Fire Destroys Romero Banjos

Sad news from Horsefly, British Columbia: J. Romero Banjo Co. suffered a devastating fire that consumed Jason and Pharis Romero's banjo workshop.

The fire occurred around 3 a.m. on June 6. No one was injured, but the damage is estimated to have cost about $250,000. In addition to all of the company's instrument-building materials, including completed banjos that were due to ship out that day, the Juno award-winning Romeros also lost their personal instruments.

From the company website: "Sadly, we have had a devastating shop fire and have lost everything. We are hoping to rebuild as soon as possible, and look forward to having banjos in new hands soon. Thank you for the messages of love and well wishes, and the very appreciated support."

From Pharis Romero via Facebook: "We do have insurance, but are waiting on coverage information and claims amounts. We are looking at a minimum of 6 weeks before we can start rebuilding the shop, and then unknown months before we're building banjos again. But we ARE rebuilding."

Donations can be sent via Paypal to jason@romerobanjos.com. In addition, the Banjo Hangout and Craig Evans are donating all proceeds from the sale of the Banjo Builder interview with Jason and Pharis directly to the Romeros.

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