Hoedown guests had a virtually raucous time Saturday, January 30, 2021, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. At one point, as many as 81 households were on the zoom at once, suggesting that participation was comparable to in-person gatherings but including friends and in Italy, California, Chicago, Florida, Alaska, Arizona, Minnesota, north-central Wisconsin, and perhaps elsewhere.
Guests settled down in front of their electronics, some with their dinners and chattered away. Rather than hauling boxes, the hostess spent many hours Saturday posting Jell-O Contest entries and setting up the electronic polling.
The hostess shared two videos, one the Jell-O Submarine montage and one a performance of Hotdish Hoedown the Beautiful, performed by Peter Leidy with lyrics Megan Schliesman wrote after Hoedown 2019. The audio was muffled due to all the unmuted guests.
Breakout rooms were a mixed success, with most guests lacking the autonomy to move among them unless turned into co-hosts. A number of Harmony Grits softball players did find each other across the continental divide.
Jell-O Contest winners were announced and trophies were awarded to contestants who turned up at the hostess’ yard on Sunday, January 31. Perhaps 30 people gathered, masked and at a distance, to view the Jell-Os, have a drink, and enjoy the fire Jim Hansen brought over, staying well within Public Health Madison & Dane County‘s limit of 50 people at outside gatherings.
Anyone wanting a mask should contact the hostess.
Thanks go to …
Thanks to Lois for designing the masks, Dorla and crew at Screen Door Studio for printing them; Miche for the “Zoom-down” idea; Jim Hansen for warming the Jell-O Contest; Jell-O guru Jim Good for holding his Jell-O demonstration via Zoom Sunday, January 24; and to Megan for proofreading and helping to bring order to hostess’ mental chaos in preparing for zoom Hoedown.
Link to online notice of 2021 Hoedown, invitation
Hotdish Hoedown on Instagram
