25th Annual Marquette County Baby Shower adapts to coronavirus

ISHPEMING — The 25th Annual Marquette County Baby Shower was postponed back in April, but it was held on Monday morning with some changes to the usual format.

The event usually takes place indoors, but due to concerns around COVID–19, they had to adapt. The event was still able to be put on by moving it to the NorthIron Church parking lot, and turning the format into a drive-thru type event.

14 different organizations put up displays in the parking lot so expecting mothers and their families could drive to each section, and learn about the support available to them throughout the county. Each stop around the parking lot provided the mothers with some free items that will help them in motherhood, as well as new resources for support around the county.

“Not everybody gets to celebrate their baby with a group of people,” said Barbie Dupras, one of the organizers of the event. “It’s important that these little brand new citizens in Marquette County get celebrated too, and that parents, especially, know there’s tons of support in Marquette County for them. They don’t always know, they’re busy and have little kids at home. But all of us are out here, ready and willing to help.”

The event was originally scheduled to take place in April, but was postponed when the COVID-19 crisis occurred. The gifts were bought and the vendors were ready to go, but they didn’t know what was going to happen or when they would be able to have the event, which is important for expecting mothers around the county.

“It really is a shower,” Dupras said. “It’s designed to be festive. There’s food, and people meeting, and talking about their babies. And there’s a lot of babies around to hold and see, and lots of pregnant women. But we still wanted the celebratory atmosphere, to be excited about babies. And the cool thing is when people go through this and they leave, they’ll say ‘I didn’t know there were so many resources available for people who have babies.'”

Even though COVID-19 stopped almost everything over the past few months, Dupras said she was happy they were able to throw the community baby shower because, “you can’t stop people from having babies.”