Neighboring businesses offer support after beloved restaurant damaged in fire
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COOKEVILLE, TN (WSMV) — It has been a hard year for Cookeville. March saw tornadoes devastate whole neighborhoods. The pandemic quickly followed that.
Wednesday morning, the damage came to a beloved downtown business after a fire at the restaurant, Crawdaddy’s.
“Cookeville’s just a special place,” said Kent Birdwell, owner of the neighboring restaurant The Blue Pig. “Oh, yes, we know each other very well. We’re restaurant competitors, but we’re friends.”
“Crawdaddy’s is an institution of the area, been around for at least 15-20 years,” he continued.
Crawdaddy’s is a little taste of New Orleans, complete with bead necklaces draped from a tree outside.
“Yeah, it’s a little heartbreaking,” said Kent, referring to this morning’s fire.
Signs around the building tell of a fire at this spot in the 60s that burned a cafe, barbershop, and cleaners.
Wednesday marked new history for the building, with crews looking into what started the fire.
“Tennesseans are good at coming together in times of crisis and in times of need,” said Kent. “Restaurants around here are trying to adopt some of the servers and cooks. Some of us are starting GoFundMe pages to help them out. We’re going to do our best to accommodate them until they get rebuilt. I, and many others, look forward to when Crawdaddy’s reopens. We’re thinking of them, and we’re here for them.”
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