That includes self-proclaimed patriot and Dayton native Kayt Senn-Grilliot. She shopped at the Oakwood Dorothy Lane Market on Friday for a small holiday gathering with a friend while dressed in an American flag patterned sweatshirt.
“I’m having a friend over for dinner and I decorate my yard,” she said. In comparison to last year, she said she feels peaceful and plans to watch fireworks from her porch.
The aisles at the Dorothy Lane Market weren’t overly crowded Friday and neither was the checkout area, but the store seemed to have a consistent stream of shoppers.
“We at Oakwood are seeing more customers than last year, but they are buying fewer items on each transaction than they did last year,” said Jerry Post, store director at Dorothy Lane Market. “Overall, customers and associates seem to be in better spirits and have been excited to do things we could not do last year, like our Saturday cookouts and the Sidewalk salmon sale.”
The Washington Square Dorothy Lane also has seen a slight uptick in sales since COVID restrictions have been eased in recent months.
“But it’s really hard to measure since more people are also taking vacations,” said Dorothy Lane Market Washington Square Store Director, Fred Pfeiffer.
Community celebrations were largely cancelled last year as COVID-19 continued to spread. This year most of those celebrations were planned as vaccines became available but before the restrictions were lifted.
“July 4 activities were planned in the spring recognizing a clear trend of controlling COVID-19 with abundant vaccinations and other common-sense precautions,” Englewood City Manager Eric Smith. “Things are returning to normal and thank goodness. We all hope this event will kick off a comforting community aura, putting a difficult 18 months in the rearview mirror.”
A recent AAA report revealed that more than two million Ohioans have plans to travel for the holiday and the same is true for Oakwood resident Stefanie Hunter who intends to spend the holiday with her family.
“We are going to Indian Lake and seeing our in-laws that Saturday and Sunday,” she said. They plan to have a small cookout with family and see fireworks.
If they weren’t going to visit family, she and her husband would have gone to see fireworks at Riverscape, Hunter said.
“We took the pandemic pretty seriously, so we didn’t go anywhere. We stayed home and had our own get together just me and my husband,” Hunter said.
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