COVID-19 restrictions finally lifted on July 2
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
OCEAN CITY — The boardwalk is about to be fully operational, with limitations, just in time for the Fourth of July.
Gov. Phil Murphy announced during his daily news conference June 23 regarding the COVID-19 pandemic that amusement parks, water parks and arcades can reopen July 2.
Wes Kazmarck, president of the Boardwalk Merchants Association, was pleased with the news.
“There is definitely something to be said for, come July 2, we will be as close to full strength as we are going to get, and we’ll take it,” Kazmarck said. “It’s certainly a relief that everybody is able to open and operate in some kind of capacity.”
He said the restrictions have been difficult on the merchants, whose shops have been closed for part or all of the season so far.
“It’s been great to see them open one by one. But for every one who opens, there was still another part not open,” Kazmarck said. “The boardwalk community feeds off one another. … The boardwalk operates stronger when it’s 100 percent open.”
The reopenings will come with restrictions in place to help control the spread of the coronavirus.
• The parks must reopen at 50 percent capacity and specific health guidance is being finalized.
• Face coverings will be required of staff and attendees “where practicable.”
• Lines for rides must be 6 feet apart and the rides must be disinfected.
• Distance markers must be placed.
Kazmarck said the city has worked hard from the beginning to limit the virus’ spread, such as adhering to social distancing and requiring masks.
“Everybody took this really seriously and we will continue to do so,” he said. “We’re prepared and ready, have been ready.”
But for amusement park operators, ensuring the safety of guests and employees comes with the territory.
“The amusement industry in general, safety is our forte — it’s the primary thing,” said Jody Levchuk, director of operations for JiLLy’s Stores, including its iconic arcade, and a board member with the New Jersey Amusement Association. “We trust ride operators and amusement parks with our lives already — they’re already trusted to do that stuff, so to properly enforce social distancing, face masks, other guidelines, I don’t see that being problematic at all.”
The group had been lobbying for the state to open amusements.
“I think, first we’re very happy that we’re finally there,” Levchuk said. “We have worked very, very hard, along with members — operators of amusement parks around New Jersey — to think outside the box on how to open without losing the season, but also not getting out of control. I’m glad we could get everything together.”
He said the rides opening up is terrific for the amusement operators but also for the boardwalk as a whole.
“It means everything for the boardwalk — sure they come for other things, but there’s no argument that amusement rides, water parks and arcades are at the top of the list,” Levchuk said. “When closed down, the other businesses — really auxiliary businesses to the main attraction — it provides an extra thing to do.”
He said ice cream stores, french fry shops and retail businesses want to be near the rides because they attract families, but when the rides are closed it’s not such a great location anymore.
“We rely on those businesses being open for us to thrive,” he said. “To me, there is nothing more relaxing, fun, exhilarating, than getting on a roller coaster and letting yourself go. It’s a great thing families will have rides to look forward to.”
Andrew and Kendall Coleman were visiting from Pittsburgh last week when they heard the rides would be opening July 2.
They and their children — Charlotte, 9; Ellie, 7; Maddie, 6; Jack, 4; and Julia, 2 — were shopping at Air Circus.
“They are opening next week? Oh, no, don’t tell us that,” Kendall Coleman said. “We’re leaving.”
“We’re definitely bummed the amusement park’s not open,” Andrew Coleman said.
“We would be up here if they were,” Kendall added.
She said she has been visiting Ocean City for 30 years. This year, with the rides closed, they have changed the way they vacation. She said they have been on the boardwalk during the day instead of in the evening.
“We have young kids ages 9 and under, so we’ve been coming in the mornings and skipping it at night. Going for ice cream,” she said. “They’re tired after the beach and we’ve been just staying at home at night.”
Kendall Coleman said even without the rides, they are enjoying their time in the resort.
“We’re having just as much fun as we would anyways,” Kendall said. “There’s so much to do just going to the beach and being able to go into different shops.”
Brian Hartley, vice president of Playland’s Castaway Cove, said the park would be opening at 5 p.m. Thursday, July 2, with scaled-back hours.
He said the park usually sees a lot of traffic during the day, when they host children from day camps. This year, however, most or all of the camps have been canceled. That, combined with the afternoon heat being difficult on employees wearing masks, prompted management to limit hours to 5 to 11 p.m.
“Even with doing training the last two days, 2:30 to 5, the kids are really overheating at that point in the day,” he said. “It’s not right to send them out there because they are going to have to wear a mask every single day, so we are going to scale it down and make it more comfortable for the staff.”
Hartley said the park has been preparing for an opening but could do only so much until management learned a date for opening. Now it’s going to be a scramble to get everything done in time to comply with social distancing and other requirements.
“It’s going to go from zero to a hundred in no time. Normally we’re three months into our schedule at this point, we have had time to ease in and get everything going,” Hartley said.
During an interview Wednesday, June 24, he said he had not yet gotten the guidelines for reopening from the state.
“How do they expect us to operate the rides? Is it just the park that is 50 percent capacity, or do they expect us to keep the rides individually socially distanced and at a certain capacity?” Hartley said. “Those are the big questions that we’re waiting for before we can really finalize what our plan will be and how to approach it. And it’s not a lot of time. There’s seven days and we’re still waiting to get that information so we can come up with a plan.”
Hartley said the park has been hiring since March and preparing everything for an eventual opening, such as adding hand-sanitizing stations at the entrance and exit to every ride.
“We only have one or two rides that haven’t been inspected yet,” he said. “Now it’s a matter of just fine-tuning everything. We’ve had the chance to do a lot of things we normally wouldn’t have the time to do — little projects to clean things up.”
He said the next order of businesses is preparing for the capacity restrictions.
“What are the guidelines from the state to do things that we’ve never had to do before, that we need to figure out?” he said.
Hartley said the park would employ fewer people this year. About 80 are returning from last year and the park hired about 40 more, he said. The park usually hires 150 to 175 workers each summer but without a day shift they are able to “scale that down a little bit where we don’t need as many bodies.”
He did say there would be a few more hires to deal with the state restrictions.
“Some new positions that we’ve never had before might need to be created that might require additional hires,” he said.
Preparations to open also were under way at Gillian’s Wonderland Pier.
Despite the governor lifting restrictions almost weekly, some people are still being cautious.
Shopping on the boardwalk last week with her husband, Andy, Ellen Raupp said she was not disappointed the rides were still closed and that if they had been open, she wouldn’t have been taking her daughter Emily, 6, to the amusement park.
“I don’t want to take her in a big crowd, and I know the boardwalk is a big crowd but you are constantly moving,” the Bergen County woman said. “I’m kind of glad we won’t be here for the opening. I would not take her, not now.”
Andy Raupp said the family continues to exercise caution despite what restrictions have been lifted.
“I think the thing that a lot of people wrestle with is not being so extreme one end or the other. You want to take precautions but you don’t want to be careless at the same time, so knowing where that line is sometimes difficult to figure out,” he said.