Magic

We have a friend who's a magician. With the events and fairs he usually performs at cancelled this year, he's been focusing on online and virtual performances. He asked several weeks ago if he could use our backyard to livestream a virtual event (he performs with fire, so his indoor performance space was off-limits). Of course we said yes, and yesterday was the day.

The whole thing worked out very well - for the most part, he set everything up himself, though I did have to run some network cable through the house and out a window. He had a great set-up with his computer, camera, and microphone, and of course all his props and everything. We stayed >6 feet apart, plus wore masks, in the 92° heat and humidity, except for while he was performing (we were distanced, he just didn't have a mask on).

The show went great, all his technology worked and all his tricks were perfect, and my husband even got to participate at one point (distanced, with a mask). We didn't advertise that he was going to be in our yard, as I didn't want to draw a crowd, but the neighbors behind our house happened to enjoy the show from their own yard.

I think this was a great example of 1) the types of pivots that can be made to keep events going during this time, and 2) the types of "new normal" in-person interactions we should expect to be having for some time to come.