Coneburg returns — on wheels
Staff writer
They say it takes a village to raise a child.
But what does it take to rebuild the village itself?
When Coneburg Bar and Grill burned in December, part of Peabody went with it.
Now, the building is being rebuilt, and many around the county are donating their time and resources to help.
“The community really did step up,” owner Lindsey Marshall said.
General manager Priscilla Willson concurred.
“We had a group of guys come in last night just to sweep the floors,” she said.
Marshall hopes the brick-and-mortar Coneburg will be open by mid-summer.
In the meantime, food has returned thanks to a cyan-and-white trailer the staff is now using as a curbside kitchen.
The porta-Coneburg (not an official name) launched two weeks ago outside the original building.
The placement was intentional, said Willson.
“Because we have it here, people can see our progress here, and they’re more apt to donate things that we need,” she said, “plywood, materials, different things like that,”
The curbside kitchen offers Coneburg staples like burgers and pretzels weekdays at lunch and dinnertime.
There also is an impressive array of specials throughout the week, from chicken and shrimp tacos to Reubens to “crispy pub chicken” sandwiches.
Willson joked that the trailer had a better kitchen than the staff had in the old restaurant.
“You had to go outside to change your mind in the old kitchen,” she quipped.
That will change after the restaurant is rebuilt.
Marshall plans to double the kitchen’s size and add other improvements, like a dishwasher, paint on the walls, and a more structurally sound door.
The roof also will be redesigned.
“There used to be a drop ceiling, and we’re not putting that back in because it was gross anyway,” Willson said. “Now we’re doing an industrial look.”
Marshall said her insurance did not cover as much as she’d like, and her business may have to do more fundraising in the future.
That was part of her decision to open the curbside kitchen.
“That’s supposed to be providing a little bit for us,” she said.
Otherwise, the rebuilding is going well, especially now that weather has warmed up.
The restaurant is trying to repay financial and material love Peabody has shown it.
It is catering the high school prom and recently was host for a free Valentine’s Day dinner for the senior center.
“These are people that have been supporting us since 1978, when the place was built,” Marshall said. “That was our way to say ‘thank you.’”
Marshall said she was grateful for the support from the community.
“They want to see us come back,” she said. “We’re really nervous about it, but we’re really excited about this opportunity.
“A lot of times in this business, you just hear the negative. ‘The food was cold,’ or ‘the service was blah,’ or ‘it took forever to do this.’ But then the second this fire happened, it’s like everybody went, ‘Oh, s—. They’re human.’”