Friday at noon the provincial order to shut down dining rooms in Alberta came into effect.  Across the province thousands of staff have been sent home to an uncertain future.  But hundreds of restaurants are ramping up preparations to find unique ways to serve customers ‘outdoors’ in early and mid April.

As other restaurants were winding down operations, The Whistle Stop Cafe at Mirror was a beehive of activity Friday.  Owner Chris Scott has become a lightning rod of opposition to provincial lockdown measures.  Partway through Alberta’s second lockdown, Scott opened the Whistle Stop in order to stay in business and is now facing a charge of opening against the restrictions.  So far that hasn’t slowed him down at all.

As the clock ticked toward the noon lockdown deadline, Scott and his crew were working frantically on opening an outdoor patio and partially covered “tented” areas. In the first of three videos posted to The Whistle Stop Cafe’s Facebook page today,  Chris Scott prepared to meet RCMP and AHS officials.

In this second video Chris Scott addresses customers to let them know the AHS and RCMP are present and they should be respected as they do their jobs.

The third video is a little longer.  This video shows the interaction between the owner of The Whistle Stop and both AHS officials and RCMP members.  Most of the audio is good enough to hear what they’re saying to each other.  It’s a very interesting experience to be in the middle of this very polite and yet very uncomfortable situation.