When Abby Fligor stopped for a quick supper with her parents on their way to the theatre on Wednesday night, she had no clue she was about to become a minor historical figure.
But at 5:39 p.m., when she raised a glass of wine to her lips at Zephrus restaurant on Main street Vineyard Haven, she became the first person to order a legal drink in a Tisbury restaurant.
Historic moments are usually serious, but Ms. Fligor had the giggles as the cameras clicked and restaurant staff gathered round.
“I’m so glad I took a shower,” she laughed. In fact, Ms. Fligor, Vineyard born and raised but now living in San Francisco, was impeccably turned out, especially considering she had no expectation of being such a center of attention.
The only element lacking was someone for her to clink glasses with. Her parents, Carol and Dick, of Edgartown, do not drink.
But in every other respect, they were a perfect representation of what the pro-beer and wine forces had predicted during the long debate about restaurant sales. Nice, polite, moderate people having a glass with their meal. Not at all the loud, beer-swilling, threats to Tisbury’s social fabric sometimes caricatured by opponents.
As for the wine itself, a great deal of sweat and effort went into providing it. First the owners of the Mansion House, the Goldsteins, sweltered through Tuesday night’s selectmen’s meeting in stifling heat, to see the board sign off on their license.
Then they had to be at the town hall at 10 a.m. Wednesday to collect the license. Then they had to hurriedly organize a delivery of beer and wine from the mainland, because the suppliers would not provide it until the license had actually been issued. Then the delivery was stuck in the standby line at the ferry.
Meanwhile, they could not sell beer or wine to the lunch crowd. Worse, they had to turn away one group of would-be diners who came with their own alcohol supplies, because under the terms of the license, once a restaurant is licensed, it can no longer operate as a bring-your-own establishment.
But Zephrus was the lucky one. Three of the four other Tisbury restaurants granted their licenses on Tuesday were still stuck in the BYO Catch 22 yesterday.
The Black Dog tavern hoped to be selling beer and wine by Thursday night or Friday morning. Likewise, the Blue Canoe was planning for Friday dinner. And the third, Rocco’s Pizza, planned to have a new cooler installed and be selling beer and wine by Monday.
Until then, the law dictates they must turn away any customer who wants to bring their own alcohol.
The other restaurant which was granted its license on Tuesday, Saltwater, began serving beer and wine with dinner from 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
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