Brockville residents embrace first day of spring, restaurants to set up patios

First day of spring Spring makes a double-digit debut as restaurants rush to set up patios. CTV's Nate Vandermeer reports.

OTTAWA — With perfect temperatures to kick off the first day of spring, people were excited to get outside and restaurants were scrambling to set up their patios in Brockville.

Some people, even forgetting that spring had officially arrived.

"We did not know that, no!" said Devon and Rae Jackson, walking their dog along the Brockville waterfront.

"Yeah, totally forgot that spring was officially here! It's wonderful, just glorious. Definitely looking forward to lying on the patio. It's uplifting and we need that," Rae said.

Others also taking advantage of the blue skies down by the water, with the Mercier family enjoying lunch under the sun.

"It's usually a Sunday thing that we do with the kids but we made an exception today because it was beautiful out so we came a day early," said Teri-Ann Mercier.

"Get those flowers blooming," added J.R. Mercier. "We love taking our girls down here to the waterfront at Blockhouse and go for walks and they love seeing the water and boats. Hopefully, the warm weather comes and stays for a while."

The next seven days are predicted to be above seasonal, with highs of 17C on Tuesday and Wednesday in Brockville.

Brockville"Looking forward to a little freedom. This weather brings optimism," added the Mack family while out for a walk.

"Just looking forward to spring and more positive outlook for this year moving forward."

Along King Street, restaurants were hoping to set up their patios with the arrival of the warmer weather.

"Very excited to get it going," said Owain Devlin of the 1000 Islands Brewing Company.

"Had our patio application in the beginning of January and just waiting to hear back from the city on when we can get going on that," Devlin said, adding usually May 1 is the first day patios can set up along King Street.

"I'm hoping Monday morning. I know that may not be likely, but everyday kind of counts, so I'm kind of just keeping my phone ready for the phone call to get going," Devlin added.

"(It's) earlier than we would normally anticipate to start setting something like this up but with the pandemic and with the red zone happening, it's kind of a necessity," Devlin said. "Every little bit helps at this point."

The Leeds, Grenville and Lanark County region will move into the Red-Control zone on Monday, imposing new restrictions on social gatherings and capacity at bars and restaurants. Patios are allowed to open in the red zone, with measures in place for social distancing.

Devlin said last year's summer season was great for the first year they had the patio out front.

"It was a hit, it was fantastic, really good feedback," Devlin said. "It brought something down to the downtown core here and was just an overall success."

At car washes across the city, some people waited over 30 minutes to wash the winter away.

"I got my snow tires off today as well, just to push spring along the way, make sure it happens, but yeah it's a nice day to get your car washed and the shinier your truck the better the business is," said James Murphy of Wiremaster Electric, waiting at the Central Avenue Car Wash.

He said the warmer weather also brings in more work.

"It's been fairly busy, even with the coronavirus, with people moving into town coming from Ottawa and Toronto, buying up the properties and they want to get them renovated right away," Murphy said, looking at the sun and smiling with the warm air.

"Just looking forward to the summer, sitting in the backyard having a beer and a BBQ!"