DENVER -- After more than a year, Welton St. Cafe is preparing to reopen its dining room to customers.
"This feels like the family reunion. You know that part where you're just like, 'everybody gets to come now,'" said Fathima Dickerson, the co-owner of Welton St. Cafe.
A combination of COVID-19, a broken HVAC system and a broken elevator kept the popular Five Points restaurant dining room closed.
"Once that got repaired, I was like, 'OK, let's open the dining room.' Because we miss the people," said Dickerson.
Dickerson told Denver7 she and her family plan to allow customers to dine inside starting Tuesday at 11 a.m.
"We're gathering for food, but we're really gathering to be a part of a larger collective, you know, where we belong, where we feel safe, where we feel like, we can just be ourselves. So it's just like, that's the piece that fills my heart," she said.
In May, Denver7 viewers raised more than $30,000 through Denver7 Gives for the Welton St. Cafe.
Although the building that houses the restaurant still needs more repairs, Dickerson said she's ecstatic about the reopening.
"I'm so excited," she said.