Cafe rebuild underway

VIDA: Rebuilding of the fire damaged Vida Cafe is now underway. For owner Sue Nelson, though, that doesn’t mean the doors will be opening for customers soon. “I just heard from the contractor,” she said on Tuesday. “He said the work should be complete towards the end of August and we should open around September first.”

Part of the challenges are fire-related, she noted. Each time damage is discovered and repaired it has to be inspected before workers can cover it up. An 8 foot by 8 foot new addition now sits on a portion of the cafe’s driveway to the east. It replaces the back portion of the building that had to be removed.

Nelson said the dining room area will stay the same but she’s a bit worried about fitting everything into the tight space left over for the kitchen. Besides that, highway regulations won’t allow her to replace a small overhang above the front door. To help people stay out of the rain, she’s thinking about putting a small gazebo where a flower garden was.

“At least people can see it’s being worked on,” she said with a laugh. “I’m up there a lot to just look at the work.”

Image: A new concrete foundation will extend the Vida Cafe to the east to compensate, in part, for the removal of a rear portion of the building.

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