Government assistance and New Brunswickers taking vacations in their own province helped Charlotte County businesses survive 2020 and the COVID 19 pandemic. They are, as the Bee Gees put it, "Stayin' Alive," hoping that vaccines will allow life to return closer to normal.
     It hit some worse than others. "It wasn't as devastating for my business as it was the year there was no Campobello ferry," says Diane Bustin, manager of the 45th Parallel Motel and Restaurant on Deer Island. Business dropped "only" 20% last year compared to 40% in 2018, when the seasonal ferry did not operate.
     In fact, she reports her best June ever, with business up 10% after the province moved from red to orange and, later, people from across the Atlantic bubble -- the four eastern provinces -- could travel around New Brunswick. "People were coming here that never had been here before," Bustin says. She shut down sit in service at the restaurant three weeks before the government made it mandatory because she wanted to keep out the virus, but she picked up some business delivering food to the driveways of people in quarantine after returning from trips away.
     The Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) wage subsidy allowed her to avoid lay offs and employ a full time cook. The business closed for the season October 1, but the restaurant opened again on weekends only recently. If it is not busy, she plans to close it again until April, when the motel will reopen for the season.
     She predicts better times ahead as restrictions are lifted. "I think it's going to be extremely busy because people will just want to move, and they're not going to care where they go as long as they get somewhere," she says.
     The pandemic came at an especially bad time for Frances Langerfeld, owner of the Campobello Whale Watch Motel. Like Diane Bustin on Deer Island, Langerfeld sees a brighter future, possibly starting in 2022; however, her husband James died in June, she is in her 70s and very much wants to sell the business and retire. "Who wants to buy a motel now?" she asks.
     Campobello Island draws mainly American visitors, who could not cross the border this year. "My business was down like 75% or 80%. I made almost nothing. I feel like I shouldn't have opened. I wasted my time opening because it cost me more money to run it than I made," Langerfeld says.
     Two years ago business dropped 30% when the ferry did not run. "Then the next year was great, and then we had this pandemic and it just decimated my business," Langerfeld says. She and others catering to tourists did well later in the season after the government promoted "staycations," offering New Brunswickers tax rebates to visit their own province. "But we still lost all the Americans," and the Bay of Fundy International Marathon was cancelled. Campobello Fogfest drew some travellers but rarely enough to hang out the "No Vacancy" sign.
     The Langerfelds bought the motel and moved from Florida in 2012 after stopping on Campobello on their way from Prince Edward Island. She plans to stay on Campobello Island; however, "I just don't want to run the motel anymore, so I'm hoping that it will sell; but it would have to be somebody younger who could take a chance on it not earning much money this coming year." She believes Campobello Island has potential for people looking for smaller and safer places to visit -- and would like to hear from people looking for a business opportunity.
     On Grand Manan, the Swallowtail Lighthouse and nearby North Head Campground had "outstandingly good" seasons, according to Andrea Kelter, who volunteered this past summer at the Swallowtail Lighthouse store. Kelter said she closed her own business, Painted Whale Gifts, for reasons not related to COVID 19.
     "Those seasons were driven by primarily visitors from New Brunswick who took the opportunity to come over to the island, many of them never having been here before; and we also had visitors from the remaining Atlantic bubble," she says, especially from Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, but not so many from Newfoundland and Labrador.
     Grand Manan's tourism sector used social media on top of the provincial staycation promotion, and both the provincial tax rebate and federal CERB payments made it easier for people to travel within New Brunswick, Kelter says.
     As for the year ahead, she says, "I think it could end up being a very positive year with many people choosing to staycation again for safety reasons until the vaccine has been more widely administered, but it is hard to say." The federal government has made no announcement on extending the CERB program, she notes. "I think the Atlantic provinces have done a wonderful job," she adds.
     Business at the Kennedy Inn on Water Street in St. Andrews dropped about 50% last year, but front of house supervisor Maurice "Moe" Basque sees better months ahead as restrictions ease and people feel safe to travel.
     The orange recovery phase was especially "brutal," Basque says. "During the orange phase, if you didn't live in the same house, you couldn't eat at the same table, and it put us in a very awkward position vis á vis our customers, and, as a result, we barely had any." Waiters depend on tips, so their income suffered, he says.
     "Even now we can't run the bar because people don't listen and they walk around without their masks," Basque says. In the yellow phase, guests must sit at their tables and be served, not go to the bar. Further, the inn does not have a room big enough to make live entertainment viable and still comply with social distancing rules. "Entertainment is out of the question until COVID-19 is gone," he says.
     COVID 19 rules complicate room rentals for overnight guests, too. Rooms must be quarantined one day before and one day after guests stay in them -- so the establishment loses two days in order to rent a room for one night, Basque explains. This time of year, when business is down in a resort town anyway, "feels the most normal of the whole year," he says.
     "I hired later than I have in years past, and I hired fewer, but at least I still got to hire some," Basque says. He credits the support from local people, provincial tourism promotions and the Atlantic bubble for keeping businesses such as the Kennedy Inn open. "That saved us, and it proved that when times are tough, Maritimers look after each other," he says.
     As for 2021, he says, "I think we can be hopeful. I know that Atlantic Canada will have this under control come this spring." Basque predicts, "People will start to chill out a little bit more, they won't be so nervous, you know, but I think we are going to feel the repercussions of the COVID-19 for many years to come."
     "Well, we're hanging in there, I guess," says Susie Hossack at Carman's Diner on King Street in St. Stephen. Business dropped 40% last year, but Hossack says the establishment took advantage of the federal wage subsidy and a $40,000 provincial loan. "We own the building, so we don't have to pay rent -- that's lucky," Hossack says, referring to her siblings Sherri, Neil and herself, the third generation of the same family to own Carman's.
     They used the shutdown during the red phase to renovate the kitchen. "Everybody was laid off, and then we reopened and everybody kept their CERB because the hours were cut back, and now everybody is back to work, not as many hours, but you can get unemployment for the hours they don't work," Hossack explains.
     Like Maurice Basque at the Kennedy Inn, Hossack says the orange phase was hard. The restaurant was down to 50% capacity with every other booth closed to meet social distancing rules and, in the orange phase, people not living in the same residence had to sit at separate tables. "People would be mad because they'd come in, you know, thinking they could sit with somebody but you couldn't let them, and it didn't go over well."
     Hossack hopes for a better 2021. "They're doling out some vaccinations so, you know, there's hope for maybe things to pick up," she says. Carman's did many take out orders, and customers came for special deals in the orange phase. "And we used high quantities of take out containers that are very expensive and bad for the environment," Hossack says.
     For the first time ever, Carman's closed for a whole week over Christmas. "We've only ever closed Christmas and Boxing Day, but this year we took a week. Business was down -- a different year, I guess," Hossack says.