New dreams grow from ashes of the Canaan Country Club

NORTH CANAAN — What allows a business to bounce back after a devastating fire?

In this case, it wasn’t the insurance money. For the Canaan Country Club, it was a dedicated staff and patrons who have accepted fate and are dealing with it.

A June 8 blaze that began around 4 a.m. destroyed the oldest part of the building, including the kitchen. The damage was so complete, the state fire marshal’s office has been unable to determine a cause. What remains is the former cart barn, renovated five years ago into a banquet room. A party was scheduled for that room that same night. Three other bookings since had to be canceled or moved.

General Manager Pete Trosi surveyed the spectacularly green nine-hole course this past weekend. Favorable weather has allowed the course to remain in top condition.

Cleanup from the fire is complete now, with the banquet hall turned into a makeshift clubhouse. Without a proper kitchen, all the club can serve are hotdogs cooked on roller machines and sandwiches made at a local restaurant.

"At least we have something," Trosi said, "and we never had to shut down the course. Our customers have been great, coming out to golf and offering help."

Owners Rich and Mary Shanley of Salisbury are getting over the shock, and said that getting the business going again has helped them through this difficult time.

"We are fortunate to have a great staff, and to have Peter, who has a great attitude," Rich Shanley said. "He had the course open that day of the fire, and he is the reason we are moving forward."

Looking for a silver lining, Shanley said, "We will be able to expand and do the things we have always wanted to do, but probably wouldn’t have otherwise, so there is a positive aspect to it."

Shanley added their gratitude and praise for the "amazing" work done by the firefighters, and for town officials and others who were immediately responsive to their needs.The older portion of the building, now long gone, was originally built in 1932.

Trosi himself has worked on building projects over the years, making it doubly heartbreaking for him to see his handiwork destroyed in a day. After the fire was out, he sat in a golf cart at the edge of the first tee and cried.

"We lost all our paperwork, all of the food and inventory that had just been delivered. We can’t even begin to recover the value of that or the lost business," Trosi said.

Even the septic system was lost. Trosi praised First Selectman Douglas Humes for helping him wade through that dilemma and arranging for the facility to tie into the town sewer system.

Then there is the silver lining of a "forced renovation." Visions of a vastly improved facility were already in his head.

"We were working on expanding and promoting the banquet end of the business. We were doing mostly small parties, but we wanted to do weddings. We never had a proper parking lot, and we will put the kitchen where it should be, at the back end of the building instead of the front."

He planned to order modular building units this week with the goal of a completed rebuilding in August.

The banquet hall will be expanded. A two-story addition will allow for conference room space to be rented out upstairs, and for offices for the business side of the club’s operations. New bathrooms will be built. A new pro shop will be located on the other side of the parking lot.

The terrace off the hall will be extended. Looking across a park-like expanse between the terrace and the golf course, Trosi envisions gardens, maybe a fountain and definitely a gazebo where bridal couples will have their pictures taken.

"It’s not the route we would have taken, but in the end, its going to be fantastic."