2021 year of CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM

Hope hinges on a brighter year ahead



Courtesy of Donovan Germain

Courtesy of Donovan Germain

STAY THE COURSE— Above, Gary Garman fishes from a canoe on Westlake Lake in October. The ominous sky and full rainbow symbolize the hope and danger that marked 2021 as local residents navigated a challenging 12 months. Our community at the beginning of 2021 was a vastly different place than the world we live in today. The general hope was that the beginning of the year would bring us to the end—the end of COVID-19.

As the calendar turned to 2021, cautious optimism became the mood of the day, the hope that the virus had finally turned a corner and was on its way out.

How wrong we were.

As the winter surge worsened, conflict erupted between people who wore masks to thwart the disease and those who didn’t. The year 2020 came to an ignominious end. The Acorn’s first big story of 2021 covered the shouting matches that erupted between factions at a holiday caroling event near a local shopping center (The Oaks) and punches thrown at a restaurant in Agoura Hills (Cronies). A fight broke out at a neighborhood hardware store (DIY Home Center), and as public fatigue from the pandemic grew and anger among citizens spread, the seeds were sown for a difficult 12 months ahead.

As spring gave way to summer, the battleground shifted to the vaccine and its putative benefits. In the warm summer months of 2021 the mood turned bright once again.

As summer gave way to fall, the shots were shown to be effective and virus cases fell. Students returned to in-person learning, the economy reopened and people felt like they could breathe again.

The community experienced the highest of highs and lowest of lows in 2021. Today, with 2022 just around the corner, we’ve come full circle as hope once again beckons a Happy New Year.

Our recap of the top stories of the year begins on Page 10.