John Wentz was the focus of attention as the first cheeseburger made in the new Dam Store was being carried to his counter seat.

“It’s really good,” he said after taking his first bite.

“Of course their pies,” he said of his favorites at the Dam Store. “But their food has always been good, too.”

Like many of the few dozen people who showed up when the cafe opened at 11 a.m. Monday in Mankato, the 70-year-old Wentz had been a frequent customer to the Dam Store when it was located next to the Rapidan Dam just south of Mankato.

The 112-year-old Dam Store was demolished June 28 after major flooding of the Blue Earth River carved a new path around the west side of the Rapidan Dam. David Hruska and his sister Jenny Barnes operate the Dam Store, which has now reopened at 609 South Front St., the former home of the longtime Wagon Wheel Cafe.

Jason Smith, of North Mankato, was among a group waiting on the sidewalk for the Dam Store to open.

“We kayaked that river a lot and would go down to have pie and shakes and a burger,” he said of the former location.

“I’m glad it’s going in the old Wagon Wheel, which is so iconic.”

Smith owns Aerial Imagery Media and did a lot of drone footage as the water began carving away the banks next to the old Dam Store.

“I had Reuters and CNN and others contacting me. I said, ‘If you donate to the (Hruska) family, you can use my video.’”

Shannon Whittet, who is a cousin to David and Jenny, was one of several people helping out on the first day and was holding the front door open to greet people, while smiling and wiping away tears of joy.

She worked at the Dam Store as did her daughters and some of their friends.

During a ribbon-cutting prior to the opening, Mankato Mayor Najwa Massad said the nation was watching as events at the Rapidan Dam and the Dam Store unfolded.

“The Dam Store may have gone down, but the memories won’t,” she said.

Massad also has a special tie to the new location. “When we came here from Lebanon when I was a little girl, we lived above The Wagon Wheel.” She was 5 when they moved in above the Wagon Wheel and the family lived there from 1960 to 1967.

For more than 70 years, the 103-year-old brick storefront had been the home of the beloved Wagon Wheel Cafe before longtime owner Kevin Haefner closed it in 2015.

The Dam Store is open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. to start, though hours may change during the winter months when the Hruskas traditionally shuttered the Rapidan cafe.