RIDGWAY – Nine months and six days after a two-alarm fire shut down the Galloping Goose Bakery and Café, owner Lisa Lockhart is back in business.

“It’s going wonderful,” Lockhart said. “It’s so great to see all the old faces again who remembered that we were here.”

The Goose, located at 153 North U.S. Hwy. 550, reopened its doors Friday, June 20, and by Sunday was serving breakfast to a full house. Lockhart said that she put ads in local papers but that the news of her opening spread mainly by word of mouth.

“People kept driving by for the last two weeks, and it was always, ‘Tomorrow. We’re going to be open tomorrow.’ And finally we did it. It was worth the wait.”

Lockhart said that much more work was required to repair the building than was originally expected. The entire bakery was remodeled, everything was rewired, and new tiles, new booths, and air conditioning were installed.

“They thought it would just be the bakery until they got into the other part, and they decided it would need to be remodeled after all due to water damage,” she said. Lockhart said that she had good insurance, as did the building’s owners, Bill and Carol Lawler. “They took good care of us,” she said.

On Sept. 14, 2007, just five months after Lockhart took over the business, fire engulfed the café, damaging other businesses in the building with smoke and necessitating the closure of U.S. Hwy. 550. It took firefighters nearly four hours to access the fire’s source under a double-roof on the bakery over the northern portion of the building. A backhoe was eventually used to rip off the roof. The fire consumed the bakery and upstairs office before finally being extinguished. There were no injuries.

At the time, the café was expected to reopen three and a half months later. Tammee Tuttle, former owner of the Galloping Goose, allowed Lockhart to operate out of Tuttle’s current business, the True Grit Café, during the interim.

In addition to the infrastructure changes, Lockhart has made some changes to the menu, adding fried chicken, grits, hot roast beef and hot turkey sandwiches, and more.

“But basically it’s the same old good down-to-earth breakfast,” she said.

The café will be open 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. seven days a week, with breakfast served all day long. The café will also be the new headquarters for Silver Spur Catering, which Lockhart took over from Tuttle.