25 years ago, Canada braced for a Quebec referendum on separation that was too close to call. My most vivid memory , other than the obvious existential dread, is of an old-fashioned newspaper stunt that would never happen today due to the decline of print journalism. (Thread.)

The Friday before the vote, a No rally was scheduled for Montreal, and Canadians outside Quebec hatched a plan to send thousands of people from the ROC to the rally to demonstrate Canada's affection for the province. This gave my editors at the Telegraph Journal an idea.

Before continuing on to Montreal, buses from around New Brunswick, carrying rally-goers, were scheduled to gather at the mall in Edmundston near the Trans-Canada exit to form a caravan, an ideal moment to pull off this caper.

On the Thursday night, I filed a story on an evening No rally at the Université de Moncton then headed to the Coliseum, laptop in hand, to hop on one of the buses that was set to depart at midnight. At the same time, in Saint John, the presses were rolling.

By the time we reached Edmundston, the first batches of Friday's Telegraph Journal were there too: as I recall, enough copies for 400 people, because there were 10 buses of 40 people meeting there to form the caravan.

The 400-copies were a special early print run with a customized front page for the New Brunswickers riding the buses to the rally: the "Unity Bus Edition." Page 1 included a special note from managing editor Scott Anderson with a guide to the day's itinerary.

My job in Edmundston was to grab the bundles of papers and get 40 copies onto each of the 10 buses. There was a weird time-warp sensation, given it still felt like Thursday night and I was running around with copies of the next day's paper with my story on the front.

Anyway, the caravan rolled on, I filed a story from the moving bus to the TJ's afternoon paper, the Times-Globe, and we reached Montreal in time for the big rally.

There's been considerable debate over whether a rally flooded by non-Quebeckers helped or hurt the "No" side; the province voted to stay in Canada by a hair the following Monday.

The stunt, however, was a success, showing Scott Anderson and Neil Reynold's sense of occasion. 400 New Brunswickers got a tactile souvenir of a historic event in which they were participating. I'm not sure papers would or could attempt it today.

Sometimes I wonder how many copies of the "Unity Bus Edition" are still kicking around in basements today. I still have mine; if you have one, tweet a pic.

P.S. The story I filed from the rally for the next day's front page was the only time I shared my byline with a new junior reporter at the TJ. I wonder whatever happened to that guy?