A restaurant closing during the summer isn’t usually news in Tucson. It’s almost to be expected. Like the monsoon, change sweeps in fast in an unforgiving industry with razor-thin margin for error.

Mom and pop diners and family-value concepts litter the wash of what-ifs when the heat gets intense and the sun stays around longer.

That’s why it’s so sad when a pillar of the community falls. Delectables on Fourth, 533 N. Fourth Ave., will be closing its doors after 44 years of operation. In an email to the Weekly, owner Donna DiFiore said she would continue the Delectables brand as a catering-only establishment.

"I will not miss a beat making your weddings, events, lunches and dinners special," she said.

Another restaurant is expected to fill the space, according to Fred Ronstadt, executive director of Fourth Avenue Merchants Association. No timeline has been set, but it will take quite a bit of time longer to accept the fact another establishment occupies the spot Delectables called its own.

“I have so little time left and my heart is already filled with missing my little oasis in the heart of Fourth Avenue,” DiFiore said. “My career has been filled to the brim 15,000 days of my life right here on Fourth Avenue.”