CALGARY The Calgary Stampede is going ahead on schedule this month, but guests and businesses are expected to notice a marked difference between this year s event and the last one, held prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Officials say they ve implemented a plan filled with enhanced sanitization procedures, distancing between guests and other health measures to protect against potential outbreaks. The event will also show how Calgarians are accepting the new reality of fewer health restrictions, tourism officials say. It’s going to be interesting to see because everyone is still finding their level of comfort with the restrictions being lifted and with the things and their vaccinations, said Cassandra McAuley, vice-president of communications and stakeholder engagement with Tourism Calgary.
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For thousands of Alberta entrepreneurs, it feels like the page is finally turning on a long and difficult chapter.
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âAs a business owner in downtown Calgary, itâs about time â long overdue,â said Gerard Curran, proprietor of the James Joyce Irish Pub and Restaurant.
âWe have to move forward.â
On Canada Day, the province formally lifted all public health restrictions on Alberta businesses as COVID-19 case counts have been shrinking while vaccination levels are rising.
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But she said public anxiety forged over the past 16 months of COVID-19 means the light of full rebound is still further down recovery’s tunnel.
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“When I check in with clients, they say they’re not sure yet, people keep murmuring about a fourth wave,” said James, who operates a business bearing her name.
“From a corporate events standpoint, we’re still at a wait-and-see phase.”
On Thursday, what remains of a dwindling regime of public health restrictions in Alberta mainly those limiting the size of gatherings, particularly those indoors come to an end.
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