Dublin: 5 top stories from 2020

ThisWeek group

The world changed in 2020, with the COVID-19 coronavirus, civil unrest in major U.S. cities and a polarized political climate as just a few examples.

Dublin had its share of changes, too. Here’s a brief recap of five significant stories published in the ThisWeek Dublin Villager during the past 12 months.

Bridge Park adds North Market – After many months of anticipation, Dublin’s North Market Bridge Park opened in November with its first four merchants.

The Dublin North Market is part of the expanding Bridge Park, Crawford Hoying's mixed-use development that started construction in 2015 near state Route 161 and on the east bank of the Scioto River.

It has condos and apartments, restaurants and bars and commercial office space – and now a trendy market that North Market Development Authority executive director Rick Wolfe said he anticipates would be busier than its sister location, North Market Downtown, for the near future.

New middle school starts its run – Although it won’t open until the start of the 2021-22 school year, construction began this year for Dublin City Schools’ fifth middle school, Eversole Run.

The building is on the district’s far northern boundary in Union County’s Jerome Township, and it is adjacent to one of the district's new elementary schools, Abraham Depp.

The school will have more versatile areas than typical to enable social distancing, another example of adjustments to the coronavirus pandemic, Superintendent Todd Hoadley said.

Students adjust to new ways of learning – Like virtually every other central Ohio school district, the pandemic forced Dublin educators and students into a crash course on remote learning, substituting videoconferencing and digital technology for in-person instruction and interaction when school buildings suddenly were closed by the state in mid-March.

Since then, Dublin personnel have been adjusting and continuing to improve upon best practices, whether the education mode is in-person, hybrid or remote.

Irish eyes were not smiling – The Dublin Irish Festival was among numerous major central Ohio events lost to the pandemic when the city in May announced it was canceled.

The event – which traditionally draws more than 100,000 visitors from throughout the world and produces an estimated annual economic impact of $8.5 million, in addition to presenting a scope and size usually only seen in Ireland itself – had been scheduled for July 31 to Aug. 2.

Pandemic tests local restaurants – The restaurant and service industries were among those hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic, and Dublin's restaurants were no exception.

But many found creative ways to persevere, including through adding equipment or barriers to promote social distancing and by developing a new focus on outdoor dining.

kcorvo@thisweeknews.com

@ThisWeekCorvo