ORANGE BEACH, AL  — If you like the laid-back feel of the Flora-Bama, wait till you get a look at the new venture those four purveyors of good times have in mind for the Ole River Bar.

“It’s going to be awesome,” General Manager Cam Price said. “We’re pretty excited. We’ve hit on a good concept that’s fit right in between all the stuff we do already.”

While all the Ole River Bar hopes to offer in the future won’t be available this weekend, the guys have reached their goal of being open for the wildest party on the beach, the 31st edition of Mullet Toss.

“There will be oyster shucking stations along with a great selection of draft beer,” Price said. “The bar down here will be running during Mullet Toss and the entire facility upstairs will be running.”

On March 19, in a move that surprised no one, Flora-Bama’s principal owners,  Price, John Mcinnis, Joe Gilchrist and Pat McClellan, bought the Happy Harbor on the Line. It was no surprise because of its location.

Directly to the east of the property is the Flora-Bama Yacht Club and directly to the west sits Flora-Bama Watersports. With the Happy Harbor purchase, the group had an uninterrupted coastline of Ole River.

And the building there, just five years old, requires little work to make it Bama ready and there are permits in process to expand its potential even more.

With a soft opening this Thursday, the owners of the Bama hope the new look and feel of the Ole River Bar will resonate with the generations of families that have come to know and love the Flora-Bama. Price and McClellan encouraged the locals in Orange Beach and Perdido Key to be the first to write on the walls, and bring memorabilia and old, local pictures to help with the decor.

“We have a bunch of overflow pictures and historical memories we’ll use for decoration,” Price said. “We won’t fill it up immediately, let the customers fill it up and keep the Flora-Bama feel over here. It’s coming along.”

Customers can help. Anybody that brings a nautical or maritime artifact to hang on the walls to enhance the décor can get a free drink.

While they are sipping that drink, they can enjoy a simple menu of food you eat with your hands and a cold beer.

“Crawfish, lots of raw oysters, char-grilled oysters, peel-and-eat shrimp,” Price said. “Things that are fun to eat. We’re going to have a great craft beer selection. We’re going to put in a bunch of walk-in coolers down here, one keg cooler that will feed draft beer into the bar here and into the bar upstairs.”

Patrons can order food at stations both upstairs and downstairs, much like at the roadhouse on the beach.

Inside upstairs will one big bar room with two full bars serving libations.

Outside, it’s about to go crazy.

“We’ve got a permit in process right now to go 18 feet toward the water off the deck upstairs so we’ll have this massive sun deck looking west right where the sun sets,” Price said.

That permit allows for adding the 18 feet of deck on the north and west sides of the building which will create space above and below.

On the east side, Price said, the stage area in the northeast corner of the building is going to come out and they plan to enhance the beach connection between the Ole River Bar and the Yacht Club.

“During our big spring break weeks they were on a two-hour wait (at the Yacht Club) and those people were just sitting there with nothing to do," Price said. "If we open that beach up it will help this business over here.”

The improvements won’t stop at the water. Plans are in place for adding a dock at the facility with up to 21 transient slips. Now boat-borne customers will have a place to tie up rather than just beaching on the sand.