No tourists big problem for Norfolk County
As COVID-19 keeps urbanites away, summertime businesses start to worry
Andrew Schneider has a big decision to make — buy tons of fish for his Port Dover restaurant or cut bait on the 2020 tourist season.
In a normal year, Schneider would soon place an order for thousands of pounds of Lake Erie perch, which is the special at the Erie Beach Hotel. But thanks to COVID-19, he isn’t sure anyone will be in town this summer to order it.
“This will absolutely be a harder summer,” he said. “It’s soon going to be crunch time for everyone.”
The Erie Beach is licensed for 800 in its three dining rooms and rooftop patio. On a warm summer evening when there’s a show on at Lighthouse Festival Theatre up the road, it’s not unusual to fill the place.
Schneider fears this year will be challenging for Dover’s crowded restaurant scene if the usual stream of tourist traffic slows to a trickle.
“The problem is our town is 6,000 people,” Schneider said. “We’d need everybody in Dover to eat out every day to keep us busy.”
The worst part, he says, is not knowing how long physical-distancing measures will last, and what will be possible for businesses
once restrictions loosen.
“Even if the answer is bad,” Schneider says, at least he could make a plan, starting with how much fish to order.
“It’s kind of hard to predict right now,” he said.
It’s that uncertainty that caused Lighthouse to cancel its summer season, which instantly took around 40,000 potential diners out of the mix. And the Port Dover Lions Club recently announced that the country’s oldest Canada Day parade would not wind down Main Street for the first time since Confederation.
“It’s a sad day for all involved,” said Lions president Paul Boulanger.
George Araujo, general manager of the Norfolk County Fair and Horse Show, has his fingers crossed the 180th edition of the weeklong fall fair — the thirdbiggest in the province, and a major tourist draw for Simcoe — can go as scheduled in October.
“We remain optimistic that soon we will be able to come together again to enjoy all that our great community has to offer,” Araujo said.
As for the regular Friday the 13th gatherings for motorcycle enthusiasts, one occurred in March, just before the lockdown, and the next doesn’t come until November.
Tourism is ‘absolutely critical’
Once best known for growing tobacco, Norfolk’s economic development department now promotes the county as an oasis for the harried urbanite.
Advertisements invite city dwellers to cycle on the trails, bird-watch in or zip line above the Carolinian forest, paddle on the waterways, pick fresh strawberries, or soak up the sun on beaches that are less crowded than Wasaga’s and less aggravating to get to from Toronto.
Bonnieheath Estate Lavender and Winery near Waterford is one of many former tobacco farms that made the switch to agri-tourism. Co-owner Anita Buehner says tourists who come from London, KitchenerWaterloo, Toronto and beyond to walk the lavender fields and sample wine and cider made on-site are essential to Bonnieheath’s success.
“That tourism component is absolutely critical,” Buehner said. “People are very willing to drive two hours to come to the farm. It’s experiential tourism.”
She’s hopeful that the annual lavender festival can still happen in July, but has already had cancellations from tour groups who had planned to drop by the farm before going to the theatre in Port Dover.
“A big part of our business is the buses coming into Norfolk,” Buehner said.
These days the farm is taking preorders for alcohol and lavender-infused products that customers can pick up on certain Saturdays. Sales were down 40 per cent in March compared to last year, and Buehner expects an 80 per cent drop in April.
If Norfolk’s tourist sites must stay closed to visitors, Buehner says that will make for a quiet summer.
“It’s going to be really tough for all our businesses, especially our agri-tourism businesses,” she said.
Help on the horizon
Norfolk Mayor Kristal Chopp feels for business owners who are worried for their immediate future.
“They’re all suffering significantly. We have such a short season for a lot of these businesses, so for them it’s going to be an extra long year,” she said.
At Tuesday’s council meeting, county staff unveiled a threephase emergency response plan that includes creating a task force to help businesses rebound.
CAO Jason Burgess said the aim of the task force — which will include representatives from business and industry as well as academics and finance professionals — is “to create some Norfolk-centric plans” that will be supported by shifting more money into economic development in the 2021 budget.
“We’re here to support the best ideas, and we’ll put some money on the table and some people behind it,” Burgess said.
But the task force is likely months away, once the public health emergency has passed. Burgess acknowledged that getting back to some semblance of normal by late fall won’t help businesses that count on making hay while the summer sun shines.
“Certainly, there’s a lot of anxiety out there,” he said. “The challenge with tourism is we just don’t know when it will return.”
Buehner says businesses like hers need help from the county today to prepare for what customers there will be this summer while keeping employees and visitors safe.
Reason to hope
Buehner is optimistic that tourism can return to Norfolk more quickly than to the cities. At her farm, for example, she says there is a lot of room for visitors to safely explore the lavender fields while keeping their distance from each other.
“We certainly think that in Norfolk County we have the opportunity to be one of the next places that opens up, because we have a lot of wide-open spaces,” Buehner said. “I think it’s going to be a healthy next step because people are going to need those open spaces.”
Schneider says that while Norfolk’s businesses normally compete for patrons, in the broader sense they are supportive of each other and rooting for the industry as a whole during this time of crisis.
“We’re very hopeful that everyone survives,” he said.
J.P. Antonacci’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative. The funding allows him to report on stories about the regions of Haldimand and Norfolk.