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Virtual ribbon-cutting marks debut of Studio 16 South

As coronavirus grips red states, Trump falters and Biden steps up the attack

The old cliche has a lot of truth to it: Necessity is the mother of invention.
				Make no mistake, we have a lot of inventions that never seemed to be necessary in any real sense, even if they were successful. Chia pets come to mind. Pet rocks. The Hula Hoop. Party hats.
				Mental Floss has a baffling list, from the egg cuber (yep, it tried to squish your egg into a cube), or the cigarette umbrella (click it to your cigarette to keep it dry), or the Edsel.
				So clearly necessity isn&rsquo;t the only origin of innovation. Greed helps, boundless imagination, and sometimes a misplaced sense of brilliance can do the trick. But we are often at our best in both big and small ideas when we have little other choice.
				So you don&rsquo;t have the right tool for the job and you&rsquo;ve got to do the job, maybe you figure how to make the wrong tool suffice. You have a hole in your car radiator in the middle of nowhere and you&rsquo;ve got nothing but your pocketknife and the trees around you, maybe you can fashion a plug that will hold up long enough to get to civilization.
				Truth is, most of us have probably innovated our way out of a tight jam once in a while.
				Enter the COVID-19 pandemic, and we find ourselves innovating a lot. On meals, on haircuts, on holding meetings and celebrating birthdays or graduations, and more. We&rsquo;ve actually gotten pretty good at it.
				The latest example: what sounds like a clever idea unveiled by Luzerne County Manager C. David Pedri at the River Commons Monday: a mobile music fest.
				As staff writer Jennifer Learn Andes reported, Pedri and others came up with a replacement for the &ldquo;Rockin&rsquo; the River&rdquo; concerts introduced on the River Commons last year. Crowd-size restrictions make it unlikely and even illegal to bring the people to the music, so county tourism head Theodore Wampole came up with idea of bringing the music to the people.
				Put the band on a flatbed and tour a neighborhood.
				Every Friday from July 10 through Aug. 7 is booked with a literal travelling band. They will rock and roll, consecutively, through Wilkes-Barre, Hazleton, Pittston, Nanticoke and Kingston. (Information will be posted at www.VisitLuzerneCounty.com).
				As Forty Fort Mayor Andy Tuzinski, known for a community innovation or two himself, said, this is &ldquo;thinking outside the box.&rdquo; It also could become a feather in Luzerne County&rsquo;s hat.
				&ldquo;This is going to be a great event for people to see how great it is to live right here in Luzerne County every day,&rdquo; Tuzinski said.
				The mayor of another town known for innovation, Michael Lombardo of Pittston, agreed. He dubbed the idea &ldquo;creative and progressive.&rdquo;
				That it is. And there&rsquo;s room for expansion. One thought: Send a food truck or two along so people who want to sit and listen can grab a nosh while maintaining social distance. A pause every so often so people could listen, grab some ice cream or pizza, and return to their porches or front yards.
				Traffic flow is a consideration, but shouldn&rsquo;t be too hard to manage. There are also always alternative routes for those in a hurry.
				This is an idea that may be worth keeping and developing even after the pandemic is finally behind us.
				Thanks, necessity!

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