GoFundMe Effort Launched To Keep Black Duck Cafe Open In Westport

WESTPORT, CT – Less than 24 hours after announcing the imminent closure of Westport staple the Black Duck Cafe, the team behind the iconic waterfront bar is turning to the public for help keeping the business afloat.

According to the restaurant's Facebook page, the Black Duck Cafe is open this week on Wednesday, Oct. 31, but will be closed Thursday and Friday. The bar will then reopen on Saturday and Sunday (Nov. 3-4) for a final goodbye to its Westport family...or perhaps not.

In an effort to save the 40-year-old bar, the Black Duck team has created a GoFundMe page to raise cash to stay open for a couple more months The page was created Tuesday by Julianne Dorset.

"We need to raise cash immediately," Dorset wrote on the page. "Our hope is that with the money raised, that the Duck will be able to stay open for this month and next month. This money will get us through the slower time."

See also: Black Duck Cafe To Close After 40 Years In Westport

Described on its website as "the friendliest bar in town," the Black Duck Cafe is famous for its atmosphere that hearkens back to a time gone by in Westport. According to Dorset, this turning back of time, while a major factor of the bar's appeal, has also lead to the accrual of increasing debts.

"Though we have had to increase our prices over the years, these increases have been disproportionately lower than the increasing food costs," the page reads. "In other words, our commitment to being one of the last affordable, laid-back restaurants in lower Fairfield County has caught up to us."

According to Dorset, the Duck has experienced slower business in the past six months and, as a result, fallen on significant financial hardship. With few options left, employees are turning to their loyal customers who have long-supported them for help.

"Our beloved old barge withstood Hurricane Sandy, the departure of near-celebrity status bartenders, rising food, liquor and utilities costs and the takeover of Westport by brand name chains," the page reads. "Despite these changes, it is our long-time customers, camaraderie and meeting new customers that have kept us, the remaining few long-time employees, going."

As of Wednesday morning, the page has already raised $2,580 of a $100,000 goal in less than 12 hours. Those who wish to donate to the campaign can do so here.

Located on Riverside Avenue, the Black Duck Cafe offers waterfront dining on the Saugatuck River beneath Interstate 95, where customers can literally pull their boat right up to the restaurant and enjoy wings, seafood, steak, one of the Duck's famous stuffed burgers or even just a cold beer or two.

In 2011, the bar received a visit from celebrity chef Guy Fieri for his television show "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives." Chef Tim Miller's recipe for Steak Au Poivre can even be found on the Food Network website.

"It is devastating to think that we won't be part of Westport and a part of your lives anymore," the page reads. "If our small barge on Riverside Avenue becomes empty, so many of you, our guests, will no longer have your go-to place to go to, so we the employees are doing everything we can to keep it going."

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Photo credit: RJ Scofield