Bothell starts recovery after fire in historic building

The Bothell community is starting to recover after the destructive fire July 22.

Bothell's Chamber of Commerce raised $57,000 at a block party fundraiser Thursday night. People filled charming Main Street for the event, though the street had been closed to traffic since the fire.

The chamber planned the block party fundraiser to support the Bothell Fire Fund for affected businesses.

Related: Fire in Bothell’s historic downtown stirs up questions and anxiety

The fire started in the historic Mercantile building and damaged or destroyed nearly a dozen businesses. One was a neighborhood go-to, the Kozy Corner Cafe. The owners say they are still deciding whether to rebuild. Another destroyed business was Leela Yoga, whose owners plan to open a new location on Saturday.

The chamber says it wants to help as many businesses as possible with money raised from the block party. Many businesses are still deciding what to do.

Meanwhile, the fire department has opened parts of Main Street that were closed. Another section of Main Street and adjacent 102nd Street will remain closed for now.

Bothell Fire Department spokeswoman Kirsten Clemens says they’re still cleaning debris.

Clemens: "We need to make it safe, and that means shoring up walls and structural engineers are coming in and making sure it's safe for people to go through that area. So we are resilient, we will do this together.

"If people just come and support the businesses, I think that's the biggest thing that we would all just love to see."

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is helping the Bothell Fire Department investigate the cause.