By this point, you should know the routine by heart.
'Oh my, the year just shot right on by! It's so hard to believe! Just where does the time go?'
You know, the usual talking points whenever the current year is approaching the exit door.
But it's true - 2024 just seemed to jet by all of us. As we all know, that'll happen when you're experiencing a busy calendar year; it'll go by without a moment's notice.
I specifically remember watching Lynyrd Skynard perform live on a Nashville stage on New Year's Eve last year. I mean, I watched it from the comfort of home, but still, what a way to ring in a new year. But then, from there it felt like I sneezed and it was April. I coughed and it was June. Then I took a nap and it was late October.
But aside from doing that, it was also a very busy year in Outlook and the surrounding Lake Diefenbaker regional area. A lot of headlines made for a lot of news for readers to take in from all levels.
There was the female hockey banquet in January that put a spotlight on girls taking the game to new heights. It was a very cool event that helped give Outlook some exposure and the attention was more than deserved, as the banquet was top-notch and everyone worked hard for it to come off as the success that it was.
That's not to say that the year was all sunshine and gum drops. A bitterly cold snap in late January caused chaos to the system at the town swimming pool, which then saw the temperature drop dangerously low to the point where pipes blew and caused a torrent of water to flood the location. The end result was a terrible mess that had to be cleaned up, damage assessed, hard lessons learned, and the news in April that the pool would not be open for the 2024 season.
People were angry, people let off some steam, but for their part, the Town of Outlook was more than transparent about everything. They knew where they had gone wrong with the pool's monitoring system, they took some criticism, and they addressed all of it with news releases and the plain facts about what had happened. In the end, honesty with people is the key.
Besides, the events of Canada Day happening in town helped many people forget about what happened with the pool, what with the long list of activities planned. After the annual parade that wove its way around town, the Jim Kook Rec Plex served as Grand Central Station for the day and night. Multicultural dancers and foods, a classic auto show n' shine, a kids zone over in the curling rink, games of ball played outside, an outdoor stage featuring local music talent all day, a movie played on the main rink floor just before the fireworks, and yes, of course the usual fireworks display to cap the day's events. I gotta say, as someone who's covered many, many Canada Day events, the 2024 edition is something that really raised the bar.
Then there was the story of Bud Hardy, a local Outlook guy who believed it to be his calling in life to join the military and serve his country. Bud was a part of the group that was called into action and sent over to the Ukraine as part of the ongoing conflict with Russia, where he hoped to make a difference along with the others who he accompanied. Sadly, Hardy lost his life in June when the combat medic was killed by a Russian drone strike. It's stories like this that bluntly tell you that there's a whole other world out there, and the trauma that can come from it can affect people right here at home. I remember meeting Bud's brother Will at his home here in town one sunny August morning to interview him, and I appreciated how open and honest he was about both his brother's journey and the events that led to his demise.
And then there were the big changes happening with your local media here in Outlook. The office building of The Outlook newspaper was sold by its Glacier Media owners and would be vacated by the end of June, and Delwyn & Shelley Luedtke relocated the offices of the iconic publication to just up the street in a brand-new cozy location right beside the Bargain Shop. As for me? Well, I relocated myself......to home. Since I'm an employee of Harvard Media as an online journalist for SaskToday.ca, it didn't make much sense for me to make the move to the new shop. Yes, my articles still run in the Outlook newspaper, but I make my living from the website and I call my apartment my "office" now. It's different, and there were some odd feelings of having to get used to it, but I like to think it's better now. The setting may have changed, but the goal remains the same; giving readers the news that's important to them in this community and beyond.
So then, where do we go in the new year? What does 2025 have in store for everyone? That's hard to say because trying to predict what will come is an exercise in futility. The truth is that no one outright knows what will happen in a month, two months, six months, or nine months from now. May as well just sit back and take the ride along with everyone else.
Whatever happens, I'll be here, snapping the photos and taking the notes in order to tell the stories of it all.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
For this week, and for 2024, that's been the Ruttle Report.
