Reflecting on 2022: What will you remember most?

Ormond Beach Observer
Opinion

It's that time of year again, where we reflect on what 2022 has brought.

Here at the Observer, it's been a year of change. We transitioned our pages to a broadsheet size. We celebrated our 10th anniversary here in Ormond Beach. We saw a couple familiar faces in the office say their goodbyes, and in turn, welcomed new ones onboard.

But what hasn't changed is our dedication to our community. I think that, as a team, our commitment to producing local content has only grown stronger.

This year, we have published over 1,200 stories in the Ormond Beach Observer. I'm not sure how many words, but I can safely say it's probably a whole lot.

It's always a bit of a challenge to pick out what stories to highlight in our annual timeline. For a small town, Ormond Beach — you certainly have a lot going on.

But, here are some of the ones that stood out the most for me: The Ormond Beach Airport runway extension issue, that culminated in the FAA revoking its $3.3 million grant; the deaths of Big John and Ron Rice, both of whom impacted the community in different ways, but are undoubtedly missed; the tremendous impact to our coast caused by both Hurricane Ian and Nicole; the opening of the Ormond Memorial Art Museum's renovated building; the abrupt transition of Volusia County Schools' superintendents; and of course, the 2022 elections, which brought the city three new commissioners.

2023 is bound to bring more change. We'll have our reporter notebooks at the ready.