Two fires broke out in St. Paul in the early morning hours on Dec 14th. One destroyed "The Nook" an Irish owned popular burger place on Hamline and Randolph in St. Paul while the second was a furniture repair business that has a common wall to the popular "Celtic Junction" which houses Irish dance studios and the Irish Fair of Minnesota office and other Irish related business and performance areas. While The Nook was a total lost the owners, Ted Casper and his partner, Mike Runyon, said they will be back in business by March and will recapture the uniqueness of the burger joint. The Nook has won many awards for their burgers and have been featured on the Food Channel. Casper and Runyon also own and operate the popular "Shamrocks Irish Pub" located on west 7th street in St. Paul.
The damage to Celtic Junction was to the wall on the south end of the building which forced the closing off of that area. "The rest of the building and our performance area on the north side of the building was not harmed and we will continue the planned Celli's and dance performances for the future," said Cormac O'Shea, who along with his wife, Natalie run the building and have a will known Irish dance school in the building.