SACRAMENTO, Calif. — As Dine Downtown 2022 kicks off on Friday, Sacramento restaurants are committed to staying open amid an all-time high surge of COVID-19 cases in Sacramento County.
Dine Downtown has been a tradition in Sacramento for over 17 years. It was created to drive more visibility and business to downtown restaurants when it’s usually a pretty slow time after the holidays. The event kicks off on Friday, Jan. 7 and goes through the 17.
Each participating business will have a fixed price menu with options for a three course meal.
This year, the Downtown Sacramento Partnership says around 30 businesses will be participating. In order to keep everyone safe, businesses will be following the county mask mandate, social distancing, offering takeout orders and many will have the option to do outdoor dining.
They also said while masks are required when you walk into a restaurant or get up and move around, it will be up to each individual restaurant if they want to enforce masking in between bites and sips, depending on if they're sitting inside or outside.
"Many of them have outdoor patios, some of them may be able to do to-go orders but keep in mind, I mean restaurants are probably hyper aware more than anybody else of the importance of safety, the importance of preparations to make sure that not only their customers, but their staff are staying safe, that's top of mind for everybody," Michael Ault, Executive Director of the Downtown Sacramento Partnership, said.
Still, he says these businesses need support right now after a rollercoaster of the past nearly two years, while trying to stay open through the pandemic.
"I think Dine Downtown is really great for people to try new restaurants, places they've maybe never tried before and it also allows the restaurants to have fun and kind of do things out of the normal," Jerry Mitchell, owner of Capitol Garage said.
Capitol Garage has been in business for three decades in Downtown Sacramento. They've got garage doors on both sides of their building they an open.
Mitchell says one of the COVID-19 precautions they may be taking this year is raising these doors to let more ventilation in when the restaurant starts to fill up.
“We fully expect if we have to close down or reduce service, we’re prepared to do that, but try to keep the spirit of Dine Downtown during it," Mitchell said. “It’s kind of fun here, we have our garage doors that we can roll up if it’s not too cold, to give more ventilation in the building and we do that whenever possible, especially when it’s full."
Mitchell says he worries the county’s latest surge in cases might reduce some attendance with the event this year, but he says for them, they’re pushing forward and just taking things day by day.
"We fully expect if we have to close down or redo service, we're prepared to do that, but try to keep the spirit of Dine Downtown going during it," he said.
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Sacramento restaurants say Dine Downtown still on despite COVID-19 surge