Looking Back on 2020

      Comments Off on Looking Back on 2020
Share This Article

Usually, as we move toward the start of another year many of us look back fondly at the various events that took place. We may also reflect on the happenings that have impacted our community, our nation, or the world. But 2020 is a different year. Not many of us can use the word “fondly” when looking back at the events of this past year.

Rural Resurrection LogoHowever, for Rural Resurrection, it was the best year yet. This blog has never posted as many articles in a one year stretch as it has in 2020. Also, this blog’s traffic has also grown steadily over the year as well. The site even undertook a rebranding effort with a new logo and tagline.

We started the year with the first EVER National Implementation Month. Yes, a month dedicated entirely to implementing your community plans. Do I have the authority to declare January as National Implementation Month? Nope. But those who succeed at implementation don’t let something like that get in the way.

When HGTV rolled out a contest in anticipation of their new Home Town Takeover show, Rural Resurrection took notice. We took a look at a few of the videos submitted by  Nebraska communities to the contest, as well as those from communities elsewhere. Unfortunately for the many communities in the upper Midwest that submitted entries to the contest, they selected Wetumpka in Alabama.

Some of the posts on Rural Resurrection this year were on an issue from 2019 that was still impacting many Midwest communities in 2020. The floods of 2019 devastated many communities and many of them are still digging out. We highlighted disaster recovery and mitigation resources. But we also checked in on the town of Pacific Junction, Iowa and the tough decisions that they are undertaking this year.

But there’s always an elephant in the room when someone looks back on 2020. And it is a big, loud elephant that won’t let you ignore it. Yes, COVID-19. Any sizeable discussion about 2020 will always have some sort of linkage to COVID-19 one way or another. Rural Resurrection published no less than 10 posts about resources, stories of resilience, and ideas on how to adjust to the impacts of the virus on rural communities.

Rural Resurrection also started a new series of posts entitled Ghost Towns. It is important to learn from these ghost towns to help us avoid our communities becoming one as well. The first post was on the old mining town of Mystic, South Dakota.

And that was just COVID-19. The 2020 event bingo card was full of oddities like murder hornets, “Derecho” storms, massive wildfires in Australia and the western US, dual hurricanes hitting the southern shores, toilet paper shortages and Kanye West running for president.

But as tough as 2020 was to endure, we can look forward to 2021 with a sense optimism. There will likely be a cure for COVID-19 available at some point during the year. Overall, it’ll also be hard to beat the issues we have already experienced.

Though you never know what Kanye West has planned….