PORT TOWNSEND — If you’re a waiter, a waitress, a cook or a lifeguard, your help isn’t just wanted. It’s needed. Right now.
“I kept my core team on the whole time,” restaurateur Kris Nelson said of last winter, when her four establishments were either shut down or allowed to serve a fraction of their capacity.
Now her downtown places, Alchemy Bistro & Wine Bar, the Old Whiskey Mill, The In Between and Sirens Pub, are free to fill up. In last week’s statewide reopening, Gov. Jay Inslee announced restaurants, bars and gyms could operate at 100 percent capacity, while COVID-immunized people could take off their face masks while enjoying indoor dining and drinking.
Nelson’s response is along the lines of “Easy for you to say, Governor.”
“We still have our winter team,” she said Friday, “but we’re doing summer business. It’s been extremely busy; not a slow pendulum swing,” as locals and visitors jam downtown, hungry for lunch and dinner, indoors and out.
It has been a protracted struggle to hire workers, Nelson said. People apply — and don’t show up for the interview. This means her restaurants, which normally seat a total of 425 patrons, can’t come back up to that level just yet. This Fourth of July weekend, Nelson has 55 of the usual 70-plus crew members she’s employed in summers past.
But there are many bright spots, she said. Sirens had Thursday night karaoke this past week, with a good turnout; “people danced; they were so happy to just be,” and do that thing they used to do: sit at the bar to converse with their unmasked friends.
State and county rules allow fully vaccinated people to take off those masks; the unvaccinated must continue to wear them in businesses and indoor public spaces.
While Nelson said it’s not practical to check people’s immunization cards, she does know the vaccination status of her employees. And when those workers got their shots, they were exquisitely relieved to shed their masks, she said.
“Our vaccinated staff have been so responsible for so long,” covering their faces in the dining rooms and kitchens.
“It is exhausting,” Nelson said, “to try to communicate through a mask all day long,” not to mention do the strenuous work of cooking and serving.
“It’s been a little bit challenging to manage people’s expectations,” at each of her restaurants. But customers in general — especially locals — “have been really supportive, and just so grateful … That’s what keeps you going.”
Across town at the Mountain View Pool, the state’s reopening means a gradual transition for the same reason: a shortage of workers.
“We are in the process of hiring lifeguards, which is taking quite a bit of time,” said city Public Works Director Steve King.
“Until we get more part-time guards on staff and trained, we won’t be able to expand hours,” he noted, adding the week of July 19 is his target date for having the pool open throughout the afternoon, in addition to the current 7 a.m.-to-11 a.m. schedule. The reservations system will also end later this month so swimmers can drop in, King said. Information can be found at cityofpt.us/pool and by phoning 360-385-POOL (7665).
Swim lessons and the return of aquatic fitness classes, alongside the lap swimming and independent water workouts, all depend on lifeguards, King said. He’s working on hiring three more to join the six on staff now; a three-lifeguard rotation throughout the day is needed.
“We are thrilled to be opening up more and getting back to normal,” King said.
Public librarians feel the same way.
“We are open; no capacity limit,” said the Jefferson County Library’s Chris Hoffman-Hill. This spring the library welcomed patrons back in-person from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Starting this week, the library at 620 Cedar Ave. in Port Hadlock will extend its hours to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday. People can stay, browse and read with no time limits, so “it feels like a library in here,” Hoffman-Hill said.
The Port Townsend Library, 1220 Lawrence St., is also adding evening hours this week: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday in addition to 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. More computers, the free magazine exchange, outdoor in-person story times and use of the community room are also coming back.
The Port Townsend Athletic Club and Evergreen Fitness, meanwhile, have returned to full capacity. At both gyms, the fully vaccinated can work out mask-free if they choose.
“If [members] are not totally vaccinated, they do wear them,” said Evergreen owner Michelle West.
“We don’t require proof” for customers, she said, “but we have gotten the hard copy [immunization card] for our employees.”
Wearing a mask until one is fully vaccinated is a matter of caring for the people around you, both West and Nelson believe. West likened it to downhill skiing: “you’re responsible for the person in front of you.”
Nelson said she put up two signs in her windows: One about the state requirement for unvaccinated people to continue masking, and another reminding people to consider their neighbors.
“If we could all just think about each other for a moment, we’d get further as a whole,” Nelson said.
“Be mindful first, and then go forward.”
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Jefferson County senior reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-417-3509 or durbanidelapaz@peninsuladailynews.com.
