After two years of tough times for local businesses across Manitoba, in-person New Year’s Eve events are back.
Last year, Global News spoke with John Scoles, self-proclaimed president and janitor at High and Lonesome Club, which due to rapidly-rising rates of COVID-19 and tighter provincial health restrictions, closed its doors and cancelled all of its shows until mid-January.
Scoles says making the decision wasn’t easy, but he knew it was the right choice for patrons of High and Lonesome.
“We have always been a place where everyone was looking out for everyone else,” explained Scoles. “We were right on the forefront of closing, when COVID kicked in, because it was the right thing to do. And we’re right back at it taking care of each other now that we’re able to.”
Even though COVID-19 is still a part of everyday life, Scoles says the hardest decisions to make are in the rearview mirror.
“It feels great not to have to make a tough call. It feels good to be able to just say, ‘Hey we’re excited about our show and let’s have some fun with it,'” chuckled Scoles. “We don’t have to question too much about if will it happen.”
Looking ahead into the new year, Scoles is optimistic and hopes other businesses continue to recover just as his has.
“At this point, I’m going to keep both fingers crossed and say business is doing ok here, and I hope it’s doing ok everywhere else,” Scoles stated. “I can go on at length philosophically about all the things we can do together.
“Around here we say ‘We got a lot of living to do, let’s do it together.’ It never felt more important to say that than right now.”
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