Kalynn Sawyer Helmer
Record Staff
WILLIAMSBURG — Doug’s Golden Eagle Welding in Williamsburg celebrated their grand re-opening of the shop on Aug. 4. It was less than a year ago, on Sept. 18, that a devastating fire destroyed the business. Owner Doug Casselman said there was 100 per cent loss after the fire.
In December, the Casselmans will celebrate 50 years in business and that legacy was one of the factors that helped make the decision to rebuild. His son Matthew, who has been heavily involved for the last 10 years will take over one day meaning there is a future for the business.
Casselman said the building process was slower than he hoped, dealing with some red tape, but now that the shop has re-opened, things are full speed ahead. One of the hardest parts, Casselman said, is finding customer information that was lost in the fire and getting organized. With an already busy shop however, Casselman said he hopes to be back where they want to be within six months to a year.
During the open house, Casselman, along with wife Mary and son Matthew, thanked the community for their support throughout the whole process and hosted a barbecue by the Morrisburg Leos and gave some tours of the new shop. To show his appreciation Casselman said he was adamant that no dignitaries would cut the ribbon but had roughly 20 customers do the honours.
Casselman said he was surprised and grateful to the people who have been loyal customers for many years, some even waiting until the shop re-opened to have their necessary work done. Casselman said he thought this was in part due to Doug’s Golden Eagle opening their doors to all types of work big or small, whereas there are businesses now that will refuse smaller projects. For Casselman, he likes the job and the community.
