Downtown Barrie proves popular despite threat of rain (10 photos)

Rain? What rain?

Downtown merchants and restaurateurs continued to welcome patrons Saturday during another Open Air Dunlop in which the main street is transformed into a pedestrian mall.

And even with the threat of drizzle or worse, the patios quickly filled and the shops proved popular.

And in the middle of it all was Barrie’s town crier, Steve Travers, summoning revellers for a free walking tour at 1 p.m.

Colleen DeSimone said she couldn’t be more delighted with the opportunity to open, if only to a limited degree.

The general manager for Grillicious Gourmet Tap and Grill on Mulcaster Street said customers and staff alike have embraced the opportunity to do some patio dining in recent weeks following an extended hiatus during the pandemic.

“It’s been amazing,” she told BarrieToday. “The customers are happy and I got to bring my staff back.

“We’ve been busy from open to close”, which is 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily, with the exception of Tuesdays."

Restaurants right across the downtown core have become bistros as patio-only dining has been permitted the last few weeks under the latest pandemic rules. And now with the stretch of Dunlop Street from Mulcaster to Bayfield to closed to motorized traffic every Saturday and extending west to Toronto Street during the Saturdays in July, it's been serving as a welcome mat to all the businesses permitted to operate.

“The first two Saturdays were just bumper weather-wise, sales-wise and spirit-wise,” said Kelly McKenna, executive director of the Downtown Barrie BIA. “It’s a great experience to be downtown with our community.” 

An invitation has been extended to “community partners” to have information booths at Meridian Square, which now has an Italian piazza feeling with tables and chairs set out.

On Maple Avenue, Limoncello Bistro has the advantage of a double patio where it can seat about 65 people and it, too, has proven popular, say owners Francesco Petrusa and Maeghan Thomas.

“Business had gone pretty well back to normal,” said Petrusa. “We’re almost fully booked each night and on the weekends you usually have to book about two weeks in advance.”

But, he added, the restaurant is still waiting for the lunch time crowd to return.

Limoncello is open Tuesdays to Saturdays from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., and 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Rain can sometimes prove an impediment for some, but Petrusa said the patio is equipped with umbrellas and tents.

Just the same, he can’t wait for the next stage, when in-restaurant dining is permitted, allowing for that whole dining experience.

Added touches of creativity have been sprinkled up and down Dunlop Street as the service sector, including hairdressers, barbers, estheticians and tattoo parlours, look to finally opening mid-week.

“For long weekends we’re adding a little bonus on Fridays. We’ll be pedestrianized for just the long weekends Fridays and Saturdays” right into the Thanksgiving weekend, said McKenna.