LEHIGHTON, Pa. — Jerry McAward spent part of his day building this wooden partition, which will serve as a barrier between his staff and his customers at the Lehighton Outdoor Center - not exactly the type of summer preparations he's used to, as the owner of a whitewater rafting business.
"Whitewater rafting sounds like a very wide open activity until you realize you have to go to check-in, you might have to use a bathroom, you might have to go to a change room, you know, hear a briefing, get on the bus," said McAward.
The Lehighton Outdoor Center is also home to Jim Thorpe River Adventures and Northeast PA Kayak School.
It's unclear when the place will be fully up and running again, but staff here are putting social distancing protocols in place for when it is, including requiring all customers to wear masks, asking people to come in groups large enough to take up an entire raft, so you don't have to squeeze in with strangers, and cutting the number of people per rafting trip in half.
McAward is preparing for an influx of visitors, as he does every summer, from New York, New Jersey, and Philly. Since those places have been hit the hardest by COVID-19, he's taking all the necessary precautions to keep his customers and his staff safe this summer.
"We're spending a lot of money upfront, knowing that we're not gonna make any. I think as a group of outfitters if we think we're gonna make 50% of our last year's revenues, that's gonna be a home run for us," said McAward.
Cabin fever may benefit the outdoor recreation business this summer, or the high numbers of unemployment and lack of disposable income could cause it to suffer.
But McAward is preparing to see a boom in the biking business this summer, and he's already planning ways to incorporate bikes into the rafting trips, to avoid crowding people onto buses.
"We're coming up with a bike-to-the raft trip -- bike to the put-in, bike from the take-out," said McAward.
Jim Thorpe River Adventures is already taking reservations - you don't have to put any money down, and someone will call you two weeks ahead of time to see if you still want to go.