12 hours in the dark: How Philadelphia and Theresa residents handle the power outage

PHILADELPHIA, New York (WWNY) - Around 8:45 AM Saturday, the village of Philadelphia pulled the plug, cutting off power to itself and the neighboring village of Theresa.

This scheduled maintenance caused many business owners to close their doors, but others just got craftier.

“When there’s no power like this it’s great to be in service to people who are in need of a nice meal,” said Lori Cook.

Lori Cook is a Co-Owner of Cook’s Family Diner in Philadelphia. Since her building runs on National Grid, she was spared from the outage. Her sister-in law who runs the nearby Brenda’s Pizzeria wasn’t quite as lucky, but she was just as determined to serve.

“Obviously, no lights it’s difficult to run but we are managing,” said Brenda’s Pizzeria Owner Theresa Gracey.

At Brenda’s Pizzeria, their oven and fryer run on propane, so they’re still up and running despite a total lack of power.

“People still need to eat. We’re still trying to be there for everyone if they need something. We don’t like to close unless we really have to. We were like ‘let’s give it a try and see if we can keep it going’,” said Gracey.

Over in Theresa, the only place that kept it’s light on was Jezi’s Cafe. So residents and their four-legged-friends stopped by for a canine celebration called Dog Days of Summer.

“It’s my thing. I love dogs so much,” said Stacy Zipkey.

Dog Days was supposed to happen in August, but rain forced Jezi’s Cafe Owner Dezi to reschedule. Thanks to a generator and some determination, she pushed through the power outage.

“Kudos to the vendors that came anyway, despite knowing that we’d be having some challenges today. We’re making it through because that’s what we do. Theresa is a strong community. The North Country is a strong group of people. That’s what we do. Keep trudging through,” said Desi Howard.

The power was expected to be restored by 9 PM Saturday.

Copyright 2022 WWNY. All rights reserved.