LEXINGTON, Va. – The local restaurant now famous across the country for turning away White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders re-opened for business Thursday night. Lexington's Red Hen was closed for about two weeks following publicity from turning away the public figure. People coming for dinner Thursday night did not get in without having to navigate through a crowd of signs and cameras.
The group of protesters was small, and at some points there were just as many journalists as there were protesters. There were no major scenes like there had been in previous protests, but there was still a major disagreement about what happened at the restaurant in the quiet college town.
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Some close confrontations were as heated as it got Thursday night on the sidewalk out front. The restaurant became the latest ground zero for debate following Sanders' removal from her table in late June.
"Everybody's money is green and that's just the point we're trying to make, let's get along, left, right, this is not the place for political statements," The Patriot Picket Captain Paul Brockman said. "(We're here) just to show them that people don't forget. you can't just hide under the blankets for a couple weeks and seem to think that everything is OK."
The Marlyand-based Patriot Picket made things political during its protest with signs calling out Democrats and the restaurant. The organization was joined by a few locals, and never grew larger than about 10Â people. Some of them openly carried handguns on their waists and said politics should be handled at the ballot box.
"Actions have consequences, so some of the consequences (are) people like us being out here to alert the general public of what they did and let the marketplace decide," Brockman said. "We may have our differences, right, left, Democrat or Republican whatever. But the place for that is in politics, it's at the ballot box, it's not at a retail establishment."
Dinner service at the Red Hen was sold out Thursday night as showing in signs posted on the door. Multiple people tried to walk up to eat at the restaurant and were turned away. Plants were placed in front of the main entrance and guests that did have reservations meandered through the crowd out front in the side patio entrance. Those on the list had no interest in speaking with us, although one man leaving dinner said, "I had a great dinner," when we asked him about his experience.
Protesters compared Sanders' removal to the Civil Rights Movement in their signs and said they'd feel the same way if it was a Democrat who had been denied service instead. But more than one person said that's just simply not true.
"I think the false equivalencies are very upsetting and to be able to use Martin Luther King and say it's the same thing. It's not the same thing," visitor Terry Layman said. "When public servants are walking around the streets in restaurants and at car washes and gas stations, and they're endorsing policies that are hurtful to you and the people you love, you have every right to confront them."
It's unclear if Thursday's re-opening was a one-off or if the restaurant is back to normal business hours. The Red Hen staff and management said they have already said everything they want to say.
"The ability to speak out with people who are making policies in our government on private property is a vital thing," Layman said.