Out & About Magazine - March 2021 - Out Is In by Out & About Magazine

Reed's Refuge a Place for Hope

Generation Lockdown

Arden Gild Hall's Ron Ozer

Out

Is In

Restaurateurs increase focus on alfresco options

MARCH 2021 COMPLIMENTARY

吀栀攀䰀甀挀欀漀昀琀栀攀䤀爀椀猀栀嘀椀猀椀琀匀栀漀瀀刀椀琀攀昀漀爀愀氀氀礀漀甀爀栀漀氀椀搀愀礀挀攀氀攀戀爀愀琀椀漀渀渀攀攀搀猀⸀ 䜀攀琀琀爀攀愀琀猀Ⰰ 挀甀瀀挀愀欀攀猀Ⰰ 䤀爀椀猀栀倀漀琀愀琀漀攀猀Ⰰ 愀渀搀琀栀攀椀渀最爀攀搀椀攀渀琀猀琀漀洀愀欀攀愀搀攀氀椀挀椀漀甀猀Ⰰ 琀爀愀搀椀琀椀漀渀愀氀䤀爀椀猀栀搀椀渀渀攀爀⸀ 䬀攀渀渀礀䘀愀洀椀氀礀匀栀漀瀀爀椀琀攀猀漀昀䐀攀氀愀眀愀爀攀眀椀猀栀礀漀甀愀渀搀愀渀搀礀漀甀爀昀愀洀椀氀礀最漀漀搀栀攀愀氀琀栀Ⰰ 最漀漀搀氀甀挀欀Ⰰ 愀渀搀洀甀挀栀栀愀瀀瀀椀渀攀猀猀琀栀椀猀匀琀⸀ 倀愀琀琀礀밂猀䐀愀礀℀

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2 INSIDE 2

Out & About Magazine Vol. 34 | No. 1

Publisher Gerald duPhily • jduphily@tsnpub.com

Director of Publications Jim Hunter Miller • jmiller@tsnpub.com Contributing Editor Bob Yearick • ryearick@comcast.net Creative Director & Production Manager Matthew Loeb, Catalyst Visuals, LLC Digital Services Director Michael O’Brian Contributing Designer Allanna Peck, Catalyst Visuals, LLC, Contributing Writers Danielle Bouchat-Friedman Adriana Camacho-Church, Cindy Cavett, David Ferguson, Mark Fields, Pam George, Lauren Golt, Jordan Howell, Michelle Kramer-Fitzgerald, Dillon McLaughlin, Ken Mammarella, Matt Morrissette, John Murray, Larry Nagengast, Kevin Noonan, Leeann Wallett, Jill Althouse-Wood

31 START 7 From the Publisher

WATCH

8 What Readers Are Saying

35 Movies During COVID

9 War on Words

36 Academy Awards

FEATURES 15 A Place for Hope

13 Worth Recognizing

DRINK

Reed’s Refuge continues to be a beacon for Wilmington’s Eastside youth

15 Reed’s Refuge

37 Big Oyster Brewery

By Michelle Kramer-Fitzgerald

11 FYI

18 Generation Lockdown

FOCUS

PLAY

18 Generation Lockdown

41 Fill in the Blanks

26 Out Is In

Is the pandemic a factor in the rise in

WILMINGTON

LISTEN

42 In The City

31 Music Man Ron Ozer

44 On The Riverfront

26 Out Is In

On the cover: Makers Alley in Downtown Wilmington was an intriguing new outdoor concept priot to the pandemic. Now, the model seems prescient. Photo courtesy Buccini Pollin Group.

Alfresco dining is here to stay as area venues adapt to the new reality By Pam George

31 Music Man

Contributing Photographers Jim Coarse, Justin Heyes and Joe del Tufo/Moonloop Photography, Butch Comegys, Lindsay duPhily, Matthew Loeb, Matt Urban Special Projects John Holton, Bev Zimmermann

youth suicides? Delaware experts weigh in. By Bob Yearick

The shows must go on. Arden Gild Hall’s Ron Ozer makes sure they do. By Jill Althouse-Wood

OutandAboutNow.com

35 The Pictures Got Too Small Movies in the time of COVID

Printed on recycled paper.

By Mark Fields

Editorial & advertising info: 302.655.6483 • Fax 302.654.0569 outandaboutnow.com • contact@tsnpub.com

MARCH 2021 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM

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From The Publisher

SEEING THE LIGHT

n late January, I was invited to a town hall-style presentation by The Grand Opera House. I’m glad I accepted. The Zoom session briefed those participating on what Delaware’s largest performing arts organization has been doing to stay relevant since the doors to its three theaters (Copeland Hall, The Playhouse, baby grand) were closed in March 2020 because of the pandemic. Endeavors such as drive-in movies, drive-in concerts, a drive-through holiday light show… All commendable pivots for a brick-and-mortar operation built to host shows, not stage them in parks and parking lots. However, I already knew about those projects — and that’s not why I’m glad I Zoomed in. Turns out, I needed a pep talk. How badly, I didn’t realize until the half-dozen presenters were concluding their updates. Out & About’s relationship with the performing arts is symbiotic. So, when the arts are threatened, we’re threatened. To say both of us have been treading water in heavy seas is not a stretched analogy. And no one can tread water indefinitely. So, it was invigorating to hear The Grand staff pridefully recap what they had pulled off to date. And the buoyancy in their voices as they revealed future plans was uplifting. (The Grand has more outdoor endeavors planned, with a return to indoor performances tentatively scheduled for this fall. Other area performing arts centers are operating under similarly optimistic timelines.) No, this wasn’t a report from the warehouse of a food bank. Or an update from a frontline hospital worker. The challenges of an arts organization pale in comparison. However, the pandemic has made a case for the arts no advocacy group could rival. COVID-19 has been a merciless showstopper. And turning out the stage lights has made us further appreciate their brilliance. Yes, life is pretty dull without live performance as our companion. Oh sure, there’s always livestream. But would you rather experience Hamilton in a theater or see it from your sofa?

It’s the difference between skiing a mountain and watching a ski video. Those who work at performance venues already knew that. They were regular witnesses to the magic that happens when a performer and audience share the room. As acclaimed director Jonathan Demme succinctly put it, “Nothing beats live performance. Nothing.” So, the upbeat tone of The Grand’s presentation was no doubt fostered in part by the encouraging financial and moral support it is seeing from its patrons. Such a vote of confidence under current circumstances is undoubtedly inspiring. And that inspiration was certainly enhanced with the recent announcement that $15 billion (yes, that’s a “b”) of federal financial support is being directed to performing houses across the nation as a direct result of the Save Our Stages lobbying efforts. Delaware stages will see some of that money. To put that amount in perspective, the National Endowment for the Arts received $162 million (with an “m”) in the 2020 federal budget — and that was a 10-year high. So, why $15 billion now? Perhaps because more legislators are realizing that the arts don’t simply provide richness to our lives, they enrich our economy. Nationally, arts and culture is an $800 billion industry, responsible for about 4% of GDP, said Delaware Arts Alliance Executive Director Jessica Ball, citing a report from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. That same study revealed that in Delaware alone, arts and culture is responsible for more than 9,000 jobs. In other words, supporting the arts is good business. That is, however, only part of the argument. Courtesy of COVID-19, we now know what it’s like to live in a world with the lights turned out indefinitely. Personally, I don’t know anyone who wants to live in that joyless place.

COVID-19 has been a merciless showstopper. And turning out the stage lights has made us further appreciate their brilliance.

— Jerry duPhily MARCH 2021 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM

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KRESTON WINE & SPIRITS

EST. 1933 Delaware’s Oldest Liquor Store

WHAT READERS ARE SAYING About The Joe We Know Many Delawareans have stories of President-elect Joe Biden. Here are a few you likely haven’t heard. by Jim Miller, January 2021 "Great stories. Makes you very proud to have him going to the White House.” — Lou Rosenberg "My friend has a great story about how Joe had my friend’s company do work on his house and then stiffed them for a 40k bill! There’s a good story for ya! They couldn't go after him in court because Joe uses his team of government paid lawyers.” — Valentino DiEmedio

About From the Publisher Not Our First Rodeo By Jerry DuPhily, January 2021 “Don’t forget Bob Marley & Mike Spinks!” — Patricia M. Peacock

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“And what about the Kalmar Nyckel and other events in early American History?” — Angela Drooz “Oh, I do love how you write. I always enjoy your page on Out & About. But this?!!! Perfection!!!” — Sue Thomas About From the Publisher Putting Out The Fire By Jerry DuPhily, February 2021

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"Thank you for your write up in the February Issue of Out and About. You were able to articulate my exact train of thoughts and emotions over the past few years. I appreciate your insight and look forward to reading more of your political perspective.” — Nicole M. Homer

HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY? SEND US A MESSAGE! contact@tsnpub.com • OutAndAboutNow.com

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A writer/editor’s slightly snarky and relentless crusade to eliminate grammatical gaffes from our everyday communications

Compiled from the popular column in Out & About Magazine

THE WAR ON WORDS A monthly column in which we attempt, however futilely, to defend the English language against misuse and abuse

SPORTS SPOILERS As we’ve noted many times, the sports world is full of coaches, players and commentators who have only a nodding acquaintance with good grammar. This month, between seems to be their nemesis. • Nick Sirianni, new Eagles coach, during his deer-in-theheadlights kickoff presser: “I’ll keep that conversation between the player and I.” Preposition there, Nick, so use the objective case me. Also, like most football coaches (and many broadcasters), Sirianni has a blind spot when it comes to the past participle of to go. Instead of “have gone,” he uttered the all-too-common “have went.” Went is the simple past tense. • ESPN’s Steven A. Smith went full-on he and I in an interview in USA TODAY. First there was this: “That’s the difference between he and I.” Then, a few sentences later: “The difference between he and I . . .” • Meanwhile, Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers, discussing his rapport with a top receiver, managed to be half right (or half wrong) by using the phrase “him and I” in two instances. First, he mentioned “conversations between him and I.” As noted above, between requires the objective case me. Then Rodgers talked about “information only him and I would know.” In this case, the subjective he is correct. • Finally, a reader notes that in an NBC golf broadcast, Nick Faldo referred to a rules debate involving four golf pros, calling it “a discussion between we professionals.” When more than two people are involved, the correct preposition is among, and, of course, it takes the objective case us. TWO WORDS, NOT ONE • One of my favorite organizations, the YMCA, announced that it would be closed on Feb. 1 (snow) in an email suggesting that we “Workout at home.” That’s work out, the verb. Workout is the noun. • And the Delaware Business Times, in a story about the Wilmington Blue Rocks, wrote: “It could be awhile before another phenom appears.” That should be a while, which is a noun phrase meaning “a period of time.” Awhile is an adverb meaning “for a time,” as in “I will rest awhile.”

By Bob Yearick

MIXED UP IDIOMS • In a review of Expedition Deep Ocean in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Lucinda Robb wrote: “Make no bones about it, this is an old-fashioned adventure Clever t-shirt, but needs story.” She meant “make no mistake.” Make no a correction: every time bones about it indicates acting or speaking frankly – two words. about something, without hesitation or evasion. Hard to understand how she thought that would apply here. • This brings to mind a famous mix-up by Justice Clarence Thomas during the 1991 hearings on his appointment to the Supreme Court. Thomas famously said: “. . . from my standpoint as a Black American, as far as I’m concerned, it is a high-tech lynching for uppity blacks who in any way deign to think for themselves, to do for themselves, . . .” Deign means “to do something beneath one’s dignity,” which is pretty much the opposite of what Thomas meant. He should have said dare. DEPARTMENT OF REDUNDANCIES DEPT. • From an Associated Press story about the late NBA coach Paul Westphal: “He led the Charles Barkley-led Suns to the NBA Finals in 1993.” Hey, at least led is spelled correctly. • Dan Patrick, reading a commercial on his radio show: “Save up to 25 percent off.” • Keith Pompey in the Inquirer: “It was the Sixers’ resilience in rallying back to post their most gratifying win of the season.” Thanks, Keith, but rallying is enough. CATCHING A “MYSELFIE” • Two readers called out News Journal Executive Editor Mike Feeley for committing the dreaded “myselfie” in a recent story: “So Talorico, myself and a few other editors met to discuss what to do next.” The readers point out that Feeley should have written “Talorico, a few editors and I.” HOW LONG, OH LORD, HOW LONG? (In which we feature the misuse of that most-abused punctuation mark, the apostrophe) Tweet from Kai Ryssdal, host of Marketplace, a business program on public radio: “That’s like 2/3’s of the House Republican caucus.” Amazing.

Follow me on Twitter: @thewaronwords

Word of the Month

exigency Pronounced EK-si-jen-see, it’s a noun meaning an urgent need or requirement.

NEED A SPEAKER FOR YOUR ORGANIZATION? Contact me for a fun presentation on grammar: ryearick@comcast.net.

Buy The War on Words book at the Hockessin Book Shelf (hockessinbookshelf.com) or call me at 302-482-3737.

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SHOP SMALL. SHOP LOCAL.

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Things worth knowing

NOMINATIONS FOR GOVERNOR’S YOUTH SERVICE AWARDS

WIN REWARDS THROUGH WILMINGTONMADE

hrough March 31, you can receive rewards by patronizing Wilmington businesses during the WilmingtonMade Support Local initiative managed by Wilmington Alliance. More than 50 businesses are participating, including restaurants, beauty spas, retail shops, art galleries and more. Every time you make a purchase at one of the participating businesses, simply take a photo of your receipt and send it along with your name and date via text message to (302) 433-6078. Every receipt you submit is another chance to win a gift card to a Wilmington business. Visit WilmingtonMade.com

ominations for the Governor’s Youth Volunteer Service Awards are being accepted by the State Office of Volunteerism through March 14. These awards recognize the important contributions made by Delaware’s youth volunteers to their communities. Award recipients will be announced in late April. To be eligible, the nominated individuals and group members must be 17 or younger during the time of service. Individual nominees must have volunteered a minimum of 100 hours and groups a minimum of 250 hours between January and December of 2020, although additional volunteer activity can also be highlighted to show long-term commitment. Volunteers will be honored in the following categories: • Individual: An exceptional individual 17 or younger who volunteers. • Team/Group: Two or more individuals who worked on the same project. • Emerging Volunteer Leader: An individual 17 or younger who has demonstrated exceptional leadership abilities. You can access the nomination form at Volunteer.Delaware.gov.

START DELART CINEMA OFFERS HOME VIEWING OF NEW FILM RELEASES

e're in the thick of the film awards season, and most movie theaters have been closed for nearly a year. So how do you get the chance to see new film releases safely at home? DelArt Cinema at the Delaware Art Museum is offering virtual screenings of first-run films, many of them nominees or submissions for the Independent Film Awards, the Golden Globes or the Academy Awards.

Screenings through DelArt Cinema are $12 per film. Once you click on the film title, enter your credit card information and you have up to 72 hours to completely watch the film. You can hook up a laptop to your TV through an HDMI cable, or cast from a device such as your phone or tablet to your TV. Delaware Art Museum members get a discount. Order at DelArtCinema.com

CITY SPORTS FACILITY REBRANDED CHASE FIELDHOUSE DELAWARE CRAFT BEER INDUSTRY BREWS ANOTHER ORIGINAL

elaware’s craft beer family has a new member as Twisted Irons is set to open later this month at 303 Ruthar Drive in Newark. The Delaware Craft Brewers Guild currently consists of 22 breweries. Twisted Irons is the creation of partners Matt Found (brewer) and David Markle. The brewery will offer an on-site tasting room and hopes to quickly provide canned and keg beer for off-premise consumption. The brewery will begin operating with four or five beers on tap along with two experimental batches available at the tasting room. Visit TwistedIronsBrewery.com

PG|SPORTS and the Delaware Blue Coats, the NBA G League affiliate of the Philadelphia 76ers, have agreed to a joint partnership with JPMorgan Chase that rebrands the state-of-the-art multisport arena in Wilmington and home to the Blue Coats as Chase Fieldhouse. The Chase Fieldhouse will also serve as the home to Titus Sports Academy and Nemours Sports Medicine. The iconic Philadelphia 76ers logo remains emblazoned on the glass visage of the west facade, as it has since the opening of the 161,000-square-foot structure in 2019. The arena seats 2,300. Visit TheChaseFieldhouse.com.

Photo courtesy Chase Fieldhouse

MARCHY 2021 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM

Things worth knowing

YES, WILMINGTON! SUMMIT

ilmington Alliance’s 2021 summit, Yes, Wilmington!, will be held virtually on Thursday, March 18 from 8:30am to 12:30pm. This year’s theme is Equitable Economic Mobility and three national experts will be featured: Samira Cook Gaines (National Partnership Lead for Rising Tide Capital); Andre Perry (fellow at the Brookings Institution, regular contributor to MSNBC and author of ‘Know Your Price: Valuing Black

Lives and Property in America’s Black Cities'); Lyneir Richardson (Executive Director of the Rutgers Center for Urban Entrepreneurship and Economic Development). Visit WilmingtonAlliance.org

BLUE ROCKS TO OPEN IN MAY

he Wilmington Blue Rocks will open their 2021 season at home against the Aberdeen IronBirds on Tuesday, May 4. The Rocks, who are now a Washington Nationals affiliate after many years with the Kansas City Royals, will play a 120-game season in a new 12-team Mid-Atlantic League operating on Major League Baseball’s High-A level. Joining Wilmington in the Northern Division will be Aberdeen, Md. (Orioles), Lakewood, N.J. (Phillies), Brooklyn, N.Y. (Mets) and Hudson Valley, N.Y. (Yankees). Visit Milb.com/Wilmington for complete schedule.

KeepDelawareBeautiful.com 12 MARCH 2021 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM

WORTH RECOGNIZING

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Community Members Who Go Above & Beyond

MARKEVIS GIDEON: NERDIT NOW WORKS TO CLOSE DIGITAL DIVIDE FOR LOCAL STUDENTS By Adriana Camacho-Church

ast Spring, when most Delaware public schools shifted to remote, online learning due to COVID-19, several students at Warner Elementary found themselves without access to a computer. Kelly Green, school therapist with Children and Families First, took action by calling the NERDiT Foundation, a non-profit in Newport that gives youths in underprivileged communities refurbished computers for free. Green spoke with Rysheema Dixon, a Wilmington City Council member. “She connected me with the NERDiT Foundation who donated 40 computers,” says Green. NERDiT arrived at the Wilmington school in a retrofitted ambulance, the foundation’s mobile repair store. They showed the students and their families how to log on to Zoom and offered them free tech and repairs support. “They also volunteered to speak with (Warner) students about their career paths.” "If you don’t have access to technology, you’re going to be left behind," says Markevis Gideon, 32, founder and managing director of NERDiT NOW. Established in 2015, NERDiT NOW collects, repairs, sells and buys digital devices. It helps sustain the NERDiT Foundation, which aims to end the digital divide. Established in 2018, the foundation has raised over $56,000 and donated 5,000 computers to non-profits and community centers that cater to youths in the tri-state area and in four countries, including Kenya and Ghana. In 2015, Gideon returned to Delaware after studying and living in China for five years. He quickly noticed that some of his friends and family members didn’t own computers. Not owning a computer and lacking computer skills can set people up for missed job and education opportunities. When a woman showed up at his company hoping to find a used computer she could afford for her young son, Gideon gave her one for free. This gave Gideon and his business partners, Jonathan Hoxter and Jake Voorhees, the idea to start the NerdiT Foundation. However, it’s not just access to a computer that people need at home, they also need an internet connection. According to an Associated Press report from June 2019, nearly three percent of Delaware students lack access to the Internet, while 16% do not have a computer at home.

NERDiT's Markevis Gideon. Photo provided

To mitigate these issues, communication and media organizations, such as Comcast and WhyFly, have modified their services to accommodate low-income families. For instance, NERDiT partners with Comcast to offer low-income families free internet for six months with the monthly fee increasing to just $10 per month through Comcast Essentials. And through funding from the federal CARES Act, NERDiT NOW was able to refurbish over 1,000 computers while the state invested $20 million to expand rural wireless broadband coverage. To create a skilled labor force and teach computer skills, Gideon, who double majored in computer science and accounting at Widener University, says his company also offers free IT training and certifications to youths who qualify. It also established computer labs in designated community centers and non-profits, where computer skills are taught. “It is my moral obligation to give back to the community,” says Gideon. "Closing the digital gap, creating jobs and keeping a skilled labor force in the state makes for a stronger economy." Interns, volunteers, and employees help run NERDiT NOW and its foundation. And in January, Gideon received a Governor’s Volunteer Award. Partners that help the foundation provide its community services include: Delaware Community Foundation, Delaware Alliance for Nonprofit Advancement, Discover Bank, Capital One, Barclays Bank, and Wilmington Alliance. NERDiT also formed a partnership with the Red Clay Consolidated School District, which donates older computers to the company, which in turn reburbishes the equipment and returns it to Red Clay for a donation to students’ families. — For more information visit NerdItFoundation.org or find them on Facebook. MARCH 2021 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM

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Jaziher Burke (9) and Ah'mere Jones (10) work on a science project at Reed's Refuge. Photo courtesy Reed's Refuge Center

Place for Hope Reed's Refuge Center continues to be a beacon for Wilmington’s Eastside youth By Michelle Kramer-Fitzgerald

or nearly two decades, Frederick and Cora Reed have dedicated themselves to uplifting youth in one of Wilmington’s most challenging neighborhoods. In 2012, after successfully running several childcare facilities, the Reeds again stepped up to support the youth of Northeast Wilmington. They created — as they say — a “diamond in the rough” called Reed's Refuge Center (RRC), located at 1601 N. Pine Street. Many Reed's Refuge constituents come from precarious, sometimes perilous, circumstances. Of its attending students, 100% are considered at-risk, with more than 60% being raised by a single parent. “Our community’s youth needed a safe haven to be able to express themselves in a positive way

and discover their hidden talents and gifts,” says Cora. “We wanted them to express that creativity through the arts, whether singing, dancing, rapping or acting. [Reeds Refuge] gives them an escape from guns, drugs, violence and teen pregnancy.” Since its inception, RRC has provided an innercity sanctuary to more than 1,000 youth, and its programs boast a hearty 85% retention rate. The average student age ranges from 9 to 13. “One of the things I’m thankful for at Reed’s Refuge is that Mr. Reed and Mrs. Reed make me feel like I got another home here,” says 10-yearold Ahmere Jones, who has been a student for almost four years. ► MARCH 2021

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Life (Skills) As Lessons continued from previous page RRC’s curriculum is heavily artsfocused — think music production, dance, graphic design — but it also incorporates STREAM (Science, Technology, Reading, Engineering, Arts, and Math) programming as well as life-skill classes. Dajahnai Ross, age 16, has attended dance, music production, and other courses at RRC for eight years. “The staff here helped me with my work…and [taught me] to never give up even if it is hard,” she says. “As one of the older kids, I was assigned to be a peer leader, which meant helping the younger children with their homework and being a mentor.” One of the classes Reed's young charges embrace is “Cooking Without a Stove,” Cora says. This four-to-six-week culinary course, led by Chef Oshay Lolley, teaches kids to prepare healthy meals solely via microwave. “Their favorite creations include pasta, fish, juice smoothies, and baked potatoes,” Cora says. “Who doesn’t love a fluffy microwaved baked potato?” Reed's budding young chefs have also prepared and delivered meals to Wilmington’s homeless population. When asked, Frederick notes that RRC’s most popular programs revolve around music-making. It’s no surprise that music would be a major offering. Frederick has experience in the music business, performing on national and international stages and opening for such notable artists as Mary J. Blige, Run-DMC, Keith Murray, and Big Daddy Kane. The audio engineering programs, he says, provide a creative outlet for youth who may feel “stuck.” It gives them hands-on experience with a genuine state-of-the-art studio, learning how to record, mix and master their own songs. “Coming from Riverside, many really don't get to experience leaving the projects,” says Frederick. “I figured if [music] gave me an outlet, how many other youth could use it as a tool to escape poverty, violence, and more?” In a recent video on the organization’s Facebook page, a 16-year-old student settled in behind the soundboard, head nodding to the music being created in the booth by a quiet but focused young boy. The youngster happily raps along to the music, singing about going to school, getting A’s, playing outside. A round of cheers erupt as he finishes his track, and you just know that adulation is led with pride by Frederick. “We also teach [our students] to be creative entrepreneurs; many of our students have designed their own t-shirts, clothing, business cards,” he proudly notes. “Students have created most of the art you see on our walls.” And students of RRC are delighting in these skills at no cost to them. “I like Reed's Refuge Center because I can play and spend time with friends, and it's fun,” says 8-year-old Nasir Taylor, who has attended RRC for four years. “I also like to make shirts with my name on them; that's my favorite part.” How do the Reed's gauge the impact of their work? “Success comes in many forms,” says Frederick. “A lot of our youth are getting better grades now, helping our community

as great youth leaders. They’re becoming productive citizens.” A.J. Harding, a mentor and counselor at RRC, sums up why the organization is critical to Wilmington as a whole. “[Reed's Refuge] is important because it serves as a beacon of light that gives hope to our community, but it brings a sense of unity as well.” He references a quote used often at RRC: “We do it better together.”

One of the services RRC is hoping to augment is its therapeutic room. Launched last fall, this bright, cheerful space connects mental health therapists with students. Right now, the sessions are only referral-based, but RRC is hoping to expand the program to include counseling for parents as well as additional students on a regular basis.

Reeds Refuge as a Balm for Community Healing Although programming has been challenging during the pandemic, RRC looks forward to reviving some of the programs they saw previous success: • Before COVID, Music Production students recorded a compilation CD of 9-10 songs that gave them a chance to speak out against social injustice. • Just before the shutdown in 2019, RRC’s Youth Against Violence program hosted a livestream forum event. Connecting teens with their peers and healthcare professionals, the discussion engaged them in provocative topics like depression and anxiety, gun violence, and teen pregnancy. The greatest challenges the Reeds see with youth in their community are mental and emotional issues, hunger, lack of rest, and the need to be loved and nurtured. “We deal with a lot of behavioral and mental health issues,” says Cora. “One obstacle is, we only have [these students] for a few hours; if the parents get involved and learn some of the same things we’re teaching our students, it would make a great impact.” The organization’s evolution will enable them to significantly increase their reach in the immediate neighborhood and beyond, as well as broaden services not only to youth but their parents as well. “We’ve seen the struggle of parents and heard the cry,” says Cora. “We want to be able to service the entire community, and ideally, for free.” That means, she says, offering things such as counseling, finance, and lifeskills classes for parents as well as their children.

Top: Reed's Refuge founders Frederick and Cora Reed. Middle: "Cooking Without a Stove" is one of RRC's most popular classes. The students have also prepared and delivered meals to Wilmington's homeless. Bottom: Music provided Frederick Reed an outlet and it continues to inspire many of RRC's current students, including six-year-old Rasil Aboelenein. Photos courtesy Reed's Refuge Center

Critical Funding Still Needed As co-founders and executive director and chief financial officer, respectively, Frederick and Cora have, up to now, poured much of their own finances into Reed’s Refuge. “This is what we believe in, and this is what we’re investing in,” says Cora, who along with her husband, is a lifelong Wilmingtonian — Cora from the West Side, Frederick from Riverside. “We understand the people here, what they’re going through. We can relate to them; we’ve been a part of it.” So, the Reeds are pursuing their next goal: Expanding Reed's Refuge from its current footprint of 6,000 square feet to 28,000 square feet. While some capital for the buildout has been raised, the couple is seeking additional funds from corporate support and national grants. “We’re right in the backyard of many major banks and corporations,” they say. “Support from any of them would be so impactful, but it’s been difficult because we’re seen as the new kids on the block.” In the coming months, they plan to have architectural renderings and a video “pitch” available for potential funders and investors. The site blueprints detail enlargement of each math, science and reading classroom; extension of a Zoom conference room; addition of a master studio; theater for live performances; graphic design studio; commercial kitchen; dance studio. The Reeds hope the project can be completed by the end of this year. Going forward, they’d like to see the Reed’s Refuge ‘model’ replicated statewide. “Our overall goal is to just instill hope,” says Frederick. “It’s not about where you come from; you just have to be willing work hard and persevere.” MARCH 2021

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GENERATION LO C K D OW N Is the pandemic a factor in the rise in youth suicides throughout the nation? Delaware experts weigh in, and offer advice on reading and reacting to troubled teens. By Bob Yearick

pencer Smith was a 16-year-old sophomore honor student who loved football. When his Brunswick, Maine, school closed last spring due to COVID-19, he dedicated himself to training for the fall season, hoping to be a starter on the defensive line. But the coronavirus pandemic continued, and the school announced a scaled-back football season, then switched to flag football. Spencer was a tackler, not a runner. He soon quit the team, stopped working out, began taking naps, and struggled with remote learning. Then, on a cold December morning, Jay Smith, concerned that his son had missed homeroom, went to his bedroom, and discovered Spencer’s lifeless body. He had committed suicide. In Northbrook, Ill., 18-year-old Dylan Buckner was a star quarterback with a 4.7 grade-point average and 14 offers to play Division III football. His first choice was MIT. But the pandemic closed down his classrooms and barred him from the football field and the clubs he enjoyed, including the newspaper, where he was sports editor. Dylan had been fighting depression for a couple of years with the help of counseling, but on Jan. 7, it all became too much for him and he took his own life.

18 MARCH 2021 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM

Parents of both teens blamed their sons’ deaths on the isolation and disruption created by the pandemic. Said Karen Buckner, Dylan’s mother: “I believe things would have been different if he was sitting in class with 25 kids.” Suicides by even younger children, including a 13-year-old Washington girl in September, and a 12-year-old boy in Texas last May, also have been linked to the pandemic. It’s been a solid year since America’s new normal became a bleak hellscape of shut-down schools, cancelled sporting events and concerts, closed theaters, restaurants and bars, combined with social-distancing and the ongoing mask/no mask debate. The resultant economic downturn added another weight on a society already burdened with social unrest and political tong wars in Washington, D.C. Throughout America, the suicide rate had been climbing for decades. And no age group has experienced a greater increase than teenagers and young adults. Suicide in this cohort became the second-most common cause of death after accidents, rising from 6.8 deaths to 10.6 deaths for every 100,000 teens and young adults over the decade through 2017. ►

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GENERATION LOCKDOWN SUICIDAL THOUGHTS continued from previous page One recent survey, according to Parentology, showed that “one in six [teens] reported having thought about suicide in the 12 months prior to taking the survey . . . and about one in 10 reported having actually attempted suicide in the past year.” Teenagers have been more likely to die at their own hands than from COVID-19. In July, Dr. Robert Redfield, then director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said in an online interview: “We’re seeing, sadly, far greater suicides now than we are deaths from COVID. We’re seeing far greater deaths from drug overdose that are above excess that we had as background than we are seeing the deaths from COVID.” Data on suicides is usually two-to-three years old, but the latest numbers reveal that Delaware is not immune to this macabre trend. From 2009 to 2018, teen suicides in the state rose by 44%, ranking us 25th nationally. In early February, Out & About was told unofficially that high school suicides in Delaware in the first month of the year had almost reached double figures. We were unable to confirm a number. One local mental health facility, Sean’s House in Newark, Dr. Aileen Fink cautions parents to take care reported 637 visitors of themselves: “The wellbeing of caregivers increases their ability to provide support for from Oct. 1 through early their children." Photo provided February. “A safe haven” for anyone age 14 to 24 who is dealing with mental health challenges, the house, at 136 W. Main St., is open 24/7. Hillary May, director of program development, reports that Sean’s House resources include more than 60 students trained in peer support, five staff members trained in peer support who are able to assist guests in connecting to professional help through a referral system, three psychology doctoral students who are on call overnight, and two supervisors who are licensed mental health professionals. Experts are generally reluctant to blame the pandemic for the uptick in teen suicides, but they all agree that it has had a negative effect on that demographic. Dr. Aileen Fink, director of the Delaware Division of Prevention and Behavioral Health Services, points to a study

published in Pediatrics that “examined whether there were differences in youth suicide attempts and deaths by suicide in 2020 compared with 2019 by looking at emergency department records. The study did not find any broad spikes in increases in suicidal thoughts, attempts or deaths, but researchers did find some increase during certain months in 2020 which corresponded with times where COVID-19related stressors were higher.”

Says Jennifer Seo, deputy director of the Mental Health for high school and middle schoolers. This leads to a Association in Delaware: “I can’t say necessarily that the effect zeitgeist in which FOMO (fear of missing out) metastasizes of the pandemic has been greater than on adults, because it from a thought into a full-fledged reality. Teenagers, says Jennifer has had a negative impact on all ages. Smolowitz, project director for Most of us have experienced some type Suicide Prevention at the Mental of loss or disruption in our lives. But Health Association in Delaware, especially when it comes to our youth, “are losing some of their normalcies, there has been a change in routine and even losing their identity.” She cites continuity, and kids in general like to the example of athletes (like Spencer have structure, like to have routine.” Smith and Dylan Buckner) who can’t Because teenagers are social by play their sports, “so some are losing nature and developmentally reliant on out on scholarship opportunities.” their peers, not being able to attend Isolation is another contributing school leaves a gaping chasm in the factor in creating what some have landscape of their lives. In Delaware, called “generation lockdown.” many schools have opted to replace inJennifer Seo says the pandemic has caused "a change in “I’m sure they’re finding ways person learning with remote/virtual routine and continuity" for teens, "and kids in general like to hang out, but it’s not the same,” and hybrid learning. “This has had a to have structure, like to have routine." Photo provided Smolowitz says. “They’re not getting definite impact on the social aspect of to school every day, so they’re spending a lot of time by [teens’] lives,” says Seo. themselves. Much of that time they’re spending alone or dealing with younger siblings, but also on the computer, and FOMO BECOMES REAL The attendant cancellation of sports, clubs, proms, that can lead to a whole different scope of problems.” graduations, and other activities is particularly devastating A recent study in the United Kingdom supports that ►

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GENERATION LOCKDOWN

continued from previous page statement. UK researchers who studied more than 10,000 14-year-olds found greater social media use related to online harassment, poor sleep, low selfesteem, and poor body image. Seo says not being in school has been particularly hard on LGBQ+ youth. She explained in an email: “Sometimes for them, being at school is a safety net; they can truly express themselves there. When they’re home they are maybe not being identified or addressed by their gender preference or chosen name or able to fully express themselves in the clothes they prefer. For some, school was and is a place where they find support from friends, GSA clubs, and faculty/ staff. Because of the lack of support, isolation, and possible anxieties associated with keeping their identities a secret at home, there is concern with our trans youth becoming higher risk for suicide and Schools not being in session eliminates "a second set of eyes" that might spot signs of other mental health teen depression, says Jennifer Smolowitz. concerns.” Photo provided

NO SECOND SET OF EYES Smolowitz points out that the absence of school eliminates a potential checkpoint that could detect a depressed and anxious student. Like every generation, today’s teens often are reluctant to confide in their parents. In fact, studies have shown that a major risk factor in teen suicides is conflict with or neglect by parents. That makes what Smolowitz calls “a second set of eyes” crucial. “A lot of times, teachers and counselors would be the ones to notice,” she says. “But with schools shut down, teachers and other students don’t see them, so they miss out on the opportunity to seek help for them.” If parents know their child is reluctant to talk to them, Smolowitz suggests calling on a friend’s parent, a coach, or a teacher to intercede. Seo says the family’s primary physician or pediatrician may be the best place to start looking for help.

Sean's House in Newark provides "a safe haven” for anyone age 14 to 24 who is dealing with mental health challenges. It's open 24/7, and staffed with people ready to help. Photo provided

While some signs of teen depression are obvious, here’s a handy checklist from the American Academy of Pediatrics: • withdrawal from friends and family members • trouble in romantic relationships • difficulty getting along with others • changes in schoolwork quality, or lower grades • rebellious behaviors • unusual gift-giving or giving away possessions • appearing bored or distracted • writing or drawing pictures about death • running away from home • changes in eating habits • dramatic personality changes • changes in appearance (for the worse) • sleep disturbances • drug or alcohol abuse • talk of suicide, even in a joking manner ASKING THE HARD QUESTIONS It’s best, of course, if the child opens up to the parent. Seo and Smolowitz encourage parents and guardians to establish a safe home environment where children can talk freely in a non-judgmental environment. “Let the child know that if there’s anything going on, they can come to you and talk with you,” Seo says. “And if you see major changes, ask the hard questions: ‘I’ve noticed X, Y and Z; are you feeling depressed, anxious?’ Or even ask the question: ‘I’ve noticed X, Y and Z behavior; are you possibly thinking about suicide? You can be honest with me, I’m not going to get upset.’” ► MARCH 2021

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WHERE TO GET HELP • National Suicide Prevention Lifeline — 800-273-TALK (8255). (This will change to three digits —988 — in a year or two.) • Child Priority Response, which is operated under the Division of Prevention & Behavioral Health Services 800-969-HELP (4357). • ContactLifeline: 800-262-9800 • Crisis Text Line: Text DE to the number 741-741. This is aimed at teens, who often prefer to text. • Crisis Line for LGBTQ Youth: 866-488-7386 • Delaware Hope Line: 1 (833) 9-HOPEDE or (833) 946-7333 • Sean’s House: 136 W. Main St., Newark • Delaware Division of Substance Abuse & Mental Health Crisis Intervention Services —Mobile Crisis (for those age 18 or older):

— Statewide: (800) 652-2929 — New Castle County: (302) 577-2484

24 MARCH 2021 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM

GENERATION LOCKDOWN continued from previous page

The direct question is also endorsed by Fink. “Asking a youth about suicide does not increase their risk of thinking about or engaging in self-harm,” she says. Adds Seo: “I think sometimes, by vocalizing these things, kids kind of gain an awareness and realize that now that we’re talking about it, I didn’t think about it at first. The earlier you can talk about this and get intervention, the better.” While dealing with troubled offspring, parents should remember to take care of themselves, Fink cautions. “The wellbeing of caregivers increases their ability to provide support for their children,” she says. As parents continue to grapple with teen angst in the midstof the pandemic, the poignant words of Spencer Smith’s father may offer the best advice of all. In an interview days after his son’s death, Jay Smith said this: “Check on [your children] every morning, every night, no matter how old they are, if they’re at home. Always give them a hug, tell them how proud you are of them. I remember always telling Spencer that. I think I should have told him more.”

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Out Is In Though a trend pre-pandemic, area restaurants have increased their focus on alfresco options By Pam George

26 MARCH 2021 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM

n a Saturday morning in late February, the temperature hovered at a frigid 27 degrees, but that didn’t stop seven women from sitting on the expansive patio at Chelsea Tavern. Huddling under heaters and wearing mittens, they tucked into eggs Benedict at the downtown Wilmington restaurant. While the ladies certainly fall into the diehard category, they demonstrate the enthusiasm with which Wilmington-area consumers have embraced alfresco dining. As a result, restaurants are improving — or creating — outdoor spaces to meet the demand. Admittedly, the trend existed before the COVID-19 pandemic. Consider the popularity of Constitution Yards Beer Garden, which opened on the Wilmington Riverfront in 2016. By 2019, those seeking a sip of fresh air could head to Torbert Street Social in Midtown Brandywine, which has a patio, and the $3.3 million Maker’s Alley, which boasts a 5,000-square-foot beer garden. But in 2020, the pandemic led to the creation of more attractive outdoor dining spaces. Being in fresh air reduces the risk of contracting the virus, particularly when masks and social distancing are part of the equation. A patio — or even a sidewalk — gives restaurants more seating during capacity limits. “It’s been a little bit of a lifeline,” says Chris Low, director of northern operations for Big Fish Restaurant Group. ►

OUT IS IN However, supply versus demand has led to material continued from previous page delays. Compare it to the toilet paper shortage at the pandemic’s start. “When you go to buy plastic and heaters when the rest of the world is trying to buy them, it’s difficult,” agrees Joe Van Horn, who owns Chelsea Tavern in downtown Wilmington. “It took six to eight weeks to get heaters when you used to go to Home Depot and buy them.” Now that it’s March, expect to see more people flocking to decks, patios and porches throughout the area. Many will open early and close late in the year. “I do think outdoor dining season will be extended for good — these heaters we’ve all purchased aren’t going anywhere, and a lot of folks have discovered it can actually be pleasant to eat outside late into the fall,” says Tyler Akins, chef-owner of Le Cavalier in the Hotel du Pont. “Our guests will probably also find that eating outside on a crisp March evening can be a great way to dine out,” he continues. “More than that, it is a lasting reminder to restaurants that at the end of the day, we’re in the hospitality business, and that means prioritizing guest comfort. We’re grateful outdoor dining has become a thoughtful way to enhance guest safety during uncharted times.” Here are some examples of what you can expect to find this spring.

On the Christina River

Banks’ Seafood Kitchen + Raw Bar was famous for its riverside patio before COVID, and it was a preferred dining spot in 2020. Owner David Leo Banks has augmented the area with heaters — which he calls “Mighty Little” — and systems that circulate the air and discharge tempered air. Around the bend, Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant is bringing its patio seating closer to the waterfront to add more seats. An awning and deck Chelsea Tavern on Market Street. Photo provided enclosure should be ready by spring. (There are no changes to the Newark location.) Nearby, Constitution Yards stayed open in winter with a heated tent. Movies and sports were featured in the “winter garden.” Big Fish Grill, part of the Big Fish Restaurant Group, has offered outside dining since it opened. Guests can enjoy happy hour with a river view. “We’re truly looking forward to getting the patio reopened,” Low says. “We have a lot of outdoor heaters and new lighting, and we added a couple of bike stands so bicyclists can take a break and have some food, then continue with their ride.”

In the Downtown District

In 2020, Bardea Food + Drink went from having outdoor seats to creating a garden-like environment to installing a tent. Owner Scott Stein isn’t sure which direction Bardea will take in 2021, but there will assuredly be outdoor dining — and it will go beyond setting up tables and chairs, he says. Makers Alley added fire pits, which along with heaters are the must-have accessories for a successful outdoor dining space. Just ask Van Horn of Chelsea Tavern, who created an architecturally interesting terrace in an old alley that abutted the building. There is a patio space where the adjoining building once stood, and Chelsea Tavern has tables and chairs out front. Stitch House Brewery, which has seating out front, installed open windows in the storefront to provide a seamless link between indoors and outdoors. The open-air flow will be an asset in warm weather.

28 MARCH 2021 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM

Locale will shut down for two months But even in cold weather, people have in summer for a full redo. When it reopens, wanted to sit outside at Le Cavalier in there will be a full menu focused on local the Hotel du Pont. “We always planned on products with a barbecue flair. Cocktails, offering outdoor seating for the warmer wine and, of course, Stitch House Brewery months,” says owner Akin. “But the products will be available. ongoing pandemic has definitely resulted Like many restaurateurs, Dan Butler in us expanding this offering throughout has tweaked his patio dining during 2020. the winter with ample heating in place.” The area is nestled between Piccolina Nearby Tonic Seafood & Steak Toscana and Toscana To Go. “What now has outside seating for 20 on the would be an afterthought pre-COVID is restaurant’s bar side and 24 on the diningoccupying our every moment,” he jokes. room side. Both areas have heaters. The He started by tenting the area to spaces are covered, but operating partner Constitution Yards on the Riverfront. Photo Buccin-Pollin Group. expand the site. “It didn’t work,” he says. A Paul Bouchard won’t add sidewalls because dark tarp to cut the wind gave people the he wants the ventilation. impression that the restaurant was closed. Torbert Street Social, part of Now the covered area has a plastic barrier to block the breeze Big Fish Restaurant Group, is bringing a TV into the mix to attract patrons to its patio. “We’re just going to make it and heaters. Butler also installed lighting and a trellis. “People who fun and comfortable out there for our guests,” Low says. The don’t want to dine outdoors feel comfortable there,” he says. To make guests more comfortable, Columbus Inn recently establishment has been receiving awning quotes. installed three greenhouses that seat from two to three people and a “bubble” that In Trolley Square can seat up to four. The restaurant hopes and the Wawaset Area to purchase one or two more greenhouses. Big Fish Restaurant Group owns Each has a heater, sliding doors and a BarRoja and the Trolley Square vented roof. Oyster House, and both have popular Santa Fe Mexican Grill, which is also outdoor spaces. off Pennsylvania Ave., is weather-proofing At the Oyster House, tables and chairs and extending the patio at the Wilmington have replaced the lounge-like seating. site to feature an indoor/outdoor bar area. “We saw there was an increased demand At Park Café in Wawaset, plans called for for sit-down dining,” Low explains. “It’s a pergola over the porcelain tile patio. But it the most desired area of the restaurant.” did not take long for owners to add heaters. During cooler months, management put The patio at Torbert Street Social. Photo provided a tent over the second-floor deck and In the Burbs installed heaters. City restaurants aren’t the only ones Big Fish’s BarRoja closed when increasing their outdoor options to restaurants were limited to between 30% and 60% of the fire code provide a safe dining experience to guests. David Dietz didn’t waste capacity. However, the restaurant group is eager to reopen it and any time when it came to enhancing BBC Tavern in Greenville. leverage the outdoor area, which has an outdoor bar, TVs and He’s been able to expand, enclose and cover his patio area. lounge area. “It’s a cool spot in Trolley that I think a lot of people Since the additional square footage is used only at night, it does don’t know about,” Low says. not interfere with boutique operations. “At 5 or 6 p.m., it’s like a These two Delaware Avenue restaurants are about to get some fire drill to put tables and chairs out,” Dietz says. Currently, he uses company. Dan Sheridan, who is also an dining room furniture, but he’s purchased owner at Stitch House Brewery, plans to additional items to use once the indoor move Locale BBQ Post from Wilmington’s capacity restrictions are lifted. Little Italy to the building formerly On warm days, BBC now has the type occupied by Scrumptious. The popular of sliding doors you’d find in California barbecue joint was featured on the Food or Florida. When they’re open, there is Network show Diners, Drive-ins and Dive. no door. An “air curtain” keeps the air The new location has a generously conditioning from escaping and bugs from sized courtyard. “We plan to use it as getting inside. a huge attraction,” says Sheridan, who Dietz bought three 80-amp heaters grew up in the area. This spring, he’ll for cooler months and advertised that concentrate on takeout and catering while customers should BYOB — bring your building a full kitchen and bar and work own blanket. ► on the courtyard. BBC Tavern in Greenville. Photo by Pam George MARCH 2021

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OUT IS IN

The new firepits at Grain H2o. Photo provided

Caffe Gelato in Newark. Photo by Jim Coarse

30 MARCH 2021 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM

Sherpa-style blankets are for sale at Grain H2O continued from previous page in Bear, which sits on the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal. Fire pits, ordered in the fall, were delivered in February. The pits put out enough heat to “take the edge off — not enough to wear shorts,” says co-owner Lee Mikles. Grain Craft Bar + Kitchen in Newark has an outdoor fire pit and heaters on the patio. Also on Main Street, Caffé Gelato has two high-profile greenhouses out front near the covered patio. Owner Ryan German plans to expand the garden-like seating area in front of the hotel under construction. He also added an awning out back. “We are going to decorate it; we’re inspired by the Brew HaHa! in Trolley Square,” he says. Like its sibling in Wilmington, the Newark Santa Fe Mexican Grill is also extending its patio. In Yorklyn, Dew Point Brewing Co. was the place to be last summer for live music and craft beers. The establishment created picnic “circles” on the lawn that were safely distanced from each other. The team is currently looking into shortand long-term solutions for the outdoor area, but they’re not ready to reveal any plans at present. Certainly, they won’t be alone. As the pandemic stretches toward summer, outdoor options will give dining and beverage businesses a leading edge.

LISTEN Ron Ozer at Arden Gild Hall. Photo by Joe del Tufo

Music Man The shows must go on, and with people like Arden Gild Hall’s Ron Ozer they will By Jill Althouse-Wood

o you know how you can tell which people in this crowd are from Arden?” my friend Jodi asked. She was visiting from Lancaster, Pa., and we were chatting after the opener for the Sinkane concert at the Arden Gild Hall. “How?” I asked, curious to know. “Practical shoes,” she answered. “People who live here walk to the concerts.” Looking around at all the feet in the room, including my own pair of Merrells, I saw that she was right. I had been coming to concerts in Arden since before we moved there in 2013. When we lived in Pennsylvania, it had been worth the hour-plus drive down to attend what felt like a secret music society. So much so, that when the time came to move for my husband’s job, we chose Arden over other, closer burbs because we liked having the arts within walking distance and wanted to have those who appreciated the arts as neighbors. ►

MARCH 2021

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DINE IN

MUSIC MAN

One of those neighbors is Ron continued from previous page Ozer, who was recently recognized PM PM ONE OF OUR by Delaware Online and The News Journal as one of the Most Influential Delawareans in the area of arts Now Accepting and entertainment. He chairs the Arden Concert Gild with a fervor that borders on obsession. Before COVID, he attended 125 concerts Dinner Reservations a year (counting festivals by the days attended rather than acts seen) Special A La Carte Menu to scout out possible talent for the nearly 20-concert season at The Arden Gild Hall plus the Shady Grove Music Festival and the stage Festive Entrées at The Arden Fair. This wide sampling of music up and down the East Coast is Reserve Your evident in the Arden Concert Gild’s lineups, considered to be the Secluded Dining most eclectic in the area. In a typical season, pilgrims to the Arden Gild Hall (on foot or by car) can experience a glut of styles — from Room Today! world music and blues to electronic and folk. Those who attend concerts at the converted barn will attest Seating for 2-3 People to the warmth of both the audiences and the quality of the sound. Limited Availability There is something about all that wood embracing the vibrations — it’s like the Ryman Auditorium in that regard. Add to it the fact that all the concerts are run by a merry band of volunteers, gives the Book Your January Party Now… feeling you have bypassed slick commerciality for something truer …To Receive A $75 Gift Card — the love of music. My first impressions are still right; it does feel • For Parties Of 20+ like you’ve stumbled upon a secret society (though gone are the days Booked By 12/19/20 when saying, “Ardenistas,” at the bar would get you a knowing nod and a free bottle of Dogfish Head). Then came March 2020. COVID. Before we knew all the particulars of our future sacrifices, we knew we could no longer gather in large groups. Concerts were the first casualties of political edicts. Suddenly, being a music venue outlier, operating outside of the music industry machine, felt very much like being a lone puppy without the protection of the wolfpack. For the Arden Concert Gild, the cancellation of the concert Dine-In and Special season had even more consequences. For the last several years, The Arden Concert Gild supplied close to 30% of the yearly revenue Take-Out Packages! for The Arden Club, an umbrella group for many cultural gilds (Shakespeare, Dinner, Library, Folk Dancing, Scholars, etc) in the Special NYE Dinner $ person for Hours, 75 perCall 5pm -Reservations 10pm and Pricing Ardens and the regional community. The bulk of the rest of the club’s yearly income came from Arden Fair, hall rentals, and Arden Includes Champagne Toast dinners — three more streams of income lost to the virus. All of Arden’s longtime cultural pursuits were at risk. Enter Ron Ozer. Ozer earned his Most Influential Delawarean Open At 4:30pm Daily status by bringing world-class musicians to our state, but the article For Dining In & Carry Out announcing this accolade didn’t mentioned the work he has done in response to COVID. Arden Club officers quickly realized that with the club’s continued operating expenses, they would need to find *Reservations Are Strongly alternate sources of financing. Since Ozer was well-practiced in Recommended, But Not Required* writing grants for concerts, he got to work. BOOKING SMALL PARTIES While Arden Club treasurer Steven Curley obtained PPP loans FOR SPRING & SUMMER to pay staff, Ozer wrote several grants that secured funding to buy a two-camera video computer system with the goal of live-streaming concerts. In early September 2020, with said new equipment, the 2216 Pennsylvania Ave Arden Concert Gild presented a virtual 75th birthday concert by Wilmington, DE 19806 Wilmington musician David Bromberg, selling over a thousand tickets worldwide and making good money for both Bromberg and 302.571.1492 The Arden Club. These are noteworthy local contributions, to be (302) 571-1492 www.ColumbusInn.netsure, but Ozer’s commitment to the music scene goes beyond that of ColumbusInn.net 2216 Pennsylvania Ave. a player with state-level sway to someone who is now brandishing Wilmington, DE 19806 national influence.

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In May, Hal Real of World Café Live, asked Ozer to join the lobbying group NIVA (National Independent Venues Association) that he had co-founded in April. Real specifically asked Ozer to be the Delaware Precinct Captain. Delaware is a small state, but it has big influence in the form of Senator Chris Coons. Ozer’s lobbying of Coons effectively got the Senator to back NIVA’s proposed relief bill, and that support was instrumental in getting senators from other states to fall in line. In the end, NIVA secured 15 billion dollars in funding for small, independent venues. To put that in perspective, 15 billion is 50 times the yearly operating budgets of the National Endowment of the Arts and the National Endowment of the Humanities. Now, Ozer has moved on to a position of outreach, searching out those venues who may not have known about the aid, getting them to join NIVA which will then, in turn, support them through the process of applying for those funds. Simultaneous to these efforts, Ozer applied for and received year-end

Ron Ozer was instrumental in the lobbying efforts that resulted in $15 billion being committed by the federal government to help independent venues survive COVID. Photo by Joe del Tufo

grants through the state’s CARES funding which have taken The Arden Club beyond subsistence-level worries to a position of planning for the future with secure financial footing. Arden Club President Pat Toman sums it up, “Ron Ozer's passion for live performance is unmatched, as is his dedication to helping the Arden Club survive. His tireless contributions, along with the tremendous support of others within the community, ensure that everything the Arden Club and the gilds have brought to the community throughout the years continues past our current challenges.” The Arden Concert Gild is currently putting holds on artists for concerts as early as September 2021, though it is unclear whether that is a realistic timeline. But the question of When will we experience live music locally? feels manageable compared to wondering if we will have that experience again. When the day comes that The Arden Gild Hall opens its doors to its first postCOVID concert, I will walk there, wearing my Merrills and sharing in the gratitude for the folks who made it happen.

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The Pictures Got Small Movies in the Time of COVID By Mark Fields

oward the beginning of the 1950 film Sunset Blvd., Billy Wilder’s acidly dark take on the perils of early Hollywood, a failing screenwriter stumbles onto the property of a retired film star. When he recognizes her, he exclaims, “You’re Norma Desmond. You used to be in silent pictures. You used to be big.” The imperious actress curtly responds, “I AM big. It’s the pictures that got small.” In 2020, indeed, the pictures got small. And so did the picture business. As we were all forced to stay home and consume our entertainment streaming on our TVs, movie theaters were closed and the production studios were severely curtailed in their ability to create new product, at least product for the big screen. Mind you, there was plenty to watch, several generations of streaming content to explore, even several major features that were released directly to one TV platform or another. And some of that was really, really good. Highlights of my COVID viewing include The Queen’s Gambit, The Mandalorian, Lovecraft Country, Watchmen, and even Star Trek: Picard. With a number of late year releases still not seen, several films were also quite satisfying enjoyable, including Soul, First Cow, Da 5 Bloods, Mank, The Midnight Sky, and Palm Springs. You may have noticed I changed the adjective in that last sentence. Because although I enjoyed these features and

others, I found very few of them truly satisfying. It wasn’t their fault; it was the failure of the medium. They just didn’t resonate the same way when viewed on a TV, a fairly large one, in my living room. It’s not a matter of scale. At one time in our recent entertainment history, there was indeed a clear differentiation between the work produced for film and that for television. Film was always more epic, effects-driven, and just, in the words of Norma Desmond, big. But the most recent generation of TV production has closed that gap, if not obliterated it. It’s hard to argue that a show such as Game of Thrones spared any of the opulence or scale of the screen. No, I think the primary difference in content now between film and TV is the length of the narrative. TV is simply better suited to long-form stories than the movies are. Movies succeed best with a finite experience that can be contained to several hours. Still, there is something different, and even special, about the movie-going experience that just can’t re-created in one’s home. Of course, the size of the screen and the encompassing quality of the sound are critically important to the movie theater experience. I would, in fact, argue that there is an inherent difference in terms of vibrancy and depth between a TV image in which the viewer is looking directly at the light source and a cinematic image that is projected onto a screen. ► MARCH 2021

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A NOTE ABOUT THE OSCARS

he annual Academy Award celebration has been another ritual re-shaped by the pandemic. In recent years, the ceremony has been in late February with nominations announced in January. This year, the nominations will be unveiled March 15 with the awards to be given out April 25. How do you mount an awards presentation when people cannot safely gather, and how do you justify the annual exercise in glittering self-indulgence when many Americans are sick and/or unemployed? Yet no one in Hollywood is going to completely forego this night. It’s difficult to know what to expect in a year when major releases have been scheduled and rescheduled and rescheduled again, and others have been quietly released via a streaming service. Look for a lot of nominations for films made possible by Netflix and Amazon, and far fewer from the historically-productive Hollywood studios. I expect to see the following films to dominate the categories: Da 5 Bloods, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Mank, Nomadland, One Night in Miami, Soul, Sound of Metal, and Tenet. I also anticipate that the late, great Chadwick Boseman, who died of colon cancer unexpectedly in late December, could be posthumously nominated for two of his final film performances: Da 5 Bloods and Ma Rainey… — Mark Fields

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But the essential difference is experiential, the ritual of moviegoing itself: traveling to a location specifically intended to deliver this experience, sitting in a dark room ideally free of outside distractions, having a shared experience with strangers. That is what I miss the most. There is a great deal of concern within the industry about whether it can return after the pandemic. Will moviegoers decide that the homeviewing experience is good enough, or at least safer than going to the movies? Perhaps some will choose to continue to consume their favorite films at home, but I believe true fans will opt for another, richer experience — one absolutely unattainable from their sofa.

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Big Oyster Brewery, in Lewes, has come a long way in 15 years.

FULL STEAM AHEAD With a collection of restaurants as its base, Big Oyster Brewery found quick success in the ultra-competitive world of craft beer

By Kevin Noonan

t didn’t take long for Big Oyster Brewery to hit it big in the competitive world of craft beer brewing. Big Oyster is the creation of Jeff Hamer, who also owns Fins Hospitality Group, which operates restaurants in Rehoboth Beach, Lewes and Bethany Beach in Sussex County and also in Berlin, Md. Hamer already had the food and he wanted to create beer that would go with that food. Andas a pleasant surprise, what started out as small operation has become a big one — in 2018 Big Oyster was recognized as the second-fastest growing brewery operation in the U.S. In 2005, in its first year of existence, Big Oyster Brewery shipped 500 barrels of beer. In 2020, it shipped 4,000 barrels and the company estimates it will ship 5,000 in 2021. ►

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Big Oyster has done all of that while clinging to its Sussex County roots and never straying too far from home. Hamer emphasizes a family atmosphere with his employees, including Andrew Harton, his director of brewery operations. Harton was a psychology and philosophy major at the University of Delaware who got into home brewing. He decided he wanted to make that his career and got a job waiting tables at Iron Hill Brewery and eventually worked his way up to assistant, then head brewer. Harton then headed south to Sussex County when he was hired by Hamer to be head brew master, and now he wears many hats for the growing company. Hamer and Harton sat down for an interview with Out & About Magazine to discuss their phenomenal growth and their hopes for the future. For more information on locations and variety of beers, go to www.FinsHospitality.com. O&A: You already had successful restaurants that sold other people’s beers. What made you decide to start making your own? Hamer: “I always liked pairing food with beer, and once the craft beer industry started you could really see the evolution of food to beer, as opposed to just food to wine. Once we got into seafood in 2005, I knew I wanted to brew beer that would be compatible with seafood.” O&A: Craft brewing is a very competitive business. Did already owning those restaurants give you a leg up when you started to brew your beer? Hamer: “It really did. I gave us an outlet to sell our beer. And it also gave us a distribution point to start getting our beer out into the marketplace. When you have 40,000-50,000 customers per business year to each restaurant, that’s a lot of people you can put your beer in front of and let them try your beer and see how they like it. So, that gave us a good foothold to start, and having a good reputation in the restaurant industry allowed us to start distributing, too.” O&A: What is your process for developing new beers? Harton: “For me, it’s kind of evolved over the years. When I first started, it was very mechanical. I was always into beer history and was big into replicating something by looking at what people did in the past and trying to match ingredients. I started getting away from that when I came to Big Oyster Brewery. Then it became a little more like, ‘This ingredient sounds good and let’s do that,’ and now we experiment a lot more. It’s like you’ve been doing something for a long time, and you’re not necessarily bored with it, but you want to expand your horizons and become more experimental and less methodical. A lot of brewers are like that — they want something to be theirs, they want to create something original.” O&A: From the very beginning, your biggest seller has been Hammerhead IPA. What makes that beer special?

Jeff Hamer with Big Oyster's DANG pale ale. Photo provided.

Harton: “That beer is near and dear to me, because it’s the first recipe we made when I started here. I knew I wanted to make a West Coast IPA, which is a little more dry and clear, and has a really pronounced aroma and just a little bit of bitterness. It’s just a great beer for so many occasions.” O&A: You’ve grown steadily since you started and now have plans to expand more into Pennsylvania and Maryland. Is there any concern you might be growing too much, too quickly? Hamer: “From the very beginning, we saw we couldn’t stretch out too far. In the craft beer industry, people want local, and even more so now — it’s become hyper local. And I always considered local for us to be 150-200 miles from here. My goal was, if we could get as many tap handles as we could along the coast and everybody tried it, then when they go back home they could get it at a local package store. So, about 200 miles is our sweet-spot radius, and that 200-mile drive has close to 20 million people in it and that’s a pretty good segment of the market. We don’t want to be any farther than that.” Harton: “I think a mistake a lot of brewers make is that they go too far and their brand starts to lose its relevance. They go into territories 500 miles away, and that gives them a chance to sell more beer, but at a certain point it’s really difficult for someone in Ohio to relate to your brand in Rehoboth Beach, especially if they’ve never been there or even heard of it. But we’re not even close to running into that issue — we’re still very close to home when you consider the amount of beer we make.” ►

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O&A: Many of your employees have been with you for many years, and several workers who started out as bus boys and waiters are now executives in the company. Why is that two-way loyalty so important to you? Hamer: “It’s always been our goal to keep people in the company. Next month, we start a 401k for the company. We’ve always had paid vacations — if you get to 15 years with us, you get five weeks of paid vacation — and we have health insurance, we have bonuses. We try to make the place a family — the Fins family we call it. Our motto is a rising tide lifts all in our company, and we really believe that. And if we can grow our family, we can help grow a stronger community, and that’s always been a priority with us.” O&A: The Covid-19 pandemic has affected everybody, and especially people in the hospitality business. How has it impacted your business and how have you coped with it? Harton: “In terms of the restaurant side of things, it’s definitely been more difficult. But in terms of the actual beer-making, it really just changed our business model. We went from being draftbeer-heavy [selling to restaurants] and, of course, the pandemic has closed a lot of those restaurants or they have limited seating, so draft beer dropped off the cliff. At the same time, there was really a spike in demand for packaged beer. People were staying at home and picking up their food and buying beer at liquor stores. So, we really saw a shift in our business. It did limit our growth a little bit in 2020, but it didn’t really affect us much at all.”

Brewing beer that paired well with the food offered in its Fin Hospitality Group restaurants was the first priority of Big Oyster's braintrust. Photo provided

O&A: Looking into your crystal ball, where do you see Big Oyster Brewing in the next 10 years? Hamer: “I can see us having a much bigger beer selection. And I think we’ll be the strongest regional player within 200 miles from here in 10 years, probably right behind Dogfish Head in this market. If we can do a tenth of what they’re doing or even a twentieth of what they’re doing, then we’ll become very successful and be very good at what we’re doing.”

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(1) Ask your friends to help “fill in the blanks” by giving suggestions for the missing words needed below. (2) Once completed, read aloud and watch hilarity ensue. (3) Got a funny one? Take a photo and send it to us at Contact@OutAndAboutNow.com. Best one wins a $50 Gift Card to Pizza By Elizabeths (One entry per person; must be 21 or older to enter). Have fun!

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