South Windsor Dairy Queen to Open in Late Spring

The highly anticipated Dairy Queen Grill & Chill currently under construction on Sullivan Avenue will open in late May or early June, according to one of the business’ partners.

Bob Larkin said told the Town Council on Monday evening that the weather has caused some delays in construction.

In an interview with Patch, Larkin said that the business is nearly ready to go, having  hired 65 local high school kids after a recent job fair at the community center. Larkin estimated that about 100 people have been hired to work at the restaurant and the miniature golf course that sits behind the Dairy Queen.

“We’re excited to come to town,” Larkin told the Town Council on Monday evening. “You’ve been a very, very friendly town to do business with. The staff has been wonderful.”

Larkin and partner Gary Somerset were at the meeting in support of a measure that authorized Town Manager Matthew Galligan to enter into a right-of-way agreement with the Dairy Queen developers for the use of town open space to convert some of that land into 24 overflow parking spaces.

The council approved the measure in a 7-0 vote (two councilors were not present at the meetings).

The parking lot will also be available to town residents to access the Major Michael Donnelly Land Trust in the Sullivan Avenue area.

Because of this, in a rare - if not unprecedented - move, the council approved the right-of-way agreement without requiring any remuneration from the developers.

“It’s probably the first time [the council has] ever done it without extracting money from it,” Councilor Ed Havens said.

Havens noted that Larkin and Somerset have been great partners with the town, hiring local contractors to build the restaurant as well as local kids to work there over the summer.