Fish Tales In Ocean City Buys 'Bumper Tables' For Socially Distant Dining
OCEAN CITY, Md. (WJZ) -- Giant inflatable inner tubes on wheels were spotted at an Ocean City bar and grill over the weekend, built with the intent to provide an idea of what a socially distant dining experience in the future.
The pub Fish Tales recently got the tables in the hopes they can use them once they can go back to dine-in services with social distancing guidelines in place.
The pub is only open for carry-out right now, but once they are permitted to open, the idea would be that customers could use these tables to dine-in and stay socially distant.
There hasn't been any official guidance on using a table like these from the state so far.
It's an idea chartered by Revolution Event Design and Production, a special events company based in Baltimore.
"We're an event company, and events have taken a hard hit, so we've been trying to figure out a way that events and things can still happen," said Erin Cermak, one of the owners of Revolution.
She said while people have been trying to figure out extended seating for big places like ballrooms, no one has been able to figure out a safe way to be social and walk around while maintaining the required distance.
The tubes are custom made, with a welded frame, with an inner tube and wheels.
5 Things To Remember When Visiting Ocean City, Maryland As State Reopens
She said it was a lot of trial and error, but that once they got it to six feet, people can run around and interact with each other- six feet apart of course.
"You get in the middle of them and you're just happy," Cermak said.
While there isn't necessarily any official state guidance yet on something like this, she said that they have built them to be guaranteed six feet away from someone else.
She said they've gotten an "incredible reaction" so far and are in talks with other businesses to do the same thing for them.
"I think there's a lot of different applications for it and we're just getting started," Cermak said.
Since the coronavirus pandemic began, she said they've also been making gowns, face shields, and are working on coming up with other ideas that could help events going forward during these times.
Gov. Larry Hogan made the announcement Wednesday saying the state would move toward a Safer At Home advisory but said ultimately every jurisdiction could make their own call on if they want to reopen. Check out what you need to know here.
While many counties are following phase one of Gov. Larry Hogan's Road to Recovery plan, some are following a modified version. WJZ has a full list with a county-by-county breakdown here.
For the latest information on coronavirus go to the Maryland Health Department's website or call 211. You can find all of WJZ's coverage on coronavirus in Maryland here.
