Gloomy summer looms as pandemic cancels US festivals, trips

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Thelma Uranga is sprucing up her back deck in Chicago, hoping to host some small gatherings to take the place of the summer’s usual neighborhood festivals built on music, food and time with friends.

“People look forward to summer because winter tends to feel like an eternity,” said Uranga, 38. “We were just getting to that point where things kick off.”

Instead, she and many others are “mourning summer 2020” as cancellations pile up because of efforts to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

From Cape Cod to California, festivals are being nixed, businesses in tourist havens are looking at empty reservation books, and people who have been cooped up through a dismal spring are worrying summer will bring just more of the same.

As the weather warms, some already have begun venturing outside in larger numbers, despite guidance to stay home. Government officials say they aim to manage public health risks in a way that allows for a gradual return to normal, but with the course of the outbreak still unknown, nobody is sure what summer will bring.

On a typical summer day, the Ship Bottom Brewing beer house on New Jersey's Long Beach Island is packed. Bartender Bridget Barlet isn't expecting anything close to that this season.

“I’m scared even if we do open up, it just won’t be the same, especially if distancing rules are continued," she said. "A lot of people will still be too nervous to venture back into what life as usual used to look like."

Youth baseball leagues are holding out hope they will get in a sliver of a season, water parks are unsure if they will be able to open, and restaurants are wondering if it's worth welcoming dine-customers when social distancing guidelines would slash the numbers they can host at one time.

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