By Max Sullivan
Seacoast Media Group

Shannon Svenson, a server at Bernie’s Beach Bar at Hampton Beach brings a Corona wit a lime to a customer, as outdoor decks at the beach begin to open back up Thursday. [Rich Beauchesne/Seacoastonline]

HAMPTON – Sebastien Jeanfrancois was happy to sip on a Corona beer at a table on the Bernie’s Beach Bar deck Thursday. He overlooked a beach that would normally be packed given the 73 degree weather.

“It’s very different,” said Jeanfrancois, 23, who came from Manchester with two friends to enjoy Hampton Beach for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic caused the beaches to be closed. Restaurants were permitted to open their outdoor dining areas in New Hampshire starting Monday, and many beach bars like Bernie’s treated Thursday as a grand opening for the season.

The sand and state park parking meters remained closed to the public this week, but beachgoers still came to check out what restaurants were open for outdoor seating. They parked in private lots like behind the Casino Ballroom, where cars were parked a space apart from each other.

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