A sign posted on the door of The Pressroom Restaurant notifies patrons of a fire today that forced the establishment to cancel Thanksgiving dinner.
More than 300 people were forced to change their plans for Thanksgiving dinner Thursday because of a fire at a downtown restaurant.
A clothes dryer in the basement of The Pressroom Restaurant, 26-28 W. King St., caught fire around 9:30 a.m., according to general manager Larry Hershey.
The fire was confined to the dryer but smoke filled the establishment and water from the building's sprinkler system sprayed everywhere.
"My own office was underwater," Hershey said.
At the time of the blaze, Hershey said, restaurant workers were preparing the 13 turkeys that were to be served for dinner.
At least 300 people had reservations for Thanksgiving dinner, according to Hershey.
"And we would have expected even more walk-ins," he said.
Hershey said Thanksgiving is one of the restaurant's busiest nights of the year, with New Year's Eve being the busiest.
Because of the smoke and water damage, Hershey said, the decision was made to keep the restaurant closed, which meant canceling the Thanksgiving meal.
Restaurant staff called "nearly all" of those who had reservations for Thursday, according to Hershey.
They were given contact information for several other local restaurants that also were serving Thanksgiving meals and which still had dinner seating availability.
"We called several places to tell them our situation and they were very helpful to us," Hershey said.
By late afternoon, The Pressroom had been aired out and the water cleaned up, Hershey said.
The restaurant is expected to open for lunch today at 11:30 a.m.
Much of the food The Pressroom had planned to serve for Thanksgiving was frozen and can be served at other meals, Hershey said.
Some food that was in the midst of preparations was likely to be sold to employees.
"Nothing will go to waste," Hershey said.
