Why did Jackson County shut down top BBQ spot over COVID fears? ‘We’ve tried to comply’
Kansas City is renowned the world over for its barbecue. So it’s more than a little perverse that one of the area’s best barbecue spots has been shut down for — what, being too popular?
Word came on social media this week that Raytown’s Harp Barbecue, named best BBQ in KC a year ago by Kansas City Magazine, was shut down by the Jackson County Environmental Health Division over COVID-19 protocols, however indiscriminately applied.
Harp is not alone, after all. The county quietly decided in August to cancel an unknown number of temporary food permits and not issue any more for the remainder of the year, effective Sept. 8.
Owner Tyler Harp, whose traveling weekend barbecue pop-up has mostly been stationed at Crane Brewing in Raytown, said he was cooking out of state when the county’s decision was apparently made. He tells The Star that, unlike prior robust two-way communications with the county, he didn’t know about the shutdown until a phone call Tuesday.
A Facebook post Thursday in which the restaurant lamented it had done everything it was supposed to and still got shut down prompted followers to plead with Harp to station his fare in Platte, Cass, Clay and Johnson counties. The comments also included equal amounts of complaints about heavy-handed government overreach and citizen “tattletales,” and about bureaucracy, which one commenter called “a disease unto itself.”
Others simply had questions for the restaurant. Were you issued any citations ahead of this? Any warnings? Any inspectors come out and talk to you? Is there an appeals process? I posed similar questions to the county health department and received some fairly vague answers. It boils down to this from a county spokesperson:
“In (an) effort to prevent outdoor mass gatherings of 100 people or more per the current health order, the county’s environmental health division stopped issuing temporary food permits for the remainder of the year.
“The county’s Environmental Health Division took into consideration every permit that was already issued for future dates, three of which were canceled that were associated with an event that would have more than 100 people. All others submitted detailed plans on how they would limit crowds, and they were allowed to get a temporary permit.”
Harp says he didn’t even know such a plan had been requested.
The schools and Arrowhead Stadium are open
A well-traveled, self-schooled barbecue expert, Harp says his events are mostly outside and socially distanced as much as possible with a line monitor. “We never had more than 20 inside,” Harp says.
More frustrated than angry — he shrugs off a suggestion of legal action — Harp doesn’t understand why the hammer came down on him and perhaps others so bluntly and out of the blue.
“Honestly, I’m just trying to figure out how to get back to work,” he says. “I don’t want to do anything crazy. I don’t want to go after anybody. I just want to get back to work. We stayed in constant communication with their inspectors about the (pandemic) to make sure we were doing the right thing. We felt as though we took all precautions and then some.”
Harp also finds it frustrating that schools in Raytown are open, and fans are welcome at Chiefs’ games, but his small barbecue pop-up is shut down for coronavirus. It’s especially insulting after Harp voluntarily shut down at the start of the pandemic before being forced to.
The county replies it has “worked with the establishment in question in the past to help them obtain a full permit; however the establishment has not followed through.” That, too, might not be completely fair: Harp says he is indeed hoping to have a permanent location at Crane, but that he’s had to wait for construction on the Katy Trail, which runs by the brewery.
The county did say, quite obliquely, that “a situation along Blue Springs Highway prompted additional evaluation of issuing temporary permits to ensure compliance with the health order limiting outdoor gatherings to no more than 100.”
Indeed, merchants behind what is normally the Blue Springs Fall Fun Festival — this year dubbed the “Fall Un-Festival” — had made plans all year to pull it off safely. Ultimately, to maximize social distancing, they planned “separate” events at locations over a seven-mile stretch of road. It happened successfully Sept. 18 and 19.
It was certainly a creative pivot, especially considering that the county told merchants only Sept. 1 that their original plans for a socially distanced festival wouldn’t be approved. And this was after chamber of commerce officials and other business representatives had worked with the county since April.
Even so, the stretched-out event went forward without those food vendors who didn’t already have an existing permit, since no more were being issued. And the only way the county would allow the event at all was if merchants arbitrarily called each one of the 17 festival locations its own separate event. Otherwise, the locations together would have violated the 100-person maximum. Good grief.
Coronavirus policies ‘inconsistent’ and ‘out of hand’
The frustrations shared by Harp and Blue Springs merchants were discussed Monday night by the Blue Springs City Council, which passed a resolution expressing support for schools and businesses and irritation with the county’s heavy-handedness. Mayor Carson Ross said a Zoom meeting with six other mayors in the county tells him the frustration is wide and growing.
“I think we’re all in agreement (county COVID-19 regulation) is inconsistent. It is out of hand,” he said.
Lara Vermillion, Blue Springs Chamber of Commerce president, told the council of her organization’s frustration at having its initial long-in-developing festival plans rejected by the county just 17 days before the event. “We were absolutely stunned,” she said. “We had been planning for months, and thought we were playing by their rules.”
Harp knows how she feels.
No doubt, the county needs to prevent the spread of COVID-19. But an event stretching for seven miles? Come on. Moreover, the county’s action against other permit holders such as Harp is causing severe collateral damage and economic hardship.
“We’ve tried to comply with everything they’ve asked us to do,” Harp said. “And now they’re saying they’re just going to end our right to make a living for the rest of the year.”
Isn’t that a bit indiscriminate?
Come on, government. Work with the people you serve.
