A social media post Tuesday evening confirmed that the Fiddle and Whistle, which first opened almost 12 years ago, would cease operations Friday morning, and comments from patrons who had spent time at the bar — some sad, some angry and some simply sharing Irish poetry and blessings — poured in afterward.

“After almost 12 years, with great sadness, it is time we raise our parting glass. When we moved to Marshalltown, we missed the neighborhood pub we left behind. After discussions and an invitation to this space, we decided to give it a go ourselves. I think we captured exactly what we were going for, and then some. This space was community building — where individuals would come together and the place felt like an extension of your living room. Intense bonds that were created here, and therefore strengthened our community. Our partners Adam and Sadeigh beautifully continued our legacy while simultaneously putting their own touches on this beautiful pub,” the post read. “Thank you. To our staff, musicians, artists, comedians, distributors, and most of all our customers. Our community loved Fiddle & Whistle, and we loved you right back. We’d love to see some favorite memories in the comments to quell a little bit of this sadness.

Be creative, open-minded and take a chance. You never know how unique and special it can be.

Goodnight, pub.”

Local acoustic duo Bon Jecci — Becci Fleming, left, and John Jacobson, right — also performed during the Fiddle’s final open mic night on Tuesday.

JP Howard, the owner of the Tremont restaurants and hotels within the same building, told the T-R he had been having “tough times” with loud music being played after closing time and waking up hotel guests. He said it ultimately became an untenable situation before he opted to terminate the month-to-month lease.

“I can’t control how loud people play until all of a sudden it kills my business, and we can’t rent the rooms upstairs. So I have to not be in business because of that,” he said. “That’s my number one contributor to my bottom line, but I can’t rent half of it when it’s pulsating up there… We own the building, and we should be able to have peace in our own building.”

Aaron and Michele Buzbee are the owners of the Fiddle and Whistle and ran it from its inception until the pandemic closure back in 2020, but they recruited Sadeigh and Adam Damman to manage the bar when it reopened last fall.

“What’s been amazing about the Fiddle is obviously all the people that we’ve met over the years. We’ve seen a lot of first dates and then second dates and then next thing you know, marriages and kids. And then they tend to cycle out of our customer base, but then we have the next group in and do the same thing, which is really cool,” Aaron Buzbee said. “We kind of see all the community bonds that are made in a barroom like Fiddle which can’t be matched. We’re obviously crushed. We’d love to continue. It wasn’t because of lack of business, and we found passionate and wonderful people in Adam and Sadeigh to pass the torch to. We’re hoping for brighter days ahead, but right now, we’re heartbroken.”

The Dammans said they are also “heartbroken” and trying to figure out what they will do next.

Luke Fox, an Iowa-based country/Americana musician, performed at the Fiddle and Whistle Wednesday evening. The bar held a karaoke night on Thursday before closing its doors for good at its current location.

“I think the hardest part for me is that her and I, this is our first venture, truly, like this. We’ve stumbled. We’ve fallen down quite a bit, and we’ve learned a lot, especially with the tutelage of the Buzbees really guiding us through everything,” Adam Damman said. “I feel like we were just starting to get good, and we were finally getting to the point where we had thoughts and ideas that we wanted to do but we didn’t have the staff (or) we couldn’t devote the time. I don’t even think we got started. We had projects down the pipeline that were gonna make this place even better.”

Echoing her husband, Sadeigh noted that the Fiddle won the T-R’s “Best of the Best” contest for the best place in Marshall County to have a cocktail during their first year as managers. The Dammans also shared their frustrations about the noise issue, and Adam said shutting it down at an earlier hour like 10 p.m. wasn’t a viable option for the business.

“We’re a bar. Since 2011, you allowed this in here, and then now, when there’s two new people trying to come in and bring life back to the downtown area, he just immediately wants it to go away,” Sadeigh said.

Adam also disputed the assertion that the music was still too loud late into the night.

“After 10 p.m., we did turn the music down. We didn’t have music past 10, and we operated within the same means of prior operation,” he said. “With the pre-existing parameters, we operated in them. Was there a different demographic here than in the past? Was there slightly different music? Yes, and I don’t know what can be said about that, but I think that’s also what caused a lot of attention, too.”

According to Howard, the bar, when the Buzbees managed it, had more of “a low-key vibe,” but the current iteration of the Fiddle changed when the Dammans took over. Sarah Lewis, who handles records for the Marshalltown Police Department, said the Fiddle received one formal noise complaint in 2023 and none in 2022. A separate complaint was filed against the neighboring House of Wax music venue, owned by Wax Xtatic Record Store owner John Blabaum, in July. Though Howard said he was out of the state when that happened.

Howard believes the bar would do better in a bigger building to accommodate events that range from live music to drag shows to trivia nights.

“I’m wishing them well. (I just think) the venue they can pull off and produce needs to be in its own building,” Howard said.

He indicated there is “a ton of interest” in the space from other potential businesses, citing its prime location downtown in a historic building. He said he wouldn’t be opposed to hosting live music there as long as it is wrapped up by 9 or 10 p.m.

Marshalltown Area Chamber of Commerce President/CEO John Hall is working with the Buzbees and the Dammans to find a new home for the Fiddle and Whistle and is optimistic about the possibilities with several vacant buildings still available downtown.

“We have been in active communication with the owners since the need to leave their current location has arisen. Both the Chamber and (Marshalltown Central Business District) stand ready to assist Fiddle in finding a new permanent home if they should choose to pursue a new location,” Hall said. “We have so valued what they bring to downtown and hope to continue that in the near future.”

Adam Damman confirmed they are actively looking for a new location and hope to continue with the Fiddle and Whistle name — with plans to take over ownership eventually — but declined to go into further detail about where that might be. Despite the emotional whirlwind they’ve been facing the last few days, the Dammans and the Buzbees have been encouraged by the support they’ve received and all of the memories patrons have shared either at the bar or on social media.

“The name of Fiddle is more than just a name,” Sadeigh said. “For me, it’s a really hard concept to even think that I could start out new because him and I, we’re not that known. Like we’re known throughout the town, but when it comes to a bigger name or anything like that, we don’t have it. So when it came to having to start up brand new, that was gonna be an even tougher road than what it would be to adopt this beautiful pub.”

The plan is to salvage “whatever they can” from the current bar and bring as much of it as possible to the potential future home of the Fiddle and Whistle.

“If we do find a new place and we are able to do all this, a lot of what’s in here is gonna be in there as well because we wanna keep up with tradition,” Adam said. “We wanna keep it the same, and we really wanna respect the vision (the Buzbees) had because that’s the vision we bought into.”

As part of the bar’s swan song, a final open mic night was held Tuesday, which featured an emotional performance by Aaron Buzbee a.k.a Buz Owen, followed by country artist Luke Fox on Wednesday and karaoke until midnight on Thursday, the Fiddle’s last night of operation at 120 W. Main St.

A few of Buzbee’s final selections Tuesday included a cover of the classic country song “Rednecks, White Socks and Blue Ribbon Beer,” which features the line “No we don’t fit in with that white collar crowd; We’re a little too rowdy and a little too loud. There’s no place that I’d rather be than right here with my rednecks, white socks and blue ribbon beer.”

Buzbee ended his open mic set with a cover of “Going Away” by The Tossers, a Celtic punk band from Chicago. Incidentally, the Facebook post announcing the closure ended with lyrics from that very song.

“Our lives are made of memories, and they’re all we can take with us when we leave this place we’re in.”

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Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.