The Peru Gazette

L-R Chelsea Taylor and Donna Rowley

Green Acres Restaurant

By John T Ryan

“Green Acres will be closing on June 30… Want to express how much y’all mean to me…your support..meeting many fantastic people..thank you..my heart.”

Those words are a portion of Donna Rowley’s May 29 Facebook post. This morning Rowley hadn’t changed her mind. She commented, “I’ll keep operating as long as my inventory holds out. I can’t find any help. My hands are tied. It’s hard with just two people.”

The other person Rowley referred to is her waitress Chelsea Taylor who’s decided to go to work closer to home. A mom with kids, Chelsea, explained, “It’s for stability reasons. After ten years, Donna wasn’t sure what direction she was going in.” When Green Acres closes, Chelsea will be working at Adirondack Mountain Coffee in Upper Jay.

Rowley hopes someone will come in and take the restaurant over. She said, “I don’t own the property, but I’ll take good care of it until the day I leave. I keep it painted. I mow the lawn. I planned to have work done on the driveway and shampoo the carpet.”

This morning, Keeseville residents Debbie Bola and Paul Wisher were Green Acres’ first two customers. Paul commented, “We’ve been coming here every day since before the pandemic. The food is good. The service is good. And Debbie doesn’t like to cook, so I have to take her out!”

Donna Rowley has been operating Green Acres Restaurant at 3065 Main St. since April 27, 2013. Unfortunately, an employee shortage during the pandemic forced her to close for a month between October 3, 2021, and November 3, 2021.

On October 25, 2021, she wrote on Facebook, “I’ve been cleaning and painting and realized I couldn’t imagine anyone else at Green Acres..my baby, my love. Please Be patient. We need baby steps to see how this will work.”