Merritt hoping another tourism season not lost, hopeful with COVID vaccination clinic starting April 12

KAMLOOPS — The City of Merritt is doing everything possible to keep the community of more than 7,000 people safe.

“We’re all tired, but we know it’s essential to continue on with the public health order,” said Merritt mayor Linda Brown. “We are continuing to do what we have to do, whatever is necessary, to keep us safe. Our numbers have been low, but we have had some numbers, so those numbers have kept us vigilant.”

Since the BC Centre For Disease Control (BCCDC) started collecting weekly COVID-19 data for some B.C. cities, Merritt and the entire Nicola Valley has totalled 191 to the end of February. From March 21-27, the case count was 22 — up from six the week before, coinciding with a spike in cases across the province.

Brown doesn’t think dealing with a pandemic in a smaller community has been any easier than other B.C. cities.

“We have a lot of visitors, a lot of non-residents, coming through and it’s scary,” she noted.

Brown adds with the tourism sector being hit extremely hard by the pandemic, she fears another lost season in Merritt could have devastating effects for the community.

“We see a lot of the tourism and restaurant business, a lot of them are having difficulty even just surviving,” said Brown. “So to put another year on that would be really, really difficult for those individuals. The bigger companies and business entities can handle it, but the little ones are the ones that are really suffering.”

At the Spaner & Webb Clothing Company in downtown Merritt, business has slowed in the past year.

“Sales have been down for sure. We weren’t open for two months and we’re just trying to get our online store out there and going, and getting product,” said owner Shandelle Agar. “It’s definitely been a struggle. Finding product is actually our biggest hurdle right now.

Agar says the website, which was running before COVID hit, has been a saviour. She’ll continue to lean on the website to stay afloat.

“We’re learning new avenues, and social media has been huge,” she said. “It’s just a learning curve that we weren’t really prepared for.”

The good news is, Merritt is beginning its public vaccination clinic at the Nicola Valley Arena starting April 12 — open to all residents 18 years old and up. For mayor Brown, having the community fully vaccinated gives her optimism the situation will slowly turn around.

“It gives us a lot of hope, and maybe not in the next few months because we’re only going to be starting with the clinics April 12 here in Merritt,” said Brown. “But a couple months after that, we’re hoping that we’ll be safe enough that we can get back to a relative normal anyways.”