THE Loxton Historical Village is preparing for a big opening weekend following the easing of COVID-19 restrictions in South Australia.
The village will re-open to the public over the June long weekend, with only 20 visitors allowed on site at any one time and strict social distancing measures to still apply.
It will be the first time the site has opened since March, and Loxton Historical Village co-ordinator Julie Noble said staff were eager to welcome back visitors.
“We’ve really missed dealing with the public and having people in here,” she said.
“Because it’s a long weekend and people are now allowed to travel within the state, we are hoping we get quite a few people in.”
Ms Noble said staff would be policing the number of people on site and would have facilities available for visitors to ensure proper hygiene was maintained.
“People tend to walk around in their family groups anyway, and there’s no problem with social distancing because…when someone is in a building, people tend to wander off and look at that one later anyway,” she said.
“But we will remind people to beware of social distancing between themselves and other family groups.
“We’ll also have hand washing (basins), sanitisers, and little reminders around the place, and we’ve been asked to have a separate exit to the entrance, so the gate right next to the entrance will become our exit.
“There’s a few things we need to put in place, but we’re on track to do it.”
The historical village was one of many local businesses who lost a significant amount of business due to the restrictions, with Ms Noble describing the transition from having visitors to none at all as “sudden”.
However, she said the not-for-profit had been fortunate to have government grants to help compensate for the drop in expected visitor numbers and income.
“We had an ‘alive day’ planned – our biggest fundraiser of the year – for Easter and that was cancelled,” Ms Noble said.
“We had a large car club coming we were catering for their lunch so that catering was gone.
“Several buses were booked in for this year and they’ve been cancelled as well.
“We would also usually expect to get quite a few schools coming in, especially from March-April onwards.
“It’s a huge drop in expected visitor numbers and income, but we have been helped by the grants that the government have given to businesses and not-for-profits.
“That has really helped to compensate for our expected loss in income from visitors.”
Ms Noble said staff had been keeping themselves busy during the quiet period by using the additional time to make improvements to aspects of the site.
“We’ve actually been able to do a few things that may have been easier to do without the public here,” she said.
“We’ve had lots of volunteers coming in and keeping the place really clean, improving some of our exhibits, and keeping the place from going to wreck and ruin.
“Garden beds have been improved, and we have a big new shed coming up.
“So we’ve been able to take advantage and get some of these things done, but we really are looking forward to people coming back.”
Ms Noble said it would be important for the community to attend the village once re-opened as it wouldn’t exist without guests.
“It’s really important because if we don’t have visitors, we don’t have a reason to open...,” she said.
“Our visitors are what helps to pave the way to be able keep open.
“We definitely need people to come.”