Two local businesses in Francis have reopened exactly one year after a fire burned a building on Spring Hollow Road to the ground. “We’ve been so busy, so it hasn’t really hit, but it is a weird, surreal feeling that we’re finally open,” said Sydney Thompson. “We decided a month ago that we were just going to get it done. We were like, ‘How cool would it be to reopen on the anniversary of the fire?’ So it’s been a marathon.” Thompson and her stepmother, Raychel Hatch, run the Farmhouse at Spring Hollow, a small boutique selling home decor, jewelry, gifts and food. Thompson is also a florist and works out of the space to create arrangements, often using flowers Hatch grows in the garden. “I’ve been working out of my home, and we have a cold food storage area behind our house in a little shed that we converted into a flower cooler,” Thompson said. “It’s a small house, so it’s been a little hectic, but it’ll be good to get back in the swing of things.” The structure was rebuilt by the end of February, but it took the family a few months to coordinate with Rocky Mountain Power to restore utilities on the property. But the family hit the ground running to finish construction and renovations as soon as they had power again, and their efforts culminated in a grand reopening ceremony over the weekend. Customers look through products at The Farmhouse at Spring Hollow on Friday morning. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record Hatch estimated the reopening, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, drew “hundreds of people” based on the number of free ice cream cones the family gave away as part of the event. “My favorite part is connecting with the community,” Hatch said. “I love all the different people who come in, and I meet so many people, so that’s what I’ve been looking forward to as we reopen. It’s been good so far.” The boutique isn’t the only business at the Spring Hollow Road address, though. Dustin Hatch, Thompson’s dad and Raychel’s husband, owns and operates Frontier Woodworks in a separate part of the building behind his daughter’s store. The company has been a staple in the Francis community since 1995, with Dustin specializing in handcrafted doors and millwork. The family also isn’t quite done with the project, even with the boutique’s opening last week. Thompson is working on building a floral studio next door to the store, which she estimated would take three to four more months to complete. “I like being a florist because it’s easygoing,” Thompson said. “I get to make beautiful things, and I’m definitely more on the creative side, so it’s fun for me to express myself through flowers.” The structure housing Frontier Woodworks and the Farmhouse at Spring Hollow burned down last July, with Dustin estimating a $2 million loss between the damaged building and woodworking equipment. It wasn’t the first time the building had been destroyed in a fire, either. Dustin previously said the situation felt familiar because of a similar incident in 2005, although his woodworking company was much smaller at the time. “I was deeply in debt,” he said. “It literally has taken me probably 18 years to recover from that, between being in debt for all the equipment that I had purchased, since it was still fairly new and only 4 to 5 years old and annihilated in the fire, and then having to get more equipment on top of that. It was just a huge amount of stress, but we made it through.” Raychel Hatch greets customers at the cash register during The Farmhouse at Spring Hollow’s reopening event. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record The fire last summer wasn’t quite as difficult financially for Dustin, who had already paid off most of his equipment-related debt. He said he was grateful for that scenario because it’s almost impossible for insurance companies to fully cover woodworking shops, which are considered too high risk. For example, Dustin said he tried to run a fire suppression line into the main shop to hook up sprinklers in case of a fire, but his insurance company told him they wouldn’t cover any damages if he were to do so. “The guy said, ‘Well, if one machine goes bad and sets off the sprinkler systems, it’s now ruined $1 million worth of equipment, and we don’t want to take that risk,’” Dustin said. “So then it’s like, OK, what do you do? What’s the answer?” The local Summit County community, especially in Francis, was an enormous help to the family after the fire. They cleared the debris themselves with help from friends and residents who had heard about the damage. An online fundraiser raised $48,670 for the family, and Summit County Fair attendees last summer passed around a hat to collect cash donations at the rodeo. “Through all the bad, there’s a lot of good,” Dustin said. “My faith in humanity has grown exponentially with just the goodness of people in the community, outside the community, people that don’t even like me who are like, ‘Come here and give me a hug.’ … It really has renewed my faith in the goodness of people in a time where all you hear is bad about a lot of stuff, which just goes to show you can disagree on things and still care for one another.” Information on Frontier Woodworks is available by visiting frontierwoodworks.org. The Farmhouse at Spring Hollow is open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday. The address is 2284 S. Spring Hollow Road in Francis. The post Francis businesses reopen exactly one year after devastating fire appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less