Virtual Valentine’s Day

Derrick Biso is the special initiatives coordinator at the Art Gallery of Windsor. (Photo by Cade Ryan/MediaPlex Examiner)

Many couples will not be able to see each other in person for Valentine’s Day this year due to COVID-19 restrictions. For those couples, video calls have become the next best thing.

Noah Mosco, a 22-year-old man from Belle River, has not seen his girlfriend Amanda Oakley, who lives in Lincoln Park, Mich. since last March due to border restrictions. Valentine’s Day will be different this year. For Mosco and Oakley this has been a difficult and frustrating time.

“Rather than buying each other gifts, we are going to save our money and buy food for ourselves and have a virtual dinner date on a video call,” said Mosco.

“There’s no telling when the border will open, and all we can do is wait, it’s hard not to be angry when you have no control over seeing someone you love.”

Derrick Biso, the special initiatives coordinator at the Art Gallery of Windsor, understands that Valentine’s Day may be stressful this year due to the pandemic, which is why he has set up a virtual event through the art gallery on Feb. 12. Biso will be hosting a virtual date-night over a Zoom call from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. where couples, families, friends and individuals can create and share artwork and socialize.

“We are trying to create that sort of social lubrication of here’s some stuff to talk about, look at and engage with together, which hopefully leads to a wonderful social experience where people feel delighted to have met somebody and have some fun,” said Biso.

For people looking to join more events similar to the virtual date night, they can visit the Art Gallery of Windsor’s website, www.agw.ca. They will be hosting virtual events on Feb. 13, 14, 18, 20 and many more days.