This week Galway Races chief executive Michael Moloney looked out his window, which overlooks the parade ring at Ballybrit. He struggled to believe one of the greatest race meetings in the world, The Galway Races Summer Festival, had fallen victim to Covid-19.
The ground should have been buzzing with activity - food and beverage suppliers on the go, marquees and tents being erected, thousands of workers on site preparing for the 151st edition of this iconic event. Instead Moloney found it difficult as he viewed a very different scenario. A vacant Ballybrit - something so surreal, hard to accept.
Yet the show will go on. There may be no champagne celebrations or showers for jockeys, but the event this year must move with the times in support of an industry that contributes to the economic health of our country. As tough as it is, on line racing must satisfy the punters and the industry, but it will be different.
Not far away, artistic director Paul Fahy, should have opened the famed Galway International Arts Festival on Monday. Instead he is lamenting its loss - that a mainstay in Galway for the last 42 years is not going ahead, a real sadness of missing what the festival brings - a togetherness of audience and artists.
No Fisheries Field, no lively street entertainment, no international theatre companies to push the boundaries, or curatorial art with which we can connect. There will be no creative interaction of musicians, actors, writers, performers, friends and fans.
Understandably those involved feel the loss acutely - the emptiness of theatres, art galleries and the streets which should have been jam-packed with summer revellers. Yet, as always, there remains hope - the possibility of an autumnal offering - different in style - part live, part digital - because in the times we live in, we all must adapt.
Another regular which has become a feature of our Galway summer successfully changed its format. The 2020 Film Fleadh, Ireland's leading film festival, produced its 32nd event - and its first on line. Strange times indeed to see its status: No in-person attendance. Yet during six days it featured some 30 new films, thanks to cooperation with organisers and film makers.
But these events are not strictly about the horses, the artists or the filmmakers. It is the social interaction, the crowds and the craic, the fashion and the reunions, the face-to-face contact. It is a change in our lives that can be difficult to get to grips with, but what choice do we have? It now is clear that communication via technology is here to stay.
