It’s still hard to believe that downtown Saline’s folksy coffee house the Drowsy Parrot is closed. Neither its owner, Scott Buster, or the building’s landlord of record, Keith Larder, could be reached. Peering through the glass of the locked front door reveals hardly a sign of its recent activity, when it was filled with the roar of its noisy espresso machine, the hum of its giant cooler for fresh baked goods, and the laughter of the locals who met almost daily to read the paper and shoot the breeze.
“I don’t know. One day it was open. The next it was closed,” says Catrina Vlisides, owner of Detroit Dog Co., during a busy summer lunch hour at her restaurant next door.
Saline is resilient, and that space has a certain cherished charm. Terri Sibo-Koenig, event and project coordinator for the Saline Area Chamber of Commerce, is hopeful that someone may yet revive the Parrot. “Our attempts have been slow, but we have had parties interested in the place,” Sibo-Koenig says. Stay tuned. Maybe the Parrot just needed a little nap.
