PUT-IN-BAY, Ohio — Ohio’s tourism industry took a massive hit in 2020, with travel and capacity restrictions in place across the state. Vacation spots like Put-In-Bay were ready for a busy few days during the Fourth of July weekend.
What You Need To Know
- Put-In-Bay suffered a slow 2020 from COVID-19 restrictions
- The island has seen a big uptick in visitors so far in 2021
- Fourth of July figured to be the biggest weekend yet for island businesses
“It seems like everybody that’s been cooped up for the last year and a half is ready to get out and go, so everybody has been coming here and vacation and just bringing their families,” said Austin Bolyard.
Bolyard has lived on Put-In-Bay for 15 years and is the general manager of E’s Put-In-Bay Golf Carts, his in-law’s golf cart rental business.
“I love all the people,” said Bolyard. “I mean, most of the time all of the people that are coming here, they’re bringing families, they’re here to have a good time, so everybody is very nice most of the time, so you know, you get to meet people from all over the world.”
But in 2020, the island faced its greatest challenge when the pandemic brought a significant amount of restrictions.
“It seemed like the rules and regulations changed every day, so we had to constantly adjust every week or two,” said Bolyard.
With restrictions having been lifted, the island has seen a massive spike in tourism so far this summer, and expected it to get even busier during the weekend.
For Eric Booker, that meant cooking up a lot of lobster bisque at the Boardwalk Family of Restaurants, expecting to go through more than 100 gallons of it during the weekend.
“Fourth of July is really the kickoff of our season,” he said. “And after that it’s eight weeks straight, but that is the start of it, we all prepare for that, and that’s really the change of weather where it’s just beautiful every day and people are on vacation and you can feel it in the air.”
While the return of big crowds is exciting, Booker said finding enough workers to handle the uptick hasn’t been easy.
“This has been very difficult this summer, just finding the help that we need to get everything opened,” Booker said. “As you see, Clawdaddy’s right here, which is a great little rum bar overlooking the bay, we don’t have enough staff to open it up about three or four days during the week.”
At E’s, Bolyard gassed up a cart in preparation for the weekend, also hoping that the island would be refilled with economic gains, as businesses continue to rebound.
“This island is resilient through anything,” Bolyard said. “We’ll get through anything.”
