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Community rallies around flood-damaged Busy Bees' Play Hive: when will it reopen? A flood seems to be no match for the perseverance of Busy Bees' Play Hive and its families. Busy Bees’ Play Hive flooded on Jan. 10, after co-owner Keith Santor and his landlord tried keeping water out of the building following the leak in the Fitchville Pond Dam. The two of them ended up stuck on tables at the adjacent Domino’s Pizza, waiting for the waters to recede. A neighbor called the Yantic Volunteer Fire Department to get them. Since the flood waters receded, Santor and others have been hard at work with flood damage repairs, and Santor expects to reopen in February, he said. Busy Bees’ Play Hive opened in 2019 as an indoor playground for children in the area, featuring a playscape and a climbing hive. It was started because there weren’t any indoor playscapes in the area. Busy Bees' Play Hive co-owner Keith Santor aims to reopen the indoor playground by mid-February. Flood damaged and dirtied the interior After the flood, Busy Bees needed repairs and cleaning. The water had caused the floor to float and made everything else dirty. Overall, 370 linear feet of sheetrock and insulation, from the floor to about 3 or 4 feet high, was torn out. Everything remaining had to be steam sterilized or tossed, Santor said. As of Monday, the new insulation and most of the new sheetrock was in place, and new flooring is on order. After the repairs, Busy Bees’ Play Hive will be largely the same as before, Santor said. Parents and community step in to help out Crucial help came from Busy Bees’ parents and other community members . A GoFundMe page has raised $5,495 as of Wednesday morning, and people are volunteering to help Santor fix Busy Bees, he said. “We’ve created a really good space for families,” Santor said. “It’s a place we’ve extended our own family to, and they’ve opened their arms to us and us to them. We’re really our own community here.” Columbia resident Rachel Houser was one of the parents helping Monday night. Houser brought her children, now aged 4, 7 and 9, to Busy Bees’ Play Hive when it first opened. It was a unique and fun place to be, she said. As a fellow business owner, Houser understands how not being able to run your business must feel, and she wanted to help, she said.Houser isn’t surprised by how much help Busy Bees’ Play Hive is getting to reopen. “The community really believes in their resilience and wants them here, and for good reason,” she said. A few children were also there Monday night, playing on the playscape while their parents were hard at work. Sometimes Santor will bring his kids over to help out, but they were relaxing at home on Monday night, he said. “It’s nice to see the kids still enjoy it,” he said.