It’s mostly calm as Arizona reopens
Many venture out on 1st day; others stay home
Despite allowances to reopen amid the new coronavirus pandemic, not all Valley restaurants and businesses elected to open their doors on their first weekend with reduced restrictions.
Still, a significant number of folks ventured out on Saturday for a quarantine reprieve, either in the form of an outdoor excursion or weekend brunch on the first day after Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey’s stay-at-home order expired.
A new ASU Morrison Institute-Arizona Republic poll showed about 1 in 5 Arizonans is ready to dine out and even fewer are ready to return to other normal activities such as visit the gym or movie theater.
Salt River Tubing in Mesa opened its 40th season nearly two months after its original target date of April 25 and welcomed hundreds of people in swimsuits, sunglasses and, of course, some sort of face coverings in order to adhere to physical distancing guidelines.
The 100-person staff, as well as 10 security personnel and 10 Maricopa County Sheriff ’s Office deputies, constantly reminded customers to stay with their own party and maintain physical distance from other groups.
Staffers handed out red bandannas in the parking lot. Salt River Tubing Vice President Lynda Breault said a face covering was required in order to rent or return a tube or ride the bus to or from the lake.
Breault said crowd size was comparable to opening days in previous years.
“Arizona, all the eyes are on you right now,” Breault said. “You want to be better than what they’re doing at the beaches in California or Florida. We want to show the public that Arizona knows how to do it right — we can recreate responsibly.”
Sidney Jasper, 26, drove up from Tucson on Friday to go tubing down the river with her friend who’s visiting Arizona from Ohio. Jasper said she’s been largely remaining indoors during the pandemic and looked forward to spending time outdoors in the warm weather.
“(We’re) doing something that we can’t normally do in Ohio and doing a new experience we haven’t done before,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mill Avenue in Tempe was relatively quiet with not all restaurants having reopened on their first day with the ability to do so.
Patrons could be seen dining at some establishments, some even using disposable takeout boxes in lieu of regular dishware. Some restaurants and bars that hadn’t yet opened up advertised dates for when they plan to do so, while some remained “closed indefinitely.”
CASA, which generated public ire after people could be seen crowding the bar on May 11, had a handful of customers about 11 a.m.
Other open bars and restaurants included Varsity Tavern, Rula Bula, Boxty House Restaurant and Mr. Mesquite Taqueria.
Roosevelt Row in downtown Phoenix was calm on Saturday morning, with only a handful of people seen walking their dogs or out for a morning run. Some people could be seen enjoying morning coffee outside of Jobot Coffee underneath the Roosevelt Point apartment complex.
The weekly farmers market at Central Avenue and McKinley Street was busy, with nearby parking lots filled with cars.
Though some people were wearing masks, it appears most at that time opted not to.
The market has remained open through the pandemic, with changes to the layout and social distancing measures in place.
Walking traffic was mild in Old Town Scottsdale, but some patrons were jampacked at restaurants such as RnR Gastropub, a bar by Scottsdale Road and Second Street. Other bars and restaurants seemed to have parties spread out from one another.
Most stores at Scottsdale Fashion Square mall remained closed, but luxury stores like Louis Vuitton and Gucci had lines out the door since both limited how many customers could shop inside.
Many movie theaters, all of which were allowed to reopen on Saturday, elected to remain closed as well. Harkins Theatres is among those known to not be opening for a while.
And while drive-in establishments may be moviegoers’ best option for the near future, cars were also the preferred method for graduating from high school on Saturday.
Seniors at Buckeye Union High School District took the track at Phoenix Raceway, using their respective cars to cross the finish line as a ceremonious end to their high-school careers. Three different high schools were represented in the ceremony.