There used to be a restaurant here in our "town center" in the apartment complex. Several people ran it over the years, but apparently nobody could make it work. There are too few people here through the summer to support it. The place has been closed for three years, now.
Recently a group of residents got permission from the board of directors to open the place as a cafe. Coffee, donuts, and the like in the morning, and lunches, cakes, pies and ice cream in the afternoon.
The whole operation will be non-profit, and run by resident volunteers. The response from the community has been amazing. Over the past couple of months they have come together to clean up and decorate the place, which had been in awful condition. The last operator had just turned off the stoves and fryers and locked the doors and walked away. The fryers had three year old used grease in them!
The place is now spotlessly clean, bright, warm and inviting. Everything has been cleaned and painted, the floors refinished, curtains hung, anything to make the place nice.
The board of directors was so impressed by the effort and the results that they essentially gave us a blank check to get whatever we needed to make it happen; five new ceiling fans, new light fixtures, some professional plumbing and electrical work, and who knows what else.
Today is the grand opening at 12:30. You get coffee, soda, tea or water and a dessert (cake or pie) for $5. I think that's a great deal, especially since the drinks have free refills.
I'm expecting lots of community support. I imagine the volunteers will have trouble keeping up with the crowds....