2020 sucked. Coronavirus, COVID sucked the life out of 2020. Cape May and its residents, particularly those in tourism are a resilient bunch. Our leaders, our first responders, and our front line workers kept us afloat.
For the Cooke’s, 2020 started with our first months-long off-season vacation. A benefit of the new job. The break allowed some blog revisions and redesign.
2020 will be this generation’s benchmark on where were you when you heard about the pandemic? Going from in-person meetings and radio station zoom recordings were drastic changes.
Celebrating St. Patrick’s day at the C-View, with food-ink images on Guinness pints, might be a highlight. Listening to President Donald Trump declare a national health emergency while enjoying a flight of craft beer at Cape May Brewing Company was deflating.
But we rallied. We organized
We met and we planned on how to get the town reopened. ZOOM became the word. Initially, we all got an education. None of us had been here before.
With my first priorities being family and then the Sea Crest Family, I was appropriately positioned to help the Sea Crest perform well once we were allowed to open. For the first time in its history, the Sea Crest could be booked online. Allowing us to recover the many COVID caused cancellations, we might not have otherwise.
Turning to town, Ginny Murray and I launched the Cape May Live Facebook group. A place where people could come and get lightly moderated discussion about real-time activities in Cape May.
Not surprisingly, COVID-19 dominated many of the popular blog posts of 2020. Coast Guard topics, as always continue to be most widely read too. My blog with rare exception tends to focus, without bias, on the upbeat topics of Cape May.
When necessary (and in 2020 it was) we reported so you can decide on how to respond to topics like second homeowners treatment in the pandemic.
This year’s six most popular posts
Upbeat stories about locals waving farewell to newly graduated Coast Guard recruits generated local media attention. Throughout the pandemic parents who normally travel through thick and thin, were not allowed to attend graduation.
And then stories about what these recruits do once starting their careers are remarkable. This story was actually one of the most widely read, thanks in part to a Coast Guard Friends and Family page.
A Non-Rate bought a stranger’s dinner in Nuuk, Greenland. Here’s what happened next.
We did what we could to cross-promote each other in Cape May. Sans parade, it was a challenging but not a dismal holiday season.
There was a time when people asked if you actually knew of someone who had COVID. By December I think everyone knew somebody who had been afflicted.
Despite the fact that Coronavirus COVID sucked the life out of 2020, I did have the opportunity to breathe life into another new blog project. David Weinberg, a furloughed sportswriter from the Press of Atlantic City, started David Weinberg’s extra points.
Celebrities stopping by the Sea Crest on Broadway kept life positive in the dark times. It was great to have Hughe Dillon and Steve Sosna of Philadelphia stay or pop in to say hello.
2020 was full of surprises and disappointments. I have used the analogy of a masquerade ball. Particularly in victorian times, where simply an eye covering masks identity. Now with a full nose and mouth mask, we smile with our eyes.
My wish for 2021 is that we pull together as a country, a city, and a community. I have enjoyed the responsibility of an ambassador for Cape May. I plan to continue in the role as the unofficial mayor and bring you unbiased reporting of what’s cooking in Cape May. I’ll report, that way you can decide.
Happy 2021!!!
Unofficial Mayor for Life!
How about making it official?