PAOLA, Kan. — The majority of Kansas will begin to reopen Monday after Governor Laura Kelly laid out a plan to lift stay-at-home orders.
In the Kansas City area, Miami and Leavenworth counties are following the governor’s plan. Johnson and Wyandotte counties have implemented their own rules, which do not begin lifting stay-at-home orders until May 11.
In Miami County, the owners of Somerset Ridge Vineyard and Winery are eager to welcome customers back in-person.
For the past several weeks they’ve continued wholesale distribution, offered retail curbside wine sales, and shipped wine to customers - and they actually shipped more wine during the stay-at-home orders than they did all of last year.
But what sets Somerset apart is the outdoor patio and being able to drink a glass of wine while walking through the vineyard. The business had to stop all that during the stay-at-home orders.
"We always say we're in the business of fun. It'll be very nice just to see our customers relaxing, having fun again,” explained Dennis Reynolds, co-owner of the winery.
When the winery opens Wednesday (it is always closed Monday and Tuesday), it will be able to serve customers wine by the glass and bottle. It doesn’t have a kitchen, but sells finger foods like charcuterie to accompany the wine. It will not offer wine tastings until a later phase in the plan to completely lift the stay-at-home orders.
Reynolds said staff will wear masks, all the tables will be at least 10 feet apart and the winery is not allowing any groups lager than 10 people in one area.
The good thing about a vineyard is there are more than 40 acres on which people can be socially distant.
"Our customers like to have special, family events in the vineyard. So many people haven't been able to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries and graduations, so it's really nice to offer an outside, safe and fun place for that,” Cindy Reynolds, the other co-owner, said.
She did suggest making a reservation if you’re planning to celebrate Mother’s Day at the winery.
From a business side, the Reynolds said they saw sales drop dramatically during stay at home orders. They received a federal loan through the Payroll Protection Program, which allowed them to keep staff employed, but they are looking forward to getting back to a quasi-normal operation.
