LAC-MEGANTIC, Quebec, Aug. 3 (UPI) -- A cafe in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, destroyed in the explosion that gutted much of the town reopened Friday in a tent.
Hundreds of people gathered for the opening concert by Fred Pellerin, a popular folk singer in the province, The (Toronto) Globe and Mail reported. The Musi-Cafe plans to operate out of the tent until the end of September.
"This is the beginning of something; we're finished with talking about the end," Pellerin told the crowd.
Pellerin began the show with an appropriate song, "The Beginning of the World."
A freight train carrying crude oil began moving after it had been left parked in Lac-Megantic, derailed and exploded last month. The blast killed 47 people, including patrons of the Musi-Cafe.
Paint was still drying on the cafe's temporary home when Pellerin went on stage. Yannick Gagne, the owner, said he had been up since 4 a.m. finishing the job.
"These people are wonderful; we've had issues putting this together. I ran the Musi-Cafe for 12 years and it was almost perfect at the end. You can't match that in two days," Gagne said.
Mayor Colette Roy-Laroche called the event "a ray of sunshine."
