Following a fire that damaged multiple buildings in the 400 block of East Adams Street Wednesday, several efforts are already underway to help the affected businesses.
“DSI is working with the city to try to work through this tragic situation and make sure that everybody is supported the best way possible,” said Carlos Ortega, executive director of Downtown Springfield, Inc. “We are working diligently to make sure that the farmers market continues Saturday.”
The Old Capitol Farmers Market typically takes place on Saturday and Wednesday mornings and many of the vendors set up in the 400 block of East Adams Street, which is now blocked off due to the cleanup efforts underway. Public Works has already begun demolishing the building that was the source of the fire, 413-415 E. Adams St.
Ortega said that while plans have not yet been finalized, the hope is to be able to hold the farmers market “just down the road a little bit, starting on the other side of the railroad tracks.”
However, Elizabeth Wake, owner of The Wakery, said she would not be able to open Thursday evening for the monthly open mic night. Her building at 5 Old State Capitol Plaza backs up to the affected block of East Adams Street and doesn’t have power. She told SBJ she is still planning to have a booth at tonight’s Levitt AMP concert and the Saturday farmers market, albeit with more limited selections than usual.
A previously scheduled Saturday bar crawl at three downtown businesses – Buzz Bomb Brewing Company, 406 E. Adams St.; Ad Astra Wine & Tapas Bar, 308 E. Adams St.; and Bloom Wine Bar and Florals, 2 S. Old State Capitol Plaza – will go on as planned, and baskets will be placed at each location to collect cash contributions to help the businesses affected by the fire.
In addition, a fund has been set up at Illinois National Bank, “Benefit for Businesses Affected by Adams Family Fire,” to help raise money for the impacted businesses.
“INB has agreed to host a fund for those of us who care about downtown to contribute,” said Lisa Stott, a former downtown property owner who previously served as executive director of DSI. “Everyone will make sure that it’s distributed fairly to the businesses who were affected by this horrific incident, including the staff at Café Moxo.”
Another way for people to provide support is to fill out an application to adopt one of the cats displaced from The Cats’ Pyjamas Cat Café, which was located on the main floor of the building where the fire started. The cat café, which opened in March, was most recently home to nine cats. Tom Raymond, who co-owns the business along with his wife, Samantha Enz, told SBJ that five of the cats have been adopted since yesterday.
“They are getting permanent homes at this point,” Raymond said. “The APL has set up foster families (for the other four) but we want to try to finish our mission and get the remaining cats in new homes.”
Raymond also said that the Animal Protective League has supplied many resources to The Cats’ Pyjamas and he hopes people will consider purchasing items from the organization’s wish list to help replenish its supplies.
“We’ve appreciated their longtime support and emergency support in our time of need,” said Raymond.
As far as the future of the cat café, Raymond said it’s too soon to say. “The building is basically gone; I don’t know if there are any capabilities of us getting supplies out of there. It would be a lot more difficult to restart in the future without any supplies.”
Blake Pryor, a commercial broker who serves as the board president of DSI, said he hopes the group can be a resource for the impacted businesses, whether that’s “pointing people in the right direction or facilitating meetings … We’re going to have our regularly scheduled board meeting this afternoon and shift our focus from the agenda items to figuring out what we can do for our downtown members that were affected by this,” Pryor said.
Executive director Ortega said he is pleased to see how people are rallying around the downtown community.
“This is something that I think is very unique in our city; individuals come together and support each other, and everyone is working together to create a brighter future out of this disaster.”
