After nine months, People's Park is reborn

You can peek through the windows to get a glimpse, but it won't be a secret for long: People's Park is reopening on Dec. 19.

After a long summer of rebuilding, following a fire that destroyed almost everything earlier this year, People's Park, 337 W. Main St., Waukesha, is nearly ready to open.

The reopen couldn't happen soon enough for some customers who stopped by during construction, peeked through windows, and maintained their enthusiasm for the restaurant throughout the reconstruction.

"We can tell from our Facebook page, just by the number of responses we get to posts, that people are really excited about the reopening," said Dan Taylor, who, along with brother Jim, owns People's Park. "That's really encouraging."

Out of the ashes

A Feb. 8 fire forced the popular restaurant and bar to close as workers reconstructed what had been built only three years earlier. The Waukesha Fire Department, which responded to the fire, reported temperatures in some areas of the building reached around 450 degrees. The majority of the damage was due to smoke, heat and water, Taylor said. High temperatures melted TVs, sound equipment and computers. A cleaning lady was in the restaurant at the time of the fire and alerted neighbors upstairs. Everyone was able to exit the building safely.

Taylor said the renovation had to follow more guidelines since the building is a historical landmark, but "overall it's gone very well."

"It's very difficult for me because I felt like I was at the end of graduation and told that I had to repeat school again," Taylor said. "That was difficult: to do everything all over again and end up with similar results."

People's Park will reopen with around 75 percent of the employees it had before the fire. Taylor said he was able to keep three of his main employees working during the construction.

"It just made us closer friends and workers. I pride myself in knowing that I have a really strong group of people working together who really behave like a family and look out for one another and enjoy being around one another," Taylor said.

The Taylor brothers were given a chance to strengthen their relationship putting the restaurant back together.

"We've had a lot of fun rebuilding People's Park. That's been very gratifying," said Taylor. "We were able to make something very positive happen from something that was tragic."

Supporting a community

After the fire, the downtown Waukesha community showed an outpouring of support. But what the Taylors didn't realize was their impact on the business community. Several downtown businesses said that their business dropped after People's Park closed for repairs.

"Downtown Waukesha is in a process of coming back to life. With us closing, it kind of took a step backward, more so than we realized," Taylor said.

New spaces

The rebuilding of People's Park comes with changes. An expanded upstairs, using space from the building next door, will provide space for large groups or private parties. When not occupied by private groups, the space will accommodate general dining. Taylor said the new rooftop deck for dining in summer has enough room for 49 people. Much of the rest of the décor will be similar to the way it was "because it worked well before," Taylor said.

New faces

The unique mural that hung above the bar was partly destroyed in the fire. The mural, made of 1,000 figurines, toys, and other items depicting images of people, began as Taylor's creation, but changed through the years as customers brought in items to add. People have brought more items to use on a new mural.

"So many dropped things off that I tried to find a place for all of them, but wasn't able to," he said.

Taylor says that because of the number of items left over from building the mural, any further donations will politely be declined.

Taylor says he may have to open up another People's Park to use the leftover faces. Location ideas include Seattle, Chicago, California and perhaps even Madison.

People's Park will continue to showcase local artists as they did before. The restaurant will be opening with a collection of all images of people from local and nonlocal artists.

"The place should be filled with paintings and other objects all depicting images of people," Taylor said.

No grand opening celebration is scheduled for Dec. 19. Rather, the Taylors hope to reopen quietly.

"So many people have shown so much enthusiasm, we want to make sure we have everything in order so that we can serve people as well as we did before," Taylor said.

For more information visit www.peoplesparkwaukesha.com or check them out on Facebook.