FAIRHOPE, Ala.—Laura Grady worked part-time at Bay Break convenience store for three years before becoming its owner in October 2006.

“I fell in love with the little store and just knew that some day I’d end up owning it,” she said this week, while answering phones that never stopped ringing, preparing for tomorrow’s benefit concert to help rebuild the store destroyed by fire last December.

“There just aren’t any places like that anymore where you can sit outside, and talk with your friends and watch the sunset,” Grady said of her store located across from the Pier Street boat ramp on S. Mobile Street.

The store with the perfect sunset view has been a neighborhood gathering place since the 1930s and is still called Monk Green’s by some local residents.

“It is a link to the past of old Fairhope,” said Wade Wellborn, owner of Dr. Music in Fairhope, one of the main organizers of Sunday’s event at the American Legion. “The Bay Break had an authenticity that was timeless.”

Neither the building nor its contents were insured, Grady said, citing high insurance rates so close to the water; the fire cost her more than $100,000 in merchandise and equipment.

“Anything that is raised, we will be thankful for,” Grady said. “No matter what happens, we will reopen the store.”

After last year’s fire, many store regulars encouraged Grady to rebuild, offering their help. A benefit at that time helped get things started, but the one tomorrow, with local favorites Grayson Capps, Fat Man Squeeze and We Are Stimulus Package, promises to bring the support needed to help the store open its doors, Grady said.

Weather permitting, the bands will perform on the Legion’s beachfront stage, and there will be hot dogs and hamburgers available for purchase. 

The Bay Break is best known for its collection of interesting characters, animals and crafts, Wellborn said.

“Grady’s goal was to create an atmosphere that was missing from modern-day gas stations,” Wellborn said. “Her handmade fishing-lure jewelry, custom T-shirts, mannequins and postcards were representative of her fun-loving attitude.”

In honor of Grady’s hand-crafted items, the organizers are offering tables for local artists, crafters and vendors, he said.

A number of volunteers, including Rusty Goddard, the building’s owner, have been busy recently getting the store ready to reopen.

“The people who are helping out are doing it out of the kindness of their hearts,” Grady said. “It’s all volunteer. I’ve had friends turn down paying jobs to come help me. I’ve never seen anything like it. All the lumber was donated—every piece, from Matt Patterson, who has a small lumber mill in Lillian. He spent four days cutting all the lumber for that store.”

Back in December, Goddard said the repairs were more extensive than at first thought, but the outpouring of support and interest were overwhelming.

“I’ve been getting lots of calls from friends and neighbors to make sure that we always keep this a neighborhood store,”Goddard said at the time. “Laura has done an excellent job of keeping that old Fairhope feel to it. It has been a place where people always gather and felt at home. You entered there and always saw a friendly face.”

John Henderson, adjutant of American Legion Post 199, said the Bay Break serves a need like no other store in the area.

“The Bay Break is very much needed to accommodate the walkers, bicyclists, beachcombers, fisherman, sailors, sunset viewer, boater and tourist of all types who visit Fairhope's bay front,” said Henderson, who coordinates all the music programs at the Legion, including its popular Friday night guitar jams and open mic. “Coffee, cold drinks, sandwiches, crushed, and especially, block ice, newspapers, fishing bait and tackle, gasoline, sundries and other convenience store items are  not to be found along the bay front on either side of the heavily used Pier Street boat ramp.”

One sight that often stopped new visitors to the area was the Santa Claus out front of Bay Break, dressed in a different Hawaiian shirt and grass skirt, his head moving electronically, as though keeping time to the music always playing from speakers.

“I always made sure the music was playing,” Grady said. “Yes, we had incense and funky T-shirts, but we also had Spam and spaghetti.”

FYI

The benefit is from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday, June 27 at the American Legion on S. Mobile Street. Tickets cost $15 in advance, $20 at the door, free admission for children 12 and under. No coolers allowed but bring your beach chairs, if desired.

Tables for vendors cost $50 in advance; registration forms and tickets can be found in Fairhope at Dr. Music, the American Legion and Rosie Blu; in Daphne at Bay Sound CD’s; or in Mobile at Satori Coffee Shop.

For more information, call Dr. Music at 990-3412 or visit the Web site www.savebaybreak.com.

For information on the bands, check out www.graysoncapps.com, www.fatmansqueeze.com, and www.wearestimuluspackage.com.