LONDON, ONT. -- Performing across North America is one of the ways local country music artist Julia Haggarty earned an income while also building her portfolio.

“You really depend on that in-person experience so even releasing a song, it’s really important to be able to travel to radio stations, to get inside and introduce yourself and all of those things we aren’t doing these days.”

But all of that has come to a halt since March, when the pandemic hit.

“I had a bunch of shows cancelled for the spring and summer and a couple Nashville trips,” says Haggarty.

Haggarty, who also teaches music privately, has adapted to virtual lessons with students for the time being.

Speaking of virtual classes, that’s exactly what Haggarty’s husband, John Celestino, has been doing in order to keep his CrossFit gym called WholeFit alive.

“With everything going on we’ve had to adapt and the virtual platform has become our staple, and so we have a lot of people who come every single morning to classes to participate with us,” he says.

Whole Fit opened its doors two years ago in Lucan. As a fairly new business still Celestino says it’s been great to have the community rally around them.

“Everybody, especially in Lucan as a small town, kind of knows everybody, and everyone wanted the gym to be here at the end of all of this.”

However, without word as to when either Haggarty or Celestino can go back to working full time, the couple says each day has been touch and go.

“It’s a roller-coaster and it’s still a roller-coaster and there are still good days and bad days and that’s where we are at these days,” says Haggarty. “We are trying not to focus so much on what’s going wrong but looking at what we can do to rebuild and keep building.”