Holly downtown district continues road to rebuilding 6 months after devastating fire

HOLLY, Mich. (FOX 2) - Downtown Holly is marching into the New Year with a fighting spirit, with the close-knit community vowing for a comeback after a devastating fire caused heavy damage to the historic Holly Hotel and beyond.

"We’re not giving up. Not at all," said resident Andrew Hubbell. "There’s a rebuilding process and it’s probably going to take about two or three years at least, for all of them to build back to what they were."

Even faster, if possible. It was six months ago this week, when fire tore through the Holly Hotel, Andy’s Place restaurant, and created setbacks for several other businesses that suffered damage.

The Battle Alley Brewing Company was only open for a short time when the blaze changed everything - and propelled them into action to help their fellow community members.

"It brought everybody together," said owner Dave Elliott. "We were only in business for a month at that stage, so it kind of hit us like well … we immediately were running water, and everything downtown on a super-hot day and tried to help everybody out.

"We offered up our cooler space and freezers to everybody, but (there's) such a sense of community. This is truly a great small town."

Related: Holly Hotel plans to reopen next summer after fire rips through historic building

It’s safe to say that in Holly, 2023 will be all about working together.

"We’re really looking forward to Holly coming back to full life," said Elliott. "I mean it’s been very vibrant. We just got done with the Charles Dickens Festival which was wonderful downtown for three straight weekends. Brought in a ton of people."

Residents and business owners said that Holly city government was instrumental in helping to raise funds especially when it came to the workers who were displaced.