The County’s rural roots run deep. Mailboxes lining country roads still bear the names of ancestors who cleared land in the 18th and 19th centuries. But that charm is strained by 750,000 tourists a year; Covid-19 has pushed that tension to the breaking point, and summer hasn’t even officially started.
Shelves at local greenhouses have been stripped almost bare by city dwellers planning to grow a year’s worth of vegetables at weekend farms. “We’ve never been so low on inventory, ever,” said CJ Dearlove, co-owner of Lockyer’s Country Gardens. “When people are buying 20 packages of tomato seeds, it tells me they’ve never done this before.”
As floods of customers snapped up wind chimes and birdbaths in the gift shop, Dearlove worried about downtown businesses that weren’t yet allowed to open because they were deemed less essential than garden centers. “I had a sense of guilt because people were buying so many items,” she said.
She’s also worried about her staff catching the virus from some customer who will be heading back to Toronto or Montreal come September. “I feel it’s necessary that we have tourism here for our regular retail base,” Dearlove said, “but it’s a concern that people are going to be flocking to the County because the County is safe.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.