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Restaurants ready to reopen as restrictions ease

Posted at 5:45 PM, May 21, 2020
and last updated 2020-05-21 17:45:46-04

KENT ISLAND, Md. — The stay at home order and now the safer at home advisory means people can’t go into restaurants or bars.

Al Wysong, owner of Big Owls on Kent Island, is entering his 14 year for this dockside bar. A favorite to many, it’s on the water, plenty of outdoor seating and that lends itself to first in line for the reopen.

Many are asking to lift the restrictions on outdoor establishments, Comptroller Peter Franchot among them. Wysong has kept an eye on the progress but is experiencing the same frustrations as many of us trying to navigate new rules.

"Well, things change daily. I don’t think they know what they are going to do tomorrow today," Wysong said.

He has curbside pick up already starting this weekend he will have dockside pickup by boat.

"We’re going to follow the guide lines whenever they are finalized on how to open up, how to social distance and be social," said Wysong.

At Big Owls, they are known for having great bands. Those entertainers are starving for live fans, the Facebook concerts are getting old.

Every business owner needs customers to survive, but after the situation clears up customers might be the problem as in too many.

"We spend our time building up our customer base and say 'come on down' and now we’ll have to turn some away but that’s what we’ll have to do," Wysong said.

Wysong is taking advantage of the downtime with upgrades for this summer. He’s also thinking about the future.