2021 in photos
Dec. 29, 2021 | By Waterbury RoundaboutYear two of the COVID-19 pandemic still had us adapting to a new normal while taking steps to try to return to many of the familiar events and activities we missed out on in 2020. Here are some of the scenes from the year mostly through the lens of photographer Gordon Miller and a handful of other contributors.
Click to enlarge each photo.
JANUARY
The year opened with the "Waterbury Stands with Black Lives Matter" banner flying by the municipal offices but calls to rehang it in the fall were met with opposition. Photo by Gordon Miller
A rare weather phenomenon produced “snow rollers” in some local fields in January. They brought back memories for some. Photo by Gordon Miller
FEBRUARY
With few breaks for holidays, Waterbury Ambulance Service personnel conducted thousands of COVID-19 tests at multiple locations throughout 2021. For those efforts and more, it was honored as the state's top ambulance operation this summer. Photo by Gordon Miller
MARCH
There were no in-person town meetings on Town Meeting Day but voting certainly happened. Duxbury continued its drive-through system that it began earlier in the pandemic in 2020. Photo by Gordon Miller
Waterbury voters still used the gym at Thatcher Brook Primary School where Town Clerk Carla Lawrence (right) and Assistant Town Clerk Beth Jones (left) oversaw masked, distanced balloting. Photo by Gordon Miller
APRIL
Delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, demolition on Stanley and Wasson Halls at the Vermont State Office Complex happened in April. The buildings had sat unused since Tropical Storm Irene in 2011. Their physical destruction occurred simultaneously to events in Montpelier to revisit, acknowledge, and formally apologize for the harmful practices that took place at the Vermont State Hospital nearly a century ago. Photos by Gordon Miller
The Vermont Legislature unanimously approved a resolution apologizing for harm brought by state-sanctioned eugenics practices in the 1930s that included activity at the Vermont State Hospital for the Insane in Waterbury. Waterbury State Rep. Tom Stevens introduced the measure that the House General, Housing & Military Affairs Committee that he chairs gathered testimony for and crafted. Screenshot from House session and vote, 146-0.
MAY
Green Up Day returned at its usual time, the first Saturday in May, with people of all ages fanning out to clean up roadsides. Many met up with friends and neighbors for the first time in person in months at the bag drop off. Photo by Gordon Miller
Teacher Appreciation Day drew some extra-special efforts from students and more than a few parents in the community, acknowledging the efforts of teachers in the classroom during an especially challenging time. Photo by Gordon Miller
No indoor theater or singing in school yet? No problem. Harwood Union High School’s Theatre program took to the outdoor stage at Camp Meade in Middlesex to put on two nights of the musical ‘The Fantastiks.’ Wearing clear masks fitted with microphones, the cast entertained an audience in lawn chairs. Photo by Gordon Miller
Spring brought new hope of summer ahead with a greatly anticipated return to “normal.” Photo by Gordon Miller
JUNE
End-of-school-year celebrations went outdoors at all of the schools. Crossett Brook Middle School (above) held its first outdoor 8th grade graduation under a tent and sunny sky. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti
Retiring teachers at Thatcher Brook Primary School were treated to a surprise gauntlet of students stretched around the building as a sendoff. Photo by Gordon Miller
Newly minted 2021 Harwood Union High School graduates toss their caps in celebration following their commencement ceremony on June 12. Photo by Michaela Milligan
The Harwood Unified Union School Board voted to officially change the name of Thatcher Brook Primary School to Brookside Primary School following a community exercise delving into the historical ties to slavery of the school's 18th-century namesake, Partridge Thatcher. Photo by Gordon Miller
MAIN STREET CONSTRUCTION, May-September
JULY
Not Quite Independence Day was true to its name happening after the official holiday this year on July 10. Photo by Gordon Miller
Amtrak resumed passenger train service to Vermont in July. Despite a facelift to the Waterbury Train Station, however, the café space remains shuttered in search of a new tenant. Photos by Gordon Miller
WDEV Radio Vermont celebrated its 90th anniversary as an independent radio operation with a summer block party and live broadcasts on Stowe Street. Photos by Gordon Miller (above) and Lisa Scagliotti (below)
AUGUST
Vermont and Waterbury marked the 10th anniversary of Tropical Storm Irene in August. The "Phoenix Rising" mural at 5 Stowe Street was unveiled to mark the local recovery. Photo by Gordon Miller
The 64th Antique and Classic Car Meet had a picture-perfect weekend for its more than 500 entries that set up at Farr's Field and then took to Main Street for a parade. Hundreds attended the three-day event hosted by the Vermont Automobile Enthusiasts club. Photo by Gordon Miller
After subsiding in early summer, the COVID-19 pandemic returned with the new Delta variant by late summer. An outbreak in the final days of Waterbury's summer recreation camp fueled a surge in local cases ahead of school opening. Photo by Gordon Miller
SEPTEMBER
Large community events returned by summertime into early fall including the Waterbury Arts Festival where a smaller-than-usual crowd turned out for a COVID-careful street party in September. Photo by Gordon Miller
School year three of the pandemic and students and their teachers are accustomed to getting outdoors as much as possible. This class at Brookside Primary School enjoys a lesson in nature. Photo by Gordon Miller
OCTOBER
For the second year in a row, we asked readers to share their foliage shots and they didn’t disappoint. Photo by Nicole Grenier
Nicole Grenier’s Waterbury Center view was particularly lovely on more than one occasion. Photo by Nicole Grenier
The leaves seemed particularly spectacular this fall and leaf-peepers were especially plentiful after a quiet foliage tourist season in 2020. Exit 10 was slow going for a few colorful weekends. Photo by Gordon Miller
Leaf peepers of another sort came out en force for the return of the Leaf Peeper Half Marathon and 5K after a 2020 hiatus. Photo by Gordon Miller
NOVEMBER
Voters rejected a proposed $59.5 million school construction bond in November leaving the fate of renovations to Harwood Union High School and a proposed expansion at Crossett Brook Middle School (above) to merge all grades 7-8 uncertain. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti
In an off-year for regular elections, the school bond was the only item on the ballot in November’s special election. Photo by Gordon Miller
DECEMBER
Rather than hoist a banner with the ‘Black Lives Matter’ message from the Waterbury Area Anti-Racism Coalition, town officials decided to create and hang a banner near the municipal offices with wording from the town's Declaration of Inclusion. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti
Many stayed close to home for holiday shopping this year and Stowe Street merchants invited Dasher and Cupid from the Vermont Reindeer Farm for an outdoor visit to add to holiday cheer. Photo by Gordon Miller
As COVID-19 cases mounted in late fall, the state gave municipal governments the option to enact local mask mandates. The Waterbury Select Board chose to leave the matter up to individual businesses. Waterbury ends the year with the second-highest rate of virus spread in the state. Screenshot from Orca Media.
IN MEMORIAM
Some notable passings of community members in 2021 included (top) Florilla Ames at age 110, believed to be Vermont's oldest resident. Longtime community champion, volunteer, and merchant Jack Carter (below left and bottom), was affectionately memorialized as the "mayor of Stowe Street." And just recently, businessman and real estate developer Stephen Van Esen (below right) “tipped over” as he asked it to be told. Photos by Gordon Miller, bottom by Lisa Scagliotti