For the first time in 52 days, customers can now eat indoors in restaurants and bars in Minnesota. At Birchwood Char House and Bar in Hackensack, the first customers came in at 11:30 AM with one customer saying, “It feels good to be back.”

“We missed the people, our employees,” said owners Rick and Linda McNamara. “They are like family, the laughter, too.”

Among the regular customers was one person who has been talking to many business owners.

“I wanted to come and visit with the owners and see how their first day of opening back up is,” said Rep. Pete Stauber, 8th Congressional District. “This is a good day for Minnesota, I want to make sure that the small business owners know that I understand what they went through. I am a small-business owner myself for 31 years,” Stauber said.

Before Stauber returns to Washington, D.C., he wanted to make it a point of going to a local restaurant.

“We are going to get through it together,” said Stauber. “We are going to become strong and more resilient than ever before. It’s the small businesses that are going to help this economy get back on our feet.”

By — Nick Ursini