Winslow family reopens Bee's Snack Bar

Yahoo

27-04-2025

Apr. 26—WINSLOW — Bee's Snack Bar reopened in early April, holding fast to a decadeslong legacy as the tiny restaurant that can survive just about anything.
Former owners Danielle and Fred Sylvester had announced the restaurant's closure in February, citing Ticonic Bridge construction and high food costs as barriers to reopening. Residents mourned the restaurant on Facebook, sharing memories of times and meals past.
Northern Light Inland Hospital's closure gave Bee's another shot at life. With the Waterville hospital's end date coming in June, hospital nurse Ryan-Marie Willette decided it was time to take over the restaurant, which was run by her family from 1974 until she rented it to the Sylvesters in 2018.
Now, four generations of Willettes help out at the small diner at 1 Lithgow St., overlooking the Kennebec River. Employees wear red shirts with the new motto — "We survive!" — pointing to nearly eight decades of floods, relocations, bridge complications and ownership changes threatening to pull the business under.
Willette, who still works 12-hour shifts at the hospital, said business at Bee's has been even better than she hoped.
"It has exceeded my expectations, again. Again, again, again," she said. "I mean, everyone's back. I'm already making the Bee's celebrity wall of fame, I've got my Polaroid, and I'm taking pictures of all the old regulars that have already come back through."
One regular showed up before 6 a.m. on opening day to help her put out the opening sign and flag. The loyalty is nothing new, said her mother, Evelyn Willette, who recalls a regular from decades ago who would show up at the family's house — next door to Bee's — and honk every morning she was running late.
"He wouldn't come to the house until 5," she said. "He'd just blow the horn, and I'd come running. Seems like no matter what time I came, he was here."
Ray Weed, an 87-year-old Winslow resident, has been coming to Bee's for the last decade. He said the restaurant is a gathering space for community members.
"It's just small and casual, is what's good about it," Weed said. "And I see a lot of people from in town, a lot of friends and neighbors."
Open Tuesday through Saturday, Bee's serves all-day breakfast while rotating through comfort food specials like loaded hotdogs and macaroni and cheese. Fries are peeled, cut and served piping hot. Booths line the windows and a rounded bar gives customers a chance to chat with staff in the bustling open kitchen.
Bee's Snack Bar reopened April 1 — the same date the Willette family bought the restaurant in 1974, and the date of the disastrous flood that nearly swept it away in 1987. Ryan-Marie Willette said she remembers playing with the trash that washed up in the street after the flood. There's a picture of 8-year-old Willette wearing a tie she found in a tree next to Bee's.
"I thought I was real cool," she said.
The flood gutted the Willettes' house, leaving the family without a home or work until the water went down a few weeks later. The family moved into a mobile home and Winslow school teachers helped clean the restaurant. In the decades that followed, Evelyn Willette said Bee's became a hot spot for school fundraisers and sporting team events.
David Leathers, a Bee's patron for 65 years since his father first brought him when he was 10, was friends with the Willettes before they bought the restaurant. He still eats there most days, driving from Vassalboro for a bowl of oatmeal.
"It's just been many years and a lot of friends," Leathers said. "That's why I keep going back."
Family photobooks live on the counter at the restaurant, documenting five decades of Bee's and the Willettes' often interchangeable history. One book chronicles the time Bee's became a filming destination for the miniseries "Empire Falls" in the early 2000s. The show aired in 2005, with Paul Newman winning a Golden Globe for best supporting actor in a series, miniseries or motion picture.
Weed said he remembers talking to a couple of women at the local Walmart when the three of them overheard Paul Newman and Ed Harris were filming at Bee's. That was the end of the conversation, he said.
"I was talking with a couple ladies, and they just took off like lightning — they didn't even finish their sentence," Weed said. "They heard that Paul Newman was over at Bee's diner. They were talking with me, and they didn't even finish their sentence. And look, I have blue eyes, just like Paul Newman."
The film crew made few changes to the small restaurant — converted into a doughnut shop for the scene — said Leathers, who stood outside and watched two days of the filming.
"Basically, they pretty much left it the same, ," Leather said. "Except when they were done, all the actors signed the counter, which has worn off over washings, but it was there for a while."
Some celebrities are from closer to home. On one wall of Bee's, a Polaroid 'celebrity wall' honors regular customers, while a red carpet leads from the front door because, as Ryan-Marie Willette says, all customers should feel like royalty. Many photos were captured by her 6-year-old son, a member of the younger Willette generation with unlikely camera skills.
Ryan-Marie Willette is taking applications to expand her staff. She hopes to pass the restaurant down to a family member when she returns to nursing. Her mother said it's rewarding to see her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren behind the counter at Bee's.
"I'm glad it's still in the family," Evelyn Willette said.
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