Burned restaurant to reopen for holiday

HAGERSTOWN, Ind. (AP) - The owners of a landmark restaurant in eastern Indiana are set to reopen it on Thanksgiving Day, five months after it was badly damaged in a fire.

Repair and remodeling work began soon after the June fire in downtown Hagerstown wrecked much of the roof and upper floor of Willie & Red's restaurant, which was known as Welliver's Smorgasbord for 60 years until new owners took it over in 2010.

Penny Wickes, who owns the restaurant with her husband, Mike, said they had a waiting list for Thanksgiving Day reservations, the Palladium-Item reported Tuesday. The restaurant will have smorgasbord service only on Thursday, with the menu kitchen and bar opening Friday.

Among the Thanksgiving Day customers will be Janie Welliver and her sister, daughters of smorgasbord founder Guy Welliver.

"It was devastating when the fire happened," Welliver said. "It just broke our hearts." After the fire, she said, "we didn't know what was going to happen."

Diners who expect the restaurant to simply have its fire damage repaired will be surprised, said Tom Butters, director of the Hagerstown Museum & Arts Place that's in an adjourning building.

While the restaurant was undergoing repairs, Butters found a photograph of the building as Davis Bar in 1910 and showed it to the Wickes, who used it as inspiration for Willie & Red's new facade.

"I've never seen anyone work as hard as Mike and Penny," he said.

Town Manager Bob Warner said he expected to see many of the tour buses that long visited Welliver's Smorgasbord return to the community about 50 miles east of Indianapolis for stops at Willie & Red's.

Wickes said she was grateful for all the support she and her husband received during the repairs.

"That's why we bought it to begin with — because of the community," she said. "We didn't want to quit just because of the fire."