UPDATED: Staying Connected During Coronavirus: South Coast Style

UPDATED: March 24, 2020

Across the world, we’re seeing communities come together in creative ways in the midst of the Coronavirus response — singing from balconies in Italy, delivering pitchers of margaritas (with a roll of toilet paper) in Brooklyn, and random accordion playing.

Check out the Whaling Museum’s cupola this evening. Museum President Amanda McMullen wrote in an email, “Throughout history to present day, we are a strong and buoyant community, which is why I find comfort in the incredible resiliency of this region and its people. As a symbol of solidarity and hope, the New Bedford Whaling Museum has lit up its cupola and it will serve as our north star on the cityscape, our constant to remind us that this too shall pass.”

In addition, other creative approaches to social distancing and community building are also happening across the South Coast. We’re gathering together a list to help everyone stay connected locally.

Have we missed things? For sure!!! Please add them below in the comment section and help us crowdsource community.

Note: this post is updated from last week, with the recent additions appearing first

The Symphony Rises To the Occasion, Again

We adore the New Bedford Symphony which unfortunately has had to postpone two of their concerts. Last Friday, Symphony members Peter Zay (cello) and EmmaLee Holmes-Hicks (violin) brought us an evening of fiddle music to help brighten our spirits during this tough and uncertain time. This Saturday, Music Director Yaniv Dinur will livestream a piano concert. March 28, 8 to 9 pm  See more here. 

Also, the Symphony is bringing its nationally acclaimed Learning in Concert series into our living rooms. Developed for elementary students by New Bedford’s Terry Wolkowicz, you can find the videos online here. 

Do the Hustle!

Personal trainer Cherie Blier from Buzzards Bay’s Baker School of Dance and Fitness  is offering a free 21-day Quarantine Challenge. Sign up here and Cherie will nurture your fitness and nutrition goals (boy, do we need that!) and provide access to remote workouts.

Patient Updates

Take a break from Covid-19 news to get patient updates on the sea animals who are rehabilitating at the National Marine Life Center. Every Tuesday and Saturday at 11 a.m. on Facebook live, staff members will show us the seals and sea turtles and give us updates on their health. It’s uplifting to see the cute animals and to watch these passionate professionals doing their jobs caring for them. Go to their Facebook page to see the videos live, or after the fact.

Fiddlin’ Around

The Old Time Fiddle Session and Comm—- are coming up with creative solutions to social distancing. They’re working on open mic Zoom sessions with music, stories and even dance. Follow their Facebook and instagram profiles to keep up with things.

Front Porch Project

Our crackerjack photographer Ali Mauck is participating in the front porch project. Simply donate to a local charity and she’ll come to your front porch and take a family portrait on your porch (from a safe distance, of course). We love this idea! Follow Ali’s project on Facebook and send a message to her if you’re interested in participating! See more here. 

Previously seen in last week’s post:

Relive Old-Time Baseball

If there ever was a time that harkens back to days spent listening to baseball games on the radio, that time is now. Onset’s Tom Hannon has access to 800 old baseball games and had thought about uploading them for others. He says, “It’s something I had toyed with but it wasn’t a priority. But I realized that this is what people are going to miss now.” So he’s juggling his day job with compressing the audio files to make them accessible. He will be putting up a new game as often as possible – shooting for at least 4-5 a week. Last night’s podcast of the 1934 All Star game got 106 downloads in 5 minutes so we know he’s on to something. It’s free and ad-free, find it here.

Enjoy a Cocktail With Some New Friends

Jonathan Pogash who we featured in our May 2017 issue, aka The Cocktail Guru, serves up cocktails from  at 1:00 and 5:00 daily from his “basement lab” in Dartmouth. Join him on Facebook live — he takes requests from viewers. Ask him what to do with that obscure liquor in your cabinet (Mezcal, anyone?) and he’ll find a solution! Find him here. 

Get Ready for our Book Club

Our next walking book club is currently scheduled for the end of April. Get ready for it by picking up Joshua Slocum’s memoir of his 1895 journey spent sailing alone around the world (talk about social isolation!) In April, we’ll be following in his footsteps before he launched his sloop from Poverty Point in Fairhaven. Learn more about our walking book club series right here. (Note: Partners Village Store, which sponsors our walking book clubs, is still open for take-out meals and so you can replenish your book supply while you’re at it. However, they don’t have the Slocum book in stock — you can find it on Amazon.)

Get Outside!

It’s easy to social distance on our many beautiful trails and walks.We’re walking through the properties of all our local conservation organizations. In the last few days, we’ve visited West Island State Reservation in Fairhaven, White Eagle property in Marion, Fort Barton Woods in Tiverton and Allen’s Pond Wildlife Sanctuary in Dartmouth. Tell us where you’ve been heading.  Note: since our post last week, some trails have closed as a result of the Stay At Home Order.

Home with young kids?

The first rule is there are no rules. Whatever you do, don’t feel guilty about what you’re not doing. Caitlin Joseph of Fairhaven mentioned that South Coast Music Together is putting some of their classes on-line. Check out their Facebook page and ask to be invited to the closed group for that. On the other hand, Dartmouth’s Matt Medeiros introduced his kids to their first box of Lucky Charms which seems just as wonderful to us. (Speaking of Matt, you may want to sign up for his podcast We Are Here which introduces us regularly to great new local entrepreneurs.)

Keep Up With Business

Speaking of business, New Bedford’s co-working space Groundwork has been offering Zoom classes for small business owners specifically relevant to these days. Yesterday we heard from Sean Eikerman, Business Advisor with Cultivate Advisors, who offered a free webinar discussion to help plan around uncertainty amidst COVID-19 concerns. Like Groundwork! on Facebook to keep up with future webinars that are being planned right now.

As for your personal business, Linda Hannon from Real Family Finance is updating us every day on Facebook Live about the financial impact of this on our personal finances. Find out more on her Facebook page. She also released a free class on building a solid financial foundation. See more about that here.

Bring A Little Zen To Your Day

More than ever, do we need this! Anchor Yoga in Mattapoisett is live streaming yoga classes. See more about this on their Facebook page. 

What else?

• Join our Donut Madness bracket tournament fun.
• Get a free annual subscription to our print magazine –donate to the United Way of Greater New Bedford OR the United Way Greater of Fall River as they work to mobilize Coronavirus support. Just email your donation receipt to us at [email protected]. A gift of ANY SIZE gets you a free annual subscription to our print magazine which will be delivered straight to your door starting in May.
• Tell us what we missed by commenting below or emailing [email protected] so can add to this list.

And above all else, stay positive, safe, and healthy…