Gore Street rallies, helps out an adopted daughter (5 photos)

The reconstruction of Gore Street has been stomp-kicking the neighbourhood's commercial establishments hard this year.

On top of that, Nicole Dyble at the Gore Street Cafe had the misfortune last week of losing her business partner.

Faced with running the place single-handed at an exceptionally difficult time, Dyble turned to her social-media followers for support. 

"I would really love it if friends, regulars and supporters could show up this evening to eat some food with me and talk about ideas for keeping Gore Street Cafe open," she said.

Dyble is, er, not from around here.

She's a transplant from Caledon in the Greater Toronto Area who came to Sault Ste. Marie to study community economic and social development at Algoma University and decided to stay.

She and Sam Decter took over the Gore Street Cafe in June 2015.

They ran the place as much like social entrepreneurs as business people.

With art shows, concerts, pay-what-you-can meals and a weekly night market, 164 Gore quickly became a cultural and culinary hub for the neighbourhood.

The cafe/laundromat's influence as a community institution soon became far out of proportion to its miniscule square footage.

The Sault doesn't welcome every newcomer.

But Gore Street embraced Nicole like an adopted daughter.

So when Dyble turned to the community for help on Tuesday night, a capacity crowd responded.

The place was filled to overflowing. 

"I was standing out front of my shop today, imagining what it would be like if the cafe was suddenly gone," Krista Butler, owner of Vixen's Couture next door at 162 Gore Street, wrote on the cafe's Facebook page.

"It would be the death of Gore," Butler said. "The cafe really is the heart of the neighbourhood. Chin up Nicole! We'll make it work!"

From the beginning, Dyble has viewed the Gore Street Cafe as both a for-profit business and a social enterprise.

"Basically, the motivation behind starting the Gore Street Cafe was to help create a way for Sam and I to live in a way we want to live," she told SeeTheChange.ca last year.

"This includes doing work we care about that’s interesting and stimulating, incorporating our interests and passions and 'making a living' without having to compromise our ethics," Dyble said.

"It’s all grounded in a belief in social justice and an understanding of the interconnectedness of people and the environment."

On Tuesday night, Dyble outlined what makes the cafe different from many other businesses.

Here, as she posted on one of the establishment's walls, is her list of objectives:

• creating a livelihood/caring for ourselves
• building community and community capacity
• encouraging and creating safe space for public discourse and culture
• challenging dominant funding, growth and social enterprise models
• supporting the local economy
• working toward environmental sustainability

The Gore Street Cafe is a bit bewildering to newcomers.

Order something unhealthy like soda and you'll be politely told no.

The menu changes pretty much every day subject to availability.

And you need to pay attention to the hours of operation.

Lunch is offered on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Brunch is served between the same hours on Saturdays and Sundays.

There's usually an open mic event on Tuesdays. It's been on hiatus but is expected to start again on July 26.

Every third Thursday, there's a pay-what-you-can dinner and night produce market to help make healthy food accessible to all.

Low-on-cash diners can often pay by bartering time prepping for meals or cleaning up after them. 

The cafe used to offer monthly supper clubs, a practice Dyble wants to restart soon.

She's also thinking about Monday night study halls starting in September, offering a quiet work area and educational programming.

Dyble outlined a number of other ideas:

• catering orders
• private parties
• space rentals
• pop-up events
• pre-paid meals
• grant money
• crowdfunding
• cooking classes
• laundry jobs

On Tuesday night, Dyble was inundated with more ideas and offers for support.

She'll be evaluating them in days to come.

If you'd like to get involved, Dyble is looking for many kinds of help, including:

• volunteer shifts ranging from one to three hours, of food prepping, dishes and general cleaning.
• graphic design
• distributing posters and/or flyers
• monthly steering committee meetings
• web design
• social media support
• assistance with grant applications and research
• cooking for night market community meals

Gore Street Cafe can be reached at (705) 575-3305 or gorestreetcafe@gmail.com