Washington State Gov. Jay Inslee (D) on Thursday released "guidelines" for businesses involved in agritourism, where people visit farms, ranches and orchard businesses "for entertaining and educating the visitors and generating income for the ranch, farm, or business owner."
Amazingly enough, Inslee said these businesses can resume as long as they meet all of the guidelines in his Phase 2 plan.
Washington State Gov. @JayInslee is killing agritourism through the end of the year! pic.twitter.com/mQQHXdjrhe
— Beth Baumann (@eb454) August 25, 2020
There's a small area, however, that explicitly targets particular businesses.
"Activities such as hay/wagon/train rides, haunted houses, children's play equipment, live games, farm equipment exploration, inflatable jumping houses, animal viewing, petting areas, paintball and campfires are not permitted," the guidelines state.
Instead of saying what isn't permitted, why not create a list of what is?
Look at the "guidelines" for things like pumpkin patches, U-cut tree farms, etc. pic.twitter.com/gRm1Lxd3c9
— Beth Baumann (@eb454) August 25, 2020
The worst part of this? Small family businesses that are already suffering because of the Wuhan coronavirus are going to face an even harder time making ends meet. These families are praying that they'll be able to open their pumpkin patches and Christmas tree farms.
Remember: most of these businesses are seasonal. Families and employees rely on this income to survive the remainder of the year in the "off season."
How many small mom and pop orchards, farms and agritourism places will close because of this? There's nothing like picking fresh fruit and riding through a pumpkin patch. But apparently that's going to be a thing of the past in WA.
— Beth Baumann (@eb454) August 25, 2020
If Inslee is going to shut down a big sector of the agricultural industry in the state, he should have enough guts to say that's exactly what he's doing instead of having these ridiculous rules that basically shut severyone down. But he's a coward.