NEW GLARUS - Painted on a building at 5th Avenue and 1st Street is an old Swiss saying that translates to, "Everything withers and turns to dust except hope, love and faith."
A testament to that is across the street: the rebuilt Kleeman's Bar and Grill.
Almost one year ago, the Kleeman family lost their business, their home and almost all their possessions when a fast-moving fire started by a space heater ravaged the 1874 building that housed their tavern and upstairs living quarters. Nothing remained but a few photos and a fist-sized wooden die used in a "Shake of the Day" bar game.
On Friday, Dec. 23, Greg and Erin Kleeman starting pouring beers at the new bar, which they built from scratch on the same plot - to the exacting standards of a New Glarus building code that requires a "Swiss architectural theme" to match the village's heritage.
Behind them is a community that's pushed them forward all year with encouragement, benefits, babysitting and donations.
How many donations?
Melanie Judd, co-owner of Judd's Autobody, shakes her head: "Oh my gosh. Trailers full."
The fire blazed in the early morning hours of Jan. 2. At 10 a.m., Melanie and her husband Jeff decided to make Judd's Autobody the drop-off point for donations of housewares, clothing, toys and furniture.
"At noon, people were already coming," she said, and donations continued into February. "It was amazing, overwhelming."
The boys varsity basketball team at New Glarus High School banded together to replace some of the Christmas gifts the Kleemans' three children, ages 8, 6 and 3, had lost in the fire.
Peggy Blumer remembers how the team waited outside the home where the Kleemans were staying and then walked in one by one to present the gifts to the children, like a long line of Santas. A framed and signed jersey from the team now hangs on the wall of the bar.
"A lot of people considered that home," said Blumer of the Kleemans' tavern. She bartended there before the fire and is now back again every other Saturday night serving drinks.
The Kleemans couldn't even think of reopening right after the fire, they said. It was all they could do to pick up the pieces up their lives, take care of their kids and find a home to rent.
"That first couple months we didn't know what we were going to do," said Greg Kleeman. "There weren't a lot of options."
Meanwhile, their bar regulars were adrift. They stayed in more. They visited the Kleemans at home to watch the Super Bowl, to rekindle the atmosphere of the bar.
"They were calling themselves refugees," said Blumer. The night Kleeman's reopened, she said some of the regulars were joking they can finally go back to saying they're "at the bar," with no need to explain because everyone will know it's Kleeman's.
The new building, finished on Thursday, Dec. 22, is about 800 square feet bigger than the old bar, has hookups for eight TVs (five more than before) and a U-shaped bar that gives bartenders more room. The place smells like new cedar, new plastic and cleaning supplies. Natural light, even on a gray day, streams in the windows. Three New Glarus Brewing beers are on tap. Before, said Erin Kleeman, they kept Miller Lite, Bud Lite and Coors on tap but they never sold well, so they're sticking with hometown brews for now.
Behind the bar is the one artifact saved from the old place: the big die the Kleemans' carpenter friend Rory Weeden carved for them. Every day customers can roll it for a chance to win prizes.
They're also selling Kleeman's Bar and Grill T-shirts, designed by Todd Klassy, a friend and fan of the bar, now living in Montana. He wanted something "regal, professional" for the design, so he chose a five-point shield to honor the Kleemans' Irish background and a green color called "New Glarus" that he happened upon in the paint company Pratt and Lambert's catalog.
It was nervewracking to be so far from New Glarus in the past year, he said, but he "participated via email and telephone calls" in the rebuilding effort. It was somewhat of a personal debt: Years ago, Greg Kleeman's grandfather and grandmother helped his own father when he got into a tractor accident.
"The Kleeman people are very generous. Greg and Erin would literally give the shirt off their back," he said.
Klassy said he's looking forward to visiting New Glarus as soon as he can, and he's hoping to move back from Montana within a few years.
The resurrection of the bar is "testament to the Kleeman family and the community," he said. "Something great came out of tragedy."
A testament to that is across the street: the rebuilt Kleeman's Bar and Grill.
Almost one year ago, the Kleeman family lost their business, their home and almost all their possessions when a fast-moving fire started by a space heater ravaged the 1874 building that housed their tavern and upstairs living quarters. Nothing remained but a few photos and a fist-sized wooden die used in a "Shake of the Day" bar game.
On Friday, Dec. 23, Greg and Erin Kleeman starting pouring beers at the new bar, which they built from scratch on the same plot - to the exacting standards of a New Glarus building code that requires a "Swiss architectural theme" to match the village's heritage.
Behind them is a community that's pushed them forward all year with encouragement, benefits, babysitting and donations.
How many donations?
Melanie Judd, co-owner of Judd's Autobody, shakes her head: "Oh my gosh. Trailers full."
The fire blazed in the early morning hours of Jan. 2. At 10 a.m., Melanie and her husband Jeff decided to make Judd's Autobody the drop-off point for donations of housewares, clothing, toys and furniture.
"At noon, people were already coming," she said, and donations continued into February. "It was amazing, overwhelming."
The boys varsity basketball team at New Glarus High School banded together to replace some of the Christmas gifts the Kleemans' three children, ages 8, 6 and 3, had lost in the fire.
Peggy Blumer remembers how the team waited outside the home where the Kleemans were staying and then walked in one by one to present the gifts to the children, like a long line of Santas. A framed and signed jersey from the team now hangs on the wall of the bar.
"A lot of people considered that home," said Blumer of the Kleemans' tavern. She bartended there before the fire and is now back again every other Saturday night serving drinks.
The Kleemans couldn't even think of reopening right after the fire, they said. It was all they could do to pick up the pieces up their lives, take care of their kids and find a home to rent.
"That first couple months we didn't know what we were going to do," said Greg Kleeman. "There weren't a lot of options."
Meanwhile, their bar regulars were adrift. They stayed in more. They visited the Kleemans at home to watch the Super Bowl, to rekindle the atmosphere of the bar.
"They were calling themselves refugees," said Blumer. The night Kleeman's reopened, she said some of the regulars were joking they can finally go back to saying they're "at the bar," with no need to explain because everyone will know it's Kleeman's.
The new building, finished on Thursday, Dec. 22, is about 800 square feet bigger than the old bar, has hookups for eight TVs (five more than before) and a U-shaped bar that gives bartenders more room. The place smells like new cedar, new plastic and cleaning supplies. Natural light, even on a gray day, streams in the windows. Three New Glarus Brewing beers are on tap. Before, said Erin Kleeman, they kept Miller Lite, Bud Lite and Coors on tap but they never sold well, so they're sticking with hometown brews for now.
Behind the bar is the one artifact saved from the old place: the big die the Kleemans' carpenter friend Rory Weeden carved for them. Every day customers can roll it for a chance to win prizes.
They're also selling Kleeman's Bar and Grill T-shirts, designed by Todd Klassy, a friend and fan of the bar, now living in Montana. He wanted something "regal, professional" for the design, so he chose a five-point shield to honor the Kleemans' Irish background and a green color called "New Glarus" that he happened upon in the paint company Pratt and Lambert's catalog.
It was nervewracking to be so far from New Glarus in the past year, he said, but he "participated via email and telephone calls" in the rebuilding effort. It was somewhat of a personal debt: Years ago, Greg Kleeman's grandfather and grandmother helped his own father when he got into a tractor accident.
"The Kleeman people are very generous. Greg and Erin would literally give the shirt off their back," he said.
Klassy said he's looking forward to visiting New Glarus as soon as he can, and he's hoping to move back from Montana within a few years.
The resurrection of the bar is "testament to the Kleeman family and the community," he said. "Something great came out of tragedy."