Calendars are already marked and the news is traveling word-of-mouth through Marblehead: Come out and support the owners and employees of The Landing Thursday.
The popular restaurant and hangout took a catastrophic double hit this month. The Jan. 4 storm flooded The Landing but employees banded together to defy the sea’s fury and get back in business.
A crowd descended on The Landing for brunch on Jan. 7 only to find a sprinkler water line cracked during the deep freeze, causing additional damage. The Landing is in limbo for now, with insurance details to be worked out. But more than a dozen local businesses and friends and relatives of The Landing’s proprietors and employees will converge on Wick’s Thursday to do their part to help The Landing’s employees get through lean times while restoration work gets planned and initiated.
The coming-together by all on behalf of one resident or one institution or business is vintage Marblehead. The late Tom McNulty, a town stalwart, loved to celebrate Marblehead’s ability to band together and pitch in to help out during tough times.
Another town hero, the late Christopher Piper, demonstrated through service to his country the unselfish, undaunted spirit that defines the town. It is not a surprise that a centuries-old community located on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean should be defined by resilience and determination to persevere.
Marblehead celebrates town and national treasures like “The Spirit of ’76” because the defiance demonstrated in that famous painting encapsulates the town’s spirit. When it came to doing more for his town, McNulty stepped up. Piper did the same thing when it came to serving his country.
Social media is sure to help amplify the buzz preceding Thursday’s benefit on behalf of The Landing and the helping hands that will be present in abundance at Wick’s will represent only the start of a sustained effort to ensure The Landing’s employees can tough it out until they are back working and laughing with friends.
Winter will eventually give way to warm weather. and hard times, as anyone can tell you in Marblehead, are easily brushed away with warm hearts and helping hands.
