Friday fire destroyed Carnation and Top of the Greek restaurants in Downtown Cheboygan
Carnation and Top of the Greek restaurants destroyed by weekend fire
CHEBOYGAN, MI -- Two Cheboygan businesses are gone after a weekend fire ripped through downtown this weekend.
It’s still not known tonight how the fire started in Cheboygan. Monday, investigators were on scene trying to piece together the puzzle.
For the owner, on Friday night, three generations of the family business went up in flames and she's not sure what's next.
"I’m devastated, I’m thankful that nobody was hurt, I just, I still can't believe it, nobody can believe it," said restaurant owner Jaki Tallman.
Charred wood, burnt chairs and a lemon are all that’s left in the restaurants that survived the tough Cheboygan times.
"We had more laughs down here than anybody in their lifetime should ever be able to laugh down here," said Tallman.
Carnation and Top of the Greek Restaurants have been in Jaki Tallman's family for three generations and open since 1926. She says it was a city icon. A popular place to get a cup of coffee in the morning and to dine at night. Right now, there's no clue how the fire started, but on Friday night, it moved fast, and didn't spare much.
"We put over 400,000 gallons of water on this fire," said Cheboygan Department of Public Safety Chief Kurt Jones. “We were able to keep the fire contained to this one building and its two restaurants."
The two businesses next door were damaged pretty badly by smoke and water, but police say this could have been a lot worse than it already was. They said without firefighters doing good work, the entire block could have been lost.
“It was a big fire," said Jones.
Monday, the next door businesses were closed and were being cleaned out. I talked to one owner who said he's not sure how long it will take to get back open. For Tallman, she says she's still at a loss.
"Something will come of it, yes, but to say I’m going to rebuild and all that, I can't say," she said.
Insurance adjusters and investigators were at what was left of the fire Monday and police say they'll continue through this week to try to find what caused this, but because of the damage, that might never be known.
Tallman says because the restaurant was such a big part of the community and of her family, she wants to write a book about it, but she needs your help.
She wants you to email (jakiandpaul@hotmail.com) her with stories you have with either of the restaurants, or send her a letter.
Jaki Tallman
3447 Duncan Bay Dr.
Cheboygan, MI 49721
