COROLLA, N.C. — For Corolla Adventure Golf and Bumper Cars owners, when a lightning strike caused a fire and heavily damaged the bumper car portion of the business, the worry was that they might have to close for the season.
"That was my gut feeling," said Manny Golasa, CEO of BeachMart Inc.
But just one month later, the miniature golf portion of the business is back up and running.
"We never expected getting reopened so soon. We opened to the day, 31 days since the fire happened."
Golasa shares there's been a ton of hard work that has gone into making this happen.
"We came here with with bulldozers, we had a huge crew here. We threw out dumpsters worth of burnt wood, mostly from the ceiling, some of it is still in there. The bumper cars were all trash. Those were very, very heavy. We had cranes here, and we had serious equipment here to make this all happen."
Also giving credit to his father, who led the project day and night in the efforts to reopen.
"I want to give credit to my dad. He did a lot of the leading in this project here. He was here every morning until the evening, watching his guys, directing these guys how to clean up, where to put everything, how to take it down. He's just phenomenal, he's the one that made this all happen."
This week people have already been back enjoying the miniature golf course that has been a part of the Corolla community for 17-years.
"The most important thing is, it's open for the tourists. The tourists are happy they have another destination to come play miniature golf, and we're very excited."
Golasa also wanted to thank emergency responders for their quick response and efforts in helping save the business.
"They were able to salvage the damage where it didn't hit, they were able to save our building."
As far as what happens next for the bumper car area, Golasa says they are actively talking about ideas of what to do with it. We'll have to wait and see.
"We have a vision for this place, maybe we'll bring back the same bumper cars, maybe we'll bring back something better. We're throwing some ideas out there."
