Now that several COVID-19 restrictions and requirements have lessened and some have gone away completely, locally-owned businesses in Greene County have pulled through.

Jefferson Matters: A Main Street and Chamber Community Retail Revamped member Bonnie Silbaugh, who also owns Fudge’s Flowers and Gifts in Jefferson, shares her thoughts on how the pandemic impacted the small businesses in the county for whether or not businesses had to close.

“I didn’t feel that at all. I think Jefferson, and Greene County in general, did awesome. I can’t think of one business that closed and we’ve had some businesses open. How did we do that? It’s because we’ve persevered, we looked for grants, we worked together to make sure things were open.” 

Silbaugh points out businesses had to make adjustments with hours, pushing more information in alternative ways, and trying to balance homeschooling children and owning a business. She talks about being a part of the retail revamped team and how everyone banded together.

“It seems small that you would have a retail revamped committee of business owners coming together, but to have committed people come together once a month to try figure out how to grow their other neighbor’s business and not just their own, it’s kind of a big deal.”   

Silbaugh is encouraged to see more people coming back to retailers, restaurants and other businesses to grow the local economy.