Yarmouth Business Owners Call for Wider Reopening

YARMOUTH – Several Yarmouth business owners are pushing for a wide-scale reopening as soon as possible.

The Yarmouth Restaurant Association held a demonstration at Smuggler’s Beach Thursday to call for businesses to safely reopen during the coronavirus pandemic at the highest possible capacity.

“The businesses in Yarmouth are ready to serve the public,” said organizer John Fallon.

“The people who make up our service industry are ready to serve our residents and tourists alike.”

Fallon said that Yarmouth businesses are continuing to take precautions to provide safety at their establishments while ensuring the survival of these businesses.

Billy Campbell of Ryan Family Amusements and David Currier, a selectman in Orleans and a business owner himself, were also in attendance.

They said that now is the time to trust local citizens to follow social distancing guidelines and to allow more businesses to open at a greater scale.

Captain Parker’s owner Gerry Manning echoed these sentiments, saying that now is the time for Cape Cod to return back to a relative normal.

“These were dangerous waters. Can we say ‘Mission Accomplished?’ No, we still have to be very careful. But we have to open the economy,” Manning said.

Manning brought up the issue of a lack of tax dollars being brought in from these businesses. The Yarmouth Restaurant Association said that $641,000 in meals tax revenue and $2.8 million in rooms tax revenue were brought in from Yarmouth in 2019.

The second phase of the state’s reopening plan allows for restaurants to operate with outdoor dining and social distancing measures implemented, and for lodging establishments to welcome back guests with certain restrictions in place.

About Brendan Fitzpatrick

Brendan, a recent graduate from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, is one of the newest members of the CapeCod.com NewsCenter team. When not on the beat, you'll probably find him watching Boston sports.



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