Life of Montgomery restaurant owner Gail Royal remembered
Gail’s Down the Street Cafe on Zelda Road in Montgomery – Photo from WAKA Action 8 News
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WAKA) – You have the chance to help remember the life of longtime Montgomery restaurant owner Gail Royal, just by purchasing a meal at a special event at her Gail’s Down the Street Cafe.
As Action 8 News has reported, Royal died Friday morning, August 7, after a battle with cancer and other illnesses. She opened Gail’s Down the Street Cafe on Zelda Road in 1993, which has been a popular lunchtime gathering spot for hungry diners, especially those wanting a meat-and-three meal. The parking lot is often packed.
General Manager Russell Terry told Action 8 News today that Royal meant so much to the community outside of her restaurant. She held fundraisers for youth church trips and loved to make people happy.
Newspaper article about Gail Royal hangs in Gail’s Down the Street Cafe on Zelda Road in Montgomery – Photo from WAKA Action 8 News
“We take solace in the fact that we know where she is. She’s in heaven now, you know,” Terry said.
Terry says that’s what folks at the restaurant are going to continue, and that the restaurant will remain open.
“She fought so hard to fight this, but at the end, you know, a body can only take what the body can take, but we’re going to continue to stay open. We have no plans to go anywhere at all and we’re going to continue to live out her legacy through feeding people great food, great hospitality and all of those things,” he said.
On Friday, August 14, from 6-9PM, Terry says they will hold a benefit for the celebration of Gail Royal’s life. They will be serving barbecue plates in boxes and quarts of camp stew at the restaurant. It will be BYOB. The plates will be $10, and the camp stew will be $15. There will be live music featuring Sonny Grier and Andy Norman. The restaurant itself won’t be open for regular business. It will accept a $10 donation at the door to help it continue its operations.
