Parker Warren is the quarantine hero that Cleveland needs right now. The Lakewood resident had been doing the standard lockdown routine — Zoom happy hours and so forth — when he noticed a squirrel in his yard that was inching closer and closer to his home.
"We became close buddies," Warren told Scene Monday. "I bought a picnic table on eBay that I saw somebody made during quarantine. People are connecting with nature since human connections are not possible. Somebody sent me a picture of a squirrel bar and I said, I should get one. I was trying to fall asleep and the idea of a squirrel Lido Lounge came to me in a semi-conscious state, and I knew it was my destiny to build it."
And so he has.
The SquirreLido Lounge is now a reality, stocked daily with fresh peanuts for the rodential regulars. For Warren, the small porch enclave for critters (and the occasional Blue Jay) is a reminder of a bar that he unironically loves. For the rest of us, it's a bit of joy during these uncertain times. Warren said he's delighted the pictures of the finished product are bringing so much happiness to people.
"If you build it," he reminded us, surely no pun intended, "they will come."
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