#SupportFredLocal campaign aims to help local businesses struggling with pandemic restrictions
Level 3 restrictions have been hard on businesses across New Brunswick - many have had to close, reduce capacity, or turn to take out only.
"The first lockdown was horrible of course but we'd come off a normal winter time, this one is doubly bad, we've come off a very poor showing in November, December into a very bad January," said Ted Jones, co-owner of Kitchen 540.
Businesses affected by the lockdown are worried what empty streets, and empty seats could mean for their employees and the bottom line.
"The streets are empty, you can park anywhere, I just don't know what more could be done,” said Jones.
"We have a lot not working right now but we're very hopeful that it's temporary, well we know it's temporary but we don't know how long it'll be, we hope it'll be short," said Krista Touesnard, co-owner of The Tipsy Muse.
Fredericton Tourism says they hope businesses can get over the hump of the current lockdown.
“A lot of them are constantly being forced to pivot and how can they survive because it's not just to be able to keep the lights on it's the livelihood of their employees to be able to make sure that they still have a job and how to protect them, so there's a lot at stake," said Stacey Russell, manager of Fredericton Tourism.
Supporting local doesn't seem to have the same appetite it did in the beginning of the pandemic, but Fredericton Tourism is hoping a new contest called Support Fred Local might take a bite out of the problem.
"When we knew we had to cancel Frostival and postpone Dine Around Freddy, we spoke to a number of restaurants to see what the vibe was and what the temperature is, everything we were hearing from restaurants was this has been the hardest time ever through the pandemic so we knew the moment Premier Higgs made the announcement to go into lockdown we had to move very fast," Russell.
Fredericton Tourism's #SupportFredLocal contest goes until Monday, Jan. 31.
As it stands right now, Level 3 restrictions are slated to end Jan. 30 at 11:59 p.m.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
WATCH LIVE | Ceremony opens daylong memorial marking graves detection at site of Canada's largest residential school
A daylong memorial began Monday in Kamloops, B.C., at the site of what was once Canada's largest residential school on the one-year anniversary of the announcement of the detection of unmarked graves.

Storm leaves at least nine dead, many powerless across Ontario and Quebec
Tens of thousands of people remain without power after Saturday's powerful storm that left at least nine dead and caused extensive damage throughout southern Ontario and Quebec.
Monkeypox fears could stigmatize LGBTQ2+ community, expert says
A theory that the recent outbreak of monkeypox may be tied to sexual activity has put the gay community in an unfortunate position, having fought back against previous and continued stigma around HIV and AIDS, an LGBTQ2+ centre director says.
Russian sentenced to life in Ukraine's 1st war crimes trial
A Russian soldier who pleaded guilty to killing a Ukrainian civilian was sentenced to life in prison on Monday in the first war crimes trial since Moscow invaded three months ago, unleashing a brutal conflict that has led to accusations of atrocities, left thousands dead, driven millions from their homes and flattened whole swaths of cities.
First of three flights bringing about 90,000 Ukrainians to Canada to land in Winnipeg
The first of three charter flights bringing Ukrainian refugees fleeing Russia's invasion to Canada is to land in Manitoba this afternoon.
Wreckage found of plane that disappeared in Ontario with Alberta men onboard, police say
The wreckage of a small plane that disappeared last month in northern Ontario with two men aboard has been located in Lake Superior Provincial Park.
Walk out at trade meeting when Russia spoke 'not one-off,' says trade minister
The United States and four other nations that walked out of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group meeting in Bangkok over the weekend underlined their support Monday for host nation Thailand, saying their protest was aimed solely at Russia because of its invasion of Ukraine.
What is a 'derecho'? Climatologist explains Saturday's powerful storm
The storm that moved across Ontario and Quebec Saturday is known as a 'derecho', a powerful kind of windstorm that is long lasting and far-reaching.
COVID-19 identified by trained dogs sniffing skin swabs: study
A new study that brought sniffer dogs to an airport to search for COVID-19 has found that dogs may be able to detect the virus with high accuracy just from smelling skin swabs.