PORT ARANSAS, Texas — Cars lined the streets of Port Aransas this afternoon as a group of residents held a parade protesting the stay at home order and asking the mayor to begin reopening local businesses.
"We need to reopen," Brian Hausknecht said. "These businesses need to stay in business."
But other Port Aransas residents urged caution before reopening for the safety of local residents.
The stay at home order has hurt local business throughout the Coastal Bend, but many residents in Port Aransas feel as if they have been hurt the most.
With no tourists coming into town for the spring months, some are way behind on their yearly revenue.
"We need to raise awareness," Hausknecht said. "A lot of people are not aware that some of these small cities, their life blood is visitors."
However, today's event was not a one-sided affair as many residents of the town emerged to protest the protest.
Most all of them worked in the service industy, which may come as a surprise.
"As much as I would love to go back to work, we are just not ready," local bartender Heather Traweck said.
Members of the protest say it was to merely raise awareness, hoping that the town can save them.
"They have been out of business for the last five weeks," Hausknecht said. "We want to see them come back to business."
It is no secret that the town and its residents want to get back to normal and have their businesses make money, they just disagree on the time. And for Traweck, the right time is not now.
"Right now it is not safe," she said. "A lot of them [tourists] come from these hot spot places. We have a lot of elderly and we have one little store that takes care of the whole island."
As of right now, the town does not have plans to lift their restrictions.
