Page 12 - BusinessWest January 10, 2022

Editorial
WLooking to 2022 with Optimism
hen you talk with people in business about COVID- and the many businesses that stayed afloat with the help of govern- 19, and especially those early days, in March 2020, ment lifelines like PPP and the employee-retention credit will not when the state and the country were shutting down, have that net underneath them in 2022.
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many will share a similar story that goes something like this: “When we packed up our computers and went home, we
thought it would be for a few weeks or maybe a few months, and then we’d be back — it would be over, and we’d be back to normal.”
Such thinking was certainly understandable. None of us had been through a pandemic before, and this is what we thought: we’ll stay home for a few weeks, hunker down, and then this will pass.
It didn’t take long to realize that those thoughts were unrealistic and perhaps naive. We soon came to grips with the fact that we had a longer wait for ‘normal.’ Much longer.
Nearly two years later, we’re still waiting, and the unfortunate truth is that this is still a long way from being over. Unfortunate, because we all desperately want and need for it to be over, and it isn’t.
These days, quite a few conversations begin with “I can’t believe we’re still talking about this,” or “I can’t believe we’re talking about this again.”
What we’re talking about are COVID cases rising, long lines for testing, and hospitals being pushed to and then beyond their lim- its. And in the business world, what we’re talking about, again, are postponed events, canceled business meetings, people avoiding restaurants and movie theaters, colleges not sure if they’ll be able to open their doors when the semester break ends in a few weeks, and area school systems not sure if they’re going to be able to open their doors and stay open, leaving parents wondering what they will do if they don’t.
Yes, we’re still talking about these things, or talking about them again. The COVID fight continues, and the end is nowhere in sight. Meanwhile, a workforce crisis continues, inflation is no longer talk- ed about as ‘transitory,’ production and supply-chain issues persist,
Opinion
So why is there is so much optimism about the year ahead, as revealed in our special Economic Outlook section, starting on page 15? Maybe people are thinking that things simply must get better in 2022. Or that COVID has to finally run its course and will now cease controlling our lives.
Perhaps, but there are other reasons. We especially feel a sense that the region did, indeed, catch a glimpse of a post-COVID world in 2021, and it was a very encouraging experience.
It was a brief window, to be sure, and it came roughly between Memorial Day and just before Labor Day. The state had lifted virtu- ally all of its restrictions on businesses, and people started doing things they hadn’t done in a while — like put their masks aside, go to a restaurant, gather as a family, go on a summer vacation, stage a Chamber After 5, or gather for a retirement party.
As noted, it was a brief window, and by the time the Big E staged its return and BusinessWest feted its 40 Under Forty class at the Log Cabin (both in late September), there was plenty of apprehension about a variant called Delta.
Now, there’s far more apprehension about another variant called Omicron, and there are serious questions, and trepidation, about what the first few weeks, or even the first few quarters, of 2022 will be like.
But amidst all that, there is a prevailing sense of optimism that we can finally see a lot more of what we saw during that brief win- dow in the year ahead. We sense that the ingredients may finally in place for actually getting to that proverbial ‘other side’ of the pandemic.
We’re not there yet, and there are some rough weeks and per- haps months ahead, but the signs are there. v
An Appreciation of Rudi Scherff: He Held Down the Fort
It’s been a long, very painful year for all those who love the Student Prince and the Fort restaurant in Springfield. First, Andy Yee, who acquired the land-
mark along with several other investors in 2014, passed away in late May after a lengthy battle with cancer. Then late last month, Rudi Scherff, who was owner and host at
the establishment for decades, died after his own lengthy battle against the disease.
If Yee will be remembered as one of those who saved the Fort, as it was known, amid trying financial times nearly a decade ago, Scherff will always be remembered
as the face of the restaurant. Only, it was more than a restaurant. Much, much more. It was a gathering place, not only for workers downtown, but residents of com- munities across the region. It was a place to celebrate milestones — birthdays, wed- ding anniversaries, family reunions — and especially holidays. Spending part of the Wednesday afternoon before Thanksgiving
at the Fort was a tradition. It was the same on Christmas Eve, and all through the holi- day season
It was the people. It was the place. It was the people and the place coming together.
And Rudi — he was one of those people who needed only a first name — was a huge part of it.
He set the tone. He created the atmo- sphere. And he gave every single person
he touched a story to tell. Usually, many of them. He was a pretty good businessman, but he was a much better ambassador for Springfield and its downtown, always advo- cating for the city and acting as a cheer- leader when one was needed.
His family ran the restaurant, but he was synonymous with it, becoming an almost larger-than-life figure in the process.
And while he sold the restaurant to Yee, Picknelly, and other partners in 2014, he remained a fixture there, right up until last week, when he returned to the Fort to lead
others in a final singing of “Silent Night.” There’s an oil painting of Rudi hanging
in the restaurant’s Heidelberg Room, and the bar area is now named after him. We have those things to remember him by. But really, we don’t need them.
We have the stories. We have the memo- ries. And that’s more than enough.
He will certainly be missed. v
12 JANUARY 10, 2022
EDITORIAL
BusinessWest