Featured photo: A woman holds a “Black Voters Matter” sign during the Fred Cox rally and march in June. (photo by Carolyn de Berry)

From new businesses to police killings to cultural events, here’s this past year in photos.

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

MARCH

  • Jordan Green leaves TCB in March.
  • The Sam Fribush Trio playing at the Ramkat in March 2021 (photo still by Andy Tennille)
  • A FEMA Covid-19 vaccine site opens at the Four Seasons Mall in Greensboro in March. (photo by Carolyn de Berry)
  • North Carolina’s Armando Bacot (5) battles for a loose ball with Notre Dame’s Cormac Ryan (5) during the second half on Wednesday, March 10, 2021 during the ACC Tournament at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, N.C.
  • Artist Ali Waller plaster casts women’s bodies to tell survivor’s stories about sexual assault in show at SECCA. (photo by Sayaka Matsuoka)
  • Cindy Wang (left) and her mother, Xue Lam, run Dragon City in High Point. (photo by Sayaka Matsuoka)
Etc. opened to the public on March 25 with an open air market in the yard behind their building which formerly housed On Pop of the World. (photo by Jak Kerley)

APRIL

  • Ebony Warfield becomes the new executive chef at 6th and Vine in Winston-Salem (photo by Jerry Cooper)
  • Marcus Smith rally April 20, 2021 (photo by Todd Turner)
  • Black parade in downtown Greensboro in April.
  • Black Parade in April 2021.

MAY

JUNE

  • Activists rally at the county jail in May to protest for more funding for schools and less funding for the sheriff’s department. (photo by Andrew Garces)
  • Austin Jeffries and Gray Johnston start Borough Coffee. (photo by Sayaka Matsuoka)
  • Underdog Records is one of the handful of local record shops that will be participating in this year’s Record Store Day. (photo by James Douglas)
  • Dunleath Porchfest in June.
  • Hanging Tree Guitars exhibit opens at SECCA in June.
  • Take Back Our Schools protesters gather outside of the Guilford County school board building on June 17. (photo by Sayaka Matsuoka)
  • The lead attorney for the Smith family, Flint Taylor, speaks to activists in front of the federal courthouse after the judge’s decision on June 25. (photo by Sayaka Matsuoka)
  • Attorneys Antonio Romanucci and Ben Crump rally with Tenicka Shannon for justice for her son, Fred Cox Jr. who was killed by police in 2020.

JULY

  • Heavy Rebel Weekender returned as the Downtown Getdown over the July 4th weekend in 2021. (photo by Nicole Zelniker)
  • Karen Archia stands in front of the sprawling scrolls which take up one wall in the exhibit at the CVA in July. The pieces are the largest she’s ever done. (photo by Sayaka Matsuoka)
  • Embur Fire Fusion comes under fire for sexual assault allegations against its manager, Reno Brasil in July.

AUGUST

  • Ingrid Chen McCarthy and Jeff McCarthy are the owners of Breadservice, a microbakery in Greensboro. (photo by Sayaka Matsuoka)
  • Kris Brown-Neville, son of John Neville, uses yoga for self-healing and resistance. (photo by Owens Daniels)
  • Protesters held signs that read “Freedom to choose” and “Mask vaccine test mandates are child abuse” outside of the Aug. 10 school board meeting. (photo by Sayaka Matsuoka)
  • ABC stores, like this one in Kernersville, aren’t able to keep up with demand these days, and bars are the same way. (photo by Tiffany Howell)
  • Totally Slow show at Game Over in High Point in August.

SEPTEMBER

  • Artist Tomie opens her new show Exalt & Illuminate at the Gallery on Main in High Point on Sept. 11. The show focuses on celebrities who struggled with mental health issues and substance abuse. (photo by Sayaka Matsuoka(
  • Justin “Demeanor” Harrington performs during the 2021 NC Folk Festival (photo by Sayaka Matsuoka)
  • Conjunto Guantanamo performance, NC Folk Festival 2021. (photo by Carolyn de Berry)
  • A ‘Wicked Silence’ performance in downtown Greensboro in September (photo by Carolyn de Berry)
  • The city’s first Freedom Fridge is located in the parking lot of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in the Warnersville neighborhood. (photo by Sayaka Matsuoka)

OCTOBER

  • Niesha Douglas and Marianne LeGreco co-authored the book ‘Everybody Eats‘ which details how the community has tackled food insecurity in Greensboro for the last 15 years. (photo by Sayaka Matsuoka)
  • Gabriel, Hector and Kattya behind the counter at Essential Hemp. Their store was raided by Greensboro cops in September. (photo by Sayaka Matsuoka)
  • A pumpkin king towers over pumpkins at the corner of Walker Avenue and Scott Avenue in Greensboro. (photo by Carolyn de Berry)
  • Finnigan’s Wake closes in Winston-Salem.
Hundreds gathered at the Hope for Hiatt fundraiser on Oct. 31 to help raise funds to keep the mobile park families in their homes. (photo by Sayaka Matsuoka)

NOVEMBER

  • The old N&R building has been on the market since 2017 and has been vacant since last year. (photo by Sayaka Matsuoka)
  • A Fred Cox protest in Greensboro in November.
  • Elsewhere
    Elsewhere’s connecting flight was out of order during its Annual Extravaganza in November. (Photo by Nicole Zelniker)

DECEMBER

  • Pilot Mountain burns. (photo by Tony White)
  • Christopher Pierce and Ashley Griffeth of Loom Coffee are incentivizing local coffee shops to pay their employees a living wage by making that a key requirement to partner with them. (photo by Sayaka Matsuoka)
  • Magnolia House director Natalia Miller stands under the new sign that’s been installed outside of the motel. The sign is a replica of the one that was there when the house was a Green Book site for Black travelers in the ’50s. Half of the original sign is now installed next to the front desk in the motel. (photo by Carolyn de Berry)
  • Joe Lopez kneels next to his son Joseph Lopez’s grave on Dec. 6. Lopez was shot and killed by a Greensboro police officer on Nov. 19 after more than 20 officers responded to a 911 call where Lopez was allegedly living. Three weeks later, his father says he needs to know why his son was killed. (photo by Sayaka Matsuoka)

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