The Dandy Lion Cafe owner is 'hopeful' the cafe is here to stay

Caitlin Cunningham took the microphone at the Dandy Lion’s weekly karaoke Oct. 24 to address the “wild roller-coaster” of emotions felt by staff and patrons alike after the cafe’s future was uncertain earlier this month.

Numerous patrons crowded into the cafe that evening for drinks, singing and community to celebrate the possibility that the cafe may not be closing its Main Street doors after all.

Cunningham said a month ago, the cafe received a notice from a landlord that “they would rather us not renew our lease with them.”

“I begged and I pleaded because you all are very important to us, and this place is more than a cafe,” Cunningham said. “This place is more than a restaurant.”

“It’s also a feeling … It’s a community,” Cunningham added. “It’s a place to come when you had a really bad day and you just need to make sure that you’re gonna see a smiling face. It’s a place to come when maybe your family isn’t the most accepting of folks and you just want to be around people who make you feel like you are at home.”

Cunningham said they are in negotiations currently to extend the cafe’s contract for three more years.

Cunningham told the Journal they’re “hopeful” the cafe will reach an agreement with their landlord, but that “nothing is set in stone.”

Cunningham said in their discussions with the landlord, staying in the space would involve the longer-term lease and an increase in rent. Cunningham said they are finding they need more space and hope to renovate and expand the cafe if they reach an agreement with the landlord.

Throughout the month, the Dandy Lion had announced and rescinded good and bad news on its Facebook page as management scrambled to find a new space and keep customers in the loop.

Finn Thieret, a local student, said the news of the potential closure was scary, since the cafe is “a really big safe space.”

“With everything going on, it felt like kind of a piece of myself was like potentially being lost,” Thieret said. “Knowing that — for a second there — it was going to be gone felt very, very sad.”

For Zyrin Malloy, the cafe provides community and a safe place.

“As a queer person, as a transgender person, finding found family is really important to me,” Malloy said.

Losing the Dandy Lion would be “devastating,” said Anna Porter, a self-described cafe regular.

“Caitlin has purposefully cultivated a really beautiful, accepting community,” she said. “It would be a huge loss.”

Cunningham closed their announcement from a place of gratitude: “We’re not gonna hold any hate in our hearts because there’s just not enough room for that.

“There is no shortage of unfairness in the world right now,” they said, “and we are just grateful we get to keep spending time with you guys.”