It is Friday morning. You are slightly confused and possibly misplaced. The aches from your head make the easy decision that your 12:30 Spanish class is just not an option. One shoe is on the floor, while the other still on your foot. In bed is half a Jimmy Johns sandwich, or a stranger, but usually not both. Texts from your friends begin to pour in, mainly saying “ What the hell happened?.”
You’ve been there, I’ve been there, it was free liquor at Whisper.
Friday moves on, as headaches and regret tend to control the day. But for some reason you’re not mad. Sure Friday brings a massive hangover, but Whisper is your kid, and you could never stay mad at your kid.
As many of us are frequent bar goers here in Morgantown, we see bars come and go. We see ones we love, and ones we hate ( Cough Cough Shooters). Whisper is one of those bars we have seen grow up in front of our very eyes.
It all started out when Whisper was a young kid in 2011. Owner Bernie Sousa saw the two spots for the bar and knew they had potential, but also knew work was needed. One was an upstairs martini bar and the other was a downstairs beach bar.
They were named Ohana and Ky’s Lounge.
“Both names had significant meaning to me. My sister Kyleigh who passed away in 2010 was the inspiration for both at the time. She had Ohana tattooed on her wrist which means family in Hawaiian and Ky’s Lounge is self explanatory.” Sousa said.
The bar then began its awkward teenage years when it started to undergo renovation. Sousa has a vision for what he wanted his bar to be, a New York lounge atmosphere among a street of dive bars.
This vision took three years to complete and in August 2013 Whisper came alive.
Now it is the place to be on Thursday night. Or the place to have a date party. Or the place to go for local events.
“We’ve done everything from natural disaster relief efforts to Toys For Tots. It feels great to give back to the community. My favorite event over the years though has been the annual fundraiser we host for my sisters foundation, Kyleigh Sousa Foundation. Its great to have all of our family and friends in to celebrate her life while helping other causes such as Ryans Rally for Ryan Diviney.”
Whisper is now all grown up, and has become one of the best bars in Morgantown.
I’ve tried to recreate and incorporate her energy into this lounge. There are many things you’ll see here that have her stamp on them, beginning with the starbursts on the entry sign, business cards, and the starburst art piece hanging from the ceiling. Ky had those tattooed on her foot, and now they serve as the trademark of this place. For Kyleigh, the two most important things in her life were her family and friends. This was evident from the Ohana tattoo she proudly adorned underneath her wrist; Ohana meaning family in Hawaiian. A word all of her immediate family now bear on them as well and the name of our beach bar below. With the loss of someone we as a family loved so much, we try to find ways to have her name continue to live on. One way is this bar; another is the foundation we formed in Kyleighs honor to help fund traumatic brain injury research, which was ultimately the cause of Kyleigh’s untimely passing. You will see every member of the staff at Ky’s and Ohana’s wearing bracelets in support of her foundation. Feel free to ask a bartender to purchase one, as 100 percent of the proceeds go directly to The Kyleigh Sousa Foundation. Thank you for coming, and I hope you leave with a little bit of energy and passion for life just as the girl who inspired all of this did.
Respectfully,
Bernie Sousa