20 Main Bar - Great Live Music in Au Sable Forks

Kristina Murray and her band from Nashville performing at 20 Main in Au Sable Forks.

AU SABLE FORKS - Based on its exterior, you might hesitate before walking into 20 Main, a bar in Au Sable Forks, located on, you guessed it, Main Street. Its stand-alone, gray, brick-and-glass-block building has stood the test of time in a town that for the most part has not. Built in 1911, the building was a fruit stand and restaurant before becoming a tavern in the 1970s–right around the town’s main employer, the paper mill, closed for good.

Head inside, and it looks as you might expect: worn-in and wood paneled with a coffered ceiling. Some high-top tables, a shuffleboard table, a dart board, and a billiards table. A few TV screens scattered about showi sports or the winning lottery numbers. Dollar bills are thumbtacked behind the bar, and the walls are covered with posters, framed pictures, ski memorabilia, and neon signs advertising Michelob Ultra and Labatt Blue.

The bar itself, curved and also wood paneled, is to the left as you enter. The swivel seats in front of it seem designed so that when non-locals enter, regulars can turn and glare. Or so I imagined.

Turns out 20 Main is the friendliest bar I have ever stepped foot in. If anyone does look at you, it’s just to say hi–and then maybe tell you their whole life story.

Exterior of the 20 Main Bar in Au Sable Forks. — *Despite its facade, this may be the friendliest bar in the ADK.*

The Best Bar in the Forks

To say 20 Main is the best bar in Au Sable Forks is no exaggeration as it is also the only bar in the small town named for where the east and west branches of the Au Sable River converge.

But to be clear, it is a dive bar, a description its new owners, Michelle and Jody Perkins, lean into. Not long after they took over, my brother-in-law, visiting from North Carolina, ordered a dirty gin martini. If I recall correctly, it came in a plastic cup, with ice.

Michelle spotted the drink in his hand and asked him how it was.

“It’s terrible,” he replied with a laugh.

“Well, what did you expect?” she asked fashing a wide grin. “This is a dive bar.”

Indded, one does not go to 20 Main for well-made martinis (though Michelle insists that veteran bartender Jess, shown below, can make a good one). One goes to 20 Main for the camaraderie and for the music.

In true dive-bar fashion the vibe is unpretentious, the drinks are cheap, and there’s always a bunch of regulars. That it’s become a fun gathering place for both locals and visitors alike is due in large part to Michelle and Jody.

And you can get a craft beer there. Along with the hard seltzers, Bud Light, Mike’s Hard, and the Mudslides that seem popular with the usuals, there are a handful of local brews on tap including a new red ale called 20 Main made by Valcour Brewing Company. The “fancy” draft beers are just $6 a pint while a PBR tall boy costs $4.

You’ll need to pay in cash, but there’s a bank with an ATM machine right across the street and one of those stand-alone ATMs in the bar as well.

Along with mass-market beers like Bud and Coors Lite, there are a few local craft beers on tap including 20 Main Red Ale made for the bar by Valcour brewing in Plattsbugh. For now, any food is limited to pretzels and bar snack mix.

Enjoy music in a hidden beer garden.

It was the music that lured us in. One summer day as we slowly drove by with our windows down, we could hear live music coming from the bar. To our great surprise, we discovered that there’s a beer garden out back.

The outdoor space was initially created by Dave and Jean Wiswel, who owned the bar for 10 years before selling it to Jody and Michelle in 2023. But Michelle and Jody have steadily been improving it. Along with a large, covered wood stage built by Jody, there are now colorful umbrella-topped tables and chairs, cornhole, and a smokeless firepit. (There are also plenty of people actually smoking, but they tend to be respectful about where they partake.) The beer garden is next to the river but is fenced off per regulation.

To get to this outdoor oasis, you must pass through the bar and go out the back door, hence its name, the OutBack Stage. And when the weather is warm, that’s where the action is.

A plastic cup filled with beer at the OutBack Stage at 20 Main Bar in Au Sable Forks — *Behind the bar’s brick building lies a brightly colored beer garden with a huge stage, a firepit, and cornhole.*

Our first visit to the Outback Stage was on an open-mic night, which is usually the first Friday of the month. We were planning to pop in for just one beer before going home for dinner, but the talent was so good, we stayed for hours even as our bellies rumbled. (Since the bar doesn’t serve food, we thought about getting a pizza from Lance’s Place across the street but didn’t want to miss anything.)

While the Wiswels also featured live music, Michelle has taken it to a new level, booking a variety of bands for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Many are local to the region like All Without the Base from Plattsburgh and the Vermont-based Blues without Borders. But as the reputation of 20 Main’s curated music program has grown, Michelle is now booking talent from as far away as Chicago and Nashville (Justin Howl and Kristina Murray respectively). The bands get paid, but there is no cover. The kind of music varies–country, ‘80s, blues, rock–but the sound is almost always top notch.

The music at 20 Main starts and ends early, from 6:00 to 9:00 Fridays, 5:00 to 8:00 Saturdays, and starting at 4:00 on Sundays. The early times are to avoid annoying the neighbors in the area but also because, as Michelle notes, “Nothing good ever happens after midnight.”

The early times mean much of the crowd is on the older side, though some recent bands, including the local rock/punk band called /paintTHINNER (spelled with the slash), have brought in younger crowds, and there’s often a bachelor party or bachelorette party kicking off their night at 20 Main.

You can dance if you want to.

When the music is upbeat there’s dancing, with Michelle often joining in. This despite her initially not wanting to buy the place. It was all Jody’s idea, she says. He’d just retired from owning his own construction company when the Wiswels, ready to retire themselves, began whispering in his ear that he should buy the bar.

Both Michelle and Jody, who’ve been married for more than 25 years, are longtime Forks residents, and they patronized the bar regularly. Michelle, who still has a day job in health information management, was finally swayed by Jody’s enthusiasm as well as a look at the books.

Michelle and Jody Perkins at 20 Main Bar in Au Sable Forks. — *You can spot 20 Main owners Michelle and Jody at the bar on most nights, and they seem to be having as much fun as their guests.*

They took over the taps in the fall of 2024 keeping much of the staff–and much of the decor–intact. Jody handles the physical labor, including extending the back deck in the beer garden; Michelle oversees the finances, the social media, and booking the bands, which has gotten easier as bands now call her asking to come play.

In addition to music there’s pool and corn-hole tournaments, a Monday-night dart league, and many theme nights. Their float won in the 2025 Labor Day parade, and 20 Main is the place to go before and after the Forks annual (and amazing) Christmas in the Forks event. The couple also hosts community events and fundraisers.

The bar is open 365 days a year. (On Christmas Day they let their employees stay home, but the couple keeps the place open for those who might otherwise have nowhere else to go.)

Though running 20 Main is a lot of work, Michelle loves it, and she or Jody (or both) are there most nights greeting guests and doing whatever else needs to be done, such as Jody’s tending to the fire or Michelle running across the street to Tops get more milk for those Mudslides.

On one of our early visits I thought for a second we were special: Jody remembered us and Michelle gave me a hug. I came to realize, however, that they treat everybody that way. “We’re social butterflies,” explains Michelle. “We love to entertain.”

GOOD TO KNOW