Ahead of Marshall's reopening, businesses strove to keep music alive during rebuild – The Asheville Citizen Times

MARSHALL – Downtown Marshall’s South Main Street businesses and buildings were hit especially hard in Tropical Storm Helene’s floods, but with every week comes more encouragement.
Downtown Marshall and downtown Hot Springs gear up for their official reopenings May 1-4, as Oasis Ltd. Records, a store that specializes in records and games and is currently operating out of a shipping container while it rebuilds its downtown Marshall store, will host another music event.
On May 3, the record store will host Marshall Magic Days to coincide with the town’s official reopening. The live music showcase will feature The Merciful String Pickers, Subject to Change, Paint Rock and Monsterwave, all four of which have strong ties to Marshall.
The event will take place along Jerry Plemmons Way, formerly known as Back Street.
To help boost spirits in downtown Marshall, the record store, owned by married couple and Marshall residents Alex Toporowicz and Abigail Guyton, hosted a music festival Oct. 31 through Nov. 2, just a little more than a month after Tropical Storm Helene tore through Western North Carolina on Sept. 27..
In January, the owners celebrated the launch of their record label, Haunted Apparatus. Mal’s Bar offered copies of the debut record, as Mal’s and owner Mallory McCoy had collaborated with Oasis Ltd. Records to host other post-Helene music events.
Even ahead of Marshall Magic Days and the town’s grand reopening, a number of businesses have reopened or announced plans to do so, including Mal’s Bar’s South Main Street neighbor, On Your Bike, a cafe and bike shop owned by couple Alex Webber and Alex Shmitt.
The Marshall tag office is also reopened, as well as Flow Gallery. According to Flow owner and Downtown Marshall Association member Connie Molland, there are at least six businesses open in their original locations as of April 24, with Old Marshall Jail set to reopen in May, also.
While the hotel side has been over for nearly a month, Old Marshall Jail and owner Josh Copus announced on Facebook it will reopen Zadie’s Market in May. Old Marshall Jail and Zadie’s also released its May music calendar, which will kick off May 1 and will feature the monthly ballad swap May 14 featuring the Nest of Singing Birds led by Sheila Kay Adams and Donna Ray Norton.
With Marshall’s Mad Co Brew House reopened on North Main Street, McCoy announced the South Main Street bar’s plans to reopen some time in May, too.
Earlier this month, Mal’s Bar hosted a Honky Tonk Not Hate concert featuring Marshall band Resonant Rogues. The concert benefited La Esperanza, a local immigrant advocacy group.
In January and February, Mal’s also hosted a number of shows, starting with a benefit for ReString Appalachia, an initiative started by musician and podcaster Nicholas Edward Williams that has donated more than 300 instruments to musicians who lost their instruments in Helene.
The event was produced in collaboration with Rare Bird Farm in Spring Creek and the Madison County Arts Council.
Mal’s owner Mallory McCoy said as the bar nears its reopening, she is inspired by the community’s response and the way people have shown up to support one another, including at the ReString Appalachia event, when saw a packed crowd.
„That was the biggest crowd we’ve had ever,“ McCoy said of the ReString Appalachia event.
„It means a lot to me. It was cool to see people that have been involved, or people who have heard about us and not been in here, or been here before, or who moved away and then come back to help, or who are still here and are wanting to play, that we could host them as well,“ McCoy said.
McCoy hoped to open the bar Thursday, Sept. 26, but the flooding was already too severe. She said she got stuck in Woodfin for a number of days before making it back to downtown Marshall to assess the damage Sunday, Sept. 29.
„There were business owners and residents, and we were just in shock,“ she said. „Hearing the sirens. The smell still gets me.“
As for other Marshall venues hosting live music, Zuma Coffee reopened its doors April 21, while The Depot in Marshall continues to operate a number of satellite venues, including the Maylon’s Dance Barn on Cody Road in Marshall, which hosts music each Saturday night.
More: Mad Co. Brew House reopens, affording residents place to ‚enjoy each other’s company‘
More: Record, games store brings a new artistic flavor to downtown Marshall
More: Madison business owners, county government exploring options to fund rebuilding
More: ‚Ingrained in my soul‘: Madison County ballad singing getting national attention
With her eyes set on reopening the bar full time, McCoy reflected on the rebuild, which she said „felt like a weird summer camp“ in which people were „chipping away, working and goofing off,“ in the spirit of the resilience, resourcefulness but eccentric flair, a combination that makes Marshall such a special place for her.
„We’re going to keep pushing. I always want this space to be collaborative, so it feels good to have people in here and see the whole process, and want to be in here,“ she said. „I’ve had so many people at these events say, ‚I’ve never been to Marshall or Mal’s before,‘ which is so wild to me.
„I’m like, ‚This is the best place in the world.'“
Johnny Casey is the Madison County communities reporter for The Citizen Times and The News-Record & Sentinel. He can be reached at 828-210-6074 or jcasey@citizentimes.com.

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