Joey’s closes doors after tragedy

Times Reporter 

 

Since the death of his father in August, Strathmore’s Joey’s Only owner Dave Lyall has been struggling to make it through each day. On August 20, less than 10 days after marrying his long time girlfriend Alex, Lyall and his dad Craig went for a motorcycle ride. That day his father was involved in a fatal accident in front of him. 

“It’s been a struggle ever since to kind of keep going. We went from the best day to the worst day all within 10 days and it’s just been a struggle trying to keep everything going,” said Lyall.

“I want to thank everybody for their loyalty and patronage over the last two and a half years. Unfortunately due to a life changing family incident on August 20 when I lost my dad who was a percentage owner and due to the estate situation we were forced to close our doors.

“We were honoured to have the ‘Medium Business of the Year’ (Chamber of Commerce) award for 2012. We decided that it would maybe be best to close now (rather) than six months from now when everybody is burnt out and tired.”

Lyall and his family have moved to High River, to be closer to his mom and to his daughter, while taking care of his fathers Joey’s Only restaurant. Doing the commute from High River to Strathmore to manage both businesses put too much strain on his mother. The pressure on the staff here to try to operate things while Lyall isn’t here also would have been too great. 

Lyall plans to remain a member with the Strathmore Lions, stating he will need a break from High River a few times a month. High River is only 45 minutes away so when the weather is nice he encourages people to take a trip that way for some good fish and for a visit.  

“We worked real hard to return the reputation of this location and it is currently for sale. If anyone is interested they can contact Joey’s Only for more information,” said Lyall. 

Contact Rob at Joey’s Corporate office 403-243-4584 for more information about purchasing the location or Dave Lyall at Joey’s Only in High River.