The story of Ollie’s Pub and what kept it open through years of hardships

Last weekend marked Ollie’s Pub’s final hoorah. The two-day concert series showcased local bands and made for an emotional send-off to a venue that many had called home.

• READ MORE: Ollie’s Pub, the home of SWFL’s local music scene, closes after 4 memorable years

Ollie’s Pub, located in downtown Cape Coral, wasn’t shy to hardships in its four-year duration. But what always held Ollie’s up was the persistence in this community that never failed to show up and support the art.

Before Ollie’s housed weekly events, packed to the brim with artwork and home to many, it was a simple dream and an empty space.

According to Lee Blosser, who helped build Ollie’s, owner Sean Dunnigan had the idea around 2017. Dunnigan, friends with Blosser during their time working at Costco, asked Blosser to help him out with the project. They met at the then-empty space, and he got to work helping with the cosmetics around the venue.

“I was kind of the designer of a dream,” Blosser said. “He gave me a vision and told me to help him make it happen, and he wanted to build a basement where people would feel comfortable and safe and from everything.”

Blosser was the catalyst for all the artwork packed within the venue, from the Ozzy sign to the knee-hitting tree trunk below the bar.

However, just two months after its inception, the pandemic hit, making for the first big setback for the venue.

“Everything was going great, then on St. Patrick’s Day, we got the word that COVID was causing us to shut down,” said Scott Rosenbeck, a friend of Dunnigan who also helped build the venue and was a bartender.

He and a few others who helped build the venue thought this was the end, but because Ollie’s Pub was also a retail record store, they were able to stay open.

The venue persisted through the pandemic, but two years later, Hurricane Ian hit, giving Ollie’s yet another hardship they had to endure.

According to Rosenbeck, the outside held up, but flood water came into the bar, and there was about three inches of water from the front door all the way back to the bar area.

Rosenbeck, employees and regulars spent days scraping up the floors and drying out the place.

“When we were able to get back open, I wasn’t sure how people would act seeing the unfinished concrete floors, but the whole Ollie’s community came out with loving support,” Rosenbeck said.

The community support persisted for the venue’s four years, to the very end.

• RELATED: Cape Coral businesses unite, supporting Ollie’s Pub Records and Beer

Due to exhaustion and struggling to pay the bills, Dunnigan announced on Facebook in January that he would shut down the bar. It wasn’t easy, but he felt it was needed.

Despite everything, bartenders, doorkeepers, performers and attendees always had Ollie’s back.

Blosser said, “It’s been a rough ride, but there’s so much companionship that goes into this place. It’s not like Sean really has employees. I was never an employee. I was someone who believed in what he was doing and wanted to help him, and that’s pretty much the same people who help run the bar and do the lighting and sound. They’re all people who just want to be here.”

Blosser had to leave in 2020 due to family obligations, but he returned for the final shows. On returning and seeing the state of the venue for the first time in person since he left, he said this was the dream personified. He called the progress mind-blowing.

Building the venue and coming back to see it at full capacity was a full-circle moment for him.

He was able to see Dunnigan’s vision as a reality and see his artwork woven in with years of other local talents.

“To see all of the other local artists that have contributed and added to the walls and just put their heart into it was overwhelming. I absolutely did cry,” Blosser said.

Right after the final shows, Ollie’s had to be disassembled, returning it to the empty bar it was in 2019.

Like they did during Ollie’s other past hardships, those who helped build it helped disassemble it, a bittersweet, full-circle moment.

“Was doing my best until yesterday when myself and a few others were cleaning out Ollie’s, and I was looking down the long hallway where both my kids took a few of their first steps. Ollie’s will always live on in my heart, and the stories of what happened at that wonderful place will be told from now till the end of time,” Rosenbeck said.

Without Ollie’s, there is a hole left in the scene, but that hole can be refilled by those who made this place what it was, dispersing and showcasing their art at other local venues.

“What happens from here, happens from here,” Blosser said. “I have a feeling that the people who truly love this place aren’t going to let the scene die entirely. That’s what I’m hearing. This part of the story is over, but there’s more to come.”

Ollie’s Pub inspired those who came through its doors. For Blosser, it was a gateway to his artistic career. The same could be said for the other artists of all different mediums who attended Ollie’s.

I think what Ollie’s means to me is that by its sheer existence, there is space in this growing city for an alternative music scene. Punk is not dead. This community is alive and ready for the next adventure. Elita Annette, who used to booked shows and run the social media for Ollie’s

“It was a hard trip, caused a lot of problems,” Blosser said. “I’m sure it did for Sean as well, but to see what was accomplished is absolutely worth it.”

“From then till the end, I considered everyone that came through those doors friends and even some of them family. Sean has always been a great friend of mine since I’ve started my working career, and he will always be,” Rosenbeck said.

For more about the scene, click here.

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