Friends Specialty announces closure, with message to MetroParks director

YOUNGSTOWN

Friends Specialty, a downtown coffee shop, is closed for business, according to a sign posted on its door.

The message also takes aim at Mill Creek MetroParks Executive Director Aaron Young. Friends’ owners Patricia Tinkler and Peter Mitchell Lynch recently threatened legal action against the MetroParks after the park board terminated its lease agreement with Friends for operation of the Garden Cafe at Fellows Riverside Gardens.

The sign on the downtown business reads in part: “We’d like to thank our patrons for their support these last three years. ... We are working on an exciting new project that demands our undivided attention, and since life is short, we made the decision to leap ahead first into the next act of our lives. Please follow us on Facebook and Instagram for more on our story. It’s a good one, we promise.”

The message adds: “P.S. To Aaron Young and his bootlicking minions: See you in court [expletive].”