With Oregon State University’s Commencement being held with virtual and in-person counterparts, the usual traffic that Corvallis, Ore. receives from students’ families and friends in an entirely in-person ceremony will be significantly lowered.

Executive Director of Visit Corvallis Christina Rehklau said via email that any OSU major event such as Commencement week, a football game or family weekend typically generates millions of dollars for the community.

“At Visit Corvallis, we conservatively estimate that Commencement week generates over $2 million dollars of economic impact for the community,” Rehklau said.

Rehklau said many businesses, such as lodging, restaurants and retailers have also had a generally difficult year due to health restrictions on capacity indoors with COVID-19.

Two lodging properties closed down in March of 2020 and remained closed until August.

Furthermore, at the start of the pandemic, fewer OSU students in town led to more difficulties on top of restrictions and changing health guidelines.

“It’s hard for a restaurant to purchase food, bring staff back on within 48 hours or use up extra food that was purchased if they need to go to a lower capacity without wasting it,” Rehklau said.

Heidi Lewis, creative operations director of human resources for both Sky High Brewing and American Dream Pizza, provides an insider perspective on restaurant success and downfalls during the pandemic. She has been employed by both companies for three years as the HR director, but worked previously as a consultant with both companies since 2012.

Last year, in-person Commencement was also canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and Lewis said that business was down during that time, estimated at 50% of what it normally had been outside of the pandemic.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, Lewis said that both restaurants—like others—are only allowed to seat up to 50% capacity, due to Corvallis’ low-risk categorization. As such, the restaurants do not plan on doing any special outreach for the Commencement week as they will likely be at their capacity during the week.

“It’s a balance act,” Lewis said. “We don’t want to over-promote and then have guests be disappointed by having to wait too long to get in.”

Simon Date, president of the Corvallis Chamber of Commerce said that in a typical year outside of COVID-19, Commencement week would increase traffic by a couple thousand families. But due to current circumstanc- es, he said it is difficult to gauge how many families will come into Corvallis this year.

However, the community has also been supportive of small local businesses dur- ing this time. For instance, the Corvallis Sustainability Coalition ran the “It’s On Us Corvallis” program that raised over $200,000 for restaurants to provide free meals throughout the pandemic.

“We are starting to see less of [these programs] now,” said Date. “But they are still very much available.”

Rehklau said the outdoor dining program that was spearheaded by the Corvallis Benton County Economic Development Office, Downtown Corvallis Association and Corvallis Chamber of Commerce has been a huge help to local restaurants.