SALISBURY — A city inspections official says he expects Fisher Street to be open by midday Friday — just in time for this weekend’s events.

Todd Littleton, owner of Benchwarmers at 113 E. Fisher St., said he plans to reopen his bar Friday for the Brick Street Live concert and Salisbury’s Friday Night Out. On Saturday, a gay pride festival is also planning to use the street.

Work began Tuesday to remove the brick facade of the two-story Mowery Building, which houses Benchwarmers, after a contractor noticed it was unstable last week.

Chris Branham, the city’s code services division manager, said this afternoon that the work is progressing quickly. He said he planned on doing an interior inspection this afternoon.

“This should be wide open by lunch, for sure,” Branham said. “We’ll come back and inspect the work they’re doing now in the morning.”

Central Piedmont Builders first constructed a temporary interior wall to stabilize the front of the building and then began work on the facade. Today, workers are removing the last of the brick, down to the failure point at the bottom of the second floor.

The next step, the contractor said, is to cover the front of the building in weatherproof plastic wrap. That will be completed either this evening or tomorrow morning.

Branham said once the work is finished, the heavy construction equipment will move out, and then a street sweeper will clear the roadway of debris.

Read more in Friday’s Salisbury Post.