Jacksonville, FLa. — If you’ve never been to The Blue Jay Listening Room in Jacksonville Beach, you may accidently drive right by it.
Tucked in the corner of the Costa Verda shops, Blue Jay is one of the many local businesses forced to close earlier this year due to the Pandemic. Now the owners say they face closing for good, but the community is stepping in to help keep the music playing.
Cara Murphy, the owner of the Blue Jay Listening Room said despite the small location business was really starting to take off before the pandemic hit. “Word was finally getting out and we were doing at least a sold out show a week if not more,” Murphy said. But in March like most businesses it was forced to shut down.
In April Murphy tried to generate revenue by hosting virtual concerts. In October, Murphy opened back up at 50% capacity, but says it wasn’t enough to stay afloat.
That’s why in December she created a GoFundMe account to help pay her rent and keep the lights on in her venue. “I have months of scheduled acts that I thought I was going to cancel because I didn’t have any money to pay,” she said. So far the page has been shared over 1,000 times.
Murphy says she never thought she would be this close to reaching her goal of $30,000 to help keep her business open.
“When so many people are willing to donate their hard-earned money to something you created and put your heart and soul into its’ a really good feeling and it’s really validating and I’m just really proud,” Murphy said.
And it’s not just her music venue that’s in need of help. Murphy said even the smallest support can make a huge difference “If you can’t support Blue Jay go buy a band t-shirt and go to your favorite local artist Website and buy a CD even if you can’t play CDs just buy one they make good coaster sometimes, Murphy laughed.
If you’d like to help out the Blue Jay Listening Room you can click on the GoFundMe page here.
Cox Media Group
