A newcomer’s perspective elevates entertainment
Buying a whiskey bar wasn’t on Melissa Evans’ moving-back-to-Iowa BINGO card. She’s not even much of a drinker. But after spending the winter of 2020 holed up in her new house, Melissa was looking for a way to meet people in the Mason City community.
“I didn’t know anybody here except for my brother and his family, and like one friend,” she said.
Melissa grew up an hour southwest in Clarion but left Iowa in 2006. Most recently, she lived in Dallas, Texas, where she pursued a career as a petrophysicist, exploring the potential of carbon capture technology for the oil and gas industry. When the opportunity to work remotely dovetailed with her parents’ declining health, Melissa decided it was time to consider moving closer.
“It was either move from a city of 3 million to a town of 3,000 (Clarion), or 30,000 up here,” she said. “My mom lived in Mason City. She loved this community.”
Unfortunately, Melissa’s mom passed before her daughter could permanently relocate. But at that point, Melissa realized the grass was, in fact, greener in Iowa. The housing market was comparable, but the concentration of art and architecture in Mason City was easily accessible. Their Historic Park Inn Hotel, for example, is the last standing Frank Lloyd Wright-designed hotel in the world. Architectural walking tours cover that property and other prairie-style structures across town.
Discovering Something Special
When Melissa first returned to Iowa, she found a large home overlooking the Winnebago River and a segment of the River City Greenbelt & Trail System. She settled in, but the pandemic-era timing of the move made making friends a challenge.
A few months later, a Facebook post announced Brix Wine & Whiskey, an upscale establishment in the downtown district, was going up for sale. The opportunity piqued Melissa’s interest. She’d traveled to Europe for work, where she’d learned a bit about wine. She’d even thought of opening a winery in her retirement. Melissa met with the owner and eventually convinced herself to go for it.
In March of 2021, she bought the bar. A newcomer stepping into small business ownership sparked significant curiosity among the locals.
“I had a lot of people come in who wanted to figure out who I was and why I was there,” Melissa said with a laugh. “Quite a bit of my story is unique. Most people don’t just buy a bar for fun when they have a full-time day job and other things. It sparked a lot of interesting conversations. Some of those people have become good friends of mine, and a lot of them have become regulars. They liked the place and hopefully liked me. They liked that I was trying to support the city.”
Her now-partner, Dan, was among those she met after opening the bar. He helped her make Brix (and now Brix Annex) more musician friendly. So, she started booking more live music and was impressed by the talent in the community that inspired Meredith Willson’s “The Music Man.”
“I quickly learned that in Mason City, more than anywhere I’ve ever been, the level of musicianship is higher,” Melissa said. “Everyone here is trained. They’ve grown up with music. They love music. Music is so much a part of them that they don’t realize how special it is. I decided: We’re going to show them this is special. And that kicked it all off.”
Leaning into Local Leadership
In the years since re-opening Brix Wine & Whiskey, Melissa’s dedication to the community that welcomed her and supported her business endeavors continues to grow. She serves on the executive board for Main Street Mason City. She even purchased the historic 1901 Lundberg building with plans to preserve it, and is running a new location, the Brix Annex, in the old Mason City Brewing location.
RELATED: Main Street Iowa helps Iowa communities revitalize their historic downtowns and neighborhoods as a vehicle for economic development.
Though she admits to a lot of “winging it” when she got started, Melissa hopes new resources will make it easier for others to dive into the community.
“Through those positions, I’ve met many business owners,” she said. “We have a pretty tight-knit community downtown. We band together and try to come up with good ideas and events that benefit all of us. We’re working to make Mason City a place that people want to come back to.”
