Drake Park was bustling before noon on Labor Day.

Stand-up paddle boarders and kayakers glided along the Deschutes River, dogs were being walked and bikers were weaving between the foot traffic as people soaked up the final bits of summer vacation and summer heat.

But the strangest summer in modern times was over.

In 2020, the traditional calendar was thrown out the window because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In Central Oregon, that meant fairs, concerts and rodeos were canceled. Summer sporting events, too, from Elks baseball to the Pole Pedal Paddle.

And parents of children who had been out of classrooms for nearly six months prepared for another school year that will be taught the same way it ended : remotely. Having a traditional summer did not take shape due to the many safety restrictions to mitigate the spread of the virus.

“I don’t think it ever felt like summer this year,” said Jessica Hutchens, of Bend, whose son Logan will be starting second grade this year at Pine Ridge Elementary. “Because of the pandemic and everything, it just isn’t the way it used to be. We didn’t get out as much as we would have. We would have gone to California to see family, go to the beach and done a lot more camping. We just mostly stayed home.”

The Singh family — Hari and Rachel and their two grade-school-aged children — spent the past week hitting up Smith Rock, the High Desert Museum and Steelhead Falls on their vacation to Central Oregon from Eugene.

“It does feel weird,” said Hari Singh, of the end of summer. “But it also feels like it might continue, because they aren’t really going to school. So we will keep taking advantage of good days. We are kinda looking forward to what (the school year) is going to look like, but there is still a lot of unknown.”

The hope is that schools now have a better grasp on how to deal with the distant learning as opposed to in the spring. Yet, there is still uncertainty about what the 2020-21 school year can look like, he said.

“The schools were really not prepared for online learning during the spring,” Singh said. “So I’m hoping they are better prepared now. Hopefully things being online will help, but I’m not sure. It is not really a relief that kids are going back to school.”

For most students, the new school year will continue to be held away from the classroom, which is creating a challenge for Macklin McArthur, a single parent of two daughters. He’s trying to balance distance learning with a job with a local investment company that won’t allow him to work from home.

“For about six weeks we are going to have to stay home and Zoom into the classroom. I’ve never done anything like that before,” said McArthur, whose daughter McKenna will be starting kindergarten. “It’s still an unknown. I have her syllabus and class goes from 7:30 in the morning to 3:30 in the afternoon. That’s my entire shift. That is definitely going to be a hurdle.”