Summer is always an interesting time for newspapers. Government bodies — like village and school boards — typically shorten their agendas and might skip a meeting or two. Kids aren’t going to school and athletes aren’t playing high school sports.
Typically, there just isn’t a lot of big news.
Last summer was quite unusual, as Hinsdale and communities around the country dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic and the social unrest following the murder of George Floyd.
Here’s a sampling of headlines from stories we ran last summer.
“HMS teachers, staff hold graduation parade”
“Central grad hopes protests cue change”
“ ‘New way of doing school’ looms in the fall”
“COVID testing site welcomes appointments”
“Pantry provides for needs beyond food”
“D86 goes remote, D181 pursues hybrid”
“IHSA: Only six sports clear to kick off fall season”
A house ad we ran encouraged readers to look forward to July 4, 2021, after the 2020 Independence Day parade was canceled. “Before you know it, we’ll be marching again,” the ad read.
Of course there was some good news to report last summer, as teens, businesses and philanthropic organizations found creative ways to respond to the pandemic. The local property market was flourishing, a July headline read, and the new downtown parking deck opened that month as well.
With most vacations canceled or postponed, we launched a summer series looking at the best vacations people had taken in recent years. If you couldn’t take a trip, the next best thing was to relive a great one, our reasoning went.
What a difference a year makes.
Photos on the cover of this issue capture the fun people had at the Independence Day parade Saturday.
The Pulse article looks at two very different outdoor theater options, neither of which were available last summer. Our summer series is on summer pursuits that people are actually enjoying right now.
Of course, some things remain the same. District 86 continues its work on referendum projects. Outdoor dining remains as popular as it did last summer. Thieves continue to find unlocked cars with the keys inside. And, of course, we continue to report an ever-growing number of COVID-19 cases each week, even though the increase has dropped dramatically from last year.
But things, for the most part, are looking up.
Central is getting ready to open a new natatorium. Football players are practicing on Dickinson Field. Uniquely Thursdays returned last week and will continue through Aug. 26.
And for the first time in more than a year, Hinsdale Hospital has no patients who tested positive for COVID-19 and none who are awaiting test results.
Yes, summer 2021 is a good time for community news. Let’s cross our fingers that the trend continues this fall.
