CAPITOLA >> One of Santa Cruz County’s iconic coastal landmarks, after sitting broken and idle for 19 months, has been made whole again.

The city of Capitola celebrated the official reopening of its historic, 167-year-old wharf Wednesday after it had been left vacant and mangled by an onslaught of winter storms in January of last year.

And though the shocking incident nearly two years ago caused widespread alarm and dismay — even capturing the attention of the nation’s highest office — it kicked off an inexorable recovery effort that was bolstered by a merging of the public and private sector and was held together by an unbroken community.

“It’s just amazing how the city and the community came together and was able get this done efficiently,” said Capitola Councilmember Joe Clarke who was just days into his first term in office when the storm hit. “It speaks volumes for what our community does when we come together.”

The welcome back event, featuring live music, food trucks, a beer garden and delectable deserts, drew hundreds of attendees and took place on the wharf itself, at once celebrating its recovery and highlighting its place as a deeply felt community asset that has provided precious memories to generations of local residents and visitors.

Billy Taylor has been visiting Capitola and its treasured wharf with his family for more than four decades but hasn’t come as often in recent years while he has been caring for his wife during an illness. When more family recently visited his home in the San Joaquin Valley to assist with her care, he took an opportunity to visit the wharf that had given him, his wife and their daughter countless memories together.

“I have more pictures than I know what to do with,” said Taylor, enjoying a cup of soft serve and occasionally glancing out toward the blue horizon. “This place means a lot to me.”

Breezy but sunny with an occasional cloud or two, the weather Wednesday was a far cry from that fateful stormy morning in January 2023, when a barrage of atmospheric river storms met a relentless tidal surge that ripped a large chunk out of the wharf’s midsection, irrevocably damaged the two businesses operating atop it, destroyed much of its railing, decking and pilings and tossed them into the foaming sea.

Many businesses along the neighboring esplanade in Capitola Village were inundated with salty sea water, kicking off an arduous and costly recover effort that lasted months.

In the aftermath of the storms, photos and video of the wreckage went viral and caught the attention of leaders at all levels of government, prompting visits from state and federal dignitaries, multiple check-ins from Gov. Gavin Newsom and a tour of the damage with President Joe Biden.

Officials now insist the 855-foot-long wharf, older than the city itself, is back and sturdier than ever.City staff and leadership quickly devised a recovery plan that looped the wharf’s reconstruction into the previously planned and ongoing Capitola Wharf Resiliency and Public Access Improvement Project. The $10.6 million project, using braided funding from the city budget, Measure F and multiple state and federal grants, widened sections of the wharf vulnerable to heavy wave action from 20 feet to 36 feet, replaced 150 piles, upgraded utilities and installed a new restroom at the wharf’s entrance. From groundbreaking to grand reopening, the construction work took less than a year, officials said.

“I found that there are allies for Capitola that I never ever knew about in the (state) Capitol because of the time they spent here and the love they have for it,” said state Sen. John Laird, who helped secure $500,000 for the wharf recovery in the recent state budget and is running this November for a second Senate term. “There is an amazing reach.”

This effort was complemented by the Capitola Wharf Enhancement Project, a separate but collaborative private fundraising drive meant to beautify the aging wharf as it was pieced back together. The project raised $450,000 that went to a revamped entryway, new lighting, added seating, viewing stations and public art installations from local artists.

“This wasn’t just an effort that money was thrown at,” said Gayle Ortiz, owner of Gayle’s Bakery and one of the enhancement project leaders. “This was an effort of the heart. Everybody in Capitola wanted to do something to make this wharf a better place and to reopen.”

Backed by another partnership with the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, the city announced information kiosks with local history and information about the city’s coastal environment will be installed before the end of the year.

Though the event acted as a formal reintroduction of the beloved coastal gem to the community, local residents have had the chance to get acquainted for a few weeks now. Major construction on the wharf was finished in mid-June and the redesigned entrance gate, public restrooms and upgraded fish cleaning station were wrapped up later in the summer, allowing for the wharf to informally open to public access in August when ongoing construction didn’t present a safety risk.

And the fun is expected to continue. The city has already marked its calendar for another jovial fall wharf party on Oct. 6 and, earlier this month, the City Council OK’d plans to begin developing a long-term use plan for the wharf where various mobile and permanent structure options will be considered.

City planners say a few small-scale installations are still to come, but for the most part, this latest chapter of destruction and recovery can close and give way to a new one that is yet to be written.

“This has been rebuilt and it’s been rebuilt in a sounder way,” said Laird, “and it’s been rebuilt in a way that we hope will withstand future storms.”