A Year of Our Lives
The global pandemic changed everything. People stayed home. School went virtual. Everyone went a little stir-crazy. But Jefferson County figured out how to make it work. Here are photos from The Monitor's pages that tell the story.
FEBRUARY: Thomas Johnson, a fourth-grader at Clancy School, concentrated during the Jefferson County Spelling Bee. He won second place.
FEBRUARY: Piles of transported snow intended for “Skijoring the Big Rock” sat at the Jefferson County fairgrounds. The event, scheduled for Feb. 29 and March 1, was cancelled due to lack of snow — a shadow of what was to come.
MARCH: As the COVID-19 emergency emerges in Montana, Jefferson County staff and elected officials attended a special meeting of the Board of Commissioners.
MARCH: Suddenly, delivery services were in high demand. Hadassah Auch hauled pizzas to homebound customers for The River.
MARCH: Instruction went online — but food service kept going. Keha McIlwaine, left, and Kathleen Johnson prepared lunches at Boulder Elementary School.
MARCH: Bree Edwards sewed masks in her Boulder home.
MARCH: Basin School teacher Stephanie Listoe prepared a second-grade math lesson to send home with students.
MARCH: The Bowmans — Matt holding Braxton, Karie, and Sophie, seated, in a porch moment in Boulder.
APRIL: Pastor Val Colenso began the Palm Sunday service via Facebook Live from Clancy United Methodist Church.
MAY: Morning regulars arrived at the Elkhorn Bistro following the reopening of restaurants and bars.
MAY: Jefferson High School seniors got their wish: an in-person graduation. But they maintained social distancing requirements during commencement ceremonies on the football field; friends and family did the same as they watched in Panther stadium.
JULY: In a rare semblance of normalcy, fireworks burst over Boulder’s Veterans Park to celebrate Independence Day.
AUGUST: The Jefferson County Fair was cancelled, but the rodeo show went on — and Emma Brown fell off.
OCTOBER: The Jefferson High School varsity volleyball team after defeating Broadwater in a five-set match on Oct. 8. The squad ran an undefeated season into the playoffs.
NOVEMBER: In other news, there was an election! Bonnie Ramey, Jefferson County’s Election Administrator, oversaw mail-in balloting that yielded a historically high 87.1% participation rate.
DECEMBER: The Jefferson High School band performed a socially distant holiday concert, available online.
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