House of JuJu co-owner Julie Glenn speaks at the Reopen Fresno County Safely rally on Monday. Glenn and her family sacrificed their liquor license to save their indoor dining.

Waffle Shop owner Ammar Ibrahim went up against state lockdown orders in May by reopening on Mother’s Day Weekend. He had community support then, but now, he’s part a countywide coalition to reopen for good.

Ibrahim is one of many businesses throughout Fresno County pledged to reopen on Oct. 1 despite lockdown orders.

Like others across the country, it’s been difficult. He’s at about six employees right now — down by more than half from the original 15 he had pre-Covid. Meanwhile what was supposed to bring his restaurant relief — the June reopening of Fresno County — only caused further hardships.

The first round of closures resulted in a loss from food going bad, with none of it being covered by insurance. When things opened back up, it meant buying new inventory, only for it all to spoil again when closures resumed in July. The incurred losses have amounted to roughly $50,000.

“It would’ve been a lot better not to reopen,” Ibrahim said. “[More money] was burnt and basically thrown in the garbage at the owner’s expense.”

In defying the first lockdown, Ibrahim was first given a warning and then a $1,000 fine. He lasted a week, but with the addition of hundreds — if not thousands — of other restaurants and businesses countywide, Ibrahim thinks the odds will be more in their favor. Still, he does acknowledge that the outcome remains uncertain.

“Strength in numbers, it’s going to be a good thing,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll get to the point that we need to get back to, but you never how it’s going to play out is the reality of it.”

It’s a risk that’s already been taken by Julie Glenn and her family. Their restaurant, House of JuJu in Old Town Clovis, has kept its indoor dining options open even after the second round of shutdowns, sacrificing her liquor license to do it. While she said she has the highest concerns about infections and tries to encourage social distancing and masking, she said she couldn’t ignore the toll taken on people after prolonged closure.

“Obviously any loss is devastating, but when you hear of a restaurateur who committed suicide and you hear of the drug overdoses that don’t get talked about, and you hear of people who can’t feed their families — and you do hear of all of that — I do feel like it has been sadly overlooked,” Glenn said.

Meanwhile, Pastor Jim Franklin from Cornerstone Church in Downtown Fresno is in high spirits over what’s to come. He’s been open since May. He says his church has been on the receiving end of harassment and protests — including rocks thrown through their windows. But in all that time, Franklin says his staff and congregants have complied with social distancing guidelines and worn their masks, and there hasn’t been a single reported case of anyone coming down with Covid.

With mounting pressure, Franklin says Gov. Gavin Newsom is likely to fold soon, adding that there’s a pattern.

“We’ve seen the history of the governor that when pressure has been applied to him — either by large groups or by legal action — that he’s had a ‘come to Jesus’ moment and realized he needed to change some things.”

Meanwhile, encouraging news has been coming in for those pushing for the Oct. 1 reopening. This week, the Fresno County Department of Public Health announced that indoor dining could possibly be allowed to return on Sep. 29 as the number of positive cases fall. According to new state guidelines, capacity would start at 25%.

The business owners, however, plan for Oct. 1 to be at 50% capacity.