FINALLY! — Skye Shoemaker and her family wave from their truck after picking up the Seneca Valley High School senior from her graduation walk at the end of May.Seb Foltz/Butler Eagle

The year 2020 wasn't filled completely with pandemic gloom and lockdowns. There were moments of joy in the midst of a dangerous coronavirus ravaging Butler and all other counties.

We celebrate the times spent with our families, at least until we were told by the governor to stay home for a while. 4-H club members completed projects, despite the cancellation of the Big Butler Fair.

Anniversaries were celebrated, even if congratulations came virtually. Graduation walks took the place of large stadium and auditorium gatherings. Popular library classes were conducted, if only via Zoom or Skype.

People took long walks. Some rode a lot of bikes. There were skateboarders at a new park. The outdoors were miraculously rediscovered.

Most importantly, many families grew closer and learned that, despite all this, we have each other, which is all that really matters.

Here's a look back at images of joy, sometimes far too rare, but always welcomed, in 2020.

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HANDS-ON — Ryan Gloyer Middle School librarian Angela Logero describes The Butterfly Project, a nonprofit that uses lessons of the Holocaust to educate about the dangers of hatred and bigotry, in mid-February.

A KISS FOR SUCCESS — Presley, 4, gives his dad, Jason Rudge, a kiss during the Autism Society swim event hosted by the Butler A.M. Rotary Club and the Autism Society of Butler County at Conley Resort & Golf Club in Penn Township in mid-February.Harold Aughton/Butler Eagle

NO STALLING — Jake Rape, 16, of Zelienople hits a blunt stall trick at the top of a ramp at the Zelienople Memorial Skate Park. Construction began on the new park in 2019, and it officially opened to the public in the summer of 2020.Seb Foltz/Butler Eagle

GOAT WALK — A joy-filled moment from the stressful year was Butler County 4-H member Kendyl Steighner of Saxonburg exercising her goats, Po and Sprout, in August. More photos from 2020 on Page B1.

BERRY NICE — Ray and Edith Atkinson marked their 75th wedding anniversary on Sept. 29. They were married in 1945 when Ray returned from World War II. The couple met in a strawberry patch, they said.photography by Harold Aughton/Butler Eagle