‘Very crucial’ holiday weekend
Galveston tries to balance need for tourism with public health concerns this Labor Day
GALVESTON — The only vacations Mark Artigo and Amy Simmons took this summer have been two 10-hour drives to Galveston one month apart. The couple from Joplin, Mo., visited in August for their birthdays and loved the resort city so much they decided at the last minute to book a long weekend.
“We love it down here,” Simmons said Saturday, as the holiday weekend kicked off to a slow start. “It’s the closest to California we can get.”
Artigo and Simmons were worried that beachgoers would pack Galveston — with officials estimating that more than 250,000 people could cross the Interstate 45 causeway over the long weekend — and prevent them from finding a room. But the couple beat the crowd that seemed to descend on the island beaches Sunday.
While good news for public health, the prospect of belowaverage Labor Day weekend crowds worried leaders in Galveston, a city highly dependent on hotel occupancy and sales tax revenues, which already lost a big chunk of its tourism business this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Beaches and most businesses shut down completely in March and April, and beaches closed again on July 4 weekend after a second spike in virus infections throughout the region.
Galveston interim Mayor Craig Brown called the weekend “very crucial” for the city to end its summer season on a high note, hoping large crowds would descend on the island and help out struggling businesses.
“We just would like to invite everyone down, the beaches are quite an attraction on Labor Day, and we’re happy to have everyone here,” Brown said.
Public health experts, on the other hand, were rooting for people to stay home and socially distanced.
“I am hopeful that reports of low turnout to the beaches are a good sign that we are all working together to protect each other and to hold onto the improvements we’ve achieved,” said Dr. Marc Boom, president of Houston Methodist. “Together, if we take things seriously and continue to be vigilant, we can keep the COVID-19 infection numbers down.”
In the Houston area and across the nation, upticks in hospitalizations and deaths followed Memorial Day and the Fourth of July.
Texas and Houston area counts currently are declining after peaking more than a month ago. There were 2,096 cases in the state Sunday, including 959 in a ninecounty area from Montgomery to Galveston counties. Those numbers are down from more than 10,000 and 2,400, respectively.
But crowds did gather on the beaches on the 27-mile island, said Peter Davis, Galveston’s beach patrol chief. A crowd near San Luis Pass became so unruly Saturday that a volunteer emergency response team had to remove around 60 people from the water. Weather improvements also helped as overcast skies in the morning gave way to afternoon sunshine, making for more pleasant beach conditions.
Traffic picked up even more on Sunday with Davis reporting that their calls for service had tripled from the day prior. He compared the bustle to what Galveston sees during the Memorial Day weekend.
As of early evening, people were still arriving, Davis said. The Galveston Ferry reported a 70-minute wait into Galveston with five boats running.
“Every beach on the island is crowded,” he continued, adding that most groups were spaced out from each other. Few beachgoers were wearing masks, save for lifeguards and law enforcement, he said.
Davis said his team had mostly been responding to the usual holiday weekend situations: lost children, a child locked in a car, and minor injuries from stingrays and jellyfish.
On Sunday, first responders recovered a body matching the description of a teen swimmer who went missing during a night swim near the 4400 block of Seawall Boulevard. A rip current was reported near to where he was swimming.
Later Sunday, Galveston Beach Patrol reported a second drowning victim, a 57year-old Hispanic man. After his daughter was rescued, he was found facedown just east of the 47th Street rock groins.
For island business owners like Cesar Hernandez, who owns Coastal Bike Rentals, which rents out surrey bikes, e-bikes, and scooters, a good Labor Day weekend crowd would be more than welcome. Hernandez’s day job is as a banker in Houston, but he purchased the storefront on Seawall Boulevard and opened the shop in February, eager to capitalize on the island’s booming tourist economy, which attracts more than 7 million visitors per year annually. Then COVID-19 hit.
“We opened in February, had spring break the first weekend, and then we closed,” Hernandez said. “Then we didn’t open again until Memorial Day. You take the hit and hope for the best and keep moving forward.”
In the Strand Historic District, the pain of the pandemic has been felt even more acutely, owing to shuttered cruise ship terminals that typically contribute to tourism in the city’s downtown. Shaelyn Fowler, who manages Hendley Market, said the fluctuations of shutdowns and reopenings this summer has made it difficult to keep a steady stream of revenue.
“We’ll have one really busy weekend and then we’ll have one weekend where nobody shows up,” Fowler said.
Fowler added that with the island canceling some of its major fall events due to the pandemic, such as the Lone Star Rally, which attracts thousands of visitors, the next month or so of remaining summer weather will be critical for them.
Some families took the opportunity of the long weekend to get their children some much needed outdoor stimulation. Raymond and Felicia Roberts traveled to Galveston from Houston with their four kids, a reward of sorts before navigating the stress of going back to school.
“At times it can be a bit frustrating because they’re confined to the house as well,” Felicia Roberts said.
“There’s not too many places they can go. We decided to go (to Galveston) because it’s open, there’s lots of room so we can stay 6 feet apart from people.”
Artigo and Simmons, the Missouri couple, gladly left their kids behind for the weekend, treating themselves to a weekend of sightseeing. Artigo raved about the ferry from Bolivar Peninsula to Galveston, and they made a list of places to see over the next few days. But the main attraction is the beach, where the couple planted themselves on Saturday afternoon, the waves of the Gulf of Mexico splashing at their feet.
“It’s Galveston, man. Vacation,” Artigo said. “Just wanted to get away from Missouri. Missouri don’t have any beaches.”