When 2015 said goodbye and 2016 said hello few imagined that the world would experience what it has this year.

Our year was expected to be a quiet one, 2015 brought 60 site visits and so it was hoped that 120 site visits would happen to make it a great year as everyone likes to beat and/or double their previous effort.

Now that 2016 is just over 12 hours away from ending, we take a look at some of the local events that occurred this year.

January 2016 was a quiet month for DNS as we were still figuring out what to do during the second month of Summer for we were still pretty unknown but we did write about radio stations and the fact boxing for fitness was an option of Deniliquin.

February saw that river users noticing the Edward was looking a little green and by the 26th it was all but certain it was Blue-Green Algae and it lasted for a long time until the Red Alert ended in late June.

February was also the month that a great moment on the running track was shared with the world.

Deniliquin also turned Blue in February in support of local nurses as changes meant a lowering of services and more at the Hospital.

March had World Water Day where locals gathered in the Waring Gardens and walked along the river and it was also a month that the residents of Deniliquin shown it really cares for others by donating to many great causes.

April opened with April Fools Day came along and something special had to be created in order to make it a really good day, we think we succeeded with this post.

April 2 was World Autism Awareness Day and it brought new awareness to locals to all things about Autism from what it is and the stigmas and myths that are attached to it.

May saw The Deniliquin Fine Wine & Food Festival and also the end of Deniliquin Council as it and Conargo Shire were merged to create Edward River Council whilst on the weather front a new May rainfall record was set as almost 100mm of rain fell during the month.

June saw the end of the Blue-Green Algae crisis that had made the river unusable for months, the bad news was that it was now winter and the river isn’t much fun in winter.

DNS took the opportunity to look back at the TAFE Art Expo that took place in June 2015, an event that was memorable to those who participated or attended.

July opened to confusing times as Channel Nine and Ten swapped affiliates with WIN going to Ten and Southern Cross going to Nine after many years being the opposite and it took some time to remember it.

Target caught fire and has knocked out the popular store ever since though it is expected to reopen sometime in the first quarter of 2017.

August saw the closure of the local HCF branch which upset a lot of people for those who needed services that internet or phone calls couldn’t solve have to now travel far to get the services they need.

August saw registrations take place for Basketball and Little Athletics and both are doing well.

A fire erupted at Green Pepper Pizza and Deni’s Diner causing severe damage to the business that was going through great times when the fire happened.

September brought in the Deniliquin and District Transport Industry Wall of Fame and the fall of another monthly rainfall record, Bendigo Bank had a BBQ for Camp Quality and it was Muster time again at the end of the month.

Flooding occurred for the first time this year when the Edward peaked at 7.06m but the flooding story wasn’t over

October saw the second flood as the Edward went from Minor Flooding to Moderate Flooding on October 10 and continued on its merry way until October 17 where it peaked at 8.62m.

Locals mobilised to help each other out and kept each other up to date on the latest situations to keep the waters from causing maximum devastation.

October was also the month Light The Night was on and funds were raised at the Waring Gardens on the night of October 7 in support of the Leukaemia Foundation.

November opened with a big mystery on what was going on the corner of Cressy Street and the business was announced to be ‘That Pizza’, residents flocked to the new Pizza shop and were rewarded with Pizza that suited their desire.

Residents started drumming up support for updated playground equipment and DNS started putting polls on the website to see what locals want or don’t want around town.

December was a fairly quiet month but there was still plenty to do in town as Christmas preparations got underway with Fairs, Services and Christmas Lights being well attended or seen by locals.

That was 2016 through the eyes of DNS, we thank our readers for being around us this year, our website has been seen almost 25,000 times this year (so much for 120), we have just over 1,400 likes on Facebook and a half dozen people on Twitter.

We’ve seen the good times and the bad, victory and defeat, happiness and grief for us and for those around us in the town that we love and we always hope for the good times for all.

We wish our readers a pleasant end to 2016 and a good 2017.