The Buzz: City launches ‘Virtual Recreation Center,’ everyone howls at 8 p.m.

City of Petaluma launches ‘Virtual Rec Center’: Petaluma’s Parks and Recreation Department announced on Monday that while indoor recreation facilities and all City parks remain closed, they still want locals to experience some recreation - even if the “parks” part is temporarily out of reach (see Parks feature on this page). The department’s energetic staff has come up with something they are calling a highly creative, entertaining and educational web content to help local folks of all ages make it through the shelter-in-place crisis with sense of humor and peace of mind intact.

“We may be isolated, but we aren’t alone!” says a press announcement released on Monday.

In addition to the Virtual Recreation Center, the Parks and Recreation Department has recently debuted a social media campaign known as “#PetalumaPlaysAtHome”. This digital campaign is focused on providing fun-filled and easy-to-do-at-home activities that community members can partake in while sheltering at home. Be sure to follow the Parks and Recreation Department on both Facebook and Instagram ?@PetalumaParksandRec to stay engaged and participate!

Find the Virtual Recreation Center at CityofPetaluma.org/departments/virtual-recreation-center.

Questions? You can contact Parks and Recreation staff via phone at 707-778-4380 or via email at parksnrec@cityofpetaluma.org.

Petaluma joins in the Nightly Howl: Have you heard howling at around 8 p.m. the last few nights or so? Wondered if your neighbors were finally losing it? Did you have an uncanny urge to go outside and do a bit of howling yourself? Well, tonight, go ahead and howl, because as of last Sunday night, howling from your porch, your balcony, your front yard or back yard or while hanging out your window, is an actual thing. In the North Bay, it started in Mill Valley, down in Marin County (though some have suggested Mill Valley borrowed the idea from other cities around the world), and appears to be catching on through a series of viral videos. Eastside resident Ray Engan went live on Facebook Sunday night to record his neighborhood participating in what he’s calling “Howlapalooza” - adding his own rendition of Bruce Springsteen’s “The Rising,” changing “rising” to “howling” - while Argus-Courier film reviewer Andy Templeton noted multiple howls from all around his West Side neighborhood. Engan credits local actor Susan Zelinski for the “Howlapalooza” name. The howlings apparently last three or four minutes, and based on what has happened in Marin, can be expected to continue and expand over the next several days.

Christmas lights and a pirate flag: With all this time spent at home and with boredom setting in for some, many Petalumans are tackling whimsical projects just to keep themselves busy and their immediate neighbors amused. One house on Liberty Street is currently sporting a pirate flag, skull-and-crossbones proudly flying, a decision the homeowner chalks up to his wanting to compete, at least a little, with the neighbor next door. That house is now festooned with Christmas lights and other holiday decorations, erected, that neighbor admitted, out of a need to do something (anything) interesting. Added to the current community game of placing teddy bears in windows, and the above-mentioned nightly howl-a-palooza, Petaluma is definitely becoming one of the more whimsical place to wait out the pandemic. Are you doing anything similarly amusing? Send a note (and maybe a picture) to Community Editor David Templeton at david.templeton@arguscourier.com.