What a year
What can I saw about 2021? I’m an optimist, so I’ll search for something positive about the year we close out on Friday.
It was less awful than 2020.
With the arrival of COVID-19 vaccines, life in 2021 returned to something resembling normal. Gymnasiums were full again. Kids in the public school attended school in person instead of in their pajamas. Lockdowns eased and businesses reopened. TCU High School returned its Commencement Exercises to an in-person format, which again filled the high school gymnasium.
However, plenty of events reminded us that true normal still remains a ways off. Almost two years after it was declared a pandemic, the coronavirus continues to mutate into new variants and reminds us it’s not gone for good.
In January, our country’s capital was attacked by rioters trying to stop Congress’ constitutionally mandated count of electoral college votes that established Joe Biden Jr. as the 46th President of the United States. Kamala Harris also became Vice President, making her the first woman and Black person to hold the office.
“Supply chain bottleneck” were common reasons for out-of-stock items during the holiday shopping season.
President Biden makes Juneteenth a holiday commemorating the end of slavery, the 12th federal holiday.
Our local teams were present on the fields and in the gyms. We celebrated with one another at Kolacky Days, the County Fair, Pioneer Power, Halfway to St. Paddy’s Day, and the Torchlight Parade!
Locally, we saw our Main Street Landscape change with the demolition of two abandoned buildings.
Montgomery was put in the national spotlight when 2000 Kolacky Queen Meghan Petricka won a national competition on television creating designs with plants!
The Farmer’s Market returned, this time to Memorial Park, which proved to be a great location for food vendors, musicians, and sellers of handmade wares. Hundreds of people visited the park each week.
However, we also had sad, heart-breaking moments too. We lost loved ones to covid, cancer, heart disease, stroke, and other ailments.
What will the next year bring? Who knows, but I hope it’s not “2020 too!”