By Jim Newell

Review Editor

It was lights out for many of the businesses and homes in Lake Orion on Saturday.

About 7:25 p.m., the lights went out for a several seconds, came back on for a few seconds, only to go out again, this time for hours.

All on a busy Saturday evening when the restaurants were full of guests.

As darkness engulfed downtown Lake Orion, the only lights were the taillights from the cars as they cautiously made their way out of the business district.

An hour after the power outage began, the downtown was a proverbial ghost town.

The cause of the power outage appears to be a utility pole that tipped over next to the wooden pedestrian bridge across Paint Creek from the Orion Art Center, along the pathway to Meek’s Park. Power lines lay across the bridge and along the fence of the Lake Orion Horseshoe Club’s horseshoe pits.

There was no official word as of Monday on what caused the utility pole, which was an older pole, to tip. DTE Energy workers were on the site of the downed pole within an hour to begin making repairs.

Jason and Cathy Srock were having dinner at Bitter Tom’s restaurant in the 120 S. Broadway building when the outage occurred. They said the sky near Children’s Park – which is next to where the utility pole tipped over – suddenly lit up as the power went out.

In Oat Soda on the south end of Broadway Street, guests at the bar and tables turned on their cell phone lights, set them on the tables and finished their meals and drinks by “candlelight.”

Oat Soda owner Jason Peltier said that while they couldn’t take more customers after the power outage began, staff simply made the best of the situation, using flashlights or phone lights, and those who were dining were able to finish their meals before leaving.

Diane and her son, Devon, who live along Buckhorn Lake, also reported power outages and drove to the village to see what they could find out.

Lake Orion Village Council President Ken Van Portfliet was out on Sunday morning at the site of the downed utility pole while DTE workers were making repairs.

Van Portfliet, who lives on the west side of M-24 in the village, said his home and many homes on Lake Orion lake, and businesses and homes south all along M-24 down to Clarkston Road, had lost power.

He added that he, village Manager Joe Young and the police department had been monitoring the power outage and repairs, trying to keep people informed of the progress and keep the public safe.

On Saturday with the traffic lights out, the Lake Orion police put temporary STOP signs on the street corners in downtown Lake Orion, but in the darkness some drivers either didn’t see them or ignored the signs.

A downtown merchant complimented Acting Police Chief Harold Rossman, who he said was going from business to business checking to see if everyone was alright.

The Lapeer Road Kroger was open during the power outage, and traffic lights and areas north of Kroger did have power.

But the power outage potentially cost restaurants in the affected area thousands of dollars in revenue losses. Then there was the possibility of restaurants losing the inventory in their refrigerators and freezers if the power was not restored in time.

While many homes and businesses on the west side of Broadway Street had power back between 10-10:30 p.m. on Saturday, several places in downtown Lake Orion on the east side of Broadway were still without power on Sunday afternoon.

The staff at the Little Caesars Pizza on Shadbolt and Broadway Street confirmed they were without power at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday and had already moved the food in their refrigerators and freezers to the Oxford location for safe storage.

Witnesses downtown said they saw workers at 313 Pizza Bar on Flint Street reportedly moving its inventory out on Sunday morning.

Oat Soda restaurant was still without power as of early Sunday afternoon.

On the block with The Lake Orion Review office, at the corner of Shadbolt and Broadway streets, power was eventually restored by 4 p.m. Sunday.

Louie Yakob, owner of Valentino’s Bistro, meet with Van Portfliet early Sunday afternoon to gauge the progress of the repairs.

Yakob said he had several guest reservations for Sunday afternoon and was trying to determine if the power would be back on in time, or if he would have to call his customers and reschedule, or cancel, their reservations.

Yakob said that, like at Oat Soda, he and his staff finished taking care of Valentino’s patrons by flashlight before having to close early on Saturday.