Buffalo, NY (WBEN) The guidance from Governor Cuomo on fall activities came down Tuesday, but for some fall event operators, it comes too little too late.
"It doesn't leave us much time to do the things we need to," says Rochelle Finklestein of Frightworld, who says she needs two to three months to prepare for the annual haunted house attraction. "This year, we are deciding not to open our doors for the safety of our community. We feel this is the best and only option, and risking the health of our employees and loyal customers is something we're not willing to do."
Finklestein says 25 percent capacity won't be enough to justify opening the doors either. "With our event every year, we try to create an environment for friends and family to meet and spend Halloween together. We just don't find it within our expectations to give the same experience we do every single year with guidelines allowing that little (amount of) people," explains Finklestein.
She says she'll miss the customers' faces, but the number one concern is everyone's safety.
The Maize at Niagara Falls Boulevard will not open either. "Being an agricultural type venue, we had to actually decide whether to open in May," says Tracy Garland. "The corn maze would have needed to be planted in May. With so many events before and after being canceled, we had to take that as well as public health into consideration into making the decision."
Garland says social distancing would be difficult in the maze. "The trails are only 4 feet wide, and people are running into dead ends, turning around and passing each other, so the six feet social distancing couldn't be maintained," notes Garland. She adds there are other attractions that would challenge the staff's ability to maintain social distancing as well.
Garland adds the 25 percent capacity also convinced her to focus on next year, which would be the maze's 20th anniversary.
The guidance announced by the Governor Tuesday are as follows:
Petting zoos are not permitted.