Downtown Walhalla This Holiday Season: How Main Street Is Coming Back and What's on the December Calendar

The block of East Main Street that burned on September 17 could take a long time to come back. The holiday shopping season takes six weeks.

Rebuilding depends on insurers, building owners and the sewer authority, and nobody in town can speed it up much. December depends on the parade, the window contest, the shows at the Walhalla Performing Arts Center, and a cup of coffee bought from a trailer when you'd normally get it at the counter. Residents have a direct hand in that part.

Dari McBride, president of the Oconee County Chamber of Commerce, summed up the recovery to The Journal with a phrase that has come up again and again since the fire: "This is a marathon, not a sprint." In a marathon, the holiday season is the stretch where the crowd along the course matters most.

The slow timeline: what the burned block is waiting on

As Fox Carolina reported, the fire moved through the block along Highway 28 between Catherine and Tugaloo streets before dawn. Seventeen fire stations responded, including crews from Greenville and Spartanburg counties, and no one was hurt. The businesses lost included Taqueria Los Arcos, Tienda y Taqueria Mundo Hispano, Carolina Pizza Company, Middle of Main Antiques and Alexander's Coffeehouse & Cafe. Some of the buildings were believed to be more than 100 years old.

Almost every step after that depends on someone outside the businesses themselves. City Administrator David Poulson said demolition is up to the building owners and their insurers, according to The Journal. As of early October, The Greenville News reported that Mayor Tim Hall hoped to see the site cleared and rebuilt, but the city had no confirmed rebuilding plan.

Moving into another building comes with its own costs. At a roundtable a week after the fire, The Journal reported that owners listed insurance delays, unsafe buildings, inspections, construction costs and sewer fees as obstacles. Levi Shook of Alexander's explained that a restaurant spending heavily to pass inspections in a six-month temporary space might have to do it all again at its permanent home. Travis Storey of Carolina Pizza Company said at the same meeting that the sewer impact fee for a new restaurant could reach $50,000 before the doors open.

The city has asked the Oconee Joint Regional Sewer Authority to waive impact, plan-review and inspection fees for displaced businesses moving into buildings that already have sewer connections. The Journal's account of that discussion ended without a decision. Commissioners were to work out the costs and come back with options, such as a fund, delayed collection or a city credit. That question is still open.

All of this is what the slow timeline looks like up close. A resident can't speed up an insurance adjuster.

The fast timeline: where the displaced businesses are now

The displaced owners are already doing business in new forms, and some of those are easy to find this month.

Alexander's Coffee House & Cafe is running from a food trailer. Its website says the Main Street location at 124A E. Main St. was lost in the fire. The trailer moves, so the site points customers to the cafe's Facebook page for its current spot and hours. The menu is still built around Puerto Rican coffee, café food and pastries. Shook told The Journal that relief money would help cover payroll, replace equipment and keep the trailer running while insurance settlements are pending.

Middle of Main Antiques is getting a temporary space ready at 103 E. Main St. Owner George Cobb has run the shop for nearly 20 years. He told The Journal he plans to move back to the original block once it is rebuilt. Before opening at 103 E. Main, he needs a fire suppression system, alarm and surveillance systems, and a new computer. At the earlier roundtable, Cobb said Clem the tinman, the shop's well-known figure, would be front and center when it reopens. Storey said the same about Carolina Pizza Company's Bigfoot.

Carolina Pizza Company, Taqueria Los Arcos and Tienda y Taqueria Mundo Hispano have not announced new addresses. Following those businesses directly is the most reliable way to hear when they come back.

The rest of downtown is open. On October 29, Mayor Hall told WSNW that city shops are fully open for business, and he urged the community to support local retailers this Christmas season. Earlier, the city administrator said many businesses near the fire had stayed open even with less foot traffic. Less foot traffic is the part of this residents can actually change.

What the relief money has done so far

The Greater Oconee County Chamber of Commerce Foundation set up the Walhalla Fire Relief Fund with Blue Ridge Bank and its foundation. About three weeks after the fire, the fund paid out its first $47,000. Ten businesses applied, all ten received money, and most of it went to the six businesses hit hardest. The recipients were Robert Owens, Underwood Custom Embroidery, Laurel Weber, Abide Custom Builders, Carolina Pizza Company, Middle of Main, Alexander's Coffee House & Cafe, Alexander's Work & Wander, Tienda y Taqueria Mundo Hispano and Taqueria Los Arcos.

Measured against the costs owners described, that $47,000 split ten ways is less than the $50,000 sewer impact fee Storey said a single new restaurant could face. That is why the chamber is still taking applications and donations, and why businesses that already received money can update their requests as they learn the full extent of their losses. Donations go through the fund's Zeffy donation page.

Other help has come from around town. The Walhalla Oktoberfest Committee gave the fund an initial $5,000 and sent all tips from its October 16 to 18 festival to it. Festivalgoers could also donate when making official purchases. City Council waived September hospitality-tax fees for businesses the fire put out of operation, which the city administrator estimated at about $3,200.

These amounts help, but they are small next to the costs of reopening. A downtown that stays busy through December gives the businesses still operating, and the ones running from trailers and temporary storefronts, steadier support than any single check.

The December calendar

The holiday events on the city's calendar bring people downtown on the same evenings, which makes them more useful than usual this year.

Saturday, December 5 is the busiest date. The parade starts at 5 PM, and the winner of the Walhalla Wonderland window contest is announced there. Judging runs through December 4, so the decorated storefronts on Main Street and the nearby side streets will be up for the whole first week of December. Two and a half hours after the parade begins, Celtic Angels Christmas 2026 starts at the Walhalla Performing Arts Center. That leaves time for dinner downtown between the two, and both the parade and the show draw people to the businesses that are still open.

The Frosty's Night Ride the next weekend starts and ends at the Ross Mountain Entrance to Stumphouse Mountain Park. The ride begins at 6 PM once all riders have checked in, and everyone must check out by 9:30 PM. Questions go to the city at [email protected].

Two dates are still open. The city's Christmas tree lighting page has no 2026 time listed yet. Last year, Visit Oconee listed the lighting for December 5 at 5:30 PM on Main Street, but that was the 2025 schedule. The city's events page lists the 2026 Merchants Market as rescheduled, with the date to be determined.

For a quick meal on the other nights, the city lists a daily Food Truck Center at 301 E. Main St.

Small purchases add up

The rebuilding questions will be settled by owners, insurers and the sewer authority over a long stretch. Business in December depends on who comes downtown. A coffee from the Alexander's trailer, a stop at Middle of Main once 103 E. Main St. opens, dinner on Main Street before Celtic Angels, and a vote in the window contest all bring people to Main Street during the weeks merchants count on most.

I'm Clay Vassey with Clay Vassey. I'd be glad to share more about what's happening around Walhalla, Seneca and the rest of Oconee County this season, whether or not you have real estate plans. If you're following Main Street's recovery or have a favorite downtown business you'd like more people to know about, let's connect.