On June 10, Alberta officially entered into Stage 2 of its “Open For Summer” reopening plan, easing more public health restrictions in the process.
According to alberta.ca, Stage 2 of the government’s reopening plan means outdoor social gatherings are allowed to include up to 20 people, with distancing protocols in place. Indoor and outdoor wedding and funeral ceremonies may occur with up to 20 attendees, while receptions of the same capacity are permitted outdoors.
“Restaurants may seat tables with up to six people, indoors or outdoors,” the government’s website stated. “Dining parties are no longer restricted to households only. Physical distancing and other restrictions still apply. Retail capacity increases to one-third of fire code occupancy.”
The lessened restrictions have been welcomed by the local business community, as many Airdrie companies and storefronts have struggled over the last year with back-and-forth opening and closing due to surges in COVID-19 cases across the province.
Dylan Dagenais, who owns F45 Training in Airdrie, said the fitness centre is moving forward with cautious optimism.
“This is the third time we have been through this,” he said. “Of course, everyone is excited to get back, the energy that is coming back into the studio is beyond amazing. We are even more excited for Stage 3.”
Stage 3 – which will see virtually all public health measures eased in Alberta – is slated for late June, and is contingent with Alberta reaching the two-week mark after recording a 70 per cent vaccination rate of all eligible residents. As of press time, just under 69 per cent of eligible Albertans had been vaccinated with one dose.
F45 was impacted by restrictions as the studio operates a group fitness program, and not being able to gather meant the team had to be creative to continue offering fitness classes. Dagenais said in the early days of the pandemic, F45 offered online training and eventually moved to outdoor sessions, before a heightened case count in Alberta meant having to close again earlier this year.
With the arrival of Stage 2, Dagenais said F45 can hold in-person classes again, but at smaller capacity numbers than previously to allow for distancing.
“The restrictions aren’t too bad,” he said. “The main thing is keeping our capacity reduced, which is fine because not all of our members have returned right away. We are just excited to see what the next six to 12 months holds for us.”
As gym owners expressed some positivity about the recent easing of restrictions, so too have members of the restauraunt industry. With people being able to return to indoor dining, restaurants, pubs and eateries are able to operate the way they did before.
The owner of Abe’s Diner in Airdrie, Luis Gonzalez, said he is grateful to still be in business.
“It has not been easy over the last year, but we have had great support from the community,” he said.
Gonzalez said the diner is excited to get back to doing what it does best, which is offer an in-person dining experience and the menu options that can accompany it.
“We have just wanted to return to our regular operations, because all of the restrictions made it difficult at times,” he said.
As Stage 2 has only been in place for about a week, Gonzalez said business has been slow at the diner so far in terms of in-person dining.
“I don’t know if it is because the change in people’s perspectives, or if people are hesitant to go out still,” he said. “We are just hoping to pick up and get back to business as usual.”
While the last year and a half made Abe’s Diner embrace the art of the take-out and delivery model, Gonzalez said the pandemic also gave him time to revaluate the business model as well. As productive as the time may have been, he looks forward to offering the diner’s fan-favourite brunches and other menu items.
“It has helped us come up with new ideas,” he said. “We just want to keep people entertained.”
It’s not just gyms and restaurants that are navigating the reopening, but also museums, art galleries and libraries. Staff at the Airdrie Public Library (APL) also spoke to their excitement about the arrival of Stage 2.
“We are just really excited,” said Pamela Medland, APL’s director. “We still have some restrictions, but there are no problems coming into the library.”
As APL has always been a popular spot, previously seeing up to 500 visitors daily, Medland said she is excited to have people back in the facility, although there still won’t be in-person programming available to members quite yet.
“It hasn’t been slow, I would say it has been medium so far,” she said. “It will be a steady flow until we go to in-person programming.”
Medland said as far as the APL staff is aware, there is no horizon looming for the start of in-person programming again. The library does have plans for summer programs, she added, but they will either be held outside or in an online format.
“We are just waiting to see at the moment,” she said. “We are just so thrilled to be open. We know there is a lot of competition for people’s leisure time, but we hope they return to the library.”
Jordan Stricker, AirdrieToday.com
Follow me on Twitter @Jay_Strickz
