As I am sitting here reminiscing, I am trying to come up with a descriptor for this past year. While 2020 was filled with quite a bit of fear and apprehension, 2021 (at least for me) flew by, and the overriding mood I come up with to describe it is: anticipation. Sometimes exalted, oftentimes thwarted, I think we all spent 2021 waiting for something. And we haven’t received a whole lot of closure yet.
The pandemic we are learning to accept and live with. We have tools to move forward. But supply chain troubles, the Great Resignation and the inequities we see are still rampant and worrisome. It is a strange thing to see a business with plenty of customers still struggle because they can’t find employees or goods. We can only hope 2022 offers some solutions.
Despite a year spent in a little bit of uncertainty, for NOCO Style and our community businesses the month of December is special. We spend most of the year talking about our Best Of NOCO survey, encouraging businesses to promote and community members to vote. It is a year-long endeavor for us, but a very exciting one, too. This year we called on some community “experts” to give us their thoughts on 2021, including some surprise silver linings. They found many positives within our community to share.
Most of all, this month we reveal who took first, second and third place in over 200 categories. There are new winners, old favorites and a few surprises. But overall, there is a whole bunch of hardworking businesses who have faced a year of turmoil and still provided you with the services and goods you love. We applaud them all!
So, thank you, Northern Colorado community, for participating. This may be one of the few ways some of our small businesses get recognized. And thank you all for joining us this year through the fun, the struggles and the lessons of 2021. Now let’s see if we can’t dominate in 2022!
See you in the new year,
Angie Grenz
