Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Restaurant patio season officially gets underway this Friday and diners will have plenty of remodeled venues across Lennox and Addington County to explore.
Local restaurant owners were among those to benefit from FedDev Ontario funding, distributed through Regional Tourism Organizations (RTO 9), which provided tourism-oriented businesses up to $20,000 in non-payable investments. To date there have been 20 businesses across L&A to receive the funding which is geared towards helping them adapt and re-open their businesses following the pandemic. Projects include renovations and retrofits, purchasing of equipment fixtures and personal protective equipment and support for technology and digitization. The timing couldn’t have been better as local restaurants finished up their newly designed patios just as the province announced restaurants could welcome outdoor guests starting Friday.
Marg Weese, owner of Tamworth’s Devon Café & Five Corner’s Craft was among those to use the shutdown as a chance to revamp her business. On Friday she’ll welcome her first guests to her completely re-designed dragonfly themed patio. It’s complete with rod iron fencing, gardens and plenty of dragonfly decals.
“Last year when we were shutdown and then they said you could open patios,” said Weese. “Where it is on the side was just an unused rough space. We just threw some tables out there and had people walking on uneven grass and it wasn’t cool, but we were busy.”
At the end of last year’s season she began planning for this year. Once she heard of the FedDev funding she applied with the help of the L&A County economic development department.
“We were going to do it regardless but it allowed us to be a little more extravagant than I might not have been had it been out of my pocket after being closed for almost a year,” said Weese. “I might have been a little more reticent on what we did.”
Anticipating a busy season, Weese says she has several job openings now that the café will be operating regular hours.
Harold St. George, owner of Santorini Mediterranean Grill in Napanee is another local business owner who received funding. He too used the grant to create a new outdoor eating space, which will officially open Friday.
“To put the patio in the back, we were planning it from our first year of being open in 2019 but then with everything that happened with COVID, we had to move around our funds to stay afloat,” said St. George. “But then having some great grants come to us from RTO 9, we wrote them what our plans and ideas were and they did give us some contribution which enabled us to be in a position to put (the patio) in the back there.”
The completion of the outdoor patio couldn’t come at a better time. Not only was it finished just in time for the provincial re-opening, but St. George says patrons will be looking for an outdoor escape after a stressful year and a half.
“A major part of our decision to have our backyard was to create a space where you could come and relax and kind of get away from the technology,” he said. “In these times that we’re in, we’ve all been having to go to computers and do a lot of things online. The best way we were able to service is when people came in, they put their phones down and they chatted and they enjoyed a drink and a meal together and dessert. I’m sure people are looking for that break and our patio that we built in the back has a lot of nature influence. We don’t have a lot of lights, we don’t have a lot of amplified sound the idea is just to come and relax and unwind.”
The patio is just one new feature that Santorini will include as part of their re-opening strategy. On weekends the restaurant will partner with local farmers to create unique dishes.
Among the other L&A tourism businesses to receive funding were: Addison’s Restaurant, Northbrook, Bergeron Estate Winery & Cider Company, Adolphustown, Birch Hill Pizza, Denbigh, Lakeview Tavern, Erinsville, Loyalist Cultural Centre, Adolphustown, Loyalist Golf Club, Bath, Loyalist Trading Company, Conway, MacKinnon Brothers Brewing Company, Bath, Mazinaw Lakeside Resort & Eatery, Cloyne, Napanee Golf & Country Club, Napanee, Parky’s Dollar Store, Northbrook, Rosie’s Cafe & General Store, Denbigh, Shoeless Joe’s, Napanee, The Waterfront River Pub & Terrace, Napanee, Thirty Three Vines, Adolphustown, Topsy Farms, Amherst Island, Touch of Wellness, Napanee and Weslemkoon Marina, Gilmour.
For a list of local restaurants that offer outdoor dining, visit www.NaturallyLA.ca.