diff --git a/wizard-server/src/main/java/org/cobbzilla/wizard/server/config/PgRestServerConfiguration.java b/wizard-server/src/main/java/org/cobbzilla/wizard/server/config/PgRestServerConfiguration.java
index 45c4fb5..ed0bef7 100644
--- a/wizard-server/src/main/java/org/cobbzilla/wizard/server/config/PgRestServerConfiguration.java
+++ b/wizard-server/src/main/java/org/cobbzilla/wizard/server/config/PgRestServerConfiguration.java
@@ -417,4 +417,13 @@ public class PgRestServerConfiguration extends RestServerConfiguration implement
                 .generateConstraintSql(includeIndexes).toArray(new String[0]);
     }
 
+    public boolean tableExists(String tableName) {
+        try {
+            execSql("select count(*) from "+tableName);
+            return true;
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            return false;
+        }
+    }
+
 }
diff --git a/wizard-server/src/main/java/org/cobbzilla/wizard/server/listener/FlywayMigrationListener.java b/wizard-server/src/main/java/org/cobbzilla/wizard/server/listener/FlywayMigrationListener.java
index 337fd52..24b8333 100644
--- a/wizard-server/src/main/java/org/cobbzilla/wizard/server/listener/FlywayMigrationListener.java
+++ b/wizard-server/src/main/java/org/cobbzilla/wizard/server/listener/FlywayMigrationListener.java
@@ -33,10 +33,9 @@ public class FlywayMigrationListener<C extends RestServerConfiguration> extends
         final PgRestServerConfiguration configuration = (PgRestServerConfiguration) server.getConfiguration();
         if (configuration.getDatabase().isMigrationEnabled()) {
             // does the flyway table exist? If not, this is a first-time setup
-            try {
-                configuration.execSql("select count(*) from "+getFlywayTableName());
+            if (configuration.tableExists(getFlywayTableName())) {
                 migrate(configuration);
-            } catch (Exception e) {
+            } else {
                 log.warn("beforeStart: database schema does not seem to exist, will create it");
                 configuration.getDatabase().getHibernate().setHbm2ddlAuto("create");
             }