One Open Minnesota media star to emerge from the heartbreak of closed bars and restaurants is Larvita McFarquhar, most recently seen at Alpha News in the embedded Featured Video Must Watch: Business owner reacts in emotional video after judge orders her restaurant to close.
But we find ourselves just as concerned by McFarquhar's views about vaccination. One of the signature triumphs of the waning days of the Trump administration is the approval and distribution of vaccines to quell the killer corona, though corners of MAGA world sow fear of the remedy.
In late October, McFarquhar attended the 2020 Vaccine Awareness Event - Minnesota in Alexandria, where (judging from her Facebook page photos) she hob-knobbed with some of the stars of the anti-vaxxer world, described on the gathering's Eventbrite page:
This will truly be a once in a lifetime educational event to hear these amazing speakers speak on vaccine awareness and our health freedoms!About this Event
Join us for our Fall 2020 event on Saturday October 24th 9am-5pm as we welcome Del Bigtree, Dr. Bob Zajac, Shelia Ealey, Leah Wilson, Dr. Joel Bohemier, Senator Scott Jensen and Andrew Wakefield! This will truly be a once in a lifetime educational event to hear these amazing speakers present on vaccine awareness and our health freedoms! We anticipate this event will sell out so grab your tickets now!
Andrew Wakefield? The Guardian reported in 2018's How disgraced anti-vaxxer Andrew Wakefield was embraced by Trump's America:
There cannot be many doctors as thoroughly discredited and ostracised as Andrew Wakefield has been in the UK who are subsequently seen smiling at the inauguration ball of a US president and later discovered to be dating the Australian model Elle Macpherson.
But there he is. Wakefield was all but drummed out of Britain. The gastroenterologist lost his job, had his scientific paper linking the MMR vaccine and autism retracted by medical journal the Lancet and, in 2010, was struck off the medical register. He disappeared to the US and it was assumed he had gone to ground, having lost all credibility. He was a spent force, even though his name was often in the air as the anti-MMR views he seeded around the world led to many parents shunning the vaccine and outbreaks of measles wherever anyone had heard Wakefield’s creed.
It was known he was in Texas with those who shared his views on vaccines and conspiracy. But he was not a public figure. Until Donald Trump was elected US president of the United States. . . .
Here's McFarquhar's fan girl Facebook post from October:
And Del Bigtree?
In a recent tweet, he wrote: "The rushed EXPERIMENTAL COVID VACCINE ROLLOUT could be the greatest scientific blunder in the history of mankind. Those who trust blindly will be remembered for their DARWIN AWARD. "
NBC News reported in Covid-19 vaccines face a varied and powerful misinformation movement online:
Facebook removed the page for the online anti-vaccination show The HighWire this month for violating policies on "misinformation that could cause physical harm," the company said. YouTube had removed the show’s channel in July after reports that host Del Bigtree was downplaying the severity of the coronavirus pandemic on his show and suggesting viewers intentionally expose themselves to Covid-19.
Here's our heroine's photo with him at the Vaccine Awareness Event, posted on Facebook:
At the top of the post, we shared her photo with Alexandria Republican state representative Mary Franson, a leader long seduced by the forces of ego and anti-science. Franson was at the very least passing though the neighborhood.
Nope, we wouldn't be turning to McFarquhar for COVID-19 advice given the medical experts she consults.
Tough times in Lyon County
Even before the pandemic, it was tough for McFarquhar to keep the restaurant's doors open.
The Lyon County woman opened Havens Garden restaurant in Lyon County in May 2020, after opening an earlier iteration--Trev's Kitchen--in 2017.
Trev's Kitchen temporarily closed in July 2019:
The business records database at the Minnesota Secretary of State shows that the paperwork for the assumed name was filed May 5, 2020.
Photos on the Haven Gardens's Facebook page jump from April 4, 2019 to May 21 2020.
The page history in the Page Transparency section reveals this history:
The mother of four reopened on May 18 with a religious and patriotic theme:
05/17/2020
Haven’s garden, formally Trev's Kitchen, will be opening on Monday, May 18. Come join us for non-denominational prayer, worship, and fellowship from 5 PM- 6 PM
ALL are welcome!!!
Special event: “Patriots Unite”
Enjoy dinner and a performance by the Fabulous Tommy Rexx
from 6 PM-8 PM
Sadly, few showed up as she lamented to her daughters in a dramatic YouTube. The caption:
Hard working mother and small business owner breaks down as she is outraged over the government saying her business, along with so many other businesses, are considered nonessential. As she dares to open her business she is hurt that there were no patriots to stand with and support her, except for a select few.
The restaurant business is never easy--and near impossible in a pandemic. And McFarquhar's own life changed on the western prairies where she had been raised. In 2016, the Marshall Independent reported in New life for the Lyndwood:
Larvita McFarquhar bought the SWSD from Charlotte Wendel, who will stay on as artistic director. McFarquhar was a student of Wendel’s from the age of 6 to 17. After high school, she moved from Marshall to Virginia for 15 years and “out of the blue” called Wendel and learned she was selling SWSD.
“I thought it was a great opportunity,” said McFarquhar. “I’m really excited.”
McFarquhar and her husband, Wayne, have four daughters, ages 17, 15, 12, and 10, and live in Marshall. She has extended family in Pipestone, Edgerton and Sioux Falls, S.D.
By November 25, 2020 Powerline's John Hindraker reported in A HEROINE FOR OUR TIME?:
Larvita McFarquhar owns a little bar and entertainment venue called Havens Garden in Lynd, Minnesota, a town of 448 in the southwestern part of the state. She is black, a single mother and a Christian. I don’t know whether McFarquhar is a conservative, but she is standing tall against our proto-fascist governor’s order that all bars and restaurants shut down indefinitely. . . .
In an interview with Alpha News, McFarquhar added this background:
McFarquhar said the last several months have “been horrible” financially, noting that small business owners are already “struggling as it is.”
“These are the things that you have to struggle with. I’m struggling to keep my lights on,” she added. “The thing that makes me mad during this whole thing is we still have to pay our bills. I have to still pay taxes on the building.”
The government can order McFarquhar to close her doors, but “they still want their taxes” and can put a lien on her property if she doesn’t pay her bills, she said.
“The bills that were there before — they don’t go away because we’re not open. They’re still there and I still have to pay them,” McFarquhar said Monday. “Then to have the threat above that. That’s the worst part.” . . .
That's certainly true. According to court records, the McFarquhars filed for divorce in October, 2020; the marriage dissolved at the end of November. Civil cases Case No. 27-CV-18-4716 (Hennepin Civil) and Case No. 42-CV-18-446 (Lyon), filed in March 2018, reveal a debt of $2,908.61 by McFarqhar and several businesses she owns to Sysco Western Minnesota, Inc in 2018. A search of judgment records shows that the debt remains active.
As far as her politics go, we think the Facebook photo of a Trump flag street wave may be something of a marker.
One source also spells her politics out fairly clearly. For the Minneota Mascot, Scott Thoma reports in Lynd businesswoman defies governor, keep bar/restaurant open that she is "a black conservative" who believes she has benefited from reverse discrimination:
Because no one from the Lyon County Sheriff's Department showed up that [Friday] night, McFarquhar feels it was a case of reverse discrimination.
"If anything, I feel it was racist against white people," she said. "If I was white, I think they would have arrested or fined me. But the way things are today, they didn't want the news of shutting down a single black woman's business."
The article also reports that the name-change came earlier, despite the records of Trey's Kitchen cited above (and the Sysco debt was accrued by Trey's Kitchen):
McFarquhar, who is from Marshall, first opened a gymnastics club and dance studio in 2016 in the same building as the then-closed restaurant known as Chuck's Kitchen. She opened the restaurant the following year and re-named it Havens Garden.
"I wanted it to be a safe haven for people to come and enjoy," she explained. "The gym and dance studio are still open Monday thru Thursday from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. The kids can play in the gym and relieve some stress. And we serve food during those times, too."
McFarquhar has attracted a lot of publicity since defying the governor; mostly positive. She has been interviewed by several print and broadcast media personnel. While she is happy to get her message out, McFarquhar wasn't trying to attract attention for her business. . . .
Heckova story, but we don't think we'll be crossing the South Dakota-Minnesota border for a nosh there soon.
Screengrabs: Via Facebook.
If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the paypal subscription button.
Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email [email protected] as recipient.
NEW: I'm now on Venmo for those who prefer to use this service: Sally-Sorensen-6
Comments