BY STEFANIE BOWMANN, Eastern Shore Post
Yuk Yuk and Joe’s restaurant and bar in Eastville closed on Monday, April 7, but the nearly 25-year-old local favorite has the chance to reopen with a little help from its friends.
Owner Kathy Peirson, aka “Yuk Yuk,” has been a restaurateur for 37 years — she owned and operated Someplace Else on the highway in Cape Charles for 12 years before Yuk’s — and she says it has been “quite a learning experience.”
The building housing the Eastville establishment is around 100 years old, and like many older buildings, it has its quirks — including a septic system with a drain field located under the parking lot.
Vehicles parking over the drain field for decades likely contributed to its deterioration, and now the septic system must be replaced at an estimated cost of $78,000 to $100,000 or more.
At nearly 70 years old, Peirson says she can’t commit another 20 years to her business to pay off a loan for the drain field, but she isn’t ready to retire, either.
She is trying to raise the money to save the business in other ways. She has a GoFundMe webpage that generated more than $25,000 as of press time, and a friend volunteered to write a grant for her.
Peirson appreciates all the customers who have stopped by Yuk Yuk and Joe’s to offer their well-wishes and share memories.
“It was fun listening to their version of things,” said Peirson, who has been in business long enough to know customers who were once too young to drink alcohol at her bar but now have young children of their own.
“The community has always supported us,” she said, referring to herself and her husband, Joe Peirson, who has been her partner in life and business for 33 years.
It was the same community that helped convince Peirson to move to the Eastern Shore in 1982.
She remembered visiting a friend on the Shore and thinking, “this is the neatest little place.”
Peirson said she met some new friends who “treated me wonderful” and took her to Wilkins Beach, near Eastville.
They brought a cooler, drank a few beers, and sat on the beach until sunset, but “nobody tried to lock us up,” Peirson said. “You couldn’t do that on the Jersey Shore.” They cleaned up after themselves, leaving behind only footprints.
She has worked in restaurants for her entire adult life. Working for years as a waitress and bartender and having fun doing it, “it kind of gets in your blood,” Peirson said. Opening her own restaurant was the natural next step.
She enjoyed making Yuk Yuk and Joe’s into “a place you can come after work and see your friends, get something to eat, and relax.”
Peirson said she couldn’t have done it without the customers and employees who have shown their support through all of the ups and downs.
“We’ve just been blessed with good people around us all the time,” she said.
To donate on GoFundMe, visit https://tinyurl.com/mpdp427s
