By the end of lunch, they’d sold so many burgers they were totally out of ground beef. A sign of how ready regulars were to return to beloved local bar Thirsty Turtle Deli & Tavern, even if they couldn’t buy a beer or cocktail there again just yet.

“The Turtle” had been closed since August, following the death of longtime owner Marilyn VerMeer at age 73. She and husband Leonard VerMeer, who died in 2010, opened the Turtle in 1990 after moving to Huntsville from Detroit.

The Turtle’s liquor license was in Marilyn’s name. After she passed, the Turtle could no longer sell alcoholic beverages until the license was in another person’s name and the business needed bar sales to remain viable, so they shut down to sort that out. There was also ownership to be resolved. Although the VerMeers’ daughter Deanna Wolf had grown up working at her parents’ bar, she’d moved on to working in another field.

The reopened Turtle is now owned by three women who’ve worked at the bar for a combined 70 years: Nikki Kromis, Sarah Richman and Chari Ridzelski-Adams. They purchased the business from Marilyn VerMeer’s family.

The new owners have filed their paperwork with the Alabama Beverage Control (or ABC) Board and hope to be back to serving full-bar within a couple weeks. Wednesday — after a word-of-mouth soft-opening Tuesday to warm up – Thirsty Turtle’s Facebook announced they’d reopened, serving food only for the time being.

Even without publicity or advertising, there was a strong turnout for lunch Wednesday. “I came out here at one time just to help bring food out and it was full,” says Kromis, who’s worked at Thirsty Turtle for 22 years.

By trade a bartender and server, Kromis has been working in the kitchen to also master the Turtle’s back-of-the-house processes. She says, “The fact that so many people showed up today to eat and drink sodas, we’re so excited.” Richman says, “Today, it was crazy.” The good kind of crazy though. Richman says since reopening, guest after guest has told her, “It’s good to be home.”

Located in Fresh-Market-anchored The Village on Whitesburg shopping center, the Turtle’s long been a go-to for longtime locals and service industry workers. Although many Huntsville bars no longer allow cigs, smokers can still light up at Thirsty Turtle. The vibe’s laidback and gloriously unpretentious. Their bar-food’s done right, the draft beers are big and cold, and the prices are affordable, so the value’s on point.

“Chuck,” a retired tech worker and Marine who declines to give his last name, has been coming to the Turtle off and on since ‘95. “It’s just an old neighborhood bar,” Chuck says, standing near the back door many regulars use to enter the Thirsty Turtle.

Chuck’s usual orders at the Turtle include Budweiser in the bottle and a Reuben sandwich or cheeseburger. Asked what he missed most about the Thirsty Turtle while it was closed down, Chuck points to Kromis, Sarah Richman and Chari Ridzelski-Adams, who are taking a post-lunch break outside, and says, “These people.”

The reopened Turtle feels like the classic Turtle but, as Richman puts it, with “lipstick” added. The carpet’s been removed and replaced with hardwood floors. The new owners did most of the other sprucing up themselves, including painting the walls “lucky green,” cleaning, grouting, scraping, scrubbing, you name it.

As first-time business owners, deciphering the legal mumbo-jumbo, forms, etc. took time. Although the business name was remaining the same because the names behind it were changing, many documents weren’t transferable.

Inside Thirsty Turtle, the familiar wall décor (neon beer signs, sports pennants, painting of a brew-hoisting terrapin, framed Leonard VerMeer photo collage) are back in place. The Golden Tee video game, dartboards, pool table and jukebox, too. Overhead, the large air filtering machines installed to help diffuse cigarette smoke inside the bar hum.

The reopened Turtle’s staff numbers around 10 employees. Outside of ownership, a few employees have been there three to five years. Most of the others are new and learning the ropes.

Turtle’s traditional open-seven-days-a-week schedule is back. For now, only the opening time, 11 a.m. daily, is in stone. Ownership’s still determining closing times for each night as they relaunch.

Richman began working at Thirsty Turtle in September 2001, coming over from a Ruby Tuesday where she tended bar. At the Turtle, she started off in the kitchen, working up to server, bartender and finally management. For her, Kromis and Ridzelski-Adams to now own the place, “it’s pretty big,” Richman says.

After the loss of Marilyn VerMeer, who treated the staff like family, and the Turtle being shutdown it was a challenging time for the new owners. On that last night open in August before shutting down, the house was packed, and more than a few tears were shed by guests and staff alike. Kromis says, “It was a loss. It felt like grieving.”

Richman says, “It’s the community that got us through. They dropped by every day. They rolled through the parking lot. They post online, they call you at home, see at Walmart and say, ‘Hey, don’t you work at the Turtle?’”

Ridzelski-Adams has worked at Thirsty Turtle, off and on, for 26 years. Ascending to ownership involves a huge increase in responsibilities, almost to an overwhelming degree at times.

“But, you know,” says Ridzelski-Adams, standing behind the bar, “I’ve worked here, the majority of my adult life. I can’t imagine working anywhere else and not being a part of this for the rest of my life.”

With Huntsville’s booming development, the city now offers a vastly wider array of bar and burger options than when the Turtle first opened, back when Wilson Phillips’ “Hold On” was the year’s number-one song, “Ghost” tops at the movies and “Cheers” the biggest TV show. As welcome as newness and options are, hole-in-the-wall locals-hangs like Thirsty Turtle add heart and soul to a city’s dining and nightlife mix.

The Turtle’s new owners want to keep Leonard and Marilyn VerMeer did. Kromis recalls Marilyn hosting a graduation party for her son. Richman recalls Leonard’s fun, rascally personality. Ridzelski-Adams calls the VerMeers her “second parents.”

It’s also important for them to keep the Thirsty Turtle’s doors open, the food sizzling and drinks pouring here for the next chapter in Huntsville’s history. “We have people coming in now,” Kromis says, “saying things like, ‘This was my aunt’s stomping ground.’ It feels like you’re passing it down, like a family heirloom.”