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Our 165th Year
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RAFAEL MALDONADO/NEWS-PRESS PHOTOS
Bond Fitness on Carrillo Street reopened for indoor workouts Wednesday as red tier restrictions allowed gyms to move to 10% indoor capacity.
Gym-goers now feeling pumped Indoor gyms reopen with limited capacity broadcast workouts and keep members engaged. When they were allowed to meet in person again last Fitness fans hit the gym summer, Bond Fitness staff indoors for the first time in moved equipment outdoors in months on Wednesday as red the gym parking lot and out to tier restrictions allowed fitness East Beach to provide members centers to open indoors at a a safe place to get their workout limited capacity. in. Santa Barbara County’s Though this provided updated tier status went into full members a safe effect Wednesday opportunity to morning, To see streaming video exercise, Mr. Stowe prompting indoor GO TO said the move reopenings at newspress.com indoors is a “gamelocal businesses, changer.” The gym’s restaurants and phone was ringing gyms, unlocking previous restrictions that barred off the hook Wednesday with new and returning members operations in hard-hit business “ecstatic” to exercise indoors sectors. According to red tier after having outdoor-only restrictions, gyms in the county options for most of the pandemic, can now operate at 10% capacity Mr. Stowe said. indoors. “The outdoor workouts we’ve For Stephen Stowe, owner of been providing have been Bond Fitness on Carrillo Street, exceptional, but there’s nothing the return to indoor exercise like being indoors and having is a welcome change after a access to all the equipment,” Mr. tumultuous pandemic year. Stowe told the News-Press. When the Santa Barbara gym Small indoor workout classes shut its doors for months last and access to equipment spring, Bond Fitness trainers took to Instagram Live to Please see GYMS on A4 By MADISON HIRNEISEN NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
RAFAEL MALDONADO/NEWS-PRESS PHOTOS
Jim and Susan Neuman, who have been regular diners at Tre Lune for 18 years, order the daily menu special from General Manager Leslee Garafalo.
Indoor dining returns Restaurants able to reopen indoors just in time for St. Patrick’s Day
By GRAYCE MCCORMICK NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
At this time last year, and in the subsequent months, restaurants received all but good news about COVID-19 shutting down their operations. However, one year after the first holiday the pandemic took away, St. Patrick’s Day 2020, restaurants got the green light to reopen indoors at 25% capacity after Santa Barbara County waved goodbye to the purple tier, allowing for residents to enjoy St. Patrick’s Day 2021 inside, or outside, a restaurant. For Joe’s Cafe, this means welcoming back 35 to 40 more loyal patrons each day to enjoy its nostalgic atmosphere. The restaurant opened at noon on Wednesday. “Obviously, everyone’s really stoked to come back in — the hardest part is getting staff to be ready on a day’s notice,” Joey Somerville, manager at Joe’s, told
the News-Press. “But it’s good “We’ve had a lot of regulars say, for all the restaurants; it’s just a ‘We won’t come back until we do matter of how long it’ll stay going move inside,’ ” the manager said. in the right direction.” “So the bonus for having indoor Mr. Somerville said it’s and outdoor is people have a impossible to say how long it choice. It’s good to have an option will take the nearly centuryfor people who are not too sure.” old restaurant to recover from Joe’s happy hour could return practically a year without revenue. as soon as next month, Mr. However, he remains cautiously Somerville said, but until health hopeful. guidelines become “The people To see streaming video more clear, bar I’ve talked to in seating won’t return GO TO the industry have newspress.com quite yet. all had the same Along with the optimistic look that transition into it’s going to be a great summer as the red tier, state guidance was long as we keep going in the right also updated to allow wineries, direction,” Mr. Somerville said. breweries and distilleries to be “May through September is when open for outdoor service. Guests restaurants do really well.” at those establishments have a He said, fortunately, Joe’s has 90-minute time limit and must essentially had the same group of be seated at a table, but they can staff for several years, all of whom make reservations and are not are up-to-date and seasoned at required to order food with their COVID-19 protocols. Therefore, drinks. he doesn’t have too many Bars must remain closed in the concerns about people feeling red tier unless they serve meals. If uncomfortable dining indoors. they do, they are advised to follow
restaurant guidance. That means 25% capacity indoors or under 100 people, whichever total is fewer. Gene Montesano, who owns Joe’s, along with Lucky’s Steakhouse, Tre Lune Restaurant, D’Angelo Bakery, Bucatini Restaurant and more, said he doesn’t have too many concerns about customers returning. “I’m really not worried. Our business has held up through all this, so I think people that are worried will stay home and (order) takeout … The people who want to get out are coming out now and people who want to eat inside will eat inside,” he told the NewsPress. “I think it’s going to be great. It’s really only 25% capacity — that shouldn’t be hard to fill.” He added that he thinks the weather will dictate many customers’ decisions on whether to dine indoors or outdoors, but this time around, he thinks there will be more customers willing to
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NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
The Santa Maria-Bonita School District will begin ushering students onto campus April 19, beginning with preschool to first-grade students. A week later, second through fourth grades will enter. May 3, fifth through seventh grades join, and eighth grade returns May 10. Last month, the district surveyed families to gauge the number of in-person students, and 72% of parents preferred their students return to campus. Santa Maria-Bonita plans to slowly return to a traditional classroom format in phases. First, students will learn on campus two days per week, have synchronous online instruction Mondays and learn independently the other two days. Eventually, students will
stream the class live, so both in-person and distance learners will receive the same instruction. The last step is a return to a full schedule of in-person learning. Santa Maria-Bonita’s board will have a special meeting at 6 p.m. Wednesday, held via Zoom. The Santa Maria Joint Union High School District is opening in-person instruction to seniors April 19. Administrators are unsure when they will welcome freshmen, sophomores and juniors. Teachers will return April 12 to try out Zoom cameras for simulcasting instruction. “We may bring all of our students back, but there is also a potential reality that we might only be able to bring some of our students back,” Superintendent Antonio Garcia told the board. Seniors will participate in a Please see DELAY on A3
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By ANNELISE HANSHAW
Please see REOPENING on A3
At left, Sandy Stahl and Jake Longstreth enjoy indoor dining at Tre Lune on the first day of the red tier going into effect. At right, Jeanette Mackie has been dining at Joe’s Cafe for 10 years, and G. Breitweiser has been dining there for 54 years. They dined together Wednesday at Joe’s, where they were glad to be indoors where it’s warm.
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Santa Maria schools to reopen mid-April
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