- April 26, 2024
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Just a few weeks ago, season on Longboat Key was booming.
Traffic was worse than ever, social calendars were packed and tourism numbers in Sarasota were breaking records. Normally, Easter is when part-timers pack up, and left turns onto Gulf of Mexico Drive get easier.
That was before the coronavirus pandemic took hold in Florida.
Now?
“I would welcome all the traffic again on Longboat Key and Sarasota compared to what the world is experiencing now,” full-time resident Kathy Neudorfer said.
Since many people (especially those over 65, according to a health advisory from Gov. Ron DeSantis) are sheltering in place, it’s hard to tell who’s gone and who’s staying.
“Those that are staying longer are often choosing to stay because of the good weather here and/or because this is a safer place than where their other house(s) are,” part-time resident Lucie Lapovsky wrote in an email. Lapovsky is sticking to her normal schedule and plans to leave in May.
However, many of the island’s seasonal residents began their trek north sooner than expected, some worried about the possibility of an extended stay in Florida beyond their plans. On community Facebook pages, answers about coming or cancelling turned quickly from encouragement to come and support the local economy to pleas to stay home and stay safe.
Travel between the U.S. and Canada has been restricted to essential-only as of March 21. Citizens also must reside in the country for six months and a day to maintain health insurance.
Canadians Patrick and Sandy Bogert got out before then, leaving earlier than planned to self-isolate at home.
“It feels safer to be at home if we were going to become ill,” Patrick wrote in an email. “We also have some friends from Luxembourg who apparently are not allowed to go home … marooned in Longboat Key. That to us is really scary.”
The Bogerts have many Canadian neighbors on their street; they know of two couples who left early after meaning to be on Longboat Key through April.
“Our neighbors say it feels like summer now, completely quiet and deserted,” Patrick wrote.
Larry Ashley and his wife, Gayle, left Longboat for Nova Scotia several weeks earlier than planned, worried about the possibility of travel restrictions and the possibility of spring breakers flocking to Sarasota-area beaches.
“Ninety percent of them are great kids, I’m not knocking them,” Larry said. “[It was about] our safety. … We’re in our early 80s. We enjoy good health, but we didn’t want to stand in danger.”
From the time the Ashleys made their decision, it took 36 hours to book flights, pack up and leave. Their kids, who had been visiting them on Longboat, drove their parents’ car home.
“It was, quite frankly, almost a little bit too much for two people our age,” Larry said. “This was a kind of a panic. And you know, when you don't want to do something, because we love it down there so much, it makes it even harder. We're just saddened by having to leave the way we did.”
Lynn Burton, who is from Toronto, originally planned to wait out the situation on Longboat Key, However, as her fellow Canadians began to leave and her son started asking her to come home three weeks before her original flight, she changed her mind.
“He actually said that he was up all night worrying about me,” Burton said. “And that he had promised his dad that he would look after me because my husband passed away. … It was kind of sweet that he was so worried about me.”
Roberta Graff’s family has been urging her to stay in Florida. Graff, a former Sarasota snowbird, is from Queens, but she has been renting a place here about three months. Three weeks ago, they were still determined to go back north — not anymore.
“I have a grandson who is working in Kenya and he called me to say, ‘Please don't come home,’” Graff said. “He said, ‘It's very dangerous. We get all the news here, and Kenya is closed. And I want to see you again, Grandma. I love you so much. Please don't come back.’”
Everything she loves about the Sarasota areas, particularly the art and entertainment scene, is closed. Graff and a companion are confident they can extend their stay at the house if needed. But they’re bored. They read a lot and watch “too much” television. Graff calls people, including her neighbors in New York, who are taking care of her plants and asking her when she’ll come home.
“I really love where I live and I want to go home,” Graff said. “That’s where I belong. Home. And of course, I miss my family. But I have to do what's the healthiest route I can take.”
As snowbirds fly home, those who house part-timers are feeling the strain. Diane Keller, who rents her unit in Mark I while she stays in Ohio, lost her March tenants.
“Everybody left because of the virus,” Keller said. “Everybody got out when they could.”
Similarly, hotels are feeling profound effects from a nosedive in tourism that Rick Konsavage, managing director of the Longboat Key Club, said started about two weeks ago. Beforehand, the Resort at Longboat Key Club had been completely booked up. Now, about 80% of its workers have been furloughed.
“It's real scary right now,” Konsavage said. “Because no one wants to be caught here, either, in a hotel room and they can't get home.”
The Resort at Longboat Key Club, along with Zota Beach Resort and Lido Beach Resort, fall under the Opal Collection marketing company's umbrella. Konsavage said most of the company’s Florida hotels are down to single digits in terms of percentage of rooms occupied. And in fact, many of those guests are from Florida.
“They can't get on the public beach, so they're renting a room,” Konsavage said. “It's a little caveat, so they can at least have some sort of normalcy.”
