A cloud of confetti rained on Barrommetti as students, parents and directors hollered and cheered. It had been 37 years since their students marched along Sixth Avenue.

Soon after the celebration, he and his team got to work figuring out the logistics of getting his kids to the Big Apple. But after nearly a year of fundraisers, band rehearsals and anticipation, the band director said the group’s dreams might be dashed.

“You can’t really plan because you don’t know for certain what’s going to happen,” said Barrommetti, who wonders whether the parade will be cancelled because of coronavirus. “It’s [also] like that with the school year and the marching band season… Everything is very unsettled and very up in the air right now.”

Thousands of events have been cancelled or rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the fate of many others is still uncertain.

The TCS New York City Marathon is still set for November 1. But months of fundraising and training are required before the event, and runners are left with little advice on how to prepare for the race.

“I started making preparations for it, but honestly I’ve been completely paralyzed by what to do,” said hopeful participant and NYU student Jimmy Herdegen, 21, of Chicago, who originally planned to start training this summer.

He said the decision will depend on if he is able to return to school for the fall semester.

“The thing that is stressing me out is that even if they do cancel the marathon, I still have to fundraise,” he said.

While future of the parade and marathon remain uncertain, other events were swiftly cancelled.

  “I’m so sad I won’t be able to see you guys in concert this year, but I know this is the right decision,” popstar Taylor Swift tweeted in mid-April after canceling all shows for the rest of the year.

“Please, please stay healthy and safe,” she wrote. “I’ll see you on stage as soon as I can but right now what’s important is committing to this quarantine, for the sake of all of us.”

Barrommetti said it’s been hard to watch so many end-of-the year school events axed— and it’s just as hard wait to see what will happen next.

“It’s just really sad that all those things don’t get a chance to happen,” he said. “The Macy’s Parade is hopefully not on the chopping block.”

Emily Glass is an NYU undergraduate journalism student.

The post Coronavirus leaves the fate of some beloved New York events uncertain appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

Truck drivers — essential workers that have continued to deliver goods during the coronavirus pandemic — have pulled into this lot in Centerville, Ohio since late March to grab anything from burgers to pulled pork cooked by Mackenzie Manley, owner of Mack’s.

“My parking lot is huge and empty,” said Manley, whose bar sits in a strip mall with a lot large enough for semis to easily enter and exit. “We’re only 2 miles off the highway… and we get a bunch of supply trucks going by.” 

“I tried to make it look nice and homey,” she added. “I even write jokes on [the] pizza boxes.”

Since Manley first opened the tavern in February 2015, she had kept late hours, offering drink specials and a sizable space for patrons to watch sports and play darts or pool. 

But after Ohio imposed a mandatory quarantine last month, Manley has had to change the way she does business. She had seen Facebook posts about drive throughs that wouldn’t allow large vehicles, and quickly got to work setting up a station to service truckers. She now closes six hours early and only has two employees scheduled to work per day—one to cook, and another to run food out and sanitize the table between customers.

“I’m on day 16 of [working] 12 hour days,” Manley said. 

The bar turned curbside food joint also features a new best-selling meal for Centerville’s locals: the take-and-bake pizza that customers can finish cooking at home. They can add on a 24 pack of beer too, which Manley sells at the state minimum to compete with surrounding grocery chains.

Pizza and a joke for Truckers and others who stop by Mack’s Tavern in Centerville, Ohio.

A large part of her success comes from the bar’s Facebook page, where frequent posts encourage people to stop by for a burger and chips.

“The response is overwhelming,” Manley said, who has even received some hand-drawn thank you notes from kids who live in the area. “We’ve got quite a few customers that have come here because of that post that have never been here before.”

Despite the outpour of support, Manley worries about the future of her business. 

“What am I gonna do? We’re not a food place. We sell the food to keep people here drinking,” she said.  “We don’t make a profit.”

“I’m just gonna stay open as long as I can so my employees have money to pay their rent,” she added. “And then the day we say we can open… I am opening at 5:30 a.m…. And I am going to have one heck of a party.”

Emily Glass is an NYU undergraduate journalism student.

The post Tavern dishes out food, beer and thanks to truckers appeared first on Pavement Pieces.