Joshua Larson woke up Friday morning to several missed calls on his phone. When he listened to the voice mails, it was not good news.
Police had called to tell him about a water main break at the antique mall and coffee shop he runs with his husband, David Wenzel, in Fridley. When Larson got there, he saw water gushing out of every window, door and crack in the foundation of the building housing the Wild Vintage Collective.
The main area of the complex just off 73rd and University avenues was filled with 12 to 18 inches of muddy water — a "devastating" and "heartbreaking" sight, Larson said.
"I didn't expect anything like this to happen," he said.
Larson and Wenzel also didn't expect what happened next. They put out a call for help to salvage any merchandise that could be saved, and volunteers including customers and those who had never been to the mall came to the rescue.
Over the weekend, more than 60 people from across the northern suburbs came to empty the 18,000-square-foot building of its contents and move them to dry space. One couple was in the middle of a pickleball game when the all-hands-on-deck call went out over social media and immediately raced over, Larson said.
"That is what is keeping us going," he said in a phone interview Wednesday. "We didn't realize how many lives we touched. People say, 'This place makes me smile.' "
A large portion of the antiques and vintage wares bought and sold by more than 40 dealers who do business in the building were saved, Larson said.
