WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB — Businesses around Wright-Patterson Air Force Base are hoping to see a surge in visitors as the longest government shutdown in U.S. history comes to an end.
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Hector’s Taco Shop sits across the street from Wright-Patterson.
When the shutdown started last month, Alayna Synder, shift leader at the restaurant, said businesses “definitely slowed.”
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Snyder said the restaurant always counted on base workers for breakfast and lunch.
Friday, with the base back open and workers on the base, she said it was “back to normal.”
While the base was closed, Snyder said the restaurant gave back to families who needed some help.
“We did do a little raffle of just discounts in general, just off any order for any person, because I know it’s affecting everybody around,” she said.
Five minutes down the road, the National Museum of the National Museum of the US Air Force unlocked its doors to more than a thousand visitors.
“I see a lot of smiling faces today that are awfully glad that we’re back open again,” Jim Verstreate, veteran and volunteer at the museum, said.
Back at Hector’s, the owner is focused on families who might need a little extra help.
“We’re gonna do 15 turkeys to the first 15 families that come in Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving,” Hector Gonzalez, owner of Hector’s, said.
Gonzalez said those 15 Thanksgiving meals will be free.
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