Health department gets complaint after video shows weekend crowd at Lexington bar
Lexington restaurants opened on Friday to dining in and diners were excited to be out over the holiday weekend, but the health department received only one complaint about overcrowding.
Kevin Hall, spokesman for the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department, said officials met Tuesday with the owner of The Paddock on South Limestone to address issues, including people congregating at the bar.
“They want to continue working with us to ensure the safety of the community,” Hall said. “They have COVID-19-related signage up and plan to put up more. They’ve also said they will remove some tables and chairs, as well as not allow people to congregate at the bar.”
A video posted on social media on Monday night showed a Memorial Day weekend crowd inside the bar-turned-restaurant across from the University of Kentucky campus.
Erick Ostrander, proprietor of The Paddock Bar & Patio, said Tuesday that the video “is misleading” and that people were more spread out than it appeared.
In the short video, customers are lined up at the bar and carrying drinks, and few people, if any, are wearing a masks or eating.
The Paddock had posted on its Facebook page on Friday saying that seating would be very limited and that they were opening up slowly.
While bars cannot open up yet, restaurants can, leading some to add food service to be able to reopen to customers sooner.
Earlier in May, the Paddock announced a partnership with PriceDinnerClub.com, a meal delivery service, to serve food along with drink kits and bourbon pours for carry out.
The health department approved Paddock’s food service permit on May 18. Restaurant servers are required to wear masks and gloves and to limit indoor capacity.
Ostrander said all servers were wearing masks and gloves.
“Everybody has their own opinion and in no way, shape or form did we mean to make anybody feel uncomfortable,” Ostrander said. “We can’t walk around with a cattle prod and keep people away from each other. We were well within our limits in terms of capacity.”
He said the last thing they would want would be for anyone to get sick.
“Were there people closer than six feet, 1,000 percent,” Ostrander said. “But when people have drinks and they’re out to be social, they’re going to be social. We’re doing the best that we can.”
Hall said that health department inspectors also would be following up on other social media posts to make sure all establishments are following Kentucky guidelines, including one about Proud Mary BBQ on Old Richmond Road.
Another video posted on Twitter showed cars parked all along the road outside the Proud Mary BBQ restaurant, which hosted a blues festival last weekend.
Proud Mary owner Emilee Sierp said in an email that “it was wonderful to see everyone that came out this weekend and were adhering to the social distancing guidelines. We are complying with all the Healthy at Work guidelines as it pertains to restaurants and look forward to a wonderful summer on the river at Proud Mary BBQ.”
Asked before the Memorial Day weekend about live music events, Beshear’s office said: “We have not set a schedule for music venues, but if restaurants or other authorized businesses follow their guidelines and other applicable guidelines live music can be played.”
The health department did not receive a complaint about Proud Mary, but did receive complaints about two stores: Super Mercado Aguascalientes on Alexandria Drive and Dollar Tree on Southland Drive, for employees not wearing face masks and not observing social distancing.
