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At the end of this week, starting March 12, wearing masks in most situations is optional. Companies will set their own rules. La Conner business owners responding to a Weekly News survey are embracing the masks-off policy, echoing Pac Nor Westy’s Rich Murphy: “following the governor’s guidance and ending our mask requirement as of March 12th. Customers may still choose to wear a mask and we will continue to have some on hand to provide as requested.”

That will be true for almost every business and institution locally, as Slider Café owner Pat Ball, The Stall’s Kay Trelstad, Washington Federal Manager Tami Mason, La Conner Regional Library Director Jared Fair and Jo Wolfe, director of the Skagit County Historical Museum confirmed.

Pam Fields at La Conner Coffee Company is almost there, with a “current” plan to let her customers and staff choose. She has a “however:” “as we get closer to March 12 I may change my thinking.” Her goal is to avoid confrontations with customers. She may wear a mask when folks are crowded around wanting ice cream.

Further south on First Street, Two Moons Gallery’s Alan Darcy will accept customers’ preferences and also give employees their choice, noting “some say they will continue to mask up, and some cannot wait to be free of masks.”

At Nell Thorn’s it will be the same, wrote Ted Furst, majority owner, with masks not required and staff making their own decisions.

Fellow restauranteur Ball wrote his staff have followed CDC (Centers for Disease Control) mask guideline and for cleaning, as well, adding “for those (customers) who are still uncomfortable they are more than welcome to wear masks and we do have our patio open.”

Bank staff will continue sanitizing surfaces, as they have for two years, Mason reports, and the night drop will be accessible 24 hours.

Fine Feathered Friends Rosi Jansen was the sole conservative respondent, writing “We are keeping our masks on and our sign for wearing masks on the door. We believe that it is best to protect us and others a little longer until a higher percentage of people will be vaccinated, including children. We sell plush birds and other animals and would hate to have a child infected in our store. When someone comes in without a mask we will ask them to put one on and also check with other customers in the store to see what they think. It will be a difficult time, but we’ll see and watch the statistics!”

Ball’s cafe and Nell Thorn will not limit seating, except for staff meeting the needs of their guests, Furst noted. Pac Nor Westy stopped restricting customer capacity when Gov. Jay Inslee dropped that guidance last year.

Darcy is realistic about tourists volumes once the Tulip Festival starts in April; he is getting ready to manage the additional traffic inside his store.

These owners are bullish on the tourist trade. Murphy hopes these are “the final stages of the pandemic and that normalcy returns for us all so we can welcome our visitors to La Conner with open arms this spring.”

Given no “new dangerous variants, or a third world war,” Furst’s group is feeling pretty confident about the year ahead. The Skagit Valley is that day trip sweet spot for people with “money to spend; and many of them, working from home, have tremendous freedom in their schedules,” he noted.

For Wolfe, that includes “amazing support” from, she wrote, “members, donors and volunteers. We see folks coming to visit the Museum who are relieved to be able to be out and about. We have had folks use us as their first outing!”

Darcy is all in for a spring like 2021, “when so many people came out to enjoy the flowers and visiting La Conner.”

Ball thinks “everybody is happy to see us approaching the finish line.” Mason sees “just a little light at the end of the tunnel.”

All that is needed now is for the weather, and the pandemic, to cooperate.

Folks are, as Trelstad wrote, “hopeful.”