CANNON BEACH, Ore. — Oregon is slowly working toward reopening.
On Friday, 31 of the state's 36 counties began to ease stay-home restrictions and enter into Phase 1 of the governor's reopening plan.
This was the first full weekend those 31 counties reopened. Coastal towns started coming back to life as did Oregon's wine country.
But each business in Oregon’s famous destinations is taking things on differently.
A sweet spot right in the heart of Cannon Beach, Bruce's Candy Kitchen opened its doors in 1963. But they shut them when Gov. Kate Brown issued the executive stay-home order.
“When spring break didn’t happen that's where we lay off employees, we do whatever we can,” Bruce’s Candy Kitchen Co-owner Brian Taylor said, “Unfortunately, we had to close our doors. But luckily have a website presence.”
Taylor says they didn't technically have to close but chose to when Cannon Beach closed to visitors.
The retail business depends on foot traffic, but after Cannon Beach closed to out-of-towners and neighboring coastal cities and counties shut down short-term lodging, there was no foot traffic.
“We had our storefront closed so no one could come in our building. Just because we have so many products and sanitization and everything like that and we just didn’t want to put anybody at risk and ourselves, of course. We didn’t want to overextend what we could do either,” Taylor said.
On Friday, Bruce's opened their doors again when Clatsop County was allowed to enter the first phase of reopening and Cannon Beach rescinded the evacuation of visitors order.
They put large candy piece shapes on the ground to indicate six to seven feet of distance for people leading up to the register. Employees are wearing masks and they’re asking customers to do the same. Bruce's put out hand sanitizing stations and are asking people to only touch things in the store that they’re going to buy.
So far, Taylor says everyone has been respectful.
"Everybody is slowly starting to slowly reopen. They are taking their time, doing their own thing,” he added. "Some of the restaurants are waiting, trying to get spacing right, waiting for PPE to come in."
Some are tiptoeing into the water, waiting until the city lets hotels and short-term rentals open up again on May 26.
Some are waiting even longer, until business on the Oregon Coast picks up and people venture out as restrictions are peeled back. They’re waiting until that revenue can actually support keeping the lights on and paying their employees.
A few miles north in Seaside, beaches and parks will reopen Monday. Seaside and Cannon Beach both sit in Clatsop County. County leaders have said in recent weeks they weren't planning on lifting the short-term lodging order, put in place in March, until early June.
Yet Cannon Beach lifted their restrictions and Seaside city council will decide this week whether to lift lodging restrictions in the popular tourist town.
Southeast in another desirable destination, people sipped pinot while overlooking pleasant wine country.
“Things are spaced out so I feel fairly comfortable. We'll see how things go,” Furioso Vineyards club member Brian Riney told KGW on Saturday. “I'm happy we're starting to slowly loosen up restrictions. It's a beautiful day out!”
Some Willamette Valley wineries opened their tasting rooms for walk-ins with physical distance between tables and numerous other safety measures surrounding serving wine, facial coverings and cleanliness.
Other wineries chose to open for appointment-only tastings. Some decided not to reopen their tasting rooms and are only inviting people to drop by and pick up bottles.
Domaine Roy was open for tastings for people who called ahead and made appointments.
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"The biggest change is probably not being able to be close to customers. We’re used to sitting down with them, getting to know them well. Having that distance now is awkward,” Domaine Roy Manager Ashley Barg said. “We want to make sure we are as safe as possible. We took about 50% of the chairs away from inside and the patio is spaced out.”
Barg says it’s definitely OK their slow approach isn’t allowing for an influx of customers.
“It’s OK if it’s not right away. We definitely were worried about being overwhelmed. Everyone was incredibly polite and following the rules, wearing masks and sanitizing,” Barg said.