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Osceola community rallies around business owners after fire downtown
The community of Osceola, Wisconsin, is rallying together after a fire burned down its local music store.
(FOX 9) - For the last nine years, the Red Bird Music Store has been a staple in downtown Osceola, Wisconsin.
But now the only part of it left standing is the front facade.
"I was meaning to downsize. and my friend said 'what a dramatic way to downsize'. It's done. It's done. I now have to start over," said owner Bob Brace.
A fire started in the store's kitchenette area on Wednesday night and flames quickly spread to the rest of the building.
Brace says no one was hurt but his building is a total loss and the Natural Heritage Art Center next door had severe smoke and water damage, causing it to close indefinitely after opening its doors just three months ago.
"Heartbroken. So I haven't quite figured that out yet. Sorry. Just kind of deflated. Flat," said art center owner Jessica Turtle.
Since the fire, there has been a groundswell of support from the community.
A fellow downtown store owner started a facebook group to raise money to help both business owners to rebuild.
"I feel that we are a pretty close knit town here and so when something tragic comes to us, we all rally around this. We don't want them to leave this town. Right? We need them and they need us," said antique store owner Gwen Wright.
In addition to losing his entire inventory of new and used records and musical instruments, Brace says his store cat Beavis also died in the fire.
But with the help from his community, he hopes he can bring the music store back.
"I know everybody wants me to come back and I know I want to come back and I think it's going to happen here but it might be a while," said Brace.