There were some reasons to smile in 2020, too
It’s been a year with plenty of doom and gloom, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t good news stories.
Back in February, a local family made headlines for competing on the Canadian Family Feud television show.
The Hale brothers, Troy, Bradley, Brock, Tyson and
Tanner, played three games of the feud and brought back $10,695 to the Hat.
The brothers ended their third week with a loss to the Nash family out of Eckville, Alta., but will enjoy the time spent together for the rest of their lives.
Rubble finds his home
One of our most read stories of 2019 was Petey and Rubble, dogs abandoned at a local boarding kennel by their owner.
The two dogs lived at Pet Park Boarding Kennel for months before Rubble was adopted in February.
Hatters Jayne and Kevin Heinrich adopted the sevenyear-old Fila de Sao Miguel and have given him his forever home.
Petey is working with a local obedience trainer and is still looking for his perfect people.
Sakamoto news
Mark and Susan Sakamoto both made the news this year with feel good stories.
Mark was able to debut his CBC show ‘Good People’ earlier this year and it is still viewable on CBC Gem.
The five-episode mini-series takes a look at systemic issues like homelessness and gun violence, and how society can potentially fix these problems.
Susan made the news late in the year when two cherished pieces of art went missing from a downtown storefront.
The happy part here is that they both mysteriously wound up at the police station in great shape, and are now in her care.
Wood art
Irvine-based chainsaw artist Marina Cole went viral a few times this year on the News’ Facebook page.
Earlier in the year she carved a large dragon out of wood at Dan MacCharles Park, which brought many people to a park they had never heard of.
The dragon was shared by more than 1,000 people on social media.
Around Remembrance Day, Cole carved a bench at a Royal Canadian Legion in B.C.
The story and photo about her bench has been viewed by more than 250,000 people on Facebook and shared more than 2,000 times.
Coming together
There are many examples of the community coming together during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Right at the beginning of it all, Grit City Distillery started manufacturing hand sanitizer and giving it away to Hatters. Cyclepath teamed up with the brewery to deliver the sanitizer for free anywhere in the Hat.
Cactus RV made headlines when offering up RVs to frontline healthcare workers in April.
Fitu Taefu and his wife Erin, as well as artists at Gas City Tattoos, raised thousands for mental health initiatives with semicolon tattoo events.
Furry friends
The list wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the otters that lived at Police Point Park this year.
Hopefully more decide to take residence here in the future.