Restaurant is closed, but owner continues to serve weekly lunch
By Katy Savage
The Lookout Tavern in Killington is closed, but co-owner Joy Black is still cooking meals.
Black has made a weekly full-course meal for seniors in Killington for at least 10 years and even though restaurants were forced to close on March 17 due to Covid-19 concerns, Black hasn’t stopped the tradition.
A group of about 25 seniors are handed meals through their car windows at the Lookout Tavern every Tuesday at 1 p.m.
“It’s like waiting at a bank drive through,” said Gerrie Russell, who leads the Killington Active Seniors group.
Health officials have said people over age 65 and those with severe health conditions are the most vulnerable population affected by the Covid-19 virus. Russell said the weekly meals allows the seniors to send notes to each other from their cars and gives them time to interact with each other.
“Being able to see each other and wave has been a gift to us,” Russell said.
The seniors also don’t have to take the extra risk of going to the grocery store as often.
“Few of us cook anymore,” Russell said.
The meals include a main course of some type of comfort food with salad and desert.
On April 21, the seniors were served beef burritos with pasta salad and desert. Russell said the amount of food is usually enough for two meals.
“She’s a godsend,” Russell said.
Under normal circumstances, Black would cook and serves the seniors lunch inside the restaurant as it’s otherwise closed to the public for lunch that day. Black starts making the meals on Monday and finishes them on Tuesday.
“My wife loves it,” Joy Black’s husband Phil said. “We think the world of the whole group. It’s a hearty bunch to be a senior citizen in Vermont.”
Phil said Joy gets a lot of it too. “She looks forward to it,” Phil said. “We’re just happy to take care of them.”
