Northern Michigan restaurants, bars may reopen on Friday
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer spoke at Lake Street Studios in Glen Arbor last summer. Photo by Jeff Smith / Groundwork Center.
From staff reports
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced today that restaurants, bars, retail stores and offices in northern Michigan—including here in Leelanau County—may reopen at reduced capacity on Friday, May 22, in time for Memorial Day weekend.
The coronavirus pandemic caveats are that they may operate at 50 percent capacity, customers must remain 6 feet apart from non-family members, and restaurant and bar servers must wear face masks.
“This is a big step, but we must all remember to continue doing our part to protect ourselves and our families from the spread of COVID-19,” Whitmer said in a statement provided to the Associated Press.
Whitmer said during her daily press briefing today that she’s “hopeful” her administration will be in position to announce “even more [economic] re-engagement later this week, ahead of the Memorial Day weekend.”
Local governments that “choose to take a more cautious course” still have the authority to implement their own restrictions on restaurants and bars, according to Whitmer’s office. For instance, cities, villages or townships could decide to only allow outdoor seating.
Click back here for a list of Leelanau County restaurants and bars that will reopen their doors on Friday (most have been offering curbside takeout service during the pandemic) … We’ll update this list on a continuous basis:
Friendly Tavern, Empire
“Joe’s Friendly Tavern will be opening this weekend with limited seating. Joe’s is currently open for carry-out. Call us at 231-326-5506 for more info or to place an order. You can check out our menu at Joesfriendlytavern.com”
Empire Village Inn, Empire
“The Empire Village Inn will be opening this weekend with limited capacity. The VI is currently open for carry-out. Call us at 231-326-5101 for more info or to place an order. You can check out our menu at Empirevillageinn.com”
Pegtown Station, Maple City
“After careful consideration and review of Governor Whitmer’s newest guidelines and orders , we have decided to open this Saturday for “in house” dining along with our outdoor patio seating. We will have very limited indoor seating as we are taking out some tables and spacing them appropriately to the order. We have a beautiful outdoor patio area that we have expanded with additional tables also appropriately spaced.”
Little Traverse Inn, near Maple City
We are looking forward to reopening this Friday and can’t wait to see all our friends in person. As you may imagine there may not be as many hugs as usual, and we will be shrinking our capacity a little to adhere to safety standards. Our wonderful year round crew is all looking forward to seeing everyone again.
