SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – As the restaurant industry in western Massachusetts continues to adjust to the pandemic, many of them are utilizing outdoor spaces that they wouldn’t have considered before to bring in patrons.

22News went to the Student Prince Cafe and Fort Restaurant in Springfield where Saturday they were celebrating Summer Festival on Fort Street.

The restaurant has moved itself from indoors out on to Fort Street as an outdoor dining space during the busy summer months.

Fort Street is blocked off from traffic where patrons can safely sit under lit tents and dine outdoors with live music, while abiding by COVID-19 safety standards.

Andy Yee, partner of The Student Prince, said that they have the street until October 1st, and are considering the possibilities if chiller weather will come sooner.

“We have different variations of fire pits, so we are looking into that, but it’s a sizable investment to put into something that is, “do we use it next year?”, so we are slowly taking baby steps to understand how this will all play out,” said Yee.

While it is still warm out The Student Prince plans to have live music all summer long on Fort Street.