BORDERS VS. ORDERS
While state remains shut down, Illinois residents head to Wisconsin, Indiana to shop, eat out
In the first weekend that Indiana and Wisconsin largely were open for business, many Illinois residents, feeling confident they wouldn’t get sick, crossed state lines to patronize stores, restaurants and bars.
As protesters stood in front of the Thompson Center downtown Saturday, calling on Gov. J.B. Pritzker to “reopen” Illinois, Chicagoans Roberto Mangione and Giovanna Gianfortone trekked 90 minutes northwest to browse the shops and grab a bite to eat in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.
“We’ve been locked up. It’s my first weekend off, and we wanted to come up and walk around and have lunch,” said Mangione, who lives in Dunning.
Last week, the Wisconsin state Supreme Court struck down Gov. Tony Evers’ extended stay-athome order, leaving it up to business owners to decide how and when to reopen, though a number of local governments — including Milwaukee’s and Madison’s — quickly restored some restrictions in their areas.
Still, many businesses in Lake Geneva and other parts of the state were open Saturday. Some had signs asking patrons to social distance and limited how many people could be inside.
Sam Martel of Darien, who was in Lake Geneva for the weekend with his wife, Neala, to celebrate their wedding anniversary, said Pritzker is in a no-win situation.
“If he opens and people get sick, they will blame him. If he doesn’t open soon, businesses will blame him for putting them out of business,” Martel said. “He should have left it up to the mayors, just like [President] Trump left it up to the governors. Instead, people are going to come here and spend money.”
Indiana largely reopened, as well. Unlike Wisconsin, where restrictions are left to the individual business owners, restaurants in Indiana are limited to seating a maximum of 50% of their capacity.
In Michigan City, Indiana, Gabby Bernal of Cicero visited the Lighthouse Place Premium Outlet Mall on Friday with her three sisters, all of whom wore face masks.
“We’ve all been in the house since midMarch and just needed to get out,” Bernal said. “As long as we have face masks and practice social distancing, we should be fine.”
In nearby Portage, Nancy Simpson, executive director of the Greater Portage Chamber of Commerce, welcomed people from Illinois, saying the shutdown has hurt a lot of businesses in her community. “Our businesses are looking for business and don’t care where the customers come from,” she said.
Not every business owner agreed opening up the state, however.
Dianna Smith-Scott, owner of the Lakefront Day Spa in Michigan City, said she is waiting until June 1 to evaluate things, adding that she has been taking a lot of appointments from Illinois residents.
“I know they are dying to get their hair done, but I don’t want them to literally die,” with
Smith-Scott said.
Asked if Indiana and Wisconsin being open will put more pressure on Illinois, Sam Toia, president of the Illinois Restaurant Association, said that while he is looking forward to having restaurants in Illinois be fully open, safety is his priority. If all goes well in Indiana and Wisconsin, he said he will push to reopen restaurants here.
“Let’s see if COVID-19 spikes in Indiana and Wisconsin over the next two weeks,” Toia said. If not, “then we would love to talk with the governor and the mayor, showing them plans that we think we could open safely in Phase 3 of the governor’s plan instead of Phase 4.”
“WE’VE ALL BEEN IN THE HOUSE SINCE MID-MARCH AND JUST NEEDED TO GET OUT. AS LONG AS WE HAVE FACE MASKS AND PRACTICE SOCIAL DISTANCING, WE SHOULD BE FINE. ”GABBY BERNAL of Cicero, who visited an outlet mall Friday in Michigan City, Indiana