In the aftermath of the fire that badly damaged Zachary’s restaurant Sunday, Eric Ford and Zachary’s general manager Wilson Beck had a difficult task: removing the photographs, signs and other singed memorabilia from the walls of the restaurant.
“There’s a lot of memories right here,” said Ford, a longtime Zachary’s patron, as Beck passed him a framed photograph.
“You’re telling me,” Beck replied, pulling his baseball cap lower on his forehead. “I’m choking back tears here.”
Firefighters with Columbus Fire and Rescue responded to the call at the downtown restaurant at about 5:15 a.m. Sunday, according to CFR Assistant Chief Duane Hughes. They contained and extinguished the fire, believed to be electrical in origin, within half an hour, CFR Public Information Officer Anthony Colom said.
No injuries were reported, but Zachary’s will have to close, at least temporarily.
Hughes said while the most damage was in the kitchen and back part of the building, there was extensive smoke damage throughout.
“It’s going to be months before we open again,” Zachary’s owner Doug Pellum told The Dispatch. “But we will be back.”
Ford, who lives a few blocks away from the restaurant, heard about the fire and chose to respond in a personal way. Armed with power drills he loaned to the handful of other volunteers and employees on site, he set about helping Beck and Pellum assess what was salvageable.
Turns out, it wasn’t much.
“All the tables and chairs have to go out because of the smoke damage,” Pellum said. “We really can’t save anything we have in here.”
Zachary’s opened downtown in 2001 and quickly became a fixture in Columbus, not only for its food and laid-back ambiance, but because of its connection to the community.
Pellum’s restaurant has held scores of fund-raising events, most of them for area charities or citizens in need. Last year alone, Zachary’s raised more than $40,000 through fundraisers, also contributing more than $30,000 worth in in-kind services.
In February, the restaurant was awarded the Restaurant Neighbor Award from the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation for the second year in a row. The award honors restaurants that go above and beyond in community service and philanthropy. It aims to inspire other restaurateurs to stay involved in their local communities.
It’s Pellum’s turn to be on the receiving end of the community fundraising he so often encourages. Beck’s wife Lindsey, who works for The Dispatch, started an online fundraiser through GoFundMe to help pay Zachary’s staff, who won’t be able to work until the building is reopened. After 20 hours of circulating online, the campaign has raised $10,890 and has been shared on Facebook more than 1,000 times.
“That response has been incredible,” Pellum said Sunday at Zachary’s. “We’ve had people coming by here offering to help, sending messages. It’s amazing.”
Across the restaurant, near the bar area, Ford stepped through an inch of water left from fire hoses and carefully laid a picture frame on a booth.
“My colleagues and I from (East Mississippi Community College) would come here every Wednesday or Thursday,” he said, tapping the table with his fingers. “We’d sit right here, actually.
“These are 18 years worth of memories,” he added. “But it’s not over. … It’s like the phoenix rising from the ashes. Literally.”
Dispatch reporter Slim Smith contributed to this report.
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