The Old West-themed Fargo’s Pizza reopened to a throng of familiar faces Friday afternoon, after a six-month hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It’s wonderful,” general manager Al Martinez said about the pizzeria’s reopening. “I’ve been coming here since I was 8, and I think that’s a common bond between generations.”

The family favorite closed indefinitely last December after state-mandated capacity limits and indoor dining protocols from the COVID-19 pandemic stagnated sales, marking the first time the pizzeria has not been profitable since it opened in 1973.

Fargo's Pizza reopening date in Colorado Springs remains an unknown, owners say

A few things were new about the restaurant this time around, Martinez said, including a revamped ordering system, new sauces, and new items on the menu, like a chicken alfredo pizza.

Other things, however, looked like they always have, like the restaurant’s salad bar or its Old West costumes and décor that features cased single-action revolvers, self-playing pianos, mounted trophies of big-game wildlife, and mannequins of Fargo and Sofia, the main characters in the mythical origin story the original owners devised for the restaurant.

About 40 employees, who had been training and rehearsing for at least a week in anticipation of a busy reopening, were working at the restaurant Friday. For many, it was their first real shift on the job, a trial by fire Martinez could only shrug at as he looked over a restaurant designed to host 500. It was packed to the brim.

In December, owners laid off around 50 employees as part of their indefinite closure.

Colorado Springs residents and out-of-state tourists alike turned up in droves and lined up around two sides of the restaurant as they vied to be among the first to dine at a restaurant some have been eating at for decades.

The crowd also lined up despite heavy rain clouds that loomed overhead and a forecast that thunderstorms over Colorado Springs were likely Friday evening.

Linda Keller, who has lived in Colorado Springs her whole life, said she and her friends have been coming to Fargo’s since it originally opened.

“I love the pizzas and the atmosphere,” she said. “When it closed, my friend even wrote a letter saying that we really need Fargo’s back, so we were so excited that they’d be open.”

Tom and Jessica, who said they’ve brought their kids to Fargo’s since the kids were in diapers, were first in line to get inside the pizzeria, and said that presented a parallel to when Jessica’s parents had done the same thing when the restaurant originally opened nearly 50 years ago.  

“It’s exciting that it didn’t close down permanently,” Tom said. “Just knowing that something that’s been a staple in our area for so long is going to continue and has survived is amazing.”