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Date: 3/23/2021
AGAWAM – Mayor William Sapelli and the Agawam City Council announced a temporary permit extension of the outdoor dining for 2021 to continue, assisting businesses while recovering from the coronavirus.
Sapelli told Reminder Publishing he believes it is important that they assist their restaurants because, unlike other communities, their restaurants are not chains.
“These people work hard, not that the other chains do not, but these are people who most of them live and are a part of our community. We want to see them succeed because if they succeed, the community succeeds,” Sapelli said.
He continued to say that restaurants have a lot to do with other businesses’ success because people go to Agawam to eat, spend money at other stores, enjoy the town, and possibly decide that they would move to town.
When the restaurants closed and stopped receiving revenue in March 2020, Sapelli said outdoor dining helped them make back some money they lost.
“What it also did, which was a positive effect, it had people experience outdoor dining to which they had not done to a large degree in the past, and they liked it. I think it encouraged them to come out to those restaurants even more often because outdoor dining really took off,” he said.
City Council President Christopher Johnson said that many of Agawam’s restaurants have suffered from the limitations imposed by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
“The addition of outdoor dining last year enabled many of them to remain financially viable, which allowed them to continue to employ many local residents. The City Council and the mayor feel very strongly that the continuation of outdoor dining is vital to give Agawam restaurants the opportunity to remain competitive and keep their employees working,” said Johnson.
Any business wanting to apply for the temporary permit or like any additional information should contact the Inspection Services Department at 786-0400 ext. 8633 or send an email to amandaab@agawam.ma.us.
Businesses seeking to serve alcohol outdoors must contact the Liquor Commission at MMcCarthy@agawam.ma.us.
The temporary permit will last until Nov. 1.