SIESTA KEY – It’s been a long –standing tradition for patrons at the Siesta Key Oyster Bar to decorate the popular bar walls with dollar bills.
“We’ve been all over Florida and this is one of our favorite spots,” said Rick Nolot.
What started as an old fisherman tale quickly turned into a tradition for anyone who visits. Customers staple dollar bills onto the pillars and walls, but the staff decided to put that money into use.
“We heard about the devastation and everything down at the Bahamas and we looked around and had these dollar bills that we normally donate to other charities, said Wesley Pratt. “So the owners got together and just decided let’s get this all together take as many as we can down and donate it to the Bahamas.”
A staggering $14,000 was removed from the walls in a matter of weeks. Pratt has been working at the Siesta Key Oyster Bar for five years. He says this is just a small way to help out those in need.
“People got to stick together you know,” said Pratt. “If something happened to us here, I hope people would do the same thing for us and everything.
Denise and Rick Nolot visit the Suncoast every October and have becomes regulars at the restaurant. They say they were thrilled to hear their favorite spot appeared on the news for a great reason.
“I mean it just warms your heart to know that this little bar, it gives back,” said Denise.
Pratt says their work is far from done, they still plan to remove more bills to donate and the community has been more than supportive.
“We had multiple phone calls today, the hosts are telling me of people saying thank you so much you’re doing a great thing,” he said. “We can’t wait to be there sometime this year when we come down.”
