A year in images

2020 - a photo gallery.

As 2020 began, the City of Clinton was damaged by a microburst.

As 2020 ended, the City of Clinton dealt with a devastating fire at Landau Apartments.

In between, there was COVID-19 - assisted living facilities’ lockdowns and an outbreak at Whitten Center - and a time when wearing a mask became a personal liberties issue in Laurens County and throughout the United States.

One of the first Covid-closing signs was at the Laurens County Higher Education/Piedmont Tech Center in the Professional Park - and testing soon followed (more than 3.5 million tests conducted in South Carolina).

The City of Clinton staged a Recreation Complex groundbreaking, and the Rhythm on the Rails festival. A Primary Election was held with Covid precautions, and polls were open in churches and other places for a Presidential Election. Family Promise got its headquarters in Laurens. We lost prominent citizens, King and Augusta Dixon of Laurens. A Back the Blue program and a Unity Day walk were staged in Laurens and Clinton, respectively, to address issues involving the police.

Presbyterian College was able to host its first-ever Acrobatics and Tumbling competition, then dealt with 127 Covid infections, then said farewell to President Bob & First Lady Phyllis Staton. 

District 56’s School Board dealt with myriad issues, including deep-cleaning, swearing in 4 board members, and schools stopping in March and re-opening in September with Covid protocols. Teachers conducted you-are-not-forgotten parades, and there were drive-throughs for yearbooks, and caps and gowns, and food. Clinton High School staged a volleyball season and a 6-game football season, and started a basketball season that was suspended just before Christmas because of Covid’s third surge.

By all accounts, it was an exhausting year.

-- Contributing Photographers - Vic MacDonald, Brian Whitmore, and Pete Cochran