A historic landmark in the Town of Cabri is no more.
The 110-year-old Cabri Hotel and Bar burned down over the weekend, destroying the hotel completely, with some nearby buildings suffering minor damage.
The Mayor of Cabri, David Gossard, said that the hotel was one of the town’s ‘go to’ places.
“It was a gathering point,” he stated. “It was just kind of the social hub of the community, and this one has been there since 1912; it’s going to leave a mark.”
“Everyone that curled in a bonspiel or watched a hockey game, you ultimately ended up in the Cabri hotel. It was just our friendly place; it was kind of like Cabri’s Cheer’s bar. People that have come here, they remember the hotel because it was such a fun and friendly place to be.”
Gossard said their fire chief responded to a fire alarm at the hotel at around 2:15 a.m. When he arrived, he found smoke coming out of the basement.
“The hotel was full of smoke, and he stepped in and opened up the basement door, he just opened and closed it, and we knew there was a big fire down there, and we knew there was nothing we could do to put that out,” he said. “We went into defence mode, and we tried to save the Legion Hall and the auto body shop across the street, and the Pioneer Co-Op had their grocery store and agronomy centre across the other street. We just went into defensive mode and tried to keep those buildings, and we watched the old girl burn down.”
Gossard added that it’s just too soon to know what they will do next
“The first thing we are going to do is clean up the mess, and then we got to figure it out,” he said. “I think we will find something to replace it with.”
