Joshua’s Restaurant and Tavern is one of several Brunswick restaurants that offered patio seating this summer. As the weather begins to cool, owner TJ Siatras said he is not sure how much longer it will be possible. Hannah LaClaire / The Times Record
BRUNSWICK — Brunswick officials are offering grants of up to $500 for businesses and restaurants looking to purchase outdoor heaters to keep customers warm as colder weather approaches and coronavirus cases continue to climb.
“We had been hearing from businesses that they needed some assistance to lengthen the time spent outdoors,” said Sally Costello, economic and community development director. “We wanted to extend the season for as long as possible before the snow comes.”
With some leftover money from the Keep Maine Healthy grant, funding for municipalities to support local COVID-19 public health, education and prevention efforts, they launched the Business Outdoor Heater Funding Assistance Program.
Costello estimates that with the $10,000 allotment, which must be used by mid-December, the town can assist between 20 and 25 businesses. So far only four have applied.
Costello would not say which businesses have received the reimbursement but said they are spread all over town, not just in the Maine Street area.
The grant also applies to businesses that have already purchased a portable outdoor heater, as long as there is a receipt and it complies with the town safety standards. The deadline to apply is Nov. 30.
“We’re trying to be flexible,” Costello said. “We want to do what we can to help out, to get people out and operating in a way that makes them able to sustain” difficult times.
Deb King, executive director of the Brunswick Downtown Association, said she expects that with Gov. Janet Mills’ recent postponement of bar and tasting room reopenings, there will be even more of a demand for heaters as businesses previously expecting to open for inside seating have to pivot.
With the recent warm weather, many Brunswick residents have enjoyed al fresco dining much later into the cold weather season than usual, and King said she expects that will last a while, even if the weather turns.
“Folks really want to be able to support local businesses,” she said. “They’re willing to accommodate a little bit of cold to be able to do this… Mainers are a hearty lot.”
If there’s an early snowfall, businesses can still use the heaters in the spring, when the snow has melted but the chill still lingers, she noted.
As the pandemic continues, outdoor dining has become a fixture for the Brunswick restaurant scene. Many establishments that never offered it previously added picnic tables and patio furniture on the town’s wide sidewalks or parking areas as a response to an increasing clientele not yet comfortable with eating indoors.
Plus, coronavirus aside, people seem to enjoy the opportunity to eat outside, King said.
“I’d be surprised, even if we have a regular summer in 2021, if we didn’t still do this,” she said.
Douglas Lavallee, who owns Scarlet Begonias with his wife, Colleen, said Tuesday he didn’t plan to use heaters as they’re expensive to purchase and to run, but said he might consider it in light of the grant opportunity.
That said, the business will continue to offer outdoor dining “until the last person wants to eat outside or it becomes unreasonable,” he said.
TJ Siatras, co-owner of Joshua’s Restaurant and Tavern, agreed and said he expects to take down his sidewalk tables a few days before the first forecasted snowstorm, but will seat people outside underneath the deck for as long they request it.
The restaurant has a second-floor deck that in the past, was covered by an awning with side panels and heaters, but Siatras doesn’t plan to repeat the process this year.
“To maintain social distancing only to have X amount of tables in a tented area and the cost of the heater and the ongoing costs (of gas) doesn’t make economic sense,” he said.
Plus, with panels and a roof, “you’ve essentially created an indoor space,” he said.
Siatras said he might look into the Brunswick grant opportunity, but said he plans to focus his energy toward takeout and curbside pickup.
For now though, Joshua’s is still offering outdoor dining while the warm weather holds.
For more information or to apply for the grant, contact Sally Costello at scostello@brunswickme.org or (207) 721-4051.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
