2021: The Year That... Was

By Cathy Salustri

“Nobody claim 2022 as ‘your year’. We’re all going to walk in real slow. Be good. Be quiet. Be cautious and respectful. Don’t touch anything.” –Facebook meme

Last year, our designer created a humorous illustration for the final issue of 2020, featuring rolls of toilet paper and masks. We used a simple headline: “Goodbye 2020” which sort of said it all. 2021 would certainly be better. And 2021 certainly had its bright spots: Vaccines! No more lockdown! Doing things that required wearing pants! Champa Bay! Booster shots! St. Petersburg’s first Black mayor! Gulfport Rebound! Ted Lasso!

For my part, I cried when I could finally hug my parents when we, fully vaccinated, ate Easter dinner together. People started to believe in the economy enough that more advertisers returned to The Gabber. Most of our staff found remnant or high-risk doses in March, and could stress a little less.

2020 set the bar pretty low, and while 2021 definitely cleared it, the year didn’t exactly set any records for “best year ever”: January 6. Delta. Omicron. Possibly more variants by the time this issue goes to press. Inflation. Supply chain woes. The opioid crisis.

Locally, we lost two Gulfport icons this year: Larry Enlow and Keith Stillwagon, and I know more families have felt the sting of loss. Small businesses struggled to find – or bring back – employees. Restaurants dealt with rising food costs and staff shortages.

In the following pages, we review 12 covers that show the year through our eyes, good and bad.

We don’t know what 2022 will bring, but we know this: We’ll report on whatever comes.