Sweetwater Casino, a South Jersey legend, is destroyed by fire

For Mullica Township residents, the Sweetwater Casino was like the home of "an old friend," said township Mayor William Kennedy.

It was a familiar gathering place in the sleepy Pine Barrens town, where generations celebrated birthdays, anniversaries and weddings.

"There was always good company, good seafood and a good breeze" on the Mullica River, Kennedy said. "It was our Penn's Landing."

The landmark's destruction in a fire yesterday, after 80 years, was a stunning blow to the Atlantic County community, said Township Committee member Janet Forman.

"It will take time to hit everyone, and it will hit everyone differently," she said. "People won't know what they lost until they start thinking about what they're going to for receptions, for Halloween, Christmas and New Year's parties."

The blaze, believed to have been started by a lightning strike, sent smoke billowing over the Pinelands during the predawn hours and left area residents only memories of events held there over decades.

The restaurant on Seventh Avenue was a favorite of Kelly Ripa, a Camden County native who left TV soap operas in 2001 to cohost with Regis Philbin on Live With Regis and Kelly, many recalled. Built in 1928, it was called a "casino" but no gambling officially took place within the rambling banquet hall.

"I had a 120-person wedding party scheduled for next week," said Jeff Anastasi, Sweetwater's co-owner.

"I feel so bad. The biggest priority is getting that wedding relocated," he said.

Anastasi said he hoped to rebuild the landmark within a year. In the meantime, he is determined to find employment for the 50 people who were on his payroll.

"I'll do everything I can to get them work," he said yesterday.

Kathy Gitto, a Sweetwater waitress for 25 years, said the job was helping her put her daughter through college. "The fire is going to displace a lot of people," she said.

"This has been unbelievable, a horrible day," said Alesia Shute, 46, a former owner of the Sweetwater Casino who sold it nearly three years ago. "I didn't think I would feel so emotional."

Shute, who lives in the township's Sweetwater section, said she remembered a photo in the bar that showed the site as it looked in the late 1920s, before additions were built.

"It was like going to Cheers," she said. "You could go in by yourself or with a group of people, but you always knew somebody."

Visitors from hundreds of miles around were drawn by the restaurant's reputation for seafood and the spectacular sunset views from its river deck.

Every August, the Sweetwater sponsored a fund-raising regatta that attracted more than 4,000 people. The proceeds benefited a child suffering from cancer.

It "was one of the municipality's treasures," said Mullica Township Clerk Kim Johnson, 40, a regatta volunteer whose firefighter husband helped fight the blaze. "Mullica School held its educational fund-raiser there to buy books and computers."

The marina adjacent to the fire was filled with boats. A fisherman sleeping on his vessel was the first to sound the alarm.

Lightning may have struck the restaurant's electrical system, said Lou Critelli, assistant fire chief for Elwood Fire and Rescue. An investigation into the cause of the blaze will take about two days.

Firefighters arrived at 4:25 a.m. and found the Sweetwater engulfed in flames. A nearby gift shop, the marina and several oversized fuel tanks, were undamaged.

Rising early yesterday, Forman heard the sirens, saw helicopters overhead and asked her husband if the Sweetwater was burning. "It didn't take a brain surgeon," she said. "The place was old."

"I attended a ton of events there, including my son's birthday parties," Forman said. "I went to a New Year's Eve party there and the place was bursting at the seams.

"This is horrible, horrible for people who have been going there over the years. They're well past devastated."

But Mayor Kennedy said he was looking forward to a new Sweetwater Casino.

"I can't say enough about it," he said. "Once it's rebuilt, it will be even better."