-by Rankin MacDonald
“Mixed emotions with a side of tears”, was the main entre on the menu at Vi’s in Whycocomagh on Saturday.
At 8:00pm, as they always do on Saturday, they closed the iconic restaurant but on this Saturday it was for the last time after a 59-year run.
It was a very difficult day for owners Robert and Bea MacLeod but after all the years they deserve a peaceful retirement away from the seven-day-a-week operation. There were lots of family members on hand to mark the day and to share in the emotion.
The blue building at one of Cape Breton’s most important intersections was originally an auto repair business but Bea’s mother, Viola MacInnis, decided it was a prime location for a restaurant in 1958. And the rest is history as they say.
Viola’s husband, J.P. MacInnis, and the boys ran the trucking enterprise. Bea said she began working at Vi’s in 1972 and since then has done just about every job that a family business demands.
So many people have an attachment to Vi’s and the attractions were many including a great central place to do an interview, the best hot hamburger sandwich, wedding receptions, engagement parties, refuge from the storm and staying all night, picking up loved ones from the bus, getting those important packages, catering to the teams, and employing hundreds of people over six decades. There were even burgers sent to Ontario and Newfoundland.
Bea said it was the community that made Vi’s so successful and she’ll never forget that. People came from across the region for the good, home-cooked food at a reasonable price. If you got there at meal time, it was a hectic place but you got your food quickly and it was as good as the last time. If it was during the slower hours you has time to joke with the waitresses who became familiar over the years. They went through a lot of smiles.
Bea said the First Nations community, Waycobah, was also a great supporter of Vi’s and the relationship remained good for the entire run. Vi’s also worked closely with L’arche Cape Breton. The truck drivers made it a place where you had to stop on the long haul.
“We’ll miss the closeness to the community”, Bea added. It was business as usual on Saturday with everyone doing their jobs but there was a sadness in the air you could feel.
One cannot avoid change in life, but the time comes when one has to sit back and recall all the good days and that you had the privilege to live with so many people.
Old age kept Vi away but she was in everyone’s thoughts. For Bea and Robert and all who cooked for us and served us over the past six decades we say thank you and we’ll always remember with fondness the blue building and the warmth within.
The building will be torn down with an eye to a safer intersection but our eyes will return to the place we called Vi’s.
