Oregon’s two-week freeze another blow to weddings and events industry

Click here for updates on this story

    SALEM, Ore. (KPTV) — Oregon businesses are once again bracing for the return of widespread closures and restrictions as Gov. Brown’s statewide two-week “freeze” will start Wednesday.

It comes as COVID-19 cases continue to skyrocket across the state and hospitals are filling up.

For businesses in the wedding and events industry, it’s especially bleak, given those businesses have badly struggled since the beginning of the pandemic.

“Oh no, here we go again,” is how Zenith Vineyard co-owner, Kari Ramey described her first reaction to the news of the freeze.

“It was not as rough as the first time, because the first time we were shut down, I had 40 weddings that had to be rescheduled,” Ramey added.

Ramey said, so far, the freeze will only affect one of her November weddings that will now have to be rescheduled.

But wine tastings – another big draw of Oregon’s wine country – won’t be allowed come Wednesday.

“It’s not only the wedding and events business, it’s been the hit from the smoke event with the harvest, so it’s been a very, very tough year for us,” Ramey said.

Jill Ingalls knows just how badly the event and entertainment industry is struggling; she’s the executive director of the Oregon Festivals and Events Association.

“Tent companies, sound stage and lighting companies, entertainers, they are right at the end of the rope,” Ingalls said. “A lot of folks have lost 90 to almost 100 percent of their income for the year.”

Ingalls said gig workers are leaving the industry all together and finding other jobs to get by.

Other businesses and organizations are finding a creative way to host virtual events to make up some losses.

We’re hoping there’s some new funding sources or some new relief effort there on the horizon,” Ingalls said.

With uncertainty now the new normal, businesses said they’ve just become better at survival mode.

“We are trying desperately not to lay off any of our employees and so we’ve just bucked up,” Ramey said. We’ve been able to get our (Paycheck Protection Program) money and used every penny of that to keep our employees employed.”

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.