Fundraiser launched to help Lighthouse Inn Supper Club after fire

CEDAR RAPIDS — A fundraiser has been launched to help the owner of the Lighthouse Inn Supper Club after a devastating fire Aug. 14.

Staff at Edith Lucille’s Bait Shack & Wing Depot — next door neighbors of Lighthouse Inn — launched the fundraiser on GoFundMe with a goal of $30,000 for owner Steve McAtee. As of Monday, it had raised more than $9,200.

“We want to support Steve through donations that will be given directly to Steve as he navigates this tragedy,” Shanae King, fundraiser organizer, said in the post. “Steve is one of the most selfless and kind people you could ever meet.”

The fire destroyed Iowa’s oldest supper club along Mount Vernon Road just a month after its 112th anniversary.

Crews were called to the restaurant, 6905 Mount Vernon Rd. SE, at about 5:15 a.m. on Aug. 14 after a passerby saw smoke and flames coming from the roof and called 911, according to a news release from the Linn County Sheriff’s Office.

No one was in the building at the time of the fire. The damage was limited to the restaurant, which is a total loss, according to the release.

McAtee bought the Lighthouse in 2016, after working there for more than a decade. He told The Gazette earlier this year that it was important for him to keep the Lighthouse Inn’s legacy going.

“I get a lot of people that say, ‘Oh, this place needs updated’ and all this, but it’s history.” McAtee said. “It’s not something that if you update … it’s going to have the same vibe or the same customers that want to come out every year.”

Comments: Features reporter Elijah Decious can be reached at (319) 398-8340 or elijah.decious@thegazette.com.