A fire destroyed Zup’s Food Market in Cook, Minnesota, late Monday night. (Screenshot: Fox21)
Last Sunday, my family struck deer camp a week early. I got sent home with a large amount of cheese curds, which is never a bad deal. My uncles always pick up the cheese from Zup’s in Cook.
Monday night, a large fire destroyed the Zup’s Food Market, Cook’s only grocery store and heart of the community’s commercial district.
The good news is that the late night fire happened when no one was around, so nobody got hurt. But the building is a total loss.
On Tuesday, the owner vowed to rebuild. He said insurance would allow him to help the approximately 40 people who work full- or part-time at the store. But the timeline for rebuilding isn’t clear yet.
Reading the stories about the fire it seems people aren’t just upset about losing a store. They’re much more worried about losing their town.
It strikes me the way that moments like this remind a community of what’s really important — food, service, gathering, local commerce and kindness. We value these assets when we encounter tragedy or hardship, but they’re actually valuable all the time.
We just so often take them for granted.
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