Beginning on page 27 in this week's print edition, Gazette readers will have the opportunity to read a special supplement titled simply “2020: The Year In Review.” As we have done for more than two decades, the year in local news is reviewed in a way that only The Gazette can. Readers can also look back at the year in sports with Sports Editor Dan Russoman’s “Sports: The Year In Review.”

This year is different for so many reasons. While our role as a local newspaper has never been more clearly defined and necessary than in the past 12 months, we are also keenly aware of the global issues that also impacted Hammonton and the surrounding area. Most notably, the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the presidential election and the protests, rallies and rioting seen throughout the year. In an age where media of all kinds permeates our everyday lives, its influence can be seen everywhere, including our town.

When a year like this one happens, it’s important to take stock of the news, inventory it and catalogue it so future generations can examine it within the context of the years that preceded it and the ones that will follow it. The Gazette publishes its “Year In Review” special supplement annually for that exact purpose. It just happens to be more important this year to make sure we note what happened in Hammonton this year. All our “Year In Review” sections chronicle the history of a local year; the difference this year was the historic nature of the year itself.

We invite you to read through the news of the last 12 months. In addition, you’ll find our “Photo of the Year”; “Local Moments Photo of the Year”; “Sports Photo of the Year”; and “Cartoon of the Year” on the pages of “2020: The Year In Review.” We hope that 2020 ends and 2021 begins well for all our readers, and we look forward to the future with a quote from one of our favorite novelists, Richard Russo, from his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Empire Falls:

“After all, what was the whole wide world but a place for people to yearn for their heart’s impossible desires, for those desires to become entrenched in defiance of logic, plausibility and even the passage of time, as eternal as polished marble.”