Keep The Public House & Bay City thriving

Help SAVE The Public House.  As many of you now know, one of Bay City’s coolest and most progressive establishments’ livelihood is being threatened by enormous (and unfair) legal fees, following a three year lawsuit. The Public House has given us, as a community, a space to gather as friends, lovers & strangers. It is our turn, as a community, to keep The Public House alive by contributing anything we can. We cannot allow one poor decision for our community to derail the progress of bringing back our downtown. We cannot let a few sour apples discourage entrepreneurs from investing their time, effort and love into our city. We cannot let Bay City move backward. 

 “This decision sets the precedent that revivalists with dreams cannot ever take on the possibility of rehabilitating our old buildings, it prioritizes a handful of residential opinions with deep pockets over local, small entrepreneurs and single-handedly threatens the long-term livelihood and existence of our downtown communities, not just in Bay City, but in our region, our state and beyond.“

The Public House is not just a local establishment that provides jobs, revenue and LIFE to our downtown, but a space that draws people to our city from all over Michigan. Harless & Hugh Coffee and Public House literally convinced me to move back to Bay City after having been gone for many years. I believed Bay City was making a comeback. Harless & Hugh and Public House have created a community here, a place for people of all ages to gather & without these spaces, I fear for our entire downtown. 

Below is a letter from the owner. She has no affiliation with the creation of this go fund me, but I am honored and humbled to help in ANY way. Please join me in helping this establishment, our town, and the dream of bringing Bay City back.  Contribute what you can, every dollar makes a difference, thank you. 




The Three Year Lawsuit at The Public House was completed yesterday... with the judgement in favor of the Shearer Building. I wanted to take this opportunity to note our side, our thanks and gratitude and the ripple effect this judgement will have in our community.

To you...
In 2013, I bought the space that would become The Public House and put time, energy, vision, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in financial investment in. At the time, Adams Street looked like it could use some love, with buildings dilapidated, some of which were bank-owned.

After extensive renovations on a building I grew up loving, The Public House opened its doors on June 3, 2017. Several other commercial tenants have joined and made our corner of the community better, like City Market. I have always wanted it to be a place for bridging community and connection through the celebration of serving thoughtfully-crafted artisan cocktails and unique edible provisions. In that aspect, The Public House has welcomed friends of one or many, bridging generations to create a truly unique experience of thoughtful kinship.

I think entrepreneurs with a vision and passion for their community are part of the fabric that holds us all together, especially in tough times. Surviving a pandemic as a small business is hard enough with the numerous restrictions we need to comply with to keep customers and our staff safe.

Yesterday, the three year long saga of the lawsuit was completed and I was served the entirety of the Shearer Building legal fee. So now, it’s especially hard to also bear the full $75,000 judgement of the plaintiff’s legal fees over the past three years, in the middle of a pandemic, while operating 50 percent capacity. At this point in time, I am not sure of our current path forward.

This decision is a massive hit to Bay City and threatens the important work numerous organizations collectively put into our downtown community. I still firmly believe that it’s no one person’s fault and I have tried for several years to get the condo association board to help me collectively fix the age-related issues of a mixed use development building in which we all live, work and operate, to no avail.

Decisions like this have a ripple effect within the community: It impacts our nine employees, our vendors, the Bay County Growth Alliance, Bay Future, Inc, the Small Business Administration, our other investors, other downtown businesses and the countless number of customers that have supported us over the years.

This decision sets the precedent that revivalists with dreams cannot ever take on the possibility of rehabilitating our old buildings, it prioritizes a handful of residential opinions with deep pockets over local, small entrepreneurs and single-handedly threatens the long-term livelihood and existence of our downtown communities, not just in Bay City, but in our region, our state and beyond.

There are 23 descriptions of harassment in the opposition of the plaintiff’s motion that detail the level of unjust persecution we have experienced in the past three years. I ask that you read them and think about the hoops you would have to jump through as a small business owner if this were you.

As an active community member and entrepreneur with multiple businesses invested in Bay City, I am also disheartened that Judge Joe Sheeran allowed this case to continue for three years, that he felt I was fairly treated by the board, but yet denied every motion, except for the permanent injunction of music, they put before him in the past three years, somehow The Public House ended up with the bill. Judge Joe Sheeran let three years of legal fees accumulate until he made his decision that I was 100% responsible for a building defect. I fear that since he is up for reelection this year, and is running unopposed, that this sentiment and process of decision will reverberate in other cases for years to come.

In scenarios such as ours, there is zero protection for a defendant with a dream, an entrepreneur with a heart for creating a community and the future of any mixed-use development or commercial investment within Bay City.

This is a lesson in gratitude. Hold close the things you love and the visions you dream for nothing is truly ever ours. Support the little guy and stand tall against the big ones. The world needs us not to break but to march forward stronger than ever.

I would like to thank everyone that has supported us over the years and we are currently trying to assess our options for moving forward.

With Love and Gratitude

Lyndsay Edmonds
Owner, The Public House