The owners of Rutland’s Olympia Greek Taverna have reached out to the community through Facebook to provide an update and thank those who have supported them after a fire forced the restaurant to close its doors in October.
Late in the evening on Tuesday, Oct. 6, Olympia Taverna on Highway 33 went up in flames. A waiter and another staff member were playing cards in the restaurant after closing, when they started to smell smoke, shortly after 10 p.m.
When they opened the restaurant’s back door, they saw flames burning up to the roof. Unfortunately, the fire would spread and cause extensive damage to the building.
“Well, it’s been a sombre and humbling few weeks since the fire,” said the ownership group on the taverna’s Facebook page.
“We appreciate all the well wishes from the community and we thank you for the support you have given us over the last five decades. Like the Phoenix, we too shall rise from the ashes. Here are a few pictures from the inside. Stay tuned and we will post pictures of the rebuild.”
Yassou and Kali Mera! Well it’s been a somber and humbling few weeks since the fire. We appreciate all the well wishes…
Posted by Olympia Greek Taverna on Sunday, November 15, 2020
The Kelowna Fire Department later deemed the blaze to be accidental in nature and co-owner Mike Koutsantonis said they plan to rebuild the taverna in the future.
“What it’s going to look like, we don’t know yet,” he said. “That’s going to be a little bit down the road.”
“It’s just good to know it wasn’t intentional. It’s always a good thing no one had bad intentions.”
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<div style="color: #808080
; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2em; font-weight: bold; text-indent: 5px; line-height: 22px; white-space: pre;”>Daniel Taylor
