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GLOBE, Ariz. - Seven weeks after historic and deadly flooding struck the city of Globe, a restaurant on Broad Street celebrated its grand reopening Friday, Nov. 14.
What we know:
La Casita Cafe, which has been serving Globe residents and visitors for four generations, saw a steady flow of customers return for its reopening, marking a major milestone in the community's recovery.
Owner Annie Villalobos said the cleanup effort was massive, involving removing mud and ripping out walls. She noted that she and her staff learned "a crash course in working with drywall" and appreciated every helping hand.
Villalobos had initially expected the cleanup to take at least six months, making the return of customers after just seven weeks a major blessing.
Side by side of La Casita Cafe after the flood and after the clean up.
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What they're saying:
La Casita Cafe was one of the hardest-hit businesses in downtown Globe, but the community quickly rallied to ensure its survival.
The damage was overwhelming.
"First off, the mud that was in here, that was huge, and then from there, ripping out all our walls," Villalobos said.
She noted the staff had to learn construction skills on the fly: "That's not stuff we all do on a regular basis, so having to learn to do drywall and everything else."
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The cleanup was not a solo effort.
"The first day they let us in here, within 10 minutes, we had people showing up, 'Where can we help?' and within an hour we had over 75 people in here," Villalobos said.
Locals like Jane Caywood, who remembers the cafe as her "to-go place on Friday nights, Saturday nights in high school," helped spread the word about the successful reopening.
"I told everybody I ran into today, I said 'What's today?' and the one guy answered 'La Casita!'" Caywood said.
For Villalobos, seeing the family's legacy continue after a natural disaster makes the hard work worthwhile.
"It's a special place in your heart when it's your family passing it down generation to generation and you wanna make those people proud," she said. "It's truly a blessing."
Big picture view:
While celebrating her reopening, Villalobos took time to acknowledge the ongoing recovery work for other area businesses.
"There are a lot of businesses that still don't have their doors open, and I'd love to see them reopen just because we're all tight-knit here," Villalobos said. "They're our neighbors, and we want to see everybody open back up. So, hopefully, the funding comes through for other businesses because they weren't as fortunate as we were."