Where Red-State Restaurants Can Do Better Than Blue

Welcome to Montana, where residents took Covid seriously from the start

Photos: Adam Erace

Midway through a week traveling in western Montana, I ran into a notecard hanging in the window of Bigfork’s 80-year-old Echo Lake Café. With pastel sprigs of flora in the card’s corners and a “Welcome!!” rolling across the top in swooping mauve letters, it looked like an invitation to a bridal shower. Instead, it listed the restaurant’s pandemic protocols:

• Tables being spaced out 6 feet

• No counter seating

• All tables, booths, salt and pepper shakers, menus, etc. are sanitized after each use

• Hourly sanitizing of frequently touched areas

• Hand sanitizers placed in several high traffic areas

• Dividers between our booths to allow for safely seating additional tables

For a full list please read our chalk board [sic] in the foyer.

Covid-19 came late to Montana and its neighbors, but it came nonetheless. Spiking infections in the Rocky Mountains states have formed an autumn red wave, and not the kind Republicans had hoped to greet last week. For Montana, at least, there’s some good news, exemplified by the sign at Echo Lake Café. Amy…