If you haven’t noticed, 2020 has been a weird year: it’s been stressfully contentious, horribly unlucky, and has brought out both the best and worst in people. If you haven’t noticed any of these things, we highly recommend that you crawl back under the rock from whence you came. Trust us. Ignorance is bliss.
If you are among those of us responsible citizens keeping up with the news, welcome! In fact, you’ve probably already taken note of most of these headlines. But in case you need a refresher on how funky this year has been, here are some of the strangest and noteworthy headlines of 2020.
Shutdowns inspired customers to swarm liquor stores and dispensariesIt didn’t take long for Coloradans to prove their love for booze and weed when COVID-19 threatened to take them away. After Denver Mayor Michael Hancock attempted to close liquor stores and dispensaries, citizens panicked and swarmed the shops. According to the Denver Post, some liquor stores were so overwhelmed, they even had their employees act as bouncers so as not to have their stores overrun by customers. Thankfully, the mayor came to his senses and quickly repealed the directive, allowing dispensaries and liquor stores to remain open to keep the masses sane.
Mystery dronesBack in January, people in northeastern Colorado and southwestern Nebraska reported mysterious drones flying about in grid-like patterns. The New York Times reported that a multi-agency task force was created to investigate the strange phenomenon. As no one ever took responsibility for them, theories ranged from aliens and UFOs to secret government experiments. While some have debunked the sightings as fake, the Colorado Department of Public Safety announced their investigation led them to believe the drones were planets, stars, commercial aircraft, or small hobbyist drones, according to Colorado Public Radio. Aliens sound way more realistic to us.
Colorado’s first In-N-Out Burger restaurantThe opening of the state’s first In-N-Out Burger restaurant opening is worthy of taking notice for a couple of reasons.
First off, Coloradans waited 14 hours in line when the California-based chain fast food opened in November. This year, In-N-Out opened the state’s first new burger joints at 10 a.m. in Aurora and Colorado Springs. The Denver Post reported that the car line was two miles long and wrapped around a nearby mall not once, but twice.
Not long after the restaurant opened, someone posted a video to Twitter of two men getting into a smackdown while waiting in line. In the process, one man’s pants slipped down to his ankles, though this didn’t deter him. It took several other people’s involvement to break up the fight, but not before the entire ordeal was caught on camera and was viewed more than 51,000 times on social media.
“This man pulled up to the In-n-Out to get in line and get knocked out of his sweatpants,” the Twitter user captioned the video. “Day 1 and the city don’t know how to act.”
Kanye running for presidentAs much as we would prefer not to go down the Wonderland rabbit hole that is the 2020 election, we can’t very well leave it off the list — especially not with Kanye, aka Ye, running for president. On that note, remember when more than 6,000 Coloradans voted for Ye? We do.
Colorado contributed to the rapper’s roughly 60,000 votes across 12 states where he was on the ballot. Kanye’s response? “WELP Kanye 2024,” he stated in a tweet. He later deleted that tweet and replaced it with a much more confident statement saying, “KANYE 2024.” Welp is right!
The Utah monolithAs if people weren’t frazzled enough by 2020, a silver monolith was discovered in the middle of the Utah desert. No one had any idea where it came from, who built it, or how it got there. The mysterious structure ended up garnering international attention and people traveled far and wide to see it. According to the Durango Herald, a Durango photographer believes he may have been one of the last people to see the monolith before it was carted away. A Moab man by the name of Andy Lewis took credit for taking away the structure, according to the New York Times.
Forrest Fenn treasure debacleThe discovery of the Forrest Fenn treasure was perhaps one of the strangest, most prolonged stories to come out of 2020. Each time you thought the saga couldn’t get any weirder, it did. Earlier this year, Forrest Fenn, a New Mexico antiques dealer and author, claimed that a chest filled with valuables that he had hidden 10 years ago had finally been found in Wyoming by a treasure seeker. However, since he refused to name the finder, many dismissed his claim as fraudulent. In an attempt to convince people that the treasure had indeed been found, Fenn released photos of the chest’s contents. Then, the 90-year-old died, leaving many to believe the identity of the finder would never be revealed. After Fenn’s death, Outside magazine published an article identifying the person: Jack Stuef, a 32-year-old Michigan medical student. The news garnered national attention and quite a bit of controversy, understandably, as at least five people are believed to have died searching for the treasure.
Amanda Push
