If the obvious worst thing about this year was the coronavirus, the best thing is just as apparent: Our response to the pandemic as a city and as individuals.

There’s no suspense to naming the worst thing to happen to Cambridge this year: It’s the coronavirus. But we saw plenty of other disappointments and frustrations of 2020, even if some of them were worsened by the impacts of a pandemic.

Though some Cambridge arts organizations enter the holidays with $15 billion in Save Our Stages disaster recovery upended by the White House as part of a larger political war, there are still presents being delivered in a year defined by doors locked against the spread of coronavirus.

Congress has approved $15 billion in disaster relief money for independent arts venues. At the nightclubs, comedy clubs and theaters that haven’t shut down entirely, it’s falling to owners and managers to figure out what the money will mean for them.

Once Somerville has closed its doors permanently, the victim of Covid-19’s disastrous financial impact on independent venues, founder JJ Gonson said.

The city and Cambridge Community Foundation have delivered on long-awaited help for arts nonprofits battered by coronavirus closings, but the size of the grants are simply not enough – namely for the ImprovBoston comedy club, which is giving up its theater’s lease.

The entire city should look forward to the conversation around an empty lot at 35 Cherry St. in The Port neighborhood, which has been targeted for a conversation about what kind of affordable housing it will become. It represents progress in a dialogue that has seen none since May 2016.

The city is reopening its search for an artist to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which gave U.S. women the right to vote, because there wasn’t enough diversity among the artists considered in the first, 23-month, search process.

The Starlight Square performance space is going away so local artists, makers, and retailers can take center stage.

Halloween is going to be different this year, with block parties and municipal holiday events canceled and trick-or-treating discouraged. Audrey Day-Williams, a parent from The Port, has co-created an alternative: The Play Trick-or-Treat board game.