PENDLETON — Ever since local businesses shut down in the state-mandated “freeze” back in November, Rodney Burt, the co-owner of OMG Burgers & Brew in Pendleton, estimates that heating his outdoor seating area has cost about $40 in propane each day. That’s about $1,200 each month.

“You’re not raising any prices, cutting any labor,” he said. “It’s just another thing right out of your pocket.”

Burt, who runs the restaurant with his wife, Kimberly, said that he had to lay off eight of his 20 employees when the freeze began. It was the second time during the pandemic he had to do so.

“It’s hard, because they’re part of your family, and you know they’re struggling too,” he said, adding that several of the employees laid off last March didn’t receive their unemployment relief checks until August. “But you do what you gotta do so you can keep it going.”

Last week, when Umatilla County was lowered from Gov. Kate Brown’s extreme risk category to high risk, allowing indoor dining at limited capacity, Burt was able to rehire his employees and prepare for a weekend he said was sure to be packed with eager customers, who immediately came calling as restaurants throughout downtown Pendleton reopened on Friday, Feb. 26.

“Hopefully, things will stay open, just like they were a year and a half ago — summer of 2019,” he said. “Rockin’ and rollin’, making lots of money, all the staff’s making lots of money. Everybody will be happy. It’s going to be like that, I hope.”

Community has been very supportive during lockdown

Some Pendleton businesses said they were able to get by steadily throughout the most recent three-month lockdown due to a steady stream of takeout orders, financial support from groups like the local Chamber of Commerce, and the support and encouragement in the tight-knit community of Main Street businesses.

“The community has been really supportive,” said Joe Meda, the owner of Joe’s Fiesta Mexican Restaurant. “Saying anything less than that would be ungrateful on my part.”

Throughout the pandemic, Meda has been adding on to his business, creating a Day of the Dead-themed cantina next door. The high-ceilinged bar, colored predominantly in red and gold, is decorated with dozens of multi-colored skulls over glossy countertops of reddish-brown wood. Empty wooden frames adorn the walls, waiting to be filled with tall canvas paintings, Meda said.

“There was some uncertainty in making sure I was good to go ahead and be able to make this and keep the business going,” Meda said of the new addition to his business. “Business expansion has to do with projected sales. When your projected sales are not coming, your investment becomes: ‘Should I do this?’”

With the limited reopening effective on Feb. 26, Meda said he is pushing to open his new establishment in the next two months. Across the street, Burt is undergoing a similar effort. He plans to open a new grilled cheese restaurant in April nearby called “Toasted.”

“Now that there’s a little light at the end of the tunnel, now I can start training people and see about opening this when we’re at at least 50 or 75%,” Meda said, simultaneously reaching above him to knock on a wooden frame overhead.

‘It feels really good to feel a little more stable than we did before’

With some of the highest coronavirus infection rates in Oregon, Umatilla County has been caught firmly in the extreme risk category for months. However, with a steady recent decline in cases, Gov. Brown’s office announced on Feb. 23 that the county was eligible for high risk, permitting indoor dining at 25% capacity.

The change also allows indoor and outdoor recreation, entertainment, and shopping and retail establishments to reopen at limited capacity, as well as faith institutions, funeral homes, mortuaries and cemeteries. It allows indoor and outdoor visitation at long-term care facilities and only recommends, rather than requires, that office work be done remotely.

When speaking of future business, Meda and Burt couldn’t help but follow each prediction or aspiration by mentioning the uncertainty that has consumed local businesses throughout the pandemic. But on Feb. 26, watching the familiar faces of loyal customers walk through the door and taking countless phone calls brought with it a sense of hope that things were inching back to normal.

Collin Taber, a 19-year-old employee at Moe Pho Noodles & Cafe in the same block as Joe’s Fiesta, said he showed up at work on Feb. 26 at noon to find seven full tables, a sight he described as both “scary” and “exciting.” After three months of solely takeout orders he and his co-workers were rusty, but over a 2½-hour rush, they got back in the swing of things.

“It was nice to see familiar faces, too,” said Taber, a student at Mount Hood Community College. “When I came in I noticed that the people I saw before were back, which was really cool, and then I had something to talk to them about, about being back. And they were really excited, which made us really excited.”

Customers who came to get their daily dose of pho were happier than usual, said Taber and his co-worker, Alexi Brehaut. Customers were eager to know how the business was doing and to show support by coming in. They knew how much other businesses had been struggling.

“It’s just us getting some breathing room,” Brehaut, a 20-year-old student at Eastern Oregon University, said. “Being able to take a deep breath and finally get something that’s not supposed to mean that much to someone, but it does mean that much to people.”

Taber added that the latest reopening has brought with it a sense of stability after months of uncertainty.

“With all the uncertainty that we had, it feels really good to feel a little more stable than we did before,” Taber said.