By Patric Hedlund and Marcy Axness, TME

California’s Governor Gavin Newsom said Monday that a gradual, phase-by-phase opening of the state’s economic infrastructure will begin this Friday, May 8. It will start with retail businesses.

On Tuesday, Kern County released covid-19 infection data for the Mountain Communities by zip code, at last. There have been nine (9) local cases documented so far, from Lebec (2); through Frazier Park (5); to Pine Mountain Club (2). Testing is still difficult to obtain, but free appointments for tests of symptomatic people are being set.

The retail businesses of our mountain villages provide needed services and goods. They are bright spots of fun and comfort. Our restaurants are places where we used to gather with friends and neighbors, to enjoy a meal, a beer, a coffee.

Building A Cautious New Normal

We asked local small business people about their plans for this gradual opening.

Curt Spyrka is co-owner and manager at Ace Hardware, an essential…(please see below to view full stories and photographs)

Photo captions:

Signs covered the town on March 23. Some of these—but not all—are gone now.

Before covid-19, Cottage Garden hosted crowds and musicians. Owner Robert Koehler is still building on his vision while he waits for coronavirus to go away.

To see full stories with photos, please purchase a copy of the newspaper at many locations (click this link for a list) throughout the Mountain Communities.

Or, have your newspaper delivered via mail and include internet access. Just call 661-245-3794. Classified ads are FREE to paid subscribers! See front page at www.mountainenterprise.com for details.

The e-Edition is available now with full photos and stories at The Mountain Enterprise e-Edition. Select the 2020-0508 edition.

(subscriber login required)

This is part of the May 8, 2020 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

Have an opinion on this matter? We'd like to hear from you.