As of this writing, at the end of March, our public beaches are empty, our border traffic is restricted, businesses have closed, we have a curfew in place, and we have all come to a virtual stand-still. Unlike our past crises, where tourism still trickled in, with this current crisis, the spigot has literally been turned off. And for a town that pretty much survives off tourism, that is scary and devastating to many. Right now, the only thing I am sure of, if that all of you reading this, love Rocky Point as much as we do and we will get through this as a community. I’m going to reprint a piece that we posted on our Facebook Page back in mid-March, which pretty much says it all.

#RockyPointUnited

As all of you know, Rocky Point relies on tourism for its survival. But now with our beaches closed, our border travel restricted, and the temporary closing of many businesses, what is our community going to look like in a month? Though the outlook at this moment is definitely bleak, I want to remind everyone that we, as a community, have survived other crises: we have weathered through the peso devaluation, the recession, the storms and the bad press, and all of these things were absolutely devastating to our community…but we survived, and we WILL survive this as well.

The beaches WILL reopen, tourism WILL return, we WILL still get bad press (lol), but we WILL be back to business as usual. But for right now it’s not going to be easy, and it’s not going to be pretty, but as a united community we can get past this crisis and we will. So, I would like to call upon each and every one of you to band together in a united front and keep supporting our community in whatever capacity you can. Let’s stick together and kick this in the ass. #RockyPointUnited

We are all worried about our families, our employees, our friends, our neighbors and our future, which has me thinking about what a tourist newspaper does when there is no tourism? When there are few businesses to deliver to, and when no one is coming across our border to pick up the Rocky Point Times? What do we do to help our community, our fellow business people and ourselves? WE COME TO YOU!

We know that you WANT to come to Rocky Point, and we know that you WILL come back, so, as a business, and as people who have supported and promoted this city for almost 30 years – and call it home – The Rocky Point Times Newspaper would like to send you our April edition at no charge. We want our community and our advertisers to remain in your thoughts and in your future plans. So, if you send us your mailing address, we will send you our April edition. We will continue to print, and mail, the Rocky Point Times, and will continue to deliver to any business that is open and make the papers available wherever we can in Rocky Point and Ajo.

In addition to sending you the April edition, we will be ramping up our social media and posting who is open, and who is providing what in-home or take-away service as well as any and all relevant information. We know we are your preferred information source when it comes to Rocky Point and we will continue to support and help our community in whatever way we can. #RockyPointUnited

The Rocky Point Times Newspaper will still be available online and we will continue to keep you informed, and entertained, in this extremely volatile time. We know we will see you all again very soon. In the meantime, take care of your family, be kind to your neighbors and help your community.