TREASURE ISLAND, Fla. (WFLA) — For many people in Pinellas County coastal communities, their reality consists of a home stripped down to the studs with an empty neighborhood and a community displaced.

Treasure Island is no different, but Friday night, drinks were poured, music was played and a celebration unfolded.

Ricky T’s, a staple on the island, is back and open for business.

“I came from Iowa just to be here for Ricky T’s opening,” Betsy Swanberg said.

Some flew in from another state, others from another country.

“I’m from Liverpool in England and these are my mates,” Dave ‘Mate’ Gordon said. “We’re all from Cincinnati and we all come down here every year.”

“So we all came down here for the opening,” he continued.

Ricky T’s Owner Brad Piche said his establishment had to be gutted from the inside out.

“Old bones work, infrastructure, plumbing, electrical,” Piche said.

He explained that it was important to him to rebuild stronger.

“We built the bars back out of concrete, solid concrete blocks filled with cells, then we poured concrete bar tops on top of the concrete bars,” Piche said.

Piche spent months building back the right way, so if another hurricane should flood Treasure Island, he said, Ricky T’s is better off.

“Now if this storm comes back — which hopefully it never will, but you never know — we can at least just replace equipment and just wash down the bars, and get back open in a much more timely manner,” Piche said.

Markus Allen said his band Big Brother got their start at Ricky T’s 30 years ago.

“We’re back,” he said. “We’re back.”

“We’re coming back slowly but surely and thanks to Ricky T’s we get to be here tonight to celebrate our 30th anniversary,” Allen continued.

So it was only fitting for them to take the stage Friday night for the grand reopening.

Piche hoped Friday night served as a beacon of hope for the future in Treasure Island.

“Well, it’s another chapter,” Piche said. “It’s giving everybody a sense of what they remember here, why they come here or visit or whether they live here, I mean you name it.”

“There’s families that have been coming here for 30 plus years because their parents brought them here,” he continued. “It just goes on and on and on.”

Piche hopes to get everyone back inside with the kitchens open within the next couple of weeks.