Ice storm ‘rattles’ Butcher’s Block owners

The couple has owned the business since 1992 and have seen a steady stream of business over the years, but an ice storm in early December 2006 brought that business to an abrupt halt.

“We were driving by on Main Street and my wife looked over at the building and said, ‘there’s something wrong,’” Dee Dannelley said. “The east two-thirds of the building looked like it had been smashed.”

All the heavy ice and the 15-to-20 inches of snow on top was too much for the structure to hold, and the popular banquet hall caved in. Dee Dannelley said it couldn’t have happened at a worse time.

“That’s the busiest time of the year,” he said. “We have about 50 events in December alone.”

The one fortunate turn of events was that the banquet scheduled for that weekend was for the Jasper County Sheriff’s Department, which cancelled because of the ice storm. Immediately, the Dannelleys began working toward trying to recover from the disaster. They had insurance to cover the loss of property, but just how much money they would have to work with was a question. The back-and-forth between insurance company, contractors and the Dannelleys began.

“We eventually ended up eating quite a bit of the cost,” Dee Danneley said. “We tore down about two-thirds of the building and had to pay for code updates, like a new fire alarm system and four additional doors.”

Meanwhile, the couple was losing an average of three-to-four events per week. Dee Dannelley estimates that they lost “well over 100” potential banquets in the eight months the hall was closed.

Eventually the couple chose Powers Construction Co., with Steve Lacy from Oronogo serving as the architect for the rebuilding project. After months of working with the insurance company and trying to get the business back up and running, the Dannelleys were finally starting to see progress.

“It was a relief,” Dee Dannelley said. “We hated that it happened. It rattled us … my wife even had some medical problems because of it. We lost a lot of business and there was a period where we were in doubt whether we’d be open again.”

The Butcher’s Block officially reopened July 28, however, and now the Dannelleys face the daunting task of rebuilding the reservation list. Dee Dannelley said he’s started advertising throughout the tri-state area and hopes that the calendar will begin to fill out much as it had before the disaster.

“We usually have a lot of events booked a year out,” he said. “We can book any day except Sunday, and we’ll do anything from wedding receptions to company banquets.”

Dannelley said there have been a handful of reservations already made, but the calendar is only a third of what it should be. Those interested in booking the hall can call (417) 624-1000.