Lidgerwood establishment back in business

Lidgerwood, ND (WDAY TV) - There is a place on Main Street in downtown Lidgerwood, where the locals can hang out again. Dee's Bar and Grill is back in business. The establishment burned to the ground during the spring flood. It’s the story of another beginning for Dee's.

It took the owner Dee Krause, dozens of volunteers, and construction workers just 4 months and one day to get this building up and running again, and part of the community. From the outside, this doesn't look like the face of a woman who not long ago lost everything.

"Yeah, I got a few orders up here, that's for Lowell.”

As Dee Krause cooks up her greasy food for the soul in her popular Lidgerwood bar, she remembers…

"I didn't know if it would ever get again open at first, you know!"

March 24th, 2009, a moment stuck in infamy. A day Krause helplessly watched her livelihood disappear after a refrigerator chord sparked a fire in the back of her bar. Fast forward to October 21st, 2009, "There was bets going on in town that we wouldn't get done by the 24th of July either, so whoever made that bet was pretty silly!"

"We thought she was crazy. I didn't think it was anyway possible."

But this determined bar owner wouldn't let anything stand in her way, spending nearly every waking hour here.

"They built an apartment on the back here."

With plenty of support, "Oh, they were checking on us everyday."

The best part: thanks to the new look and no more smoking, business is booming.

"This is all new and clean, and just kind of nice to have it built back again."

"Everyone was so happy to have it back. I mean everyone was just devastated when the fire hit!"

It’s a place where friends can gather over home cooked hash browns and coffee. Laughing, enjoying each moment, knowing just how precious this small town tavern is.