Scallywags

Topsail Insider Intro

Christa 0:02

Welcome to the Topsail Insider podcast where locals, vacationers, and those looking to relocate to the Greater Topsail area can hear all about the wonderful businesses and events in our beautiful coastal Carolina beach towns, including Topsail Island, Surf City, Hampstead, Holly Ridge and Sneads Ferry.

Coming Up!

Christa 0:25

Coming up. I'll be talking to Ms. Jill Wiles, the owner of Scallywags. Scallywags is a great bar on Topsail Island, just a few blocks north of the pier. It's one row off the beach in Surf City, North Carolina. Scallywags is really a one-of-a-kind bar. You're going to hear how Jill overcame a health crisis and is now honoring and giving back to the first responders while also providing an incredible music venue for the locals and the tourists alike. So sit back and hang out with Jill and me, maybe grab a beer or some sweet tea and hear all about Scallywags.

Welcome | The Jill Wiles Hustle

Christa 1:08

Hello everyone. Welcome to the Topsail Insider Podcast. My name is Christa, and I am your host. Today I am interviewing a wonderful lady. Her name is Jill Wiles, and she is the owner of Scallywags in Surf City, North Carolina. How are you doing, Jill?

Jill 1:26

I am doing fantastic. How are you?

Christa 1:28

Wonderful. I am, and thank you for doing this. So I wanna say you just, Your one year anniversary of Scallywags, and you threw a big, really successful party and I was coming here to grab a few sound bites and I was gonna meet you and you were hustling so hard that if you went to the back, I would go to the back to try to reach you, and you were back to the front again. So I couldn't reach you, but I did enjoy my time here and I met a lot of cool folks

About Scallywags | First Responders

Christa 1:57

so why don't you go ahead and tell me a little bit about Scallywags and what it is that makes you stand out from all the rest.

Jill 2:04

The biggest part I would say is we are a first responder bar. We started out focused on firemen. My son is a Surf City fireman But it has definitely blossomed into all first responders cuz I think they are drastically underappreciated.

Christa 2:21

That is such an amazing thing. I did the pre-interview and you talk about how much you treasure the first responders so I want to hear more about that. I also wanna hear about, this is not just a bar, it is a big time music venue. Yes. And you're really set up nicely for that. How did this start? And then how has it expanded over time to become what it is today?

Jill 2:45

Okay. That's definitely a unique story. A little over two years ago, I got very sick and could not figure out why I was bedridden. It was a long journey. My son was a new fireman. And though he was new, those firemen. Were amazing. Knowing how sick I was, they would reach out, check on me, helped any way they could. One fireman in particular Bob, he was actually the very first fireman who literally took me to the side and said, you're family. And That's why it was so important for me to have a concert here for him, and we helped raise over $26,000 for him. He had stage four lymphoma beat it, and then ended up coming home and dying in his sleep. It very difficult. I'm so sorry to hear that. Thank you. I he was incredible. But all the firemen, they are just amazing individuals and I did not, realize the camaraderie and when you are a part of the firefighter family, that you are a part of the family.

Christa 3:53

Yes. You

Jill 3:54

really are. And once I finally started figuring out what was wrong with me and getting better My husband and I, he just happened to see this place and he was like, let's go take a look at it. And like, we need another establishment, like a hole in the head. I was like okay, if we're gonna do this, I want it to have purpose and meaning. So if we take this on, I wanna be able to give back to these amazing individuals who were there for me in a time of need.

Christa 4:20

I love that. So that's how we started. And

Jill 4:23

then I quickly learned all first responders are just amazing individuals, and I started bringing them in more as bartenders. And now, oh, they work here as well. Every single one of my bartenders are first responders, or they have previously been first responders. They have been they're within that family. And it's incredible. My staff is amazing. They're very important to me. They do not take a whole lot of drama and, which I love. It is family oriented. We allow families here

Christa 4:58

my kids would love to hang out in this the sandy backyard that you've created here.

Jill 5:02

And that's all ages, no one under 21 is allowed on the premises without a parent or guardian. As long as they have a parent or guardian come have a great time, and that's really why I created this just to have a unique experience. The small pub of donating back to the fire department was how it started. And then three months into it um,, everyone loves the story. I went to get my nails done.

Christa 5:26

Yeah.

Jill 5:27

I've been going to the same nail salon for five years. Amazing lady who does my nails, I absolutely love her. Was sitting there complaining about these people who are ripping out all the shrubs that were on the back lot. Behind my establishment. And happened to say, do you happen to know who's opening a nail salon on the island? said my husband. It turned out they weren't sure what they were gonna do with the property, so we made arrangements with them and then we found out it was a double lot, not a single lot

Christa 5:55

Oh, wow.

Jill 5:56

I was like, what in the world am I gonna do with this much space?

Christa 5:59

Yeah. Okay.

Jill 6:01

And it was my son. He said, let's put. sand.

Christa 6:03

I Love that.

Jill 6:05

Grew from there. I love live music. I love having fun. So I started bringing in more music and because we had so much space, I had more unique people reaching out to me. Mm-hmm. About playing here.

Christa 6:19

It's big stage.

Jill 6:20

We can hold up to 500 people, so we have, I would say the largest event space in Surf City and I want it to be, yes, we get tourists. But buddies or other establishment, that is absolutely a tourist location. Yes. Locals come there just like tourists come here and we welcome them. But I am focused on locals. I'm focused on a unique space for locals and donating back as much as we possibly can to the local community. That is what this entire place stands for.

Christa 6:55

I think that's great. I really do. You are gonna get your tourists We're coming up on high season right now. You're gonna be packed. But Friday night there definitely was a local vibe here for sure. Everyone lived here and loved it here and. Were just laid back and having such a great time.

The Music

Christa 7:12

The music was incredible. So with that big stage back there, you're attracting really good artists I'm seeing your post on Facebook. You're getting a lot of different artists coming in here

Jill 7:22

I am, and actually we filled up very fast last year I only had music on Friday and Saturday. My Friday and Saturday is completely booked up until September. And I still have four or five reaching out to me every day. that.

Christa 7:37

how is she doing? She must be not just hustling during the business hours, which I witnessed myself, but you must be hustling, in your downtime trying to get all these artists. But they've come to

Jill 7:46

They do come to me on the regular and I try

The Expansion

Jill 7:50

to get back to them, we just did a big expansion here with the new Pergola. We actually have a brand new walk-in cooler coming very soon We bought a food truck my goal is to, if, I have to do a cover charge, I want it to be as, as little as possible because some of these bands and unique acts that are coming in, are mm-hmm a lot of money. It is not my intent to do that. So as much as possible, I don't want to do that. So bringing in the food truck and having that extra income on top of what we do here, I still need to be able to give back, but I want to not have to have everyone paid to come. I'm trying not to do a cover charge, but know that if I have a cover, It's because I absolutely need to. There's another thing coming very soon that I will tell you april 17th, we close on the lot right

Christa 8:42

Okay. Oh my gosh. That is exciting. So what it what's the plan with that property?

Jill 8:47

That's where our food truck will go. More parking.

Christa 8:49

You are growing really fast. Yeah. If that was your one year anniversary on Friday night, girl, it's amazing.

Jill 8:55

And that is, is what it's like every night in the, on the weekends, in the summer The nice part about it is it was packed. But you didn't feel it.

Christa 9:05

No. No.

Jill 9:05

wasn't. There's space it, it's so much space. You have so much space to move around in. And now that we have the outside bar, that was also, one of the downsides is when I only had the inside bar, that line would just be out the door and I hated people. Being forced to wait. So the outside bar was a necessity.

Location Description

Christa 9:26

Let me just paint a picture for folks that haven't been here yet. So when you drive up the front of Scallywags is, it looks like, Like old school surf city, it's got that front porch and I don't know, in the south, we love our front

Jill 9:39

porches.

Christa 9:40

Yeah, the temperature was amazing. The breeze was so nice. It's like you grab a beer, you get on that front porch and you just hang out and you can literally hear the waves. It's

Jill 9:48

Yes, you absolutely can.

Christa 9:50

When you go on the porch, you come inside, there's a nice bar inside

First Responder Patches

Jill 9:53

and another unique story about the inside. All the patches that are all over the border and everything inside the downstairs bar. We're probably about 80% now, but when we first opened, 100% of those patches were donated by surf City Fire Chief himself.

Christa 10:09

Really, it was

Jill 10:10

his personal collection. I felt so honored. He gave that collection to me, Now I have people from all over coming in and they add their patches to the wall. I have police patches, fire patches, military patches.

Christa 10:25

So wonderful.

Jill 10:26

And it just keeps growing and I love that they come and put that a little piece of their place here at Scallywags.

A Place to Eat

Christa 10:33

So If you walk down to the side, you have created a nice space along the side you've got tables and chairs there, so there's plenty of space to sit there. It's a little quieter. You can get your food at the food truck and sit down and have dinner. You keep

Going to the “Sandy Beach” & Lifeguard Stand

Christa 10:46

walking down the path down the side of the house and you end up in that sandy, it's like a sandy beach back there and you've got some nice beach chairs.

Jill 10:53

Benches, cornhole. Outside bar.

Christa 10:57

It looks like in the very back corner it looks like a lifeguard station

Jill 11:01

yep. That is actually an official Wrightsville Beach lifeguard stand. No,

Christa 11:06

I love it.

Jill 11:07

So Buddies in Wrightsville Beach actually sponsored a lifeguard stand. So they have a plaque that goes on the back of their lifeguard stands And when Buddy passed away, it wasn't even a full year that he had been gone and Wrightsville Beach were refurbishing their lifeguard stands. And it was first come, first serve to get those old lifeguard stands, and we were able to get one. So I bought my husband a lifeguard stand, and we put it at our house in Scotts Hill. When we sold the house in Scotts Hill, I'm like, oh my word. What in the world are we doing with a lifeguard stand? It ended up I

Christa 11:44

it. It is here. It It's perfect back there. I loved it. And people were

Jill 11:49

They really do love

Christa 11:50

they weren't moving.

Jill 11:51

No, they don't. They really don't. They sit

Christa 11:54

got here, it's ours for the night. Someone go get me a beer.

Jill 11:57

funny because my mother, when she comes to visit from pa, she, that's her spot, Oh yeah.

Christa 12:03

And then tell

Outdoor Bar

Christa 12:04

me about the bar that, so you walk on around past the stage, and then you come upon the outdoor bar. So tell me about when that was added.

Jill 12:11

That was actually always there. was, but it wasn't always fully open because I'm still learning and I'm still like, we didn't have a cooler, we had big bins of ice. And so then I just stopped opening it. Now I have a big cooler full of a lot more inventory that I can have out there. You have a lot more variety that you can get. A lot of the similar items you can get inside. You can get liquor out there, so now you can get your liquor drinks. It's basically everything except draft beer and wine.

First-time Business Owner | Consuming

Christa 12:47

This the first

Jill 12:48

business I was a realtor before I got sick, and I license on hold and before that I was a human resource information system specialist. I, I was a nine to

Christa 13:00

a whole new realm

Jill 13:01

Oh my word. Yes.

Christa 13:02

So tell me as a, an entrepreneur and you're one year into it. What has been the biggest hurdle opening up a business of your own

Jill 13:13

it's consuming. I actually enjoy the fact that it's consuming, I don't necessarily know how to put that divide and have time for family I have family out of town and they're constantly saying, why don't you ever call? I have a 16 year old son and There are times that he's Hey mom, I need food in the house. And like, oh, I forgot to go go to grocery store. It's the work life balance, which I always thought I was very good at. And here I'm so focused on trying to do everything I can to make scallywags the best it can, that I forget that, that there has to be a balance.

Health Crisis

Jill 14:00

I'm a Virgo, type A, OCD, and then bedridden and told

Christa 14:06

were you bedridden

Jill 14:08

Oh,

Christa 14:08

and when was it, did you start the bar and then that happened?

Jill 14:12

I got sick. January, 2021. And it got so bad to the point that I could barely get to the bathroom or making food. I couldn't make it into the kitchen if I didn't have a meal ready for me. I didn't eat Wow. And My husband was running the restaurant and trying to help me as much as he could and trying to maintain and keep my children, alex he was still living at home. And then once he got his own place, I still I couldn't help him. I said I would make him an ottoman. I love like taking old things and making them new again. And I would be sitting on our deck and trying to sand it crying. Because I, I had no energy. I would be passing out for no reason.

Christa 15:04

And you couldn't figure out what it was.

Jill 15:06

No. One time. I have an Apple watch. I passed out on our deck and my dog was literally laying right beside me and I woke up and so embarrassing, but woke up to all these firemen standing around me that my watch called 9 1 1 for me. it does that. Yes. did that. Yeah, I didn't either until then, and I was like, and it also calls my emergency contact, and at that, It's my son. But my health is still, when I push myself to a point that I crash I have to shut everything out and just focus on Yes. Managing that on top of this. And family, sometimes it does get overwhelming, but I am so determined to, to do this and I want to do this and make it someplace that everybody loves to come

Christa 16:00

Can we say what your diagnosis was? Are you comfortable?

Jill 16:04

Oh yeah. I mean it

Christa 16:05

because I can't say it so you're

Jill 16:06

you're gonna have say it. Yeah. It's a mixture of things, but autonomic hyperactivity, but it's a neurological disorder that led to something called pots postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome.

Christa 16:17

See, I told you I would never

Jill 16:19

to, And that's just one of the things that they discovered. But that is one of the main things they discovered that a lot of people are discovering. They have. And One of the good things that has come out of Covid and I did not develop it because of Covid, but there are a lot of individuals who had covid that are. Getting diagnosed with what I have. Wow. Which is drawing attention to what I have. And now more doctors are starting to understand it. And that's, it's hard when something's wrong, but you have all these other doctors who are telling you, you're fine.

Christa 16:54

We can't figure it out. We don't know.

Jill 16:56

It's mental,

Christa 16:57

it's all in your head. Yep. Yep.

Jill 16:59

That's a very debilitating thing to hear.

Christa 17:01

It is. I understand that. I get that. I know that was hard, but you look amazing now. Whatever you're doing, keep doing it because the energy that it took to hustle on a Friday night, Was not that of someone who was down and out, let me tell

Jill 17:16

you no. Yeah.

Upcoming Event | Rob Benton & Surfers Healing Benefit

Christa 17:23

To wrap up here, I wanna ask you, are there any events that are coming up that you wanna make an announcement about?

Jill 17:27

Sure. So I actually have two very important and very special to me, events coming up. Okay. One will be in June, the beginning of June. It will be on a Thursday night, which I know seems odd, but it comes from a phenomenal artist with which anybody who has been here last year knows I do. Amazing musician and his name is Rob Benton. He travels up and down East Coast. He was on America's Got Talent. He's really,

Christa 17:54

really he's

Jill 17:55

Yes. And he actually is autistic, which a lot of people do not realize.

Christa 18:01

Wow.

Jill 18:02

And if anybody knows about an organization called Surfers Healing They bring in children who are autistic. And kind. Take them away from the troubles and everything that they have to go through every day and get them out on the water and teach them to surf and just have a day where they don't have to be reminded of all the troubles and, the daily life struggles that they have to go through. That's wonderful. They're an incredible organization. So

Christa 18:26

what's this organization again?

Jill 18:27

it's called Surfers Healing. Surfers Healing. So I'm bringing the two together. Mr. Rob Benton in Surfers Healing, and we will be doing an event here, a Surfers Healing Benefit with Rob Benton playing.

Christa 18:39

That's wonderful. I wanna be here for that.

Jill 18:43

I'm very excited

Christa 18:44

that. So that's the first week of June on a Thursday

Upcoming Event | Ocean Fest

Christa 18:46

night? Yes.

Jill 18:46

And then the other very special event that is very near dear to my heart is anybody who has been in Surf City. The absolute biggest event that goes on in Surf City every October is Ocean Fest.

Christa 19:01

Ocean Fest. Okay.

Jill 19:02

Fest. It's a big festival. The organizers of Ocean Fest, they're incredible people and every penny that they raised during Ocean Fest goes back to, helping the ocean keep the ocean clean The biggest event Surf is Scallywags participating in that? We do a big after party here on both nights the event goes on. But they bring in incredible musicians. They have booths set up everywhere where they have vendors and where you can shop. You watch the Surfers Big surfer competition. I believe they also do a 5K run. It's a massive event. Last year I started, I wanted to do something to help them out. I said, Hey what can I do to help you guys? Starting something like that, having funds up front so that they can start paying these people before they even get a penny in the door. Because they donate everything back. So it's not like they have this unlimited amount of funds. I did an Ocean Fest luau here in August.

Christa 20:01

Oh, I love that idea. Yes. I wanna be here for that one too.

Jill 20:05

It is a lot of fun. And we donate back everything that we make goes back to them. I think it, it was like a $25 at the door, but we had incredible musicians, a lot of fun. And idea that I also bring, I bring in reggae music and try to do a fun luau event. And that will be, I believe we just set the date for August 26th. So I will be doing, Ocean Fest Luau event very exciting. But really, every weekend is a concert here

Draw a Card

Christa 20:42

One fun thing that we do. Is, I have a stack of cards here and these are called Talking point cards and I use these at the table with my boys so we can have something fun to talk about at the table that's out of the norm. And so I thought it would be fun. Just pick one up, read it out loud

Jill 20:57

Would you rather be able to fly or turn invisible? Oh my gosh. I want both when everybody is trying to reach me and I just want to hide, which you'll notice when I'm here if I'm not being pulled in 20 different directions, I'm usually sitting on the back stairs away from everyone, but I'm usually just taking it all in. It's not that I'm avoiding. I just love watching everybody here having a fantastic time. That really is the best joy ever

Christa 21:27

invisible. But if you could fly

Jill 21:29

but, But seriously, who not want to fly? fly?

Christa 21:32

If you could fly anywhere right now, where would it be?

Jill 21:34

Oh, the keys. I love the Florida Keys.

Christa 21:37

Yeah. I'm with you.

Jill 21:39

My husband and I got married in Key Largo.

Christa 21:41

Oh, wow. Okay.

Jill 21:42

so we have a very special connection down there. But I just wanna fly anywhere just to be able to get up and fly and not have to drive. Get up Surf city traffic in the summer.

Thank You

Jill 21:52

Yeah.

Christa 21:52

I hope you have a wonderful summer here. I think it's, you so much. I think you're gonna be amazing. You're gonna do amazing. You already have, I love that you give back. I love the first responders. I love everything about this bar. And I wanna say it's been so nice getting to know you

Jill 22:06

But would like to say what you're doing here I hope this is successful and it's needed. I love that you are taking the time to get to know these great establishments. And that is very important. So I wish you luck and

Christa 22:21

you. So, I, the response has been really great. People, need to hear this we have so many shops that are popping up in Surf City and Hampstead. Even Sneads Ferry.

Jill 22:32

There are some amazing establishments and great owners. many, so many, And we are a close knit community. We're just one big family and I

Christa 22:41

think it's important that we help each other out. Yes. You know, Business is helping businesses

Jill 22:45

that's way it should be. Yes, exactly.

Christa 22:49

Oh, I love you Jill. so much.

Address and Contact Info

Christa 22:51

Everybody, if you'll please come and check out Scallywags. You can look on their Facebook page. She's very active on Facebook and lists all the upcoming events, all of the people who are gonna be singing here and performing and. The address here is 121 North Shore

Jill 23:06

North Shore Drive

Christa 23:07

in Surf City, and the email address is Scallywags121@gmail.com. The phone number here is nine one 910-928-801

Jill 23:17

nine two 8 0 1 7.

Christa 23:20

She just

Jill 23:21

I have no idea. dunno. our other address is actually 122 North Topsail

Christa 23:26

north

Jill 23:27

Drive for the

Christa 23:28

parking. That's where the parking is in the back. Gotcha, gotcha.

Goodbye

Christa 23:31

So check out Facebook and come check out this great place. I think you're gonna love it. Thank you so much for joining me. Thank you, Jill. for being on my podcast and I will see you all around Topsail. Bye everybody. Bye.

Topsail Insider Contact Info

Christa 23:48

Hey, thank you for joining me today on Topsail Insider. If you like today's episode, please hit the follow or subscribe button so that you can get the Topsail Insider Podcast delivered automatically to whichever podcast platform you're listening on. And if you're a business owner and you wish to set up a pre-interview or you want to advertise, please email me at topsailinsider@gmail.com. Please also find, and like the Topsail Insider Facebook page, I provide links to the new podcast there each week, as well as providing photos of the businesses that I'm highlighting along with any of their upcoming events. So, hey, let's do this again next week. I'll see you around Topsail