Like virtually everything else in the nearly 15-month journey, nothing was expected.
But when Tracy Harden was able to re-open Chuck’s Dairy Bar in storm-ravaged Rolling Fork last week, all became right with the world for her.
It was in March of 2023 when an EF-4 wedge tornado began to rip a nearly mile-wide scar through this small town in the Mississippi Delta and obliterated virtually everything along historic U.S. 61.
In one of the more amazing statistics that has come from the storm, along U.S. 61, the true business corridor for the town, every business that was either destroyed or damaged, except for one, had been back in business.
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The only one that hadn’t opened was Chuck’s Dairy Bar, but Harden had been running the restaurant from a food truck, basically since the dust settled after the storm.
Then came last week.
Harden called the health department to see when she could schedule an appointment for an inspection.
“She said she could be here in a couple of hours,” Harden said. “Nothing ever happens in a couple of hours.”
The inspector got all of the paperwork done and the iconic Mississippi Delta restaurant could move out of the food truck and into a new building on the same footprint that was flattened by the tornado. The plan, however, was to be in the food truck until this week.
“The next day I had the phones switched over to the new building and then went with it,” Harden said. “We are up and running, and we are ready to make some new memories with our community.”
How it happened?
The storm destroyed nearly 300 homes, many businesses and claimed 15 lives in the town of then 1,800 people. Wind speeds were reported just shy of 200 mph.
Harden and her staff hid from the storm last year in the restaurant cooler while two patrons hid in the bathrooms.
With that knowledge, Master-Bilt, the refrigerator company, donated $35,000 worth of a cooler system for the new Chuck’s with double the capacity of the old system. The old cooler had been in place since 1977 when the last Chuck’s building was built.
Rebuilding Chuck’s Dairy Bar offers a beacon of hope for the community as well, since Chuck’s has been around longer than most people can remember and many people hope it will still be around for years to come.
It opened in 1964 with then-owner Chuck Henderson at the helm of what would one day become a legendary eatery.
In a story that’s been told and retold, many of the Chuck’s regulars that Friday night were at their high school prom for Sharkey Issaquena Academy.
While 15 people were killed in the tornado, none of the kids who would have normally been in harm’s way were left with a scratch.
But a group of senior boys, hearing where the twister had hit, charged the 15 or so miles back into town to make sure Harden and the people they would have normally been with on a Friday night, were safe.
Back and better than ever
Despite not being fully stocked, Harden and her crew opened at 6:30 last Wednesday morning and stayed open until they ran out of food.
There was no ceremony, no big speeches. They just jumped in with both feet and started working just like they had before the storm ever came, except in a brand new building with new appliances and a new lease on life.
“I just could not wait, and we were slammed with customers,” Harden said. “It was such an emotional day. Every time a customer walked in, they were overwhelmed, we were overwhelmed. It was just the excitement of having our little business back, having that gathering placing back for the community. It was a great day.”
Chuck’s Dairy Bar is open Monday through Saturday from 6:30 a.m. until 8 p.m., but the hours will adjust to what had been normal hours in a few weeks.
One customer, who once lived in Rolling Fork, heard through the grapevine that Chuck’s had re-opened and drove from Florida this past weekend just to show support, eat a Chuck’s Burger and wash it down with one of those amazingly thick chocolate shakes.
“Things like that just lets you know that everything is going to be OK, that people are still going to come and people still want what you have to offer,” Harden said, holding back tears. “It feels really good.”
Ross Reily can be reached by email at [email protected] or 601-573-2952. You can follow him on Twitter @GreenOkra1.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Chuck’s Dairy Bar in Rolling Fork has reopened
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