MONTAGUE — The Montague Downtown Development Authority voted 7-1 at a special meeting last Thursday, with Andrew Mummaw dissenting, to allow Bardic Wells Meadery owner Steve Haystead a three-month extension on his outstanding DDA loan - which had entered default - with an additional four-month period during which the authority would not foreclose upon it. The time frame is being put in place to allow Haystead, supporters and friends to come up with ideas to help facilitate the loan's repayment, as well as permitting time for him to build up inventory.
The loan to Haystead came from the DDA's revolving fund, which city manager Jeff Auch said was established by the city in the 1980s with $174,000 of leftover funds from old federal tax appropriations and granted to the DDA in 2006. Since then, the DDA has used the funds to give local businesses over $300,000 of loans, replenishing the money as it is paid back.
Haystead, who said his business has fallen on hard times since the COVID-19 pandemic - Auch said the last payment on the loan was made in the month prior to COVID-related business shutdowns - was hoping to have the loan forgiven, but thanked the DDA for making him feel like they were on the same side. He said he'd previously felt he was being treated like an opponent and that he felt "disrespected" that he was served default papers by the city rather than a less formal discussion taking place.
There did not appear to be any legal reasons the DDA could not have forgiven the loan, though doing so would've kept local businesses from receiving similar loans in the future and there was discussion of the DDA being perceived as choosing "winners and losers" if they forgave this loan but not other ones.
A small group of Haystead's customers spoke in support of the meadery owner at the meeting, repeatedly referencing the place feeling closer to a family or a clubhouse than a business and extolling Haystead's virtues as a community member and a friend.
Haystead said he originally got a $63,000 loan, taken from the DDA fund, after being recruited by a couple of cities when he decided to move his mead business out of his and his wife Jan's Claybanks Township home and into a storefront, in the building that now houses North Grove. He used the loan to, among other things, add bathroom facilities to the bar before the building was sold to the Book Nook & Java Shop and the relationship between Haystead and the new owners went south.
The business then moved down the street to the building that once housed Gary's Restaurant, and at that point Haystead received an additional $12,000 loan to update the premises.
Haystead said Jan's passing in 2016 was a blow to both him personally and his business, as her income enabled him to focus on the meadery, but he was able to continue making payments until he was forced to shut down his business during pandemic lockdowns. At one point Haystead said he planned to sell the business to a new partner with the partner taking on loan repayments, but that fell through.
The DDA expressed sympathy for Haystead's situation while still trying to find ways to get the loan paid back in some fashion so the money can be used to help local businesses in the future. Sawyers Brewing owner Martin Bennett went as far as floating the idea of making a deal with Haystead to sell some of his products at his brewery in order to help facilitate loan payments; city attorney Brennen Gorman said this was possible, but under Michigan liquor law, the Bardic Wells name wouldn't be able to be used. Haystead said he's had similar distribution deals before and was open to the idea.
There was also discussion of Haystead selling his wares at the Montague Farmer's Market, though Auch said that by city ordinance, the city is not permitted to allow a seller at the market who has a loan in arrears.
Haystead's meadery was the first licensed such establishment in the state, in 2007. Mead is a particular kind of wine made with honey (Haystead and his wife launched the business in part because of Haystead's enthusiasm for beekeeping). According to several articles, mead has since taken off as a food trend, and there are hundreds of licensed meaderies across the U.S.
