Stacey McLellan was in her restaurant, Capers, on Monday, March 2, when Lori Higgins poked her head in the door and asked if she was open. She didn’t see the “Open” flag waving outside.

McLellan said yes, she was open, but had forgotten to put the flag up that morning.

Tuesday, March 3, marked the one-year anniversary of Capers in Boothbay Harbor.

It had been 364 days since McLellan hung that sign for the first time. Her eyes welled up at the memory.

“The first time I put that flag up I started crying,” she said. “Finally my 20-year dream had come true.

“I had always wanted to have a deli like this, where I could do whatever I wanted — fun stuff, with no set rules,” she said.

According to McLellan, it took a while for people to realize she was there, but once they did, they usually came back.

“When summer visitors came on the first day of their vacation, they would often come back every day while they were here,” she said. “By the end of the week we would be calling each other by name.”

McLellan draws people in with her friendly, outgoing personality.

“I like people,” she said. “Being nice to people is really important. If you can't be friendly, don't be in this business. People have to walk in and feel welcome and feel like it's a great place to hang out.”

Before opening Capers, McLellan worked at Oliver’s on Southport and in the kitchen at Mine Oyster in Boothbay Harbor. “A long time ago,” she did catering at the Russell House. “That was when I realized I really loved to cook,” she said.

Capers has a set menu with certain breakfast and lunch items, and there are specials every day.

McLellan said she has been expanding the breakfast menu, and has been getting a good crowd in the mornings. The breakfast egg sandwiches are really taking off.

“We do them to order,” she said. “You have a choice of bagel, English muffin, French bread or croissant, six different choices of cheese, and your eggs can be done however you want them.”

On Monday, Higgins, a massage therapist, was having the lunch special: a smoked turkey sandwich with tomatoes, arugula, pear preserve and crumbled blue cheese on a (large, flaky) croissant. She said she comes to Capers a couple times a week, for coffee (to make at home), and to have lunch.

“Stacey is a nice addition to the town,” she said. “I believe in spurring the local economy, so I spend a part of my tips in town.”

Deezie Flower of Boothbay Harbor, and East Boothbay summer resident, Lyn Rivers, were also at Capers for lunch on Monday.

“The food is always fresh and different, and staying open year-round is a big boost for the locals,” Flower said. Rivers said she thought it was courageous of McLellan to open in the winter (last year).

“It was a good way to get local people in.”

Jane Good of Southport and her friend Margaret Perritt of Boothbay Harbor also came in for lunch.

“I love the combinations of tastes Stacey puts together,” Good said. “She really has a nice way of putting different flavors together.”

Aside from great food, there is a good, and growing, wine selection at Capers. McLellan said she and her staff have learned a lot about different wines, and are knowledgeable enough to steer people in the right direction to suit their tastes.

“I've been in a couple of times and needed a quick gift. She knows her wines and she takes time with you to pick out something really special,” Good said.

Perritt remarked on the interior of the restaurant.

“The thing I like about it is it's bright and cheerful, and Stacy is always so personable.”

McLellan said she likes being open this time of year.

“Everybody knows each other. Lori came in and she knows Deezie, so they struck up a conversation. Now Jane is here and she knows everybody. You might be at your own table, but you'll be talking across the dining room. I like that. It's a comfortable place to come in to.”

Dave Gaecklein came in for coffee from Car Quest, the business next door.

“I come in for coffee in the morning, and coffee in the afternoon, and lunch once in a while,” he said. “The food is great.”

Madeleine, McLellan's teenage daughter, helps out during the summer, and when needed at other times. Employee Cody Orne was helping in the kitchen on March 2.

“I'm her only employee right now, so that makes me special,” Orne said.

McLellan said that making through her first year was epic.

“(It was) the most exciting thing ever,” she said. “Not every day is going to be the same, and I didn't know what to expect. I came into this blind. Now I now what to expect. I made it through the first year with most of my sanity intact.”

“When you open a restaurant you're going to have to go in knowing that you're going to live there. You've got to love what you're doing, because it's a hundred hour week.”

Another customer came in and McLellan called out, “Hello, how are you? Is Cody in the kitchen?”

Capers stays open till 9 p.m. in the summer, and closes at 6 p.m. in the winter. Doors opens at 7:30 a.m.