In another move more or less forward, the ShowBiz Entertainment Complex will re-open Thursday, June 18th under reduced capacity, but open nonetheless. I’m sure I posted about this place back in the Fall when the grand celebration took place. Even though they can only bring in 50% capacity, some of the theaters are quite large, so a lot of people can still fit. The issue will be the entertainment bowling and arcade, both of which are really popular and can hold far fewer people.

On the other hand, individuals who are ready to be out and about are looking for things to do, so it might be okay. The most unfortunate things are 1) the 120 new jobs they brought with them mean fewer than 50 can be brought back at this point; 2) the arcade and bowling proved to be more in demand than they expected so the two busiest parts of the complex will be the most impacted. We’re all hoping they can survive.

At the moment, I know for sure of one business that has folded downtown and have been told there have been maybe a dozen already. Others that wanted to open are on hold as it is extremely difficult to get all the necessary permits right now.

Multiple restaurants that had been waiting to partially open for dine-in service have done so and it looks odd to walk in with tables shoved off into a corner to allow for only enough to comply with the six-foot distance requirement. And it’s small things, too – no more salt and pepper shakers, etc.; on the tables to avoid having them handled by multiple people. One-time paper menus must be used, and I always share with whoever I’m at the table with to avoid having to throw away extras. Another issue is only 6 in a group can be together. One owner was talking about a woman who insisted her family of twelve couldn’t be separated. While not ideal, the restaurant owners are definitely not the ones making these rules. They are, however, the ones who can be shut down if they don’t enforce them.

We’ll see what the next month brings.