Community rallies around Mercury Lounge after accident causes flooding

TULSA, Okla. — The Tulsa community has stepped up to help a midtown bar after an accident caused their stage to flood.

The floodwaters damaged stage and equipment at Mercury Lounge, and the owners are struggling to pay for the repair costs.

The people behind the bar say its important to get the stage up and running to help musicians and the Tulsa music scene.

The accident happened Tuesday, Jan. 17, after a trash truck accidentally pulled down power lines attached to the building. The wires and part of the roof were ripped off the bar.

One of the owners, Brian O’Mahony, told FOX23 rain and other water poured inside the bar.

“Rushing water coming down through the walls the ceiling down onto this very valuable equipment,” he explained.

O’Mahony said it’s going to cost them a lot to fix the ceiling, microphones, and other essential equipment.

“We’ve got snow coming here in the next couple of days. So we can’t just leave it sitting there,” he said. “We’ve had to kick in some personal cash … to fix this.”

He continued, “bottom line is, we want this stage back up and running so that our musical acts [are not] impacted.”

O’Mahony also said, as a small business, they’re already struggling to bounce back from the pandemic and inflation.

“Coming out of COVID, inflationary prices, things going up in price, we’ve all seen that,” he said. “And then to just get a hit like that … that’s been tough to absorb. But I’m really humbled by the local community that has pitched in to help,” he said.

Over $6,000 has already been raised with a GoFundMe.

Ali Andraconde is scheduled to perform on the stage next month. She said its vital to get the stage working again for the Tulsa music scene.

“We have a lot of talented people here and a lot of just musical geniuses,” Andraconde said. “Tulsa has always been like a really good place for support with music.”

O’Mahony said they are managing to put some smaller acts on the stage but they really hope they can be back to full capacity soon.

Farm Bar, which is just across the street, is also pitching in with a special burger night for Mercury Lounge Wednesday.

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