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At the same time, the two were also emailing the members of the bar's Beer Club — to let them know it would still meet that week. When it did, Wednesday at the Highland Park Golf Club, members gave the Mortimers a standing ovation.

"They said, 'No one else would have done this. The damn place is burning down and you're worrying about where we're gonna go have a party,'" John said Friday.

Meanwhile, as word spread of the Monday morning fire that claimed the bar, its Facebook page became a sort of funeral guestbook, filled with memories and condolences. That day, John said, the page was visited 14,000 times.

Peggy Hicks, a longtime bartender at Tinkers, summed up this outpouring of sentiments for Tinkers with two words: John Mortimer.

"The guy would do anything for anyone," she said. "He loved it. He loved the people there, being happy, having fun."

As Mortimer reflected on the loss of Tinkers and the deluge of community support that followed, the word "family" came up frequently.

"My family has lost a big family," he said. "You open up a bar and you find out how many people have become your friend over 40 years. It makes you feel proud, and you respect how good the people are in this town."

From 1975 to 1990 and again from 2007 to Monday, the Mortimers endeavored to run their bar like a home for that extended family. They welcomed newcomers, to the point staff knew what they drank by the time of their second visit, Mortimer said.

For regulars, Tinkers was a place to celebrate life's most cherished moments. The Mortimers frequently loaned the space free of charge, allowing parties to decorate it and bring their own food. The last event at Tinkers was the Winter Olympics, a circuit of indoor and outdoor games — bocce, tabletop bowling — played by 60 to 70 people, Mortimer said. The event's purpose — to raise money for a fund in memoriam of bartender Paul McGrath's father — made for a fitting end, Mortimer said.

"If the doggone thing was gonna go, Tinkers did a good thing the last day we rang that register," he said.

Over the years, Tinkers also hosted birthdays, christenings, anniversaries and more. The only event to never occur within its walls was a wedding, Mortimer said. Still, for many bridal parties, Tinkers was the first stop after the ceremony.

"Many a bride has danced on that bar," Hicks said.

Stacey Hearn, of Auburn, recalls taking her sons to holiday parties hosted by the Mortimers. Her 12-year-old was sad when he saw the rubble this week, she said.

"You could associate it to 'Cheers,'" Hearn said. "You walk in and you know everybody."

Hicks, who first worked at Tinkers from 1978 to 1993, felt that sense of belonging when Mortimer rehired her to tend bar in 2007, the year he and Nancy repurchased, renovated and reopened the tavern.

"I remember walking in when they were remodeling, and I said, 'Oh my god, you can go home again,'" Hicks said.

For the Mortimers, whether to go home yet again is a question they're still trying to answer. They're retaining Tinkers' liquor license and looking at the possibilities, John said, but if they don't rebuild the tavern, it won't be for lack of support.

"It's made us so much better as a family," he said. "We have hundreds of people, many we consider very close, that we would have never had if we hadn't owned a stupid little bar called Tinkers."