BY ADAM ATKINSON
North Country This Week

CANTON -- Construction to rebuild the Canton DQ Grill & Chill at 51 Gouverneur St. commenced earlier this week.

According to the owners, Gail Crabtree and John Putman (Audrey Guthrie, Inc. d/b/a Dairy Queen), the business is expected to reopen in September.

Friend Commercial Contracting based in Malone was hired to handle the rebuild of the local Dairy Queen restaurant which was an iconic local eatery in Canton since its initial construction in 1950.

The restaurant was destroyed following a break-in and arson on Aug. 5, 2018. The structure was declared a total loss after about 10 hours of effort by Canton volunteers and others from several area departments.

No one was injured in the blaze.

Cody Horrocks, formerly of Norfolk and a former Dairy Queen employee, was charged and convicted for the arson, and also for stabbing his wife several months later. He was sentenced in county court in June 2019 to serve 15 years in state prison, plus five years of post-release supervision, as well as pay more than $400,000 in restitution, fines, fees and surcharges.

Demolition of the original building that was gutted by the fire was completed earlier this year.

The total rebuild is estimated to cost about $972,964.

The village of Canton secured a $195,000 Community Development Block Grant from the state Office of Community Renewal for the project. The money is dedicated to reimburse the owners for new equipment costs for the rebuild.

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