FREDERICTON -- An amusement park operator says he's taken all necessary precautions in order to open a midway in Fredericton.

It's got all the brightly lit nostalgia that's been mostly absent in the year of COVID-19, but there's nothing vintage about this midway's operational plan.

"In the old days, the midway would just be wide open," said Nathan Smithers, the general manager of East Coast Amusements. "We want everybody to come in, pack the midway, nice and busy. That atmosphere is gone now. It's going to be a strict, only so many people that we can keep safely socially distanced."

Once one group leaves, another can enter.

Rides will be cleaned after every go and employees will be wearing masks.

They say they've had to think of everything.

"There's a lot of products out there that will kill this particular virus, but if you sat down on it and some of the wetness remained it might dye out your clothes," Smithers said. "So now I'm going to be wrecking people's clothes, so I have to find sanitizers that are not too harsh but still approved to fight the virus."

It all seems counterintuitive for an amusement park, and some don't understand why it's allowed at all.

"It just blows my mind what they're doing here," said one observer, who said they definitely won't be attending.

On June 29, Premier Blaine Higgs gave all businesses the go-ahead to reopen.

Some say it's a bit of normalcy that's needed more than ever.

"If they can be careful there, it's the same as being careful at Tim Hortons, it's the same as going to get your groceries -- as long as you're careful," said one Fredericton resident.

Smithers says he has been getting some angry calls and emails, but says he needed to do something to survive.

"It's about keeping our employees working and getting them back to work," he said. "If we can't employ them, they're going to find work elsewhere if they can, and we may not have enough staff for next year if we made it through the winter, you know, surviving with zero revenue."

His operational plan has been given to public health, the city of Fredericton and the New Brunswick provincial exhibition for review.

He is hoping to be open by Thursday afternoon and remain open this weekend and next.