- Courtesy of Jessica Oparowski
- Hugo's Bar & Grill in Montpelier on July 10, 2023
"I can't imagine it's good," he said. "I'm hoping to be able to grab a canoe ride down there later."
"We got everything out of our basement that wasn't nailed down, all the beer and wine out of the walk-in except the kegs," Greene said.
Greene, who is also an author, noted the irony of the situation: In 2005, William Morrow published his novel I'll Never Be Long Gone, about "a guy who opens a restaurant in Vermont on a river and then is hit by a 100-year flood."
For restaurant owners in a number of Vermont towns — including Montpelier, Waterbury and Richmond — those 100-year floods are becoming more like 10-year floods. As rain fell on July 9 and a historic storm was forecast, they feared the worst.
"It's always in the back of my mind," Greene said.
A few storefronts over from Hugo's at 108 Main Street, Three Penny Taproom recently reopened after a major renovation and expansion into the space next door, formerly an antiques store.
Three Penny co-owner Kevin Kerner said he would wait until the water had receded to go see how the restaurant and bar had fared, but he knew it had taken on a lot of water.
- Jeb Wallace-Brodeur
- The outdoor seating area at Three Penny Taproom on Montpelier's Main Street
Before his security cameras shut off automatically, Kerner said, "[The water in Three Penny] was three or four feet high, up to the bar level."
Since Three Penny opened in 2009, the owners have had to rebuild after several floods, Kerner said. "[Tropical Storm] Irene wasn't the worst," he said, noting that the May 2011 flood hit Montpelier harder.
"Our staff has been with us a long time. They know the drill," Kerner said. "We got everything out of the basement, but it went above the basement, so it didn't matter."
Kerner said the business has "some semblance" of flood insurance, but he isn't sure how much of the damage it will cover.
"My heart is sad for the whole of Montpelier," Kerner said. He feels for his fellow business owners, he continued, who will struggle to rebuild once again.
Still, Kerner has no doubt that everyone will pull together during that process. "We are a community," he said. "You don't weep during the destruction. You weep when you see the community come together afterwards."
The three owners of the Stone's Throw Pizza group were already making plans to feed the community as they talked with Seven Days while driving between their Richmond and Waterbury locations on Tuesday morning.
The flood hit both of those towns hard, but for Stone's Throw, "it's a mixed bag," co-owner Tyler Stratton said.
In Richmond, the Winooski River jumped its banks, crossed Volunteers Green, and swallowed the restaurant's beer garden and the front vegetable garden that "we love so much," Stratton said. "They're both a total loss."
- Daria Bishop
- Tyler Stratton (left), co-owner of Stone's Throw Pizza, watching flood waters rise from the terrace of the Richmond restaurant.
On the plus side, the Richmond restaurant is built on a high foundation, and the water was hovering about a foot below the dining room, he said.
The Waterbury Stone's Throw at 13 Stowe Street was OK. "It's at the crest of the hill," Stratton said. "We're going to open the doors, not to serve [customers] but to make cheese pies and give out free pizza."
Another Waterbury restaurant owner, Nicole Grenier of Stowe Street Café, had been doing something similar since 6 a.m. on Tuesday.
Counting herself lucky to have been spared flooding, Grenier had navigated from her home around closed streets, including the submerged Waterbury roundabout, to open with free coffee and whatever food she had on hand.
- Courtesy
- Sign at Stowe Street Café in Waterbury
She knew that other Waterbury restaurants, such as the new location of Hen of the Wood and Prohibition Pig, both owned by Eric Warnstedt, had been flooded to various degrees.
Emmi Kern, general manager of Hen of the Wood at 14 South Main Street, confirmed that the restaurant had a few inches of water in its basement. She did not have details on the situation at Prohibition Pig, which is located across the street at 23 South Main Street.
As of late morning, Grenier of Stowe Street Café reported that the water in town had risen six inches. More rain was in the forecast.
She had spread the word on social media that if anyone needed coffee or Wi-Fi, "We're here," she said.
"So many people have come through," Grenier said. "They're so grateful for the tiniest dose of normalcy."
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