If it weren’t for COVID-19, Cannery Brewing would be preparing for the grand-opening of a new large, outdoor patio and recreation area right about now.
The brewery had envisioned June 1 as ribbon-cutting day for the new patio.
However, the pandemic has forced the brewery to delay the opening of the patio until mid-summer; and once it is open the space won’t be the same as originally planned.
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Co-owner, Patt Dyck still believes that a “modified version” of the patio could be open by July.
Once open the capacity of the patio will be much lower than originally anticipated as physical distancing measures are expected to remain in place throughout the summer.
“It will be a little more low-key than what we had originally planned,” she said. “We’re still in the process of getting all of our ducks in a row because COVID has changed all of those ducks.”
The majority of the work that needed to be done to expand the patio, explained Dyck, was plumbing and electrical but the pandemic threw a wrench into those plans. The brewery needed to construct new washrooms to accommodate the added patrons and a roof over the patio.
Ideally these renovations would have started immediately after the brewery received the city’s approval to go ahead with the expansion, but were delayed until recently.
The original intentions for the patio were to seat 70-80 people with room for outdoor games such as bocce ball. The maximum capacity of 199 would be reserved for special events.
COVID-19 has also made any outdoor activity on the patio impossible this summer.
Dyck said, hopefully, that this summer’s version of the patio is “temporary” and the brewery can carry out their original vision by summer 2021.
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