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New Leadership Comes to Kent County Chamber of Commerce

July 15, 2020 by Dave Wheelan 1 Comment

It’s safe to say that when an organization starts a new year with a new executive director and a new president of its governing board, there will be plenty of new opportunities. With this “new blood” in place, almost every aspect of a group’s mission is evaluated, from short-term objectives to long-term goals, in a typically healthy process to achieve the more impact.

The Kent County Chamber of Commerce, with its membership of over 300, is one of the Mid-Shore’s most well-known and respected business associations, that is currently experiencing this phenomenon.

With Sam Shoge as the Chamber’s new executive director this spring, and Bryan Matthews assuming his new role as president of the organization in January, a unique dynamic duo will be at the helm.

Shoge, a long-time resident of Kent County,former Town of Chestertown Council member, and most recently, a member of the Talbot County Economic Development office, was eager to take on this new role to combine his passion for entrepreneurship and business development with his love of community.

Matthews, a former coach and vice president at Washington College, and now for many years, a vice president at KRM Development Corporation, was also motivated to find new ways to help Chamber members through further education and networking programs.

The Spy sat down with both of them, appropriately socially distanced, to talk about the future of commerce in Kent County and their combined effort to reinforce the relevancy of the Chamber as the county prepares to enter a new and unpredictable world as the region begins to recover from the COVID-19 crisis.

This video is approximately four minutes in length. To learn more about the Kent County Chamber of Commerce please go here

Hospitality: Tidewater Inn Adjusts to Post-COVID World

June 25, 2020 by Val Cavalheri Leave a Comment

Hospitality. It’s at the core of most businesses that deal with the public. At its most basic level, it is conveyed by a warm handshake and a sincere smile. Books are written, and courses are given on reading expressions to interpret a customer’s level of comfort or happiness. So, what happens when faces are partially covered, touching is discouraged, and distance is mandated?

Living through a pandemic has uprooted all business. Many have been able to turn to video conferencing as a way to continue the personal touch. Other, have had to come up with innovative ways to manage inventory and sell product. But what if the product is a luxury hotel? How do you show hospitality, ensure comfort, feed, and entertain your guests even as new rules are being written? If you’re like Lauren Catterton, who rose up the ranks of the hotel business to become the current General Manager of the Tidewater Inn in Easton, you’re up to the challenge.

Noticeably, the hotel/restaurant/bar industry took a significant hit when COVID struck. “As soon as it happened,” said Catterton, “we just started researching as much as possible and rewriting hospitality, because they don’t hand you a book. No one said, ‘this is what you guys are going to do when you reopen.’ We had to make it up on our own. We had also been in the midst of some renovations when it all hit.”

Historically, the hotel does a major renovation every winter, their slow season. However, this past winter was even more special. Besides completing the elevation of the third-floor guest rooms, they were building the carriage house behind the Tidewater House (previously Inn at 202 Dover) and adding the Terrasse Spa to their long list of amenities.

The renovations are now completed, but nothing is now as was expected then. Catterton: “We had to make the properties’ COVID-Friendly’ following all the CDC guidelines. Hunter’s Tavern, the ballrooms, and the Terrace are all on a socially distant floor plan now.” Not only that, if visiting the restaurant, expect to be asked for both your name and your phone number as part of their contact tracing efforts, should they need to get in touch with you.

Weddings will have a different look, as well. Besides the tables being six feet apart, there can be no more than six people per table, unless they’re a family of eight. Cocktail reception and dancing will be done outside.

Remember turn down service? How about having your room cleaned while you were exploring the town? Not anymore. “Guests can call the front desk and let us know anything they may need,” says Catterton. “Housekeeping will put a little bag together for them and leave it on their door. When guests depart, the hotel rooms are left dormant for 24 hours, then we go in, and we fog it with like a, basically Lysol Ghostbuster. Of course, it’s more complicated than that, and we let that sit for another 24 hours. Then we strip it using CDC certified cleaning products. So, the room has to remain vacant for 72 hours before another guest can use it.”

Obviously, the safety of the guests has been a top priority, but there is that ‘hospitality’ factor that can’t be mandated or controlled but needs to be demonstrated in their line of work. Catterton has spent time thinking about how to deal with all of that. “It was the first thing that we discussed when we knew our guests were coming back: how do you let them know that you’re smiling under your mask? How do you project a specific tone of voice because you’re muffled? I think our staff is instinctually warm and hospitable, and I think that’s reflected, whether with a mask on or not. We’re a very small team, and we’ve been through a lot, but we are genuinely happy to do what we do, which is to take care of our guests.”

But it’s not just letting guests know how you’re feeling about them; it’s also learning to read their guests. “We already know when people tell us, ‘hey, I’m smiling behind my mask,’ because we hear it in their voice. But we’ve also had to learn to read people that are cautious and adjust our behavior accordingly, to focus on just making them feel very comfortable.”

Comfort, safety, and new ideas are something the Tidewater is committed to adding to their catalog. They are currently also partnering with the Avalon Foundations on Wednesday evenings through July 8 for a Sunlit Summer Song Series, which features al fresco style dinner and concert.

Then there is Terrasse, which opened just last week. Billed as a full-service spa destination, it offers massages, facials, body treatments, Reiki, etc. It occupies the space originally held by the John Moll Board Room and Dover Club. As promised, everything about it is both luxurious and relaxing. Best yet, you don’t have to be a Tidewater Inn guest to enjoy the services. Keep an eye out for their Locals for Locals special for Talbot County residents and their First Responder discount.

To Lauren Catterton, all these changes are inevitable and not always as planned. But she’s got new ideas and a new mission: “We have to have a different focus. Our efforts are now on recreational tourism and how we can be a more walkable/bikeable community that will bring people in. We are giving a lot of emphasis and energy to the outdoor dining experience and other things that we can do. We’re no longer just Easton focused. It’s what you can do in St. Michaels; what you can do in Oxford. After doing all the wonderful things you can do in the area, you can just stay here with us at the Tidewater.”

Val Cavalheri is a recent transplant to the Eastern Shore, having lived in Northern Virginia for the past 20 years. She’s been a writer, editor and professional photographer for various publications, including the Washington Post.

Commerce: When an Alcohol Distillery Takes on COVID-19

May 19, 2020 by Val Cavalheri Leave a Comment

By now, you probably know about how St. Michaels’ Windon Distilling, home of Lyon Rum, temporarily ventured into making hand sanitizers. But did you know that they’re still at it?

If you don’t remember or weren’t paying close attention, here is a brief recap. In mid-March, as businesses closed around the nation, the call went out, and a temporary dispensation was given to beverage alcohol distilleries to help make much-needed sanitizers. Distilleries everywhere took on the challenge. As the founder and CEO of Windon Distilling and the President of the Maryland Distillers Guild, Jamie Windon was in a unique position to help guide and create a network and database to funnel the many requests they were getting. These requests came from all over Maryland on behalf of multiple state agencies, front line workers, and essential businesses.

Those first few weeks were a scramble to learn how to make the product, how to procure the ancillary supplies (glycerin, hydrogen peroxide, bottles), and how to get it to the people who needed it. But the decision to make a new product was something they knew they had to do, not something they were doing from a business perspective. “This was our saying, yes to a need that came down to us from the State and the County,” says Windon. “We were simply responding, and because we were responding to their requests, we had no idea when we made that first batch if that was the only batch we were going to make, if we were going to do that and be done with it, or how long this would continue.”

It went on longer than what anyone expected. For six weeks, they tried to keep up with the demand. At one point, Windon remembers, the guild had a backlog of requests for over 20,000 gallons that had to be filled. And with 90% of the Distilling’s staff laid off, it became the responsibility of Windon and her partners to roll up their sleeves and “work 24/7 just as if we were starting a new business.”

With such a tremendous need, there was, of course, no extras to go around, despite the many calls they were receiving from the public. But two weeks ago, it all changed. The Distilling company is still making hand sanitizers, but they now have enough to sell to the private consumer, whether it’s an individual or a business preparing to reopen.

“Now anybody that needs it can contact us,” says Windon. “A business owner said to me the other day, ‘Oh man, I can’t find hand sanitizer, and when I did, it was $60 a gallon.’ And I said, ‘you know I make it, and it’s $35 a gallon.’ That’s been a mission of ours since the very beginning when we started this. We, along with many of our fellow distillers in Maryland, have worked to help correct price gouging and to provide something that was needed at a fair price. That’s just hugely important to us as a company.”

But don’t expect to see the personal-sized bottles. The company only sells one-gallon containers. And don’t expect to just be able to run into the distillery and pick one up. All transactions are done through email, with pickup by appointment at the showroom or their booth at the farmer’s markets.

At this point, Windon plans on continuing to make hand sanitizers as long as it’s needed and is proud of her company’s role in this unexpected opportunity. They won’t, however, be branding it into the Windon family of products. “If you look at our bottles, they have the FDA label. It’s very simple and clean. It’s a functional refill of an essential item, and it would be awful to stop making it when people in our community need it. When that need ceases, and when the calls and emails stop coming in, we’ll stop making it.”

She was also quick to confirm her real passion. “I don’t want a hand sanitizer business. I like making rum. I mean, that’s what we do here. Out of necessity, this booze factory is temporarily a hand sanitizer factory.”

This is a relief to the many Lyon fans, who had worried that the company might run out of rum. “Luckily, she said, “this is our seventh year in business, and we had a pretty good stock of the rum inventory and other spirits going into this. We stopped spirit production for about seven weeks to concentrate on the hand sanitizers.”

This past week the distillery started doing fermentations and making rum again. Their partner, Grey Wolf Distilling, has also begun distilling their vodka line. “But of course, like any business right now,” says Windon, “we’re not jumping back into full manufacturing because we simply don’t know what’s to come and what the demand will be. We’re just beginning to see our normal business start to come back. We’re still about 75% down in sales, but just enough to start needing to refill the rum supply.”

Which is a surprising comment given that the liquor industry has been reported to be thriving right now. Says Windon that could not be further from the truth. “Craft distillers and craft breweries across the country, especially in Maryland, are suffering. They’re suffering because their tasting rooms are closed, and in-store liquor store tasting opportunities are gone. In Maryland, we’ve seen an average of about 75% reduction in sales and as much as 100% for some distilleries. My friends who have breweries tell terrible stories about having to dump beer that’s beginning to expire that wasn’t sold. Luckily spirits don’t expire, so we count our blessings where we can.”

With tasting rooms being a critical revenue source for craft breweries, will Windon expect a quick return to reopen? Not quite. “Out of safety and responsibility to my staff and my customers, I was one of the very first businesses to close my doors before the Governor mandated it. I anticipate that I’ll be one of the last businesses to fully open my doors once it’s legal as well, simply because I want to take things slow. Our distillery is about hospitality, about taking care of people, making people comfortable. And until the public feels a renewed sense of trust that it’s safe to be close to people, we are aren’t able to provide what we normally provide, which is seriously wonderful service with a smile. That’s the core of who we are, and until we can do that, there’s no reason for me to open the tasting room. And I’m not in a hurry to. I’m going to wait until it’s safe. I don’t know how long that’ll take, but we’ll be here. We’re not going anywhere. We’ll just be doing things differently.”

Spying on Annapolis: Downtown not “Giving up the Ship”

May 17, 2020 by The Spy 1 Comment

If there were to be a list of early indicators that America might be ready to re-engage in tourist towns, downtown Annapolis should be on that metric board.

The historic state capital seemed like a perfect case study for evaluating the first full day of the newly revised Maryland social distancing guidelines from Governor Larry Hogan, who just happens to live in the hood.

What the Spy saw on Saturday was promising but tentative. Taking advantage of what could only be called a perfect May day, modest numbers of tourists, midshipmen, and locals returned to walking on Main Street, visiting some shops, or gathering at the city dock. And all of whom seemed to clustered with only known ones; but happy to have this buffered experience nonetheless

The city of Annapolis has launched a clever marketing campaign that borrows the famed motto of a naval commander in 1813 crying out to his ship’s crew to “Don’t give up the Ship.” The Spy found good evidence Saturday that no one is going to give up on any ship or this town anytime soon.

This video is approximately one minute in length

COVID-19: Biking Spikes with ECS’s Ryan Hickey and Zach Gill

May 13, 2020 by The Spy Leave a Comment

While the word “spiking” as a relatively negative connotation these days as COVID-19 works its way through the Mid-Shore, it still is a perfect term for the quantum leap that recreational biking has taken over the last six weeks.

With record sales of new bikes and the doubling of other bikes being repaired, dealers are facing an unfathomable level of demand since the coronavirus hit. Nowadays, owners and staff putting longer hours and increased schedules to meet the needs of customers.

The Spy interviewed Ryan Hickey, owner of Easton Cycle and Sport, and team member Zach Gill about this phenomenon.

This video is approximately two minutes in length. For more information about Easton Cycle and Sport please go here.

Gordman’s Parent Co. Files for Bankruptcy

May 12, 2020 by John Griep 1 Comment

Stage Stores Inc., which operates brands including Gordmans and Peebles, has filed for bankruptcy, citing the effects of closing all its stores as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The firm operated Peebles stores that had been rebranded as Gordmans in recent months in Easton and Chestertown.

In a May 10 letter to customers, President and CEO Michael Glazer said Stage had “been unable to obtain necessary financing to continue operating as an independent business.

“We have therefore filed voluntary petitions under Chapter 11, as we simultaneously run a sale process for our business or any of our assets and initiate an orderly wind-down of our operations,” Glazer wrote. “We hope our actions over the last several months to reposition the business will attract the right partner who is interested in our off-price concept.

“If we receive a viable bid for the business, we will terminate our winddown of operations at certain locations,” he wrote. “This is incredibly difficult news to deliver and it is a decision that we came to after exhausting all other options.”

Stage is the third large retailer to file for bankruptcy in recent days, following J. Crew and Neiman Marcus.

In its bankruptcy filing, Houston-based Stage said it had between 10,001 to 25,000 creditors and listed total assets at about $1.7 billion and total debts at about $1 billion. Stage reported about $1.6 billion in revenue in 2018.

The firm has about 28.9 million shares of common stock. Axar Capital Management LP holds nearly 15% of the firm’s equity; Glazer holds 6.41%.

The firm’s 50 largest creditors include Nike, which is owed $3.6 million; Adobe, $2.64 million; Skechers, $2.31 million; Ralph Lauren, $2.138 million; Levi, $2.079 million; and Adidas, $1.879 million. One Maryland firm, FILA USA Inc., is owed more than $940,000.

Stage operated stores under a variety of brands, including Stage Stores, Bealls, Palais Royal, Peebles, Gordmans and Goody’s.

In 2017, Stage bought the Gordmans name, along with 48 stores and one distribution center, and later announced plans to convert all its stores to the off-price Gordmans brand to compete with discount retailers such as TJ Maxx and Burlington.

The rebrand had included the former Peebles department stores in Easton and Chestertown.

Although those changes had seen some success, the pandemic halted any progress in improving the company’s finances.

The firm, in a list of frequently asked questions on its website, wrote:

“Over the last several months, we had been taking significant steps to attempt to strengthen our financial position and find an independent path forward.

“However, the increasingly challenging market environment was made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic, which required us to temporarily close all of our stores and furlough the vast majority of our associates.”

Stage will reopen its 738 stores in a phased approach to liquidate inventory as it seeks a buyer.

About 557 stores will open on May 15, 67 stores are expected to open on May 28, and the remaining stores are expected to open on June 4.

Glazer said the store closing sales would include brand name apparel and home decor merchandise.

The company “will continue to follow health authorities’ recommendations and industry best practices as we reopen to ensure our guests and associates feel comfortable in our stores and facilities,” he wrote. “We will provide additional information about the steps we are taking, which include ensuring appropriate social distancing, the use of face covers, enhanced cleaning and sanitation, modified purchasing and returns processes, and good hygiene and health awareness.

Stage expects “to honor existing customer programs, including gift cards and returns, for the first 30 days after a store reopens,” Glazer wrote. “We will not be issuing gift cards at this time and we encourage you to use them while you can.”

Gift cards, rewards or coupons that expired while the store was closed because of COVID-19 will not be honored.

For questions about products, warranties or rewards, customers in the U.S. should continue to contact the customer service team via phone at 800.743.8730, email or text.

If customers have questions regarding the restructuring process, or for information about which stores will be affected, visit www.gordmans.com.

Let’s Get Virtual – A Free Workshop Series

May 8, 2020 by Spy Desk Leave a Comment

May 11, 2020 10AM Step 1: Websites

May 18, 2020 10AM Step 2: Virtual Exhibits

June 1, 2020 10 AM Step 3: Virtual Tours and More

Even though our heritage sites may be physically closed, we can still offer exciting experiences. Learn how to offer virtual experiences – a wander through a historic house, a view of favorite exhibits, or offer behind the scenes peeks of a heritage site – in the Stories of the Chesapeake workshop series: Let’s Get Virtual. This free three-part series will focus on content, technical requirements, equipment, and best practices for building a rewarding virtual experience without breaking the bank.

Robert Forloney and Raven Bishop will lead the workshops. Mr. Forloney is a Program Developer & Cultural Institution Consultant with extensive experience working with both large and small heritage sites including the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, South Street Seaport, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, and the Museum of the City of New York.

Ms. Bishop is an Instructional Technologist at Washington College and is also a National Board-Certified Visual Arts Educator with over 15 years of experience in project-based curriculum and instructional design. She leads the new Virtual/Augmented Reality Digital Imaging Studio [VARDIS] in Washington College’s Miller Library where her work explores augmented & virtual reality in instruction, particularly as it applies to museum instruction for small, rural, community-curated museums. Her work in this field has won she and her collaborators the 2018 Campus Technology Education Futurists IMPACT Award and a 2018 National Digital Stewardship Alliance (NDSA) Innovation Award.

To register for the workshop and obtain login information, please contact the Stories of the Chesapeake Heritage Area at info@storiesofthechesapeake.org or 410-778-1460.

Don’t miss the latest! You can subscribe to The Talbot Spy‘s free Daily Intelligence Report here

Kent County Will Offer 75 $1,000 COVID-19 Small Business Grants

May 6, 2020 by John Griep 1 Comment

Kent County will offer $1,000 COVID-19 relief grants to the first 75 small businesses that qualify.

Businesses will be able to apply online at https://www.kentcounty.com/business/business-support/incentives/grants beginning at 10 a.m. Thursday, May 7. Applications will close at 5 p.m. Friday, May 15.

Applications will be date and time stamped upon submittal of the online form and the grants will be provided to the first 75 eligible businesses.

The online application should take 10 minutes or less, Jamie Williams, the county’s economic development director, told the Kent County Commissioners Tuesday night.

The grants are being offered to Kent County for-profit businesses established before Jan. 1, 2020, that had no more than four employees on March 5, 2020. Businesses must be in good standing with the county and state.

Businesses that have received some form of COVID-19 relief — such as from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) or the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program — will only be considered for county grants if there is money remaining in the program after businesses that have received no funds elsewhere are given grants.

“This gives us a chance to help a few more people that have not been helped by other means,” Kent County Commissioner Ron Fithian said Tuesday night. “We just want to make it go as far as it can.”

The grant funds are coming from the county’s revolving loan fund, which will be dissolved. County officials said that program had never performed as hoped.

According to Kent County Economic Development:

“The Kent County Small Business COVID-19 Emergency Grant Fund will offer working capital to assist Kent County for-profit, small businesses with disrupted operations due to COVID-19.

“Grant assistance is intended to provide interim relief complementing arrangements with the business’ bank(s), business interruption insurance, financial institutions, and federal and state partners.”

Williams also gave the commissioners a brief review of the results of a business impact questionnaire that has been completed by 76 Kent County businesses so far.

The questionnaire continues through Friday and is available online under the Business Resources tab at https://www.kentcounty.com/coronavirus.

Asked if operations had changed as a result of the pandemic and state of emergency, 49% of responding businesses said they had shut down, 33% responded other, 21% were operating with modifications, and 8% were operating normally, Williams said.

About two-thirds of the responding businesses said there had been no layoffs as a result of the pandemic and 63% said no future layoffs are planned. Only 20% of businesses are using telework.

About 42% of businesses said they were are risk or high risk of closing permanently if the state of emergency is prolonged; 11% said the business was at no risk of closing.

Businesses were asked to use a 1-5 scale to quantify the risk of closing, with 1 being no risk and 5 being high risk.

The responses were: 1) 11%; 2) 24%; 3) 24%; 4) 21%; 5) 21%.

UM SRH Thanks the LaMotte Company for Producing Hand Sanitizer for Hospitals

May 6, 2020 by Shore Regional Health System Leave a Comment

Since 1919, the LaMotte Company, originally located in Baltimore, has been known for providing quality equipment and guidance for water analysis. Today, the company designs and manufactures reagents, instruments and test kits in Chestertown. But by the end of March, amid the Covid-19 pandemic, LaMotte team members began discussing how they could help the community during this unexpected crisis. The outcome? Hand sanitizer for UM Shore Regional Health and other local organizations!

“We are deeply grateful for the donation of hand sanitizer for our home care nurses,” said Trish Focht, manager, UM Shore Home Care and Chester River Home Care. “LaMotte is truly helping our front-line health care workers stay safe during this pandemic.”

Nurses from Chester River Home Care. L-R: Jenny Paul, Melissa Myers, Brooke Maier, Jen Walters and Amanda Sutton. Walters fashioned the group’s head coverings.

According to Andy Glenn, LaMotte’s Operational Excellence Manager, the production of hand sanitizer was a logical choice, since the company already produces liquid reagents for use in water testing. As internal discussions got under way, the LaMotte Company was asked by the Kent County Office of Emergency Services if they could produce hand sanitizer for the county’s volunteer fire and rescue companies, and the Chester River Health Foundation sent a request for donations of items, including hand sanitizer, to UM Shore Medical Center at Chestertown.

Within a week and half, LaMotte chemists and technicians were able to make a few small 10 liter batches, and later moved to producing 100 liter batches. In less than a month, LaMotte has supplied the Kent County EMS, the UM Shore Medical Centers at Chestertown and Easton, UM Chester River Home Care, UM Shore Home Care, and other local health care, public safety and social service organizations with sanitizer.

Glenn is pleased with his team’s ability to accomplish so much, so quickly. “We are fortunate that we have been able to use our essential status to provide needed supplies to our neighbors on the front lines of this pandemic and to make a real difference in our community. I was proud that the team was able to come together, without reservation, and each use their unique skill sets to move this project from conception to reality in less than 10 days,” said Glenn.

Shore Home Care nurses Debra Schultz, Teresa Baker and Katie Taylor.

The actual making and bottling of sanitizer was not difficult, he explained. “The hard part was getting to that point. Since we don’t normally make sanitizer, our R&D group had to research a formula and determine how to verify alcohol content, while Regulatory Affairs had to undertake a tremendous amount of paperwork to register our facility with the FDA. Our Creative Services team created a brand new label. Additionally, when it was manufactured, considerations had to be taken due to the flammability of the alcohol, so it was made and poured in a well ventilated, clean area.”

According to Lydia Johnson, LaMotte chemist, the team would like to continue producing hand sanitizer throughout the health crisis, as the supply of alcohol, which is limited, permits. “I was happy to contribute in my small way to support those on the front lines and only wish the materials were more readily available so we could do more,” commented Johnson.

As part of the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS), University of Maryland Shore Regional Health is the principal provider of comprehensive health care services for more than 170,000 residents of Caroline, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s and Talbot counties on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. UM Shore Regional Health’s team of more than 2,500 employees, medical staff, board members and volunteers works with various community partners to fulfill the organization’s mission of Creating Healthier Communities Together.

Don’t miss the latest! You can subscribe to The Chestertown Spy‘s free Daily Intelligence Report here

Less Seasonal Help, Virus Deliver One-Two Punch to Bay’s Blue Crab Industry

April 29, 2020 by Bay Journal Leave a Comment

Crab season is off to a slow and foreboding start around the Chesapeake Bay, with many crabmeat processors crippled by an inability to import seasonal workers and by watermen worried they’ll be unable to sell all they can catch as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Chilly, windy weather limited commercial harvests of blue crabs through much of April, the first full month of the season. Warming spring weather usually brings better fortunes, but those in the business of catching or picking crabs say they fear for their livelihoods amid the double whammy that’s hit the Bay’s most valuable fishery.

“It’s kind of a really scary situation,” said Bill Sieling, executive vice president of the Chesapeake Bay Seafood Industries Association, which represents Maryland companies. “It just doesn’t look good.”

Many of the crabmeat processing businesses around the Bay are short-handed because they failed to get federal approval to bring in as many foreign workers as they have in previous years.

The Department of Homeland Security held a lottery in January to distribute a reduced pool of 33,000 H-2B visas nationwide to all of the landscaping, construction and other businesses seeking to bring in seasonal labor, mainly from Mexico and Central America. Under pressure, the department announced in March it would hand out another 35,000 visas, but shelved that in early April amid the coronavirus pandemic.

As a result, only three of Maryland’s nine “picking houses,” as the crab processors are known, received any visas in the initial drawing. After missing out on the lottery, Lindy’s Seafood on Hoopers Island was looking at limping along with a half-dozen local workers.

“We could sell more product, we just can’t produce it,” said sales manager Aubrey Vincent.

Then, in late April, she said she got federal approval to bring back 61 workers who’d picked crabmeat at the plant last fall.

“It’s not all of my people,” she said, noting that the plant typically hires more than 100 seasonal workers. Still, she said, “it’s better than no people.”

The luck was as bad or worse in Virginia, where Graham & Rollins Inc., the biggest crabmeat processor in the state and one of the largest on the East Coast, has been idled after coming up snake-eyes in the visa lottery. The company, a fixture on the Hampton waterfront for nearly 80 years, had asked for 85 visas.

“Without workers, we’re looking at closure,” said Johnny Graham. “The plant’s been mothballed, the power’s pretty much cut off [and] the water supply’s being cut off.”

J. M. Clayton Co. in Cambridge was among the lucky ones. Co-owner Jack Brooks said the company got its request granted via the lottery for about 60 visas.

But then coronavirus intervened. Brooks said that with restaurants shut down and many people losing jobs, the demand for crabmeat is off, and he’s not sure when or if it will come back. So, the company has arranged to bring in “a few more than 20” workers for now.

“We’re looking at probably 30–45% capacity at best,” Brooks said.

Though unable to process much crabmeat, processors say they’re still able to sell live or steamed crabs. There appears to be a robust demand for the limited supply available in this slow-starting season.

Graham said the retail seafood store operated by his company has been selling crabs for carryout like it was the 4th of July, the traditional peak of demand for steamed crabs.

Debbie Fitzhugh sells fresh crab meat at a new service window at the J. M. Clayton Co. in Cambridge. Photo by Dave Harp/Bay Journal News Service

J. M. Clayton also has seen an uptick in retail crab sales, Brooks said. In response, the company has set up a makeshift drive-up window where customers can place orders and pick them up.

“People blow a horn, we go to the window and talk to them,” he said. That way, he explained, “people don’t walk in like they used to” and risk getting or spreading coronavirus.

Processors said they’re taking steps to try to keep their workers healthy. Brooks said Clayton is limiting the workforce in the picking room so workers are spaced 6 feet apart and wearing masks.

Watermen aren’t as worried about social distancing but they do wonder if they’ll be able to sell their catch when warmer weather usually brings more crabs into their boats.

“There haven’t been many crabs so far,” said Jeff Harrison, president of the Talbot Watermen Association. But demand is off, with restaurants closed and many markets not buying much seafood.

“Right now,” he added, “there really isn’t a problem selling them.”

Harrison said he’s worried about how long the coronavirus shutdowns are going to last. They already cut short what had turned out to be a good wild oyster harvest, he said. Now, even if restaurants and other businesses start to reopen in the coming month, he foresees a season where watermen won’t earn as much for what they catch — and feel lucky just to be able to sell it at all.

Already, the dockside price has been about 30% or more below what it was at the start of the season last year, Harrison said. Meanwhile, he noted, the price of razor clams used as bait has gone up.

The $2 trillion in COVID-19 economic relief passed by Congress in late March included $300 million for the seafood industry. But that’s to be distributed nationwide, and industry officials say it’s far from enough to keep everyone afloat. Just in Virginia alone, losses to all commercial fisheries are estimated to range from $53 million to $68 million, according to data compiled by the Virginia Marine Resources Commission.

“Even if it lasts another month, it’s still going to be a mess,” Harrison said. “And if it goes two months, we’re done.”

Amid news reports that air and water quality have improved as a result of so many businesses closed and people ordered to stay home, Harrison said the effort to halt the spread of coronavirus is probably helping the Bay. But, he added, it’s “not the way we wanted it to happen.”

By Timothy B. Wheeler

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