Campers hope for Memorial Weekend opening

Campers hope for Memorial Weekend opening

The oneida county executive, to the joy of many die-hard campers, is opening campgrounds within the county june 1st, and not july 1st, as originally planned.

But many campers and campground owners are hoping he will adjust that to include memorial weekend-one of three big weekends of the summer.

They say it's not just about leisure; it's about livelihoods.

Newschannel 2's joleen ferris reports.

Don baranowski is one of many who can't wait to get himself, his wife and their boat...to aok kamground, in rome .

None .

None 13:41 "that's your safe haven, you go there to relax, get the stress level down" 13:51 "you know, it's a beautiful lake, you sit there, watch the boats go by" thanks to fears of the coronavirus spreading, oneida county won't open campground til june 1st.

It's a month earlier than originally planned, and there is gratitude 14:03 "it's better that they moved it up to the first."

But there's also struggle and real financial hardship.

It's not just about putting boats on the water...it's about putting food on the table 4:09 "daily people are telling me when can we come up.

I get a lot of very upset and irate phone calls from people telling me they're wasting their money and they don't want to pay their bills" both campers and campground owners understand the need to be safe.

But they say they can do that...now,.....june 1st.....the rest of the summer... 4:46 "the campers are 100 foot sites, so the people that are coming to their sites aren't affecting anybody else" 14:55 "my neighbor behind me, his lot, his building lot is 50 feet.

What's the difference of being in my home or being there?

Stand up 11:47 "while campground owners are glad to be able to open a month earlier than originally thought, on june 1st, they're still holding out hope for that big money weekend; memorial weekend" 6:58 "the county executive, everybody that's in the local government is doing everything possible that they can do to keep everybody safe and happy.

"i'm having hope that hopefully by memorial day we can at least have people come in and be on their own, do their own thing, immediate family only, no visitors" 13:58 "i know that people want to get camping" 14:10 "we'll take a look....let's open phase one and see where we go" 14:35 "we've come too far, we've lost too many lives and too many people have been infected to just pick one area because they're screaming the loudest.

I'm not about to do that" jf, nc2.

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