PHELPS, N.Y. — Flint Creek Falls is a sweet sound again for Don Miller, mostly because he can no longer hear it from the gaping hole in the basement of his Phelps wine bar.

"It wasn’t easy, but we survived this," Miller said, as he pointed to the plywood now part of the patch to the restaurant’s foundation.

What You Need To Know

  • Waterside Wine Bar and Cafe in Phelps reopens three months after a foundation wall in its basement collapsed into Flint Creek on Christmas morning

  • Contractors reinforced the building with a 14-foot cinderblock beam and five yards of concrete that fixes a whole in the restaurant’s cobblestone foundation

  • Its owner credits a GoFundMe page with helping his business survive the building’s collapse

His Waterside Wine Bar and Bistro on Route 96 reopened this week, nearly three months after a Christmas Day collapse of the basement wall. Some of the property’s parking in front of the restaurant, like the basement corner, fell into the creek.

"We laid down rebar all throughout the opening that was five yards of concrete to fill that void," Miller said.

Waterside nearly went out of business waiting to re-open.

"We had to restock everything from the ground up," said Miller.

Neighbors and businesses from across the Finger Lakes pitched in and helped Don. So did a GoFundMe page, which took care of the big bills.

Wait and kitchen staff at the Waterside were up against it too.

"Don was good enough to hire me back then when they open the place," Cook Don Valley of Palmyra said. "I’m really excited to get back open. I love this place."

There’s still cosmetic work to do. Miller is glad to be welcoming people back to the water’s edge.

"I’ll decorate it when it’s done. But like I said this is a great view of the falls. This happened for a reason. This will make us stronger," Miller added.