It’s nice to see cities get creative during the pandemic with more entertainment
A few months ago, I wrote about what this summer may end up looking like due to the pandemic.
I was worried that there would not be many activities to do, but I am glad to see some municipalities get creative in finding entertainment for residents and visitors.
The one thing that I always look forward to every summer in Troy is attending TriCity ValleyCats games. I’m bummed that there will be no minor league baseball season this year, but I do applaud the ValleyCats organization for finding other ways to utilize the stadium.
It’s a good idea to allow people to rent time at Joe Bruno Stadium. If I was younger and had the opportunity to practice and play on a field like Bruno Stadium, I know that I would have been in awe.
I’ve also heard rumors that the organization may look into setting up outdoor dining on the baseball field this summer. That would be a pretty neat dining experience and would be something I’d like to try.
Downtown Troy is always a hopping place filled with visitors and people attending various annual events each and every year. As someone who has attended the farmers market there, it’s nice to see that back open on weekends.
Troy Night Out is also a fun event to go to each month, and the Downtown Troy Business Improvement District found a way to keep it alive during the peak of the pandemic with virtual ones, and now people can attend those in-person again.
The “Summer Square” program is also nice to see back in action. The Summer Square program will activate public streets, parks, alleyways, and parking spaces for outdoor dining, shopping, and community programming in downtown Troy and beyond.
From previous experience, I also know that this format is popular and is usually well-attended, so I hope people will enjoy it this year under new social distancing measures.
Moving across the river, officials in Cohoes also found a new way to get creative and try to draw more people to downtown venues. The Spindle City will begin hosting Friday night ‘ Eat in the Street’ program.
This seems like a logical idea to be able to get more people to patronize various downtown restaurants and to allow restaurants to maximize space more even with social distancing measures in place.
The city of Watervliet is also allowing restaurants to utilize city property for additional outdoor dining space.
It’s nice to know that people will still be able to partially enjoy this summer thanks to municipalities getting creative and thinking outside the box to allow the best entertainment options even during a pandemic.
Nick on the Record appears in print every Wednesday. Nicholas Buonanno is the assistant senior editor for The Record and can be reached at nbuonanno@medianewsgroup.com.