John and Lisa Ketterer were unsure if they were ever going to rebuild the Treloar Bar and Grill after a devastating flash flood struck the small community last July. They even refused donations at first because they did not want the money to go to waste. 

Today, they are hard at work planning and working with contractors to build the new Treloar Bar and Grill, this time on higher ground. 

The storm deposited more than three feet of water in some areas of the small town and a radar-confirmed tornado touched down just west of Treloar, causing wind damage throughout the area as well. 

“In about 40 minutes we had eight inches of rain and three feet of water in the building,” said John. “So that wrecked all the equipment, blew the wall out of the building, which we did rent. So we weren’t sure at that point what we were going to do.”

The Ketterers considered their options for several months following the disaster and John had started working at the Franklin County Country Club. After much consideration, and some donations from local churches and others, they decided they needed to reopen. 

“I came home from work and (Lisa) was making dinner and I’m like, do we do this crazy thing we’re doing here? We want our normal lives back, so we just kinda sat down and finally decided, let’s do it … We’re gonna rebuild,” said John. 

The new Treloar Bar and Grill will be situated adjacent to the Ketterers’ home on Highway N where it meets Treloar, well out of the floodplain below. They also plan to increase the size of the building to accommodate more parking and customers. 

Lisa hopes they will be able to include an outdoor patio and a small space for live music as well. 

They were very clear however, the name is not going to change. 

“The name’s gonna stay the same, we’ve had a lot of people ask us that, ‘what’s the name going to be?’” Said Lisa. “We’re the Treloar Bar and Grill, that’s what we’re going to be.”

That was not always the case. The Ketterers said they received offers from several other vacant buildings in Warren County looking for tenants, but at the end of the day, Treloar was home. 

They did extend their thanks to the restaurant and bar community in the county for their continued support. 

Although the plans have been solidified and dirt is being moved, there is still plenty of work to do, and it will be some time before the new bar opens. 

One of the largest barriers to construction was the septic system, since there are no public sewers in Treloar. John said that is going to be one of the largest individual costs on the project and they actually had to move the plan from their original site in order to shave costs on piping. 

Another motivator for reopening was, to the Ketterers, Treloar is home, and they did not want to see the town lose another business and community resource. 

“It sounds like a cliche but it’s bigger than us,” said Lisa. “Treloar needs this.”

They are eyeing a tentative opening in August of this year, although that is dependent on construction and weather.