SAVVY Mini: Our favorite stories, places and people of 2022

Well, we logged a lot of miles last year.

We sniffed out new spots, introduced you to some fascinating folks and brought you news (we hope) you actually cared about.

We also welcomed thousands of new readers.

As we close the book on 2022, we thought we’d rewind to our favorite stories of the year, in January-to-December order:

1. OMG, Omicron. Last January, we shared exclusive reporting on the COVID variant overrunning hospital ERs and EMTs from Bryn Mawr to Berwyn and causing massive student and staff absences in T/E, Radnor and Lower Merion. We told you about rapid-test price gauging and multiple fights over masks. Here’s hoping COVID is NEVER our top story again.
2. WAYNE’S WOOD? In February, we broke the story about a plan that could change the face of downtown Wayne: a four-story apartment building (“Waynewood’) proposed for Wayne’s main parking lot near the train station. For years, we’ve monitored the impact of new real estate developments up and down the Main Line. And we’re not finished yet. Ch-ch-ch-changes.  
3. YOU’VE GOT MAIL – SOMETIMES. In March, we investigated the widespread disruption of Main Line mail service due to brazen thefts outside Devon, Wayne, Wynnewood and Paoli post offices, sneaky “fishing” from home mailboxes, and postal staffing woes. We also shared a slew of mail safety tips from Main Line police, which readers told us they appreciated.
4. AUSTIN AND HIS ARMY. In May, we took you to a prosthetics fabricator in Delco where electrocuted T/E teen Austin Beltrante opened up about his hopes and struggles as he was being fitted for new lower arms. We’ve been following Austin and the Army that rose up to help him from Day One. Our stories boosted fundraIsers and prompted the KOP Sila to install central AC in the Beltrantes’ Berwyn home in July. After a year in hospitals and at home, how is Austin faring in his first year at Conestoga? We’re on it.
5. IN & OUT OF THE CLOSET. Our June/Pride Month edition focused on LGBTQ+ issues: local parents of trans and non-binary youth  and QVC/red carpet stylist George Brescia enjoying his new life in Malvern. We also took you to the vaunted hat contest at the Devon Horse Show – a visual feast! – and brought you our 2^nd annual Shore Guide.
6. BOOM TOWN. At summer’s end, we visited Bryn Mawr, suddenly the Main Line’s third Restaurant Central (after Wayne and Ardmore). We tasted celebrated chef Marc Vetri’s Fiore Rosso and a new outpost of Veekoo BYOB and previewed Trattoria Carina, Dua Mediterranean Kitchen and The Pullman, featuring the last two in more detail in our Nov./Dec. issue.
7. ALL GIFTED, ALL DAY.  During back-to-school month, we toured The Grayson School, PA’s first independent, not-for-profit school for gifted students in grades PreK – 12. Readers were surprised to learn that this thriving startup has been housed in an unused wing of Archbishop Carroll in Radnor for the last three years.
8. GREEN MACHINE. In October, we zeroed in (again) on the ever-widening and uber-organized fight to save Oakwell, aka Stoneleigh’s Villanova “sister,” from Lower Merion School District’s bulldozers. On one side: Lower Merion School District and presumably those middle school parents who support LMSD’s plan to replace an old-growth forest with playing fields. On the other side: seemingly everyone else.
9. DELANCEY STREET BLUES. Our double November-December issue dug into the abrupt ouster of a beloved bagel café from Wynnewood Shopping Center after 32 years. The owner, who’s 70 and legally blind, had fallen behind on rent during COVID. A heartbreaking sign of these precarious times for our small businesses. Our story brought a cascade of donations to a GoFundMe for former Delancey St. Bagels proprietor Jan Dorfman.

IN EVERY ISSUE: We dished on new restaurants and retailers – if it opened last year, you know we checked it out. When we weren’t sipping, savoring and shopping, we were chasing down school, crime, legal and municipal news worth sharing and finding folks worth knowing for our new “Small Talk” feature.

Round of applause – and heartfelt thanks – to everyone who reads our newsmagazine, subscribes to our e-blasts, tells a friend about us, follows us and shares our Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn posts, and patronizes our awesome advertisers. (See the end of our last issue for the full 2022 SAVVY Main Line sponsors list.)

Happy New Year! We’ll be back with a fresh edition in late January.

~Caroline and Team SAVVY Main Line