While we all are required to stay six feet away from each other, the Town of Oxbow came up with a suggestion to safely shake things up a bit in an old-fashioned way. The town invited the community to come for cruise night, which turned out really well.
In the evening of March 27, all community members were invited to hop in their vehicles and head out to Main Street for a cruise to see friends, neighbours and family in an appropriate social distancing way.
“It was just a very quick idea that we put together based on a similar event that we heard that Sherwood, North Dakota, has done. So we sort of took their idea, giving them full credit,” said Oxbow community development officer Tami Scott.
The town posted the information on Facebook and sent messages out to the community through Connect, inviting people to get out and enjoy an activity that most people did as teenagers.
“It was never a formal thing… You would just hop in your car and go driving around town, see who is out and about. That was obviously long before social media, and you never knew where people actually were going to be and you hit the streets just to find out what was going on,” said Scott, recalling the cruise nights she participated in during her teens.
The initiative was also aiming at helping the local restaurants that had a significant decline in business.
"Our small businesses are struggling right now since they’ve been required to close down, so we also encouraged people to hit up some of the restaurants in town for take-out,” said Scott.
People could stop at any eateries in town that were open. Hideaway, Mick's Stop n Shop and Sandugo were open to order in advance for pick-up. A few restaurants Scott did talk to after the event said it was a very successful night.
While there was no way to put a number on how many people reacted to the invitation and joined the cruise night, Scott said there definitely was more traffic in town than lately. And the feedback they received from the community was also positive, with a few people saying it was a fun idea.
Besides, people were also invited to take part in a virtual Easter egg hunt, in which eggs had to be found in the windows of the houses across town.
Scott said going forward they might call for another cruise night or offer other community games.
“Lots of communities in the province are doing lots of interesting things just to keep people engaged during the time of social distancing. We might take one of their ideas or come up with our own for something that will get people out and about but stay safe.”
The news about upcoming activities are published on the town’s Facebook page and on the Oxbow and District Recreation page.
The virtual egg hunt will continue until Easter. The participating addresses are posted at the Oxbow Easter Egg Hunt 2020 page.
