Anticipation high as Eureka prepares for border opening

It’s been more than 19 months since Brandy Carvey last went on vacation with her fiancé.

While it’s only a short drive from Carvey’s home with her son in Eureka to her fiancé’s home in Canada, the three of them might as well live on different continents. Since the coronavirus pandemic began in early 2020, restrictions have prevented Carvey and tens of thousands of others from regularly crossing the world’s longest land border to visit friends and family.

“It’s super hard for our kids,” Carvey said on November 5th. “Our son doesn’t understand why he can’t drive 13 km across the border to see his family.”

Along with the separation from relatives, the closure has weighed on many businesses in the Eureka area. Before the pandemic, Canadians crossed the border daily to eat out and buy groceries.

After watching an estimated 40% of her customer base dry up, Carvey closed the cafe she ran in town in September. David Clarke, owner of the First and Last Chance Bar, saw old faces disappear overnight and the demand for his duty-free products plummet.

“We’ve definitely seen a difference as the border is closed,” said Stephanie Rice, who runs Cafe Jax on Eureka’s main drag. “We still have people who travel, but this limit keeps us going in summer and winter.”

The United States has closed its land border with Canada to non-essential travel since the pandemic began in March 2020. But on Monday, November 8th, the US will allow travelers from Canada as long as they are fully vaccinated with Covid19.

According to US Customs and Border Protection, travelers arriving by land do not need to demonstrate a negative Covid-19 test, but should be prepared to verbally confirm their vaccination status and present their vaccination documents if requested.

North Lincoln County’s business owners and residents are expecting respite from the long shutdown, but many locals are wary of partying too early, citing vaccine and Covid-19 testing requirements as barriers for foreigners looking to take short trips across the border.

The policy change won’t do much for Carvey. Most of their Canadian family are still unvaccinated against the coronavirus, which means they will not be able to cross the land border under the new regulations.

Gretchen Lancaster, a real estate agent, said the vaccination requirement would prevent her Eureka high school father-in-law from driving the 20-minute drive across the border from the family farm.

“My daughter runs cross-country and he cannot watch her run. My son is wrestling and he can’t be there, ”she said. “It’s hard when grandpa is probably in the last few years of his life. Giving up a few years of it was a real loss. ”

EVEN FOR Canadians who are vaccinated can make short trips across the border impractical due to expensive Covid-19 testing requirements. When returning home, most Canadian citizens must demonstrate a negative Covid-19 molecular test within 72 hours of leaving. These tests can cost hundreds of dollars and be difficult to find in northwest Montana.

Jon Leonard, a loan officer at Glacier Bank in Eureka, said some of the closest testing centers his Canadian friends made were in Kalispell. The molecular tests at these centers could cost up to $ 250.

Kathy Ness, bureau administrator at the Eureka Area Chamber of Commerce, has heard from many Canadians that the chamber could organize testing in northern Lincoln County.

“I answer a lot of calls here and it’s like, ‘Can the Chamber of Commerce do something for us?’ And it’s … the testing. We have nothing to do with that, ”she says.

A man Ness spoke to said it would cost him $ 1,600 to visit Eureka over the weekend, factoring in the price of his family of four testing.

For Mike Cole, one of the owners of Montana Market, the travel requirements were too much uncertainty to gauge how business would perform in the coming weeks.

“It’s hard for us to say, ‘OK, let’s ramp up our product lines and we have a 50-50 shot of it not happening,” he said.

Given the fact that many of its duty-free products contain a best-before date, Clarke feared that he might have to destroy some of his inventory if Canadians didn’t return after the border reopened.

ROGER HARRISON, Trapper’s Saloon owner, said the testing requirements could be an inconvenience, but he doesn’t think the regulations would stifle border traffic. As a Canadian himself, he said he knew his friends and family were used to being tested north of the border.

“I have a feeling that it might put some people off, but there will still be a lot of people who do,” he said. “They all had to be tested up there all the time.”

Although business owners in the Eureka area are hoping Canadian traffic will return to pre-pandemic levels, many locals said an influx of tourists to the states and new residents have made up for the economic deficit created by the border closure.

“Overall, sales here have been doing pretty well due to the increased tourist traffic and people moving here,” said Cole of the Montana Market deal.

Amid the hustle and bustle of the lunch break, Rice said Cafe Jax stayed busy thanks to US visitors despite the decline in Canadian business.

Given the booming real estate market, many Canadians with houses in the Eureka region would sell their property, according to Lancaster. Some have had to go without visiting their homes in the states for nearly two years because of the restrictions, she said. Those who made the trip had to replace the typically short pre-pandemic drive with a series of flights.

While their homes were largely vacant, Canadian owners were still paying utility bills and taxes. In the case of high-end properties, months of absence of people could significantly increase insurance claims.

“These poor Canadians beat up their homes,” Lancaster said. “Luckily the market was good and they were able to … get rid of it. But I don’t think any of them were happy about it. ”

On the eve of the land border reopening, Lancaster said it had received many calls from customers planning trips to bring their belongings back to Canada.

Although some Canadians, irritated by pandemic restrictions in their home country, wanted to buy property in Lincoln County, Lancaster said the sharp decline in business from the north meant a significant shift in the local economy.

Leonard of Glacier Bank noted that Eureka’s financial sector is showing a similar trend; Americans from across the country, mostly retirees or teleworkers, are replacing Canadians.

“It used to be just a couple of states, but throw an arrow on the map … and people won’t just find Eureka and Libby, they’ll find this whole corridor,” he said.

Reporter Will Langhorne can be reached at wlanghorne@thewesternnews.com.

https://dailyinterlake.com/news/2021/nov/07/anticipation-high-eureka-prepares-border-opening/