SE Arizona News

The City of Tubac is usually busy this time of year in its high season, but with COVID-19 circulating, the city is nearly empty. 

Many business owners in the area have closed their shops until further notice. 

“You don’t know what’s coming through the door,” Colt Hoffman, whose family owns Art Gallery H in Tubac, said to Green Valley News about the coronavirus. 

After weeks of taking necessary precautions by disinfecting surfaces in the gallery and giving customers hand sanitizer, Hoffman and his family decided to close the gallery until further notice. 

“We have to do our part in this too,” Hoffman said to Green Valley News. “We have bills to pay but for the sake of working together, you gotta do what you gotta do.”

Many other business owners in the area know they will get through this hard time, but are doing what must be done for the time being. 

"Nobody wants to be closed. This is our prime season," Jackie Zeitler, co-owner of Rogoway's Turquoise Tortoise Gallery. 

Co-owner Debbie Barrios said closing until further notice was their only option when all customers disappeared overnight. 

“We certainly don’t want to endanger people by encouraging them to come out,” Barrios said to Green Valley News. “We’ve been here 25 years, we’re not going to close. We will get through this."

Many business owners said they want to make sure everyone stays safe as well.

"It was a hard decision to close," Karin Topping, executive director of the Tubac Center of the Arts, said to Green Valley News. "We wanted to support the rest of the community. We want the village to be safe for everyone." 

Topping closed her center, but with it a couple of here workshops also crashed. The Tubac Singers Spring Concert was one of her events that won't be happening. As COVID-19 progresses, more of Topping's workshops and events could be effected. 

Another business owner, Ivan Drechsler, owner of Tubac Country Inn, is also being affected by the coronavirus, especially with March and April being the inn's most busy times of the year. 

Drechsler said what are the biggest months of the year are now empty. 

“We were 96% booked in March. Now, everything’s gone," he said to Green Valley News. "We've been doing lots of refunds." 

Bob Ochoa, head of the Tubac Chamber of Commerce, said things are getting bad, but knows that many business owners believe things will get better. 

“Everybody wants to do the right thing. A lot are balancing keeping businesses open and knowing we need to be compliant with the CDC," Ochoa said to Green Valley News. “Nobody’s closing for good, but it could happen. But there are no indications of that so far.”