Start at 212 Fairhope Avenue. A former hair salon there has been stripped to its 1940s-era rafters and brick walls, and an island bar now fills the middle of the room. Head east about a hundred street numbers to 311, where a back deck has been expanded and a lighted stage built for full bands. Keep going to 450 and you reach Halstead Amphitheater on the Coastal Alabama Community College campus.
All three sit on one street, and this October most of downtown's evening plans fall somewhere along it. Two of the addresses were empty storefronts or in mid-renovation a year ago. The third hosts both of the month's biggest nights.
The Two Bars That Opened This Summer
87 West opened at 212 Fairhope Ave. in mid-August. The owners are Carly and Chelsea Pirtle, Steve Olechnowicz and Amy Eady. The Fairhope City Council approved its liquor license in late July. Mobile Bay Now reported that a kitchen-layout issue led the owners to open as a cocktail bar serving mocktails and snacks instead of a full-menu restaurant, with an Xbox and PlayStation gaming area planned.
The name is a coordinate. It refers to Fairhope's longitude, roughly 87.9 degrees west. The owners have tended craft bars at the Grand Hotel and Dragonfly Foodbar, and the menu shows it. There's a Lizard Slime shot made with blanco tequila and Midori, a Poor Decisions with grapefruit vodka, juice, muddled raspberries and orange soda, and a Brine Time built on pickle brine, gin, pepper and garlic oil. At opening, Lagniappe reported hours of 3 to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday through Monday. Check those before you go, since a new bar's hours often change in its first season.
Decoy Bar & Grill was open at 311 Fairhope Ave. by June, in the building that most recently housed Bone and Barrel. Owner Pete Carnley is a musician who built Decoy to be an entertainment venue. Gulf Coast Media reported solo acts planned for Wednesdays and full bands for Saturdays. The menu is short and casual, with domestic beers, Twisted Teas, wine, a few drafts from Fairhope Brewing, boiled peanuts, hot dogs and tuna dip. Lagniappe also reported that Grayson Capps has a January show booked there.
The two bars do different jobs. 87 West is built around the drink, and Decoy is built around the stage. Taken together, Fairhope Avenue now has a place to start an evening and a place to end one, both west of the amphitheater.
October on the Calendar, Date by Date
The month starts a few blocks off the avenue and ends at Halstead.
- Friday, Oct. 2. First Friday Art Walk, 6 to 8 p.m., free, starting at the Eastern Shore Art Center, 401 Oak St., with live music from Trio Con Brio.
- Sunday, Oct. 4. The 28th annual Founders Day Concert by the Baldwin Pops, 6 to 8 p.m. at Henry George Park on the Bluff, Co. Rd. 98.
- Saturday, Oct. 17. British Car Festival at Fairhope United Methodist Church, 155 S. Section St. Registration runs 9 to 11:30 a.m. and the show runs 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
- Friday, Oct. 23. Live at Five presents Sammy Kershaw at Halstead Amphitheater. The City calendar lists 5 to 9 p.m.
- Saturday, Oct. 24. Downtown Fairhope Trick-or-Treat with participating merchants, 10 a.m. to noon.
- Thursday, Oct. 29. The Fairhope Witches Ride through downtown, followed by the Witches Ball at Halstead, 5:45 to 9 p.m.
The Founders Day concert is the one evening this month tied to the town's origin story. The founders declared Nov. 15, 1894, as "Round-Up Day" and established the Fairhope Single Tax Colony. The bluff concert also gives the month a sunset counterpart to the amphitheater nights later on.
Halstead's Oct. 23 show belongs to a fall series that opened Sept. 24 with Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit. Live at Five describes itself as a spring and fall program that books national and regional bands and singer-songwriters. The City lists the Kershaw show as ending at 9 p.m., but the Eventbrite ticket page advertises a later end time, so plan for a show that may run past what the City calendar shows. If you're taking a late dinner reservation on the west end of the avenue, that matters.
Oct. 29 Changes the Usual Thursday
Fairhope's fall Thursdays have a routine. The Farmers Market came back Sept. 10 and meets from 2 to 6 p.m. behind the Public Library, with the season reported to run through Nov. 12. The City's October calendar shows a market every Thursday except one. On Oct. 29 the entry reads "Fairhope Farmers Market CANCELED."
That's the same Thursday the Witches Ride rolls through downtown. The Baldwin Humane Society hosts the event, which its listing says is organized by a small group of women for the benefit of local animals in need. Several hundred witches and warlocks are expected on bicycles. The ride is followed by the Witches Ball at Halstead, with music from 12 South Band and food trucks on site.
Anyone can watch the ride from the street. The ball is a different event with its own rules. From the listing:
- Riders and ball guests must be at least 21, and every ride ticket includes admission to the ball.
- Each rider buys a single ticket. No group sales.
- No e-bikes, golf carts, walking witches or pets.
- The ball is BYOB, coolers are welcome, and you should bring a chair. Personal tents and tables are not allowed.
- Wristbands must be worn and visible.
The weekend before has its own logistics. Wristband pickup and liability waivers are scheduled for Oct. 24 and 25 at Up Tail Resale in Fairhope. So a rider with kids could do Downtown Trick-or-Treat on Saturday morning, Oct. 24, and pick up a wristband the same weekend.
Weather is the variable. If conditions are bad, the listing says the ride will be canceled and the ball moved to Oak Hollow Farm, with no refunds because the event is a charity fundraiser. In that case Halstead goes quiet for the night, and the market will already have been taken off the calendar.
November Stays on the Same Street
The pattern holds into next month. Halstead's next Live at Five show is Robert Earl Keen on Nov. 20, followed by the Second Annual Jacob Hall Memorial Jam on Dec. 18. Before that, Plein Air Fairhope runs Nov. 2 through 7, with painters working around town and at the bayfront pier. The Fairhope Film Festival is scheduled for Nov. 12 through 15. The festival's homepage carries an older publish stamp, so check the schedule closer to the dates.
Then the calendar comes back to the avenue. The City's Lighting of the Trees is Nov. 19, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., at the corner of Fairhope Avenue and Section Street. That's the night before the Keen show at Halstead, so the two biggest evenings of the week before Thanksgiving fall on back-to-back nights, both on Fairhope Avenue.
Read by address, the fall looks like this. Halstead at 450 holds the ticketed concerts and the Witches Ball. Decoy at 311 has live music on its own stage. 87 West at 212 sits at the west end, a few doors from where the tree lighting will happen in November. For October, a resident needs three dates, 23, 24 and 29, plus the reminder that the Thursday market skips the night of the ride.
If you own a home within reach of Fairhope Avenue, the bars and venues opening along it are part of what you own. When you want to know how that shows up in your home's value, Jason & Charlcie Smallwood can walk you through it with a free home valuation built on recent Fairhope sales.
