by Garrick Moritz, Gazette
This past weekend, the Gazette had a conversation with Jeri Haffer, owner of Rainbow Delight. She took the Gazette on a tour to have a look at the water and property damage caused by the wall collapse of the old steakhouse next door.
There aren't a lot of public details regarding what the plans are for the old steakhouse building. As of now, the City of Garretson has fenced off the building and ordered no entry. This has prevented sidewalk use and parking in front of the building, affecting citizens, visitors, and business patrons for the buildings nearby.
For her part, Haffer tells the Gazette that she’s just frustrated and upset by the whole process. Communication between her insurance company and her neighbor, as well as the city, has been difficult. Complications could be caused by ownership issues, as the old steakhouse building was being sold under a contract-for-deed and was already under a stop work order.
The Haffers closed Rainbow Delight in 2020 for safety due to the COVID pandemic. Jeri herself was an early COVID case, and it hit her hard. She credits her husband Keith for being her primary caregiver and keeping her alive while she suffered the effects of long haul COVID.
After the pandemic ended, she and Keith planned to reopen the store.
“We also never stopped using the rear office,” she said. “Our biotech business is where we make our living. The store was our side interest, our daughter’s dream and what we wanted to do as a family to contribute to the community, promoting tourism and the uniqueness of this town.”
Haffer said that they’d begun the process of remodeling and finding staff to reopen this past spring. Then, Keith had a stroke.
“We’d redone the walls, new paint and new carpet starting in the back offices, and we’d planned to do the whole store and then Keith had his stroke, so we’ve just been dealing with that instead," said Haffer. "Thankfully, despite the stroke, Keith has kept that beautiful mind of his, but he’s had to have a great deal of physical and occupational therapy and he’s not very strong right now.”
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