There’s an inside-baseball saying that being a reporter is like trying to take sips from a fire hose.
So much news comes so fast we have to try to get what we can.
These past two years, it has felt more like that fire hose was shoved up our noses, and we had to swallow when we could.
To do this job, you have to love the rush of that.
And, for the most part, we do!
But it also means that when we make up this yearly list, some stories get bumped off that would have been big news in other towns.
Howe Sound being designated a UNESCO biosphere region was a huge deal this year.
Ultimately, it will come to fruition in more tangible ways in the coming years, so got a regretful bump. The formation of a housing society will have a huge impact on the town, too, eventually, as will the under-construction Â鶹Éç¹ú²úOceanfront and Garibaldi Springs development and the revitalization of Brennan Park.
The raising of the first Transgender flag above Muni Hall was symbolically huge, too, showing a shift in a town where that would have been impossible not that long ago.
Labour and childcare shortage were on the list for a time but not necessarily new, so they got bumped.
Another mass fish kill due to BC Hydro ramping this year, unfortunately, wasn’t new either.
Should declining mental health and an increase in intimate partner violence have gotten a mention? I feel guilty that they didn’t, but again, it is not new news, sadly.
The federal election was a significant event, but not one folk cared too much about judging by our online numbers for stories about it.
Each of you likely would have formed a different list, and we get that.
As we turn the page on 2021, we can only guess what the big stories of this year will be.
Each year Steven and I start out vowing to catch as many as possible.
And we know that without readers and locals willing to tell us their stories, we wouldn’t exist.
Thank you for being with us this year and hopefully next.
Happy new story year!
