A year later, little impact after denying Trump aide dinner
LEXINGTON, Va. (AP) — Tourism in a small Virginia town has suffered little in the year since The Red Hen restaurant famously refused to serve President Donald Trump's spokeswoman, Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
The Roanoke Times reports that Lexington's meals and lodging tax revenues are steady and a survey commissioned by a regional tourism office found the incident didn't dissuade people visiting the area.
The small restaurant's co-owner has said she asked Sanders to leave the restaurant in June 2018 at the request of gay employees who objected to how Sanders defended Trump's desire to bar transgender people from the military.
That triggered debate about whether politics should play a role in how administration officials are treated in public.
Trump recently announced that Sanders will depart as White House press secretary later this month.
