Almost exactly three years from the day a massive fire gutted their wood and tin building on Atwater Boulevard, completely destroying one of the city’s most beloved local businesses, the Fragulia family turned shovels Saturday in a groundbreaking ceremony for a new and improved Atwater Feed Store.
Announcing this week’s start-date to begin construction, local builder Brad Kessler, owner of BK Industries, Inc. and building project contractor, said completion of the combined feed and True Value Hardware stores would take 8-9 months.
“I’m honored to be the person building this project for them,” Kessler said of the Fragulia family, who bought the feed store in 1988 after matriarch Thelma and son Roger “sold the herd” and invested their savings into a business that would become essential to local families.
Roger Fragulia said that reconstructing the store was important to his family, realizing that it filled an important economic niche in the community.
“We wanted to rebuild in order to serve the community,” he said.
Serve the community it did for almost 40 years. Once the new project is complete, Roger’s son Bobby will assume managerial duties with grandson Blake learning the ropes to ensure three generations of Fragulia men owning and operating the business.
The groundbreaking was a marvel of engineering organized by Kessler that brought out a large crowd of well-wishers, including Atwater Mayor Mike Nelson and County Supervisor Josh Pedrozo who delivered formal declarations, Atwater High School FFA students who brought a small herd of goats for a petting zoo, city firemen who brought the fire department’s vintage LaFrance fire truck, and people like Jennifer Lowenstein, who brought her enthusiasm.
“I’m here to celebrate them giving so much to us,” Lowenstein said. They’ve done so much for the community. The least we can do is give back to them.”
The event resembled a miniature county fair and featured live music, food and drink, a bounce house for the kids, a drawing sponsored by Stage Stop Gun Shop & Indoor Range, commemorative giveaways, and a rendition of the National Anthem complete with a Merced County Sheriff’s Department helicopter flyover at the exact moment the song ended.
“Atwater Feed is officially building back bigger and even stronger,” Kessler said.
Third generation owner Bobby said that the groundbreaking was gratifying for the family to experience.
“To come back three years after the fire and to see so many people here today, we are truly grateful and appreciative of the community’s support,” he said.