The community showed its support when an Indigo Valley eatery reopened after nearly seven months last weekend.
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"It was like old friends coming back, everyone was so joyful and happy," Jemma Toohey said.
The Watchbox, on Indigo Creek Road, offered takeaway food and also had five Sunday bookings, spaced out, that totalled about 40 people.
Ms Toohey and her husband Rick Taylor are now preparing for increased trade and a more positive future after a "pretty intense" year so far.
The couple took ownership of the cafe and vineyard in 2018 and opened in May last year after eight months' work.
"We were just starting to make some real inroads into the business, people getting to know us," Ms Toohey said.
The unpredictability of the summer bushfires forced them to close temporarily and then they learned their first crop of wine grapes had been spoiled by smoke taint.
"It was devastating," she said.
"We weren't able, obviously, to use them, there were about 16 acres of grapes ... the sheep got to enjoy them."
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They closed again in March when the pandemic hit, with Mr Taylor also spending time in hospital.
"For a little while you felt like you were kind of 'Was this all real'?" his wife said.
Mr Taylor's health - he is a transplant recipient and remains on medication - influenced their decision not to resume operations mid-year, as did doubts over such a move's viability.
"For us to reopen and then be shut again, which some people did, we would have been dead in the water, really," Ms Toohey said.
She praised the efforts of their granddaughters Tess, 17, and Macey, 15, who helped them when they could finally start up.
"When we had to pivot to serve customers at their tables to follow the COVID-19 safe opening guidelines last weekend the girls were invaluable," she said.
"My husband and I would not have been able to keep up without their help."
Mr Taylor and Ms Toohey thanked people for their support and encouraged more visitors.
"We call Sundays graze and laze because you can just come," Ms Toohey said.
"There's plenty of room, kids can run around safely.
"And it's just so beautiful being out in the fresh air."
