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After a tumultuous year beset by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, celebrating New Year’s Eve this holiday season may be a treacherous undertaking. Welcoming 2021 in an outdoor environment can make all the difference – so the Ossabaw Island Foundation has come up with a shindig where open-air social distancing won’t be a problem.

During the organization’s “Wild Night on Ossabaw” celebration, participants will spend the night of New Year’s Eve out on Ossabaw Island, one of Chatham County’s largest uninhabited nature preserves. A world removed from Savannah’s downtown scene, Ossabaw will welcome fresh-air fanatics to learn about the island’s conservation efforts, history, and natural habitat while staying at camp-like accommodations until the first morning of 2021.

The journey will begin on the afternoon of Dec. 31 at Delegal Marina on Skidaway Island, where a pontoon boat will transport guests from the mainland to drop them off at Ossabaw Island’s north end. There travelers can check into their quarters and either take part in an interpretive walking tour led by party host and Ossabaw Island Executive Director Elizabeth DuBose, or explore the island on their own.

“Ossabaw is Georgia’s first heritage preserve, and that designation gives it the highest level of protection afforded by Georgia’s Heritage Preserve Act of 1975,” said DuBose. “It’s 26,000 acres − and it’s clearly undeveloped − and it was set aside for natural scientific research, cultural research, and educational purposes.”

These distinctions make the island a difficult place for just anyone to visit. DuBose and the Ossabaw Island Foundation feel that putting on events such as the “Wild Night on Ossabaw” and others, are a good way to educate people and bring awareness to the island while raising funds for conservation efforsts.

“It’s really a taste of Ossabaw, hoping that they will want to come back,” said DuBose. “Whether it’s a photography workshop or maybe a turtle overnight stay − spend two nights on the island and learn about the nesting sea turtles − or indigo-dyeing workshop. It’s kind of like the introduction to Ossabaw, but staying overnight.”

After spending the last day of 2020 enjoying the soothing peace of nature, guests will savor a sundown farm-to-table dinner featuring varied Southern side dishes, cake for dessert, s’mores by the campfire, and a champagne toast to celebrate the New Year. Everything to be experienced on this excursion will have a nugget of history attached to it, even the food.

Back in 1924, Ossabaw Island was purchased by Dr. Henry Norton Torrey and Nell Ford Torrey, a couple who lived in Michigan and wanted a Georgia home for spending their winters. In 1978, their daughter Eleanor “Sandy” Torrey West led the family’s negotiations in selling the island to the state of Georgia for $8 million, half of the appraised value. After the sale, Sandy lived on her 23-acre estate on the island from 1987 until 2016, when she moved to Savannah, where she still lives at 108 years old.

“We’ll have traditional greens for money and black-eyed peas for good luck, and we also serve a mystery cake, which was the favorite dessert served by Sandy West’s mother,” said DuBose.

Due to the pandemic, “Wild Night on Ossabaw” accommodations are limited to ensure social distancing, but campers can bring tents and camp at a designated campsite.

Visit ossabawisland.org/visit/overnight-trips for more details on this event and future Ossabaw Island Foundation excursions.

The towering spires and ornate interior of Savannah’s Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist make this an impressive neo-Gothic city landmark year-round, but every December the site is further embellished with Christmas decorations like scores of poinsettias, oversized wreaths, and a grand-scale miniature model of several Biblical scenes surrounding the birth of Christ.

This December, the Cathedral Basilica unveiled another embellishment effort that is set to continue until around next Christmastime – the complete refurbishment of a long-neglected lower-level chapel, transforming it from an austere multipurpose room into a graceful hall with vaulted ceilings and stained-glass windows to host varied functions amid an ambience that complements the distinguished setting upstairs.

The new meeting space will be called Regina Coeli (Queen of Heaven) Hall, which is the title inscribed above the ground-level chapel’s decorative entrance on Harris Street. With the hall’s interior now demolished, the refurbishment is expected to last one year and cost approximately $4,750,000, according to Cathedral Basilica Rector Rev. J. Gerard Schreck.

“We need a place where people can gather, and we don’t really have a space,” Schreck said of the Catholic congregation’s reasoning behind launching the chapel-refurbishment project. “We really have no place for a reception or anything like that.”

The Regina Coeli Hall was last renovated in the late 1930s under the leadership of Monsignor T. James McNamara to provide the parish with a place to hold meetings and bazaars, Schreck said. However, as the onset of World War II limited resources available to the congregation, the chapel-refurbishment efforts were kept modest with features like drop ceilings and plain walls.

“He wanted to convert the downstairs to a chapel, which he did, but the war intervened,” Schreck said of McNamara. As a youth growing up in Savannah, Schreck recalls attending varied church functions in the unostentatious Regina Coeli Hall, which was often used for services during summer months to escape the heat that filled the Cathedral before air conditioning was installed. “Masses were held downstairs from just after Easter to October.”

A major restoration project was completed in November of 2000 to revive the main Cathedral interior, but the Regina Coeli Hall was left untouched by this effort, Schreck said. While the ground-level chapel’s renovation had been under consideration for a long time now, the decision to move ahead was partly prompted by the decree of Pope Francis earlier this year bestowing the Minor Basilica title on Savannah’s Cathedral.

“It’s a place of historical importance, and it’s a place of pilgrimage for Catholics around the world,” Schreck said of the Cathedral Basilica, adding that before the pandemic struck, the Savannah landmark was welcoming up to 300,000 visitors annually, and is often used for weddings and other special occasions.

The refurbished Regina Coeli Hall will have capacity for 600 people, and be equipped with screens to livestream simulcasts of major Cathedral Basilica events to overflow crowds. Additionally, the hall will feature preparation space for weddings, a meeting room, a catering kitchen, new restrooms, a vesting area for visiting priests, and an enhanced adoration chapel. Additionally, the lower-level hall is accessible with the church elevator, and natural light will flow inside through the courtyard.

While the Cathedral Basilica does not need to launch a formal capital campaign to raise funds for the Regina Coeli Hall refurbishment, Schreck said that parishioners are being asked to donate whatever they can to the effort, and added this project also presents a rare facility-naming opportunity for donors who are able to provide larger sums.

The Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist dates back to the late 18th century, when French Catholic émigrés settled in Savannah following the French Revolution and were granted use of a lot on Liberty Square in 1799 to build the congregation’s original frame church, according to the Cathedral Basilica’s historical accounts.

In 1873, construction began on the Cathedral Basilica’s current site, and was completed in 1896 – but only two years later the Cathedral caught fire, with only the outer walls and spires surviving. Undaunted by this disaster, parish leadership announced a reconstruction effort while the embers were still smoldering, and the Cathedral seen today was completed in 1900.

With such historic travails in mind to provide a long-term perspective, Schreck and other Cathedral Basilica leaders are looking forward to the resumption of large-scale gatherings after the pandemic subsides, when the nave will again be able to hold 1,000 people and the Regina Coeli Hall can soon welcome more than half that number. For now, a maximum of 250 people are allowed inside at once, restricting the Cathedral’s Christmas Mass events this year.

“We’ve roped off every other pew to provide the distancing that we need,” Schreck said. “There is a maximum number of people that can attend the services.”

To accommodate as many parishioners as possible for Yuletide ceremonies, this year the Cathedral Basilica will hold an additional Christmas Mass on Dec. 24, according to Schreck. The Christmas Eve services will be held at 5:30 p.m., 7:30 p.m., and 10 p.m., while Christmas Day Mass will be held at 8 a.m., 10 a.m., and 11:30 a.m. – and all of these services will be livestreamed as well.

“We livestream Mass each weekend,” Schreck said, adding that many parishioners have become quite comfortable with joining Cathedral Basilica services online throughout the pandemic. “People have rightly gotten used to being home.”

Nonetheless, Schreck believes that once COVID-19 is no longer a widespread threat and in-person services can resume, parishioners and visitors will gladly flock to the Cathedral Basilica to experience the landmark’s awe-inspiring setting once again.

“What we realized is how important it is for people to be present,” Schreck said of gatherings within the Cathedral Basilica – and soon after the holy site is expected to again be filled to capacity, the extra space in the Regina Coeli Hall will welcome even more people within a setting that matches the grandeur of the upstairs sanctuary.

“This space needs to be a beautiful space,” Schreck said of the Regina Coeli Hall. “The upper church is magnificent, and it needs to be an appropriate complement to that.”

Visit savannahcathedral.org for more details on Savannah’s Cathedral Basilica and the Regina Coeli Hall restoration project.

The pandemic may threaten to detract from the holiday season’s joy, but the spirit of Kwanzaa prevails as community leaders in Savannah find ways for locals to honor the seven-day celebration.

Kwanzaa is an African American and pan-African holiday that is celebrated annually during Dec. 26-Jan. 1. In the words of Kwanzaa’s founder, Dr. Maulana Karenga, “Each year Kwanzaa provides us with a special and unique time to see and celebrate ourselves as African people in beautiful, uplifting, and liberating ways.”

To observe Kwanzaa this year, Savannah leaders are organizing events that give the community options to celebrate from the comfort of their own homes or in socially distanced settings on each night of Kwanzaa.

Lisa Jackson, the education coordinator for the Savannah African Arts Museum, has organized various virtual workshops demonstrating the creation of African art, such as masks and dolls. The series culminates with the Kwanzaa Assemblage workshop.

“An assemblage is a great way to share your story with family, friends, and community during Kwanzaa. It can be given as a gift, displayed on a table, framed, or hung as a Kwanzaa decoration that you may choose to add elements to each year,” said Jackson.

All of the workshops will be available throughout the Kwanzaa holiday on the African Arts Museum website; visit savannahafricanartmuseum.org//2020-workshops/12-1 to learn more.

Kwanzaa is also significant in that it was founded in response to violence against, as well as within, the African American community, according to Savannah Alderwoman Kesha Gibson-Carter.

“More than 50 years ago, Kwanzaa was created in response to community riots in Los Angeles,” Gibson-Carter said. “In the face of increased homicide in Savannah among our African American youth, particularly boys and men, I thought it would be fitting to highlight our culture on a broader stage, to remind our young men and women of how valuable they are, evoke love, and help them to understand the responsibility they have to our ancestors who fought for so many of the freedoms they enjoy today.”

Gibson-Carter has teamed up with Savannah State University Professor Jamal Touré and community activist Lillian Grant-Baptiste to launch the city’s first-ever Kwanzaa Krawl.

The goal of the Kwanzaa Krawl is to increase economic activity for Black-owned restaurants, showcase artists, and support local nonprofit organizations. Participants can support the restaurants by dining there, with the option to bid on displayed works by local artists.

During these celebrations, Touré and Baptiste will offer demonstrations of Kwanzaa’s seven principles, the Nguzo Saba. During Kwanzaa, families traditionally light a candle each day for seven days in observation of each of these seven principles: Ujoma, meaning unity; Kujichagulia, meaning self-determination; Ujima, meaning collective work and responsibility; Ujamaa, meaning cooperative economics; Nia, meaning purpose; Kuumba, meaning creativity; and Imani, meaning faith.

“It’s about us coming together in unity, cooperative economics, collective work, and responsibility − a divine purpose with our faith being etched into all stones of self-determination,” said Touré.

During each Kwanzaa Krawl event, a limited number of participants will be allowed into the restaurants to abide by social distancing guidelines and other COVID-19 precautions, so reservations are recommended.

Savannah’s Kwanzaa Krawl celebrations will be happening at the following local restaurants between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.: Odyssey 2.0 (65 W. Fairmont Ave.) on Dec. 26; 520 Tavern (8820 Abercorn St.) on Dec. 27; Kool Vibes (4501 Montgomery St.) on Dec. 28; 2 Chefs (2005/2007 Martin Luther King Blvd.) on Dec. 29; Belford’s (315 W. St. Julian St.) on Dec. 30; Unforgettable Bakery and Café (238 Eisenhower Dr.) on Dec. 31; and Liquid Café (10201 Abercorn St.) on Dec. 31.

The Beach Institute will also be hosting virtual Kwanzaa candle-lighting ceremonies to honor the holiday’s seven principles every evening from Dec. 26 through Jan. 1; visit this website or call 912-335-8868 for more information.

A chilly downtown Savannah was buzzing with holiday cheer and four-legged friends sporting reindeer antlers, sparkling collars, and cozy sweaters for the city’s 2020 holiday-edition Pack Walk to highlight local foster dogs on Friday, Dec. 18.

Pack Walk was created by Renegade Paws Rescue founder Jen Taylor, and is intended to bring the community together and help socialize foster dogs. Current and former Renegade foster dogs, along with anyone who wants to participate, are welcome to join in on outdoor group dog walks held by the organization year round.

The holiday walk began at Forsyth Park’s fountain with boozy hot chocolate for adults and “puppuccinos” for their furry partners. A large group of mask- and ugly-sweater-wearing humans and dogs then made their way up Bull Street to the city’s Christmas tree on Broughton Street.

Organizer Cody Shelley says Pack Walk is a relaxed event and a great way to build a dog’s social skills. She also says it’s not uncommon for attendees to fall in love on a Pack Walk.

“Many of the foster dogs that come are up for adoption,” Shelley said. “We have meet-and-greets and adoptions at Pack Walk regularly.”

Participants don’t have to be dog owners to enjoy Pack Walk. In fact, they don’t even have to be from Savannah.

Chana Widawski was in town from New York City on Dec. 18 to encourage Georgians to vote in the state’s Jan. 5 U.S. Senate runoff election, before learning about Friday’s Pack Walk. Renegade organizers brought Banjo, a former foster dog, for Widawski to walk for the evening.

Widawski says she organizes community events back at home, so she was excited to join Pack Walk and support a local animal rescue.

“These are the types of events that are what the world needs,” Wisawski said. “We need to come together and make connections and share experiences.”

Shelley was also thrilled to be downtown and enjoying the holiday spirit, something she says she’s been missing this year.

“This is a really beautiful, excellent-intentioned way to get together and enjoy the holidays and socialize a little bit,” Shelley said.

Renegade Paws Rescue is always looking for new foster families. Organizers also encourage pet owners to reach out about spay and neutering information.

To learn more, ask about fostering a dog, or donate to Renegade Paws Rescue, visit renegadepawsrescue.org or call 912-570-5032.

Georgia Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock added some glory to a Garden City rally on Saturday featuring a live performance by acclaimed hip-hop artist Common.

Warnock was campaigning in and around his native city of Savannah for the second Saturday in a row on Dec. 19, this time joined by Ossoff and Common during a Garden City stop on his “It’s Time To Vote” bus tour. Ossoff and Warnock are vying to unseat Georgia’s Republican U.S. Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler in the Peach State’s nationally prominent Jan. 5, 2021 senate-runoff races, which will determine the balance of power in Washington, D.C. for the next two years.

“I’m so grateful to be back in my hometown of Savannah, Georgia, and I’ve decided to bring our brother Common with us,” Warnock said to the Saturday gathering of a few hundred people, many parked in their cars for the drive-up rally held with COVID-19 precautions. “I’m so glad he’s here and Jon is here, we wanted to take it up another level. You know, I put on for my city.”

Warnock went on to say that he would not forget about Savannah-area residents if elected.

“There’s no place like home,” Warnock said. “Savannah, Georgia, it’s been 150 years since we had a United States senator from Savannah. I don’t know about you, but I think it’s about time. When I get to the United States Senate, I will have Savannah on my mind.”

During his speech, Ossoff asserted that Perdue and Loeffler were more interested in their own personal enrichment than helping struggling Georgia residents.

“We are running against the Bonnie and Clyde of corruption in politics. Savannah, how did we wind up with David and Kelly?” Ossoff said. “Two United States senators more concerned with lining their own pockets in office than protecting the health and the financial well-being of we the people who pay their salary.”

Common performed some of his hit singles, including “The People”, “The Light”, and the Oscar-winning “Glory” featured in the 2014 film Selma. Prior to each song, he spoke about the relevance each one had to Georgia’s senate-runoff election.

“This glory is for those that came before us,” Common said. “Who strategized, who walked across bridges, who fed the children, who were hosed down, some were killed, dogs were sicced on them. They sacrificed their lives for us.”

After months of battling with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Chatham County healthcare professionals were among the first to receive coronavirus vaccinations on Tuesday soon after the first shipment of life-saving shots arrived in Savannah.

Healthcare professionals from the Chatham County Health Department, Memorial Health, St. Joseph’s/Candler, and Neuro Step Down were among the first Georgia residents to receive the COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday at the Health Department office on Savannah’s Eisenhower Drive. Candler Hospital also began vaccinating its employees on Tuesday after receiving 300 doses of the freshly approved Pfizer coronavirus vaccine.

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Kathleen Toomey visited Savannah to praise the speed of the vaccine’s production. Kemp said that the first phase of the vaccine will go to vulnerable residents of nursing homes and healthcare workers during a press conference at Chatham’s Department of Public Health office Tuesday afternoon.

“Today, Dr. Toomey and I are thrilled to be here as we take this next step. The work done by the Trump administration, in Operation Warp Speed, to manufacture and deliver these vaccines has been nothing short of a miracle,” Kemp said.

Some of the first healthcare workers to receive vaccine doses expressed relief about the progress this signifies toward ending the pandemic.

“I am absolutely excited because it’s the light at the end of the tunnel for us. It signifies eradicating this disease,” said Terria Manning with the COVID Unit at St. Joseph’s. “I was lucky to be chosen to receive this vaccine today.”

While lauding the vaccine’s arrival, Kemp cautioned the public to continue practicing COVID-19 safety precautions to keep the virus at bay for the vast majority of the public that will not be immunized until well into 2021.

“The general public will not receive the vaccine for months, so we need everyone to hunker down and continue to follow the four things we’ve asked to limit the spread: wear your mask, wash your hands, continue to socially distance when you can, and continue to follow the guidance of public health officials,” Kemp said.

Approximately 600 healthcare providers have already signed up to distribute the vaccines, according to Toomey. During the first phase, 84,800 vaccine doses have already been allocated to hospitals and public-health facilities across the state, with 3,900 of those doses distributed to Chatham County health facilities, she said.

“All Georgians be patient, because even as we are excited about this vaccine campaign, we have relatively few vaccines initially to begin with,” Toomey said. “We’re also expecting Moderna vaccine will be approved as early as the end of this week, both by the FDA and the ACIP, with almost 174,000 doses.”

Toomey added that the Moderna vaccine does not require the same type of logistical challenges as the Pfizer vaccine – including storage within a -90° Fahrenheit freezer − and it will be more easily distributed to Georgia’s rural areas because it comes in smaller doses.

After the first phase of vaccinations are complete, the second phase will take care of nonclinical healthcare staff, pharmacy staff, court employees, nuclear plant operators, and essential workers.

“We are going to work hard to assure everybody that this vaccine is safe, effective, and really extremely important to everyone in the state so we can stop this pandemic now,” Toomey said.

Kemp also encouraged all Georgia residents to take the vaccine.

“It is critical for people to get vaccinated, because it has been proven not only to work at a very high rate but also to be very effective, so part of our job and part of Dr. Toomey’s job is to continue to convince people that we’re putting our money where our mouth is,” Kemp said.

Savannah’s Rev. Father Guillermo Arboleda joined three other faith leaders from across Georgia in a public call to encourage early voting in the Peach State’s Jan. 5, 2021 U.S. Senate runoff election during a Dec. 14 press conference.

Arboleda, the Priest-in-Charge of Savannah’s St. Matthews Episcopal Church, was speaking in support of early voting on behalf of Faith in Public Life, a national network of some 50,000 clergy members and faith leaders, in partnership with Stacey Abrams’ Fair Count organization.

“We people of faith need to realize that God is with us when we go to vote,” said Arboleda.

The Monday press conference came on the heels of a FAITH Weekend of Action providing faith-centered messages and volunteer events to encourage participation in Georgia’s runoff election.

Minister Shavonne Williams, the organizing ambassador of Faith in Public Life, reminded people to vote safely amid the ongoing pandemic.

Reverend Joshua Nelson of Emmanuel SDA Church in Augusta said “we’re exhausted but still pushing” after recalling challenges that Americans have faced during this voting season. He also mentioned how discouraging it is when people show up to vote but leave the lines due to improper planning for voter comfort, like rain shelters.

All leaders extended their enthusiasm for voter participation surrounding the upcoming election.

“I’m just really excited. We want to make sure that every voice is heard,” said Dr. Jeanine Abrams McLean, vice president of Fair Count.