Memorial Day weekend at Fort Worth Stockyards: Smaller crowds, new safety measures
Nora Wallace asked whether she could compare a few of the belt buckles sitting out in the glass display case, emblazoned with cowboy imagery like a sheriff’s star, a steer’s horns and the outline of Texas. The employee obliged, pulling them out of the case and handing them to her.
Wallace then held each one up to her waist to imagine what they might look like.
It was a small interaction for the Grand Prairie woman who wanted to spend the Saturday of her Memorial Day weekend shopping at Fort Worth’s iconic Stockyards. But, after spending so much time “cooped up” indoors due to the coronavirus, it meant everything.
Browsing the merchandise at Cavender’s was just one part of her day at the Stockyards with her husband and her friend visiting from Los Angeles. She said she wanted to support businesses that have been struggling over the past couple of months and get a bite to eat at H3 Ranch.
Even though the sidewalks and red brick streets of the historic district were emptier than she was used to, it felt like something of a return to what life was like before.
“It just feels really good to be out here, seeing the people, giving business to all the local shops and just enjoying the day,” Wallace said. “And being normal.”
It wasn’t quite business as usual at the Stockyards on Saturday morning, without the wall-to-wall crowds of a typical holiday weekend, and with businesses capping capacity at 25 percent per Gov. Greg Abbott’s re-opening plan. There was also to be no cattle drives.
Many of the stores throughout the district were able to reopen on May 1. On Saturday, though, the Stockyards was celebrating grand openings for two new stores located in the newly renovated Mule Alley: Lucchese Bootmaker and MB Mercantile & Supply.
Terie Lei Moore, 22, of Fort Worth, was working at PH Barn Door on Saturday morning, also located in Mule Alley. The store was advertising a 10% off sale through Memorial Day weekend as part of the festivities marking the grand opening of the other two stores.
Moore said she didn’t see a group larger than five come into the store, but was prepared to keep people spaced apart if she had to. Once an hour, she took a bleach wipe and disinfected high-touch surfaces in the store like door handles and countertops. There were also hand-sanitizing stations throughout the store.
Moore, who started working at PH Barn Door about two months ago — right before coronavirus restrictions — said it felt good to get back to work. She was starting to lose her mind a little bit at home, she said.
“Occasionally seeing people come in, and being able to interact while still keeping a safe distance apart, I really feel like that’s gonna help — if we just kind of slowly ease back into things,” she said.
Monica Jones, 39, of Weatherford, came to the Stockyards on Saturday with 18-year-old Azzurra Pasquli, a foreign exchange student from Rome who’s been living with her since January. The coronavirus pandemic temporarily stopped Jones from taking her to well-known North Texas spots as she had hoped, and Pasquli has to go home on Thursday. But they’ve been trying to make up for lost time.
They went to Austin, New Braunfels and San Antonio, where they saw the River Walk, Jones said. On Saturday, she wanted to show her Fort Worth and one of its most iconic spots in the Stockyards.
Pasquli, who has been attending Brock High School, said she liked the Stockyards, and it was interesting to go from a big city to a space so open.
She also said it was nice to get back to normal.
“A new normal,” Jones said.
