Hudson Becomes Escape From Restrictions For Many Minnesotans, Causing Problems For Businesses
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- In Hudson, Wisconsin, huge crowds closed some restaurants and bars early after a busy Memorial Day weekend. The longer wait for restaurants to reopen in Minnesota has lead to some unforeseen problems for the border town.
You'd think after marking their best weekend in business in their eight years in Hudson, Postmark Grille would be celebrating. But it didn't happen the way they had hoped.
"It was overwhelming, very overwhelming," Derik Evenson said. "You try to separate people but they don't really care."
Evenson and his staff made their COVID-19 restrictions clear, from their front doors, half their floor tables as usual, and their Facebook page. But as Evenson noted, it was easier said than done.
Too many unruly guests with no respect for the guidelines, Evenson said, will keep them closed to in-person dining again until Thursday.
"We ended up having to close an hour early both of those days just because we had to try to control stuff that was going on," Evenson said.
Hudson Police estimate 85% of their traffic came from Minnesota their first weekend back in business. This last weekend it was 65%.
"It went from being kind of quiet to crazy busy around town," resident Liz Miller said.
Miller is a healthcare worker who worries what scenes like this will mean for COVID-19 case numbers a couple of weeks from now.
"I think a lot of people think it's not real or overblown but it is real," she said. "We're not going to go out for awhile."
Hudson Police told WCCO that DUIs and disorderly conduct calls are becoming much more common. In a five-day span last week, they issued 13 DUI citations; they'd typically issue one or two in that time.
