Fayette County,’ the entire project was a family affair.
“We sat down and talked about it. We wanted something unique. We didn’t just want to use it to promote the business. We aren’t sure what we are going to do with our next calendar,’ he said. “But we have an idea,’ he added, smiling. He offered no more details than that.
While much of Stefano’s business is in Fayette County, the company deals with other firms in places like Montana, Idaho and Missouri.
Touring Stefano’s is also like walking through a museum of printing technologies.
The company has two Heidelberg-brand machines, one an ultra modern Quasar printer and the other a 1965 press.
It also maintains a Model 8 Linotype press built in 1908, using it to print small jobs including raffle and social tickets and other items you wouldn’t want to ink up the offset press for.
“Actually, the Linotype is pretty environmentally friendly since we can melt the linotype metal over and over again and keep reusing it,’ Stefano said.
In terms of size, the company, he added, is about as large as it wants to be.
“We have created a place for ourselves. In our market it’s hard to find people like us who are still willing to do small jobs. We can do from 150 to 200 copies for a customer.’
But the company doesn’t shy away from larger, more complicated jobs. One, for example, is the annual Fay-Penn Economic Development Council report, a 28-page glossy booklet filled with graphics, photos and color.
“We have the latest technology as well as some of the oldest. We have plate-ready film and most of our work is done digitally. We just upgraded our front-end system (meaning the core of its hardware and software used in production).
“No job is too small. There may be some that are too large for our facility. We specialize in short-run color work. We have positioned ourselves in the marketplace,’ he said.
“We are always trying to expand our sales but we want to stay small and tight,’ he said.