For the 30th anniversary year, founders of Coffeehouse at the Mews just didn’t want to let the tradition of the weekly wintertime Provincetown show fall to the pandemic.
So in mid-January, the music and stories started again in a virtual way and the program will continue to entertain on Mondays at least through this month. (But, organizers hope, into the spring, if they can get the funding.)
Founders Peter Donnelly, a musician, and Ron Robin, who is owner of The Mews restaurant and known for his years in radio, host the fireside music get-togethers online. Episodes last about an hour rather than the three hours of the typical live coffeehouse gatherings at the restaurant.
“Provincetown takes care of its own” is a phrase Scott Martino and Jennifer White have heard for years when people are in trouble and neighbors step up to help.
That has held true through 11 months of the COVID-19 pandemic, as residents of this small, remote town, which is heavily dependent on the devastated entertainment and service industries, have tried to pay their bills.
The Soup Kitchen in Provincetown continues to help, as it has for nearly 30 off-seasons, but in expanded, drive-thru form. It now feeds 165 people six hot lunches each week up from 100 daily in the months before COVID-19 shutdowns.
The system is on alert: A look back at the first COVID-19 case in quotes
Ontario Premier Doug Ford listens as Ontario Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Williams answers questions during a news conference at the Ontario Legislature in Toronto on Monday March 16, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn January 25, 2021 - 1:00 AM
On Jan. 25, 2020, officials in Ontario announced that a novel coronavirus that had sounded alarm bells around the world had reached Canadian shores. The diagnosis of Canada s first case of COVID-19 marked the start of a period of dramatic economic and social upheaval.
Here s a look back at some of the comments in the days before and after the discovery of Canada s first case:
The system is on alert, all the things are in place and we re monitoring. If it s a false alarm for Canada, so be it. Dr. David Williams, Ontario chief medical officer of health, in an interview with The Canadian Press on Jan. 22. We ve seen this movie before. Our infection-control game is better than it was. But we still have this problem with the physical plant of our hospitals, with our emergency rooms, where people are stuck together cheek-by-jowl, and that creates vulnerability. University of Toronto epidemiologist Dr. David Fisman, discussing potential risks from the then emerging virus on Jan. 23.