This was to be our best year ever! Like many business owners, we were optimistic for 2020.
Every piece of the puzzle that is small business was coming together. The right people were in place, along with numerous plans for a dynamic news package that would offer up regional news and super-local items of interest. Readers would be happy and engaged. Advertisers would benefit from numerous options to reach their customers. Then COVID-19 hit.
Like most companies we had to recoil, take stock of the economic conditions at hand and decide how to continue. The only option early on was to reduce costs drastically and figure out a path forward.
Canada Day was targeted as an occasion to start publishing the North Wellington Community News again. That deadline came and went as local businesses pulled out of a late start to spring and paddled their way through summer. Many store owners were getting used to the new protocols and re-establishing relationships with clients. Similarly, Labour Day came and went.
Thanksgiving, however, is one occasion that we felt strongly could not and should not be missed. Despite all the challenges faced in north Wellington and other local communities across the country this year, there is much to be thankful for. We still have our family and friends.
The reprieve from lockdown now appears to be in peril again. Locally, the pandemic has been managed as well as possible. Civic leaders and the citizenry have been responsible – for the most part. That perhaps is aided by the wide-open spaces, limited populations and in many ways a rural lifestyle that doesn’t generate huge crowds like those found in cities.
Larger centres to the south and east have flare-ups that may cause a return to a more regimented circumstance like that experienced in the spring when non-essential workplaces closed. We hope not, but those orders rest with the province and local health units.
As north Wellington navigates its way to better times, we look forward to helping those we can. If another bump in the road comes, we will meet that challenge along with you. Tough times don’t last forever.
