The Top 10 things to look forward to in 2021

In lieu of reflecting on the year that was, I prefer to FINALLY move on from 2020 and focus on what is to come in the year ahead (I'm more of a looking ahead type of person anyway!), so as my final article of 2020, let me offer up a list of the Top 10 things I am looking forward to happening in 2021.

But before I get to my list, if you are looking for a 2020 Howard County year in review pieces, let me recommend both the Elevate Maryland and Forward Maryland 2020 year in review podcasts that came out earlier this week. Both are excellent. Also, Howard County Progress Report and The Scott E Blog have both put out a 2020 recap article, and I'm hoping that Village Green/Town Square will do so soon as well. So, make sure you check out all great content from the rest of the HoCo blogosphere and podosphere, and if you really want to read a reflective piece from yours truly, you can check out my article marking the one year anniversary of the Merriweather Post from a few weeks back!

So, let's get to it!

The Merriweather Post's Top 10 List of things to Look Forward to in 2021

1. Howard County Council voting to fund the New Cultural Center and construction beginning

2. Breaking ground on The Marlow (Juniper's future neighboring building in the Merriweather District)

3. First restaurant opening in the Merriweather District - looking like it's going to be Clove & Cardamom though The Charmery shouldn't be far behind. Yum.

4. Announcements of new restaurant and retail tenants coming soon to Downtown Columbia (and, fingers crossed, no more closings!)

5. Funding and constructing new and improved bicycling and pedestrian connections in Columbia

6. Finding out what comes next for the former Clyde's space at the Lakefront

7. Eating INSIDE at a Restaurant

8. Attending a concert at Merriweather Post Pavilion and a festival in Symphony Woods

9. Meeting many of you in person for the first time! - be at it at concert, festival, community event, public hearing, restaurant, or podcast recording. Cannot wait to be able to say hello in person and talk local news.

10. Most importantly, continue to lay low throughout the rest of the winter so all of us can stay healthy, get vaccinated as soon as we can, and thus, greatly reduce and eliminate COVID transmission in our community, and allow all these aforementioned things to actually happen come Spring and Summer! We can do this HoCo! There's finally a light at the end of this tunnel!

Happy New Year to all of you, and thank you all so much for reading and engaging and helping this little blog of mine grow over the past year! As I said in my 1 year anniversary post, I hope this blog has been as fun for you to read as it has been for me to write. Onwards!