Two of the coolest bars in Salt Lake City sent a wake-up plea to their Instagram fans on Wednesday morning: “Our SLC bar and restaurant family needs your help!”
A Monday fire tore through the bars Whiskey Street, London Belle and White Horse and the restaurant Los Tapatios on Main Street. The teams at Water Witch and Bar Nohm — bars a few blocks to the west — rallied for their “hundreds of brothers and sisters left without jobs.”
“Life doesn’t stop. They have bills to pay, lives to live and you can help,” their post read, asking for donations to the Main Street Fire Employee Assistance Fund.
The Downtown Alliance reported Wednesday that the fund launched to help service workers had raised $55,000 in just over a day — about 11% of the its $500,000 goal.
The fund also will benefit from a fashion show and music event previously scheduled for Friday at the Eccles Theater, 111 S. Main, organizers announced Wednesday.
“We have built a community on Main Street over the past three years, and seeing a part of it burned down is heartbreaking,” Seth Brown, an organizer of the “Main Street III” event, said in a statement.
“This year’s show is both a platform for emerging artists and a rallying point for the community,” Brown said, “as business owners, employees and neighbors look toward the future.”
David Tran, one of the owners of London Belle, will kick off the evening at 8 p.m. with remarks about the fire and “the importance of community solidarity during recovery,” according to a news release. Doors open at 7 p.m. Friday.
Water Witch, nationally recognized as a 2025 James Beard Award finalist in the Outstanding Bar category, and its sister bar, Bar Nohm, a previous finalist in another category, also urged fans to support other businesses damaged or disrupted by Monday’s fire: “Let’s all get down to Main Street and put some dollars downtown while the block cleans up!
Employees of Whiskey Street, London Belle, White Horse and Los Tapatios, on the 300 South block of Main Street, will be contacted by their employer about receiving money from the fund, the Downtown Alliance said on its website.
The first round of funds will be distributed Thursday, Aug. 19.
Another way Salt Lake City residents can support the businesses that burned is to patronize their owners’ other locations.
The Bourbon Group, which owns Whiskey Street and White Horse, also operates Franklin Ave., at 231 S. Edison St. And Los Tapatios has locations at 120 N. 900 West in Salt Lake City’s Fairpark neighborhood, and at 3269 W. 5400 South, Taylorsville.