Port Dover, Friday the 13th – After the crowds were urged by Norfolk County to stay away from Port Dover this Friday the 13th – they appear to have received their wish, mostly.
Port Dover was still busier than usual on this past Friday the 13th – but a far cry from what crowds normally turn out on Friday the 13th. What is normally an event that can help sustain the businesses in Port Dover for most of the year, struggled to bring in more than perhaps a thousand over the course of the day. This seems to be lost in the mix of the mainstream media’s coverage of the event. Most in the media appear to have been relieved at the small turnouts.
I attempted to speak with numerous crowds of people but to no avail. The general disclaimer I received was that most didn’t trust the media. It appears the likes of CBC, CTV and others have made the job of a journalist seeking to merely cover a story without bias much more difficult.
One individual did speak with me off the record though. He told me how he had been to Port Dover approximately 8 years ago with a friend of his. He was snapping pictures of the empty street down by the beach when I approached him. He said, “I’m sending this to my friend who was here with me years ago”. He couldn’t believe how dead it was compared to the last time he visited.
He was gracious with his time and told me about a variety store he went to the last time he was here. The lineup he described wrapped around the building and down the sidewalk. He told me that when he was finally able to get into the variety store all they had left was water – the shop owner had sold his entire stock in just 2 days. The store owner told him that it was more than he would make in months – perhaps even the year.
Another biker told us that he was from Toronto, “I don’t see a difference if we’re respectful and wear our masks here or if I’m in Toronto” he said.
What has been lost in the shuffle around all the fear of Covid is the detrimental impacts of all these legislations and fear tactics on the economy. Port Dover businesses that rely on Friday the 13th to help supplement their income for the rest of the year most certainly are going to see the impacts of a diminished turnout this year – how couldn’t they?
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