Coutts blockade causing mixed emotions among business owners near Milk River

Businesses near the Coutts border crossing are enjoying brisk sales - a silver lining to the anti-vaccine mandate protest going on nearby.

After five days blocking the highway, protesters opened one lane of traffic in either direction, allowing border crossings to resume late Wednesday.

For businesses near the border, the increase of people attending the blockade has been an unexpected boost after a slow two years of cross-border travel and tourists.

“Just the last five, six days, the injection of people into the community and the money being spent in the business and throughout the whole town has been wonderful,” said Laura Michaelis, owner of Sandstone Motel and Restaurant in Milk River.

Michaelis says it's been a steady flow of customers through her doors since Saturday, when the convoy rolled through town. She says it's still too early to estimate a dollar figure of added revenue from the past few days.

“We get up at the crack of dawn and it is go-go-go until the end of the day trying to get people fed, trying to get people into the hotel and just making sure that everybody coming into our business is taken care of. So, once that slows down, maybe we'll have a look (at the revenue),” said Michaelis.

Milk River has seen a large increase of semi-truckers stopping in town as a result of the blockade near the Coutts border crossing. Located roughly 20 kilometres north of the Canada-U.S. border.

Other businesses in the community say they are seeing a slight increase in customers, but nothing out of the ordinary.

“A lot of people from out-of-town don't know where we are so it's mostly a local group that we have here,” said Jason Lynn, co-owner of Riverside Market in Milk River.

“We've definitely have had some people come in that were stranded or waiting to get through,” added Lynn.

According to Lynn, Riverside Market has not noticed any shipping delays as a result of the near by border closure, but says he’s expecting produce coming from California to arrive late.

For some businesses in Coutts, the roadblock has added another obstacle to get around.

Cindy Clarke is feeling the damage from the limit access into town. She owns a pottery business in Coutts and initially supported the convoy.

“You’re allowed to have the views you like and you're allowed to state them but you're not allowed to step on my toes in my yard while you're doing it,” said Clarke.

Although, some traffic has slowly begun to ease and disperse from the blockade, businesses in Milk River say they're expecting to see another increase of travellers come through the town this weekend.

“It’s going to pick up for sure on the weekend as people are off of work and people are looking for things to do or just come to the area, we are expecting a bigger crowd this weekend,” said Michaelis.