Several times a year I conduct newsroom visits for Scouts and their families. The Scouts earn a communications patch, and The Saratogians earn the good will of the volunteers and family members who get peek at the inside of a newsroom.

Usually we pack a good-size crowd into our cozy newsroom. Last night, though, only the Campbell familys turned up —Christa, Scott, Kathryn and Nicholas, a Tiger Scout — so they got a rare personal tour.

It was unusually quiet in the newsroom at 7 p.m.

Most of the news stories were already written and on the website. Editors Paul Tackett and Angela Valden were editing and paginating the print news pages, including a front-page picture by Erica Miller of moose and bear mascots from the Great Escape listening intently to Saratoga County District Attorney James A. Murphy holding a press conference. (Check out the No. 1 Art Slider position on our home page).

Meanwhile, sports writer Michael Cignoli was writing a preview of Saratoga Central Catholic’s Class B quarterfinals baseball game today, and sports clerk Chris Maley was preparing community briefs for publication. Mike and Chris spent a few minutes explaining what they were doing, and Chris showed them the access we professional sports photos through The Associated Press.

I never tire of talking about the news business, so even a one-family audience was fun.

First-graders are no strangers to computers, so the idea of finding the news online was easy to explain to Nicholas. Kathryn, a year older, could rattle of the primary colors, giving me the chance to show them how the primary colors plus black create all the colors you see in print. They got to see and touch the metal plates that go on the printing press, something that may be a quaint memory years from now.