On June 12, 2022, the McFarland family got the call every business owner dreads: Their garage at 395 W. Lizard Creek Road in East Penn Township was on fire.

The flames were caused by an allegedly intoxicated driver whose truck crashed into a utility pole, bringing the pole down and igniting the blaze the destroyed the garage and an apartment.

On Monday, Labor Day, a grand opening celebration was held at McFarland Garage, 391 W. Lizard Creek Road in East Penn, to showcase the newly finished five-bay garage facility located behind McFarland Used Cars.

After the fire, repair work was moved across the street to the McFarland’s Used Cars location.

“That was four years and three months ago,” said business owner Troy McFarland. “It’s good to get back to business again.”

The McFarlands have a framed copy of the Times News showing the report on the fire.

Troy’s father, Calvin McFarland, started the business in 1964. Troy spent many years at his father’s side learning the business before taking over.

Now, Kyle, Troy’s son, is working there as well. He explained why the rebuild took so long.

“Once we got through all the permits and stuff like that, that we got approved, there was a lot of tedious stuff that we just took our time on and made sure everything was perfect,” Kyle said. “And then we were just doing some of the stuff ourselves, to save on the cost.”

McFarland’s Garage hours will be Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. The garage offer all kinds of automotive services including oil changes, state inspections and emissions inspections, plus tires, and suspension and exhaust work, to name a few.

“I just want to thank everybody that helped,” Kyle added. “We appreciate our customers’ patience and look forward to the future.”