Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night.

It's the beginning of the U.S. Postal Service's creed, but it may not be far from Joe Sauro's.

The Gateway Tavern owner keeps the Route 6 restaurant open regardless of the weather, if at all possible. He'll transport workers safely to the Gateway if he has to.

"The only time I ever closed was when [former governor] Deval Patrick instituted a travel ban," he said.

It wasn't his choice. He has a generator.

"The power was out," he noted. "The staff was here."

Veteran bartender Dee Goldie nods in solidarity.

"I've been here plenty of snow storms in my 14 years at the Gateway Tavern," she exclaims.

In the late afternoon on Feb. 9, hours after the storm began, folks commiserating at the Gateway's bar spotted a small Honda and a Ford Focus stuck at the intersection of Hathaway Street and Route 6, just outside of the restaurant.

Without prompting, the group trudged through the snow and communicated a strategic plan to the Marion resident in the Honda.

First, they pushed the car backward. Then, they got behind it, and pushed it forward. The car was freed, and made its way down Route 6 toward Marion.

Then, they did the same for the Ford.

"Gun it and turn the wheel to the left," one patron yelled.

The woman driving did as instructed, and the group pushed. In moments, the Ford was also freed.

Serendipitously, a plow then arrived to clear the snow from the area.

Sauro doesn't remember exactly when the last Gateway closure was, but it was likely when the blizzard walloped the South Coast in 2013.

"I just think that there's some place that should be known that's always open," Sauro, whose home neighbors the Gateway, explained.

Sauro has also owned The Stowaway nearby on Route 6 in Mattapoisett for the past couple of years. He's working to establish that location as the go-to place during weather events in that town.

He smiles as someone at the Gateway yells: "Hey, are you open tomorrow night?"

Sauro responds: "As long as my staff doesn't quit!"

He's joking, but it's understandable that staffers might have some concerns about driving in crazy weather.

Bartender Dawn Alden won't object.

"No. I couldn't care less. But I'm probably part of the few..." she notes with a laugh.

It's dinnertime and the restaurant is noticeably slow for a Thursday evening that normally boasts a packed crowd for a weekly trivia competition.

"We definitely feed people who plow and sand," says Goldie, the bartender, as she takes beverage orders, before noting: "And then you have the die-hard New Englanders who drive here just to say they can do it."

Mike Valle of Main Street in Wareham is one of those people, though he had hitched a ride with a friend. He works as a framer for commercial buildings and had a snow day due to the storm.

"I'm a guy who comes here every time it snows," he says. "It's warm. They have good food and good people."

That sentiment is echoed by others. Earlier in the day, a vacating patron made her way out the door and discovered a heap on the floor.

"Whose coat is this? Is this your coat?" she said, addressing another customer as she gestured to a mound on the floor.

The customer responded: "Oh! That's my pants!"

Her snow pants. She'd walked over from her Weweantic Shores home.