Photo courtesy Mike Engle

Some hugged him. Everyone smiled.

Just days shy of the one-year anniversary of the fire that destroyed the well-known Lake George meeting place, the diner hosted a grand opening on Thursday.

An invitation-only dinner for 62 people was held at the new diner.

To order copies of staff-produced photos from The Post-Star, please visit http://reprints.poststar.com/. Leonhard said he felt choked up to be standing before the patrons -- most longtime friends.

"There are customers that have been with us for years," Leonhard said.

"Great. It feels great," he said, standing at the entrance, greeting his friends.

Lake George Mayor Robert Blais facilitated the raffle, and the winners were offered a chance to have the inaugural meal at the locally iconic restaurant.

The money from the raffle benefited the Prospect Child and Family Center in Queensbury, Blais said. The Prospect Center is a school for disabled and at-risk children and is unaffiliated with the diner, though it shares a similar name.

About $1,800 total was raised for the center, Blais said.

Inside, after a ribbon was cut by Leonhard and Blais, a toast was offered.

And, following words expressing excitement and gratitude for the reopening, the speech ended with, "as the whole village says, 'yay!' "

Katie Cutler, an employee, worked at the diner at the time of the fire. She received a phone call at about 5 a.m. after the blaze started during the night.

"Everybody was devastated," she said.

But now that the diner has reopened, the mood has shifted to one of perseverance.

"It's very exciting. I've been looking forward to it since it burned down," Cutler said.

Another employee, Sharon Eggleston, of Queensbury, said she had worked for the establishment for about 20 years.

"One thing I miss is sitting in a booth and looking out over the mountain and Lake George before the day started," Eggleston.

The raffle winners shared memories over hors d'oeuvres before dinner, and commented about the new diner.

"I love this place," said Jack Toole, a former bartender at the Rickshaw Chinese Restaurant, which was attached to Prospect Mountain Diner.

"It's beautiful," he said, of the new building. "It's a lot wider than the other place. It's roomier."

"No matter where I went, people were always saying, 'When's the diner reopening?' " Blais said. "It really was the meeting place for much of the Lake George community."

Before a fire destroyed it last May, the Prospect Mountain Diner was a bullet-style dining car built in 1950 and had been a constant in Lake George since the mid-1960s.

Leonhard has faced obstacle after obstacle in replacing the building.

The new diner was hauled into the village in mid-December, after snow and ice held up the operation.

The 62-seat modular structure, manufactured by Dinermite Diners in Atlanta, Ga., now sits on Canada Street. An addition is planned, Leonhard said.

The restaurant is open to the public for business starting today at 6 a.m., Leonhard said.

Originally published online here: http://www.poststar.com/articles/2008/05/09/news/local/13574671.txt