Farmers’ Market: The bread guy
“Where is the bread guy?” This has been a regular and constant refrain at the Presque Isle Farmers’ Market in the Aroostook Centre Mall parking lot this year. The wares from The Country Bakery on U.S. Route 1 in Bridgewater have been noteworthy in their absence early this season. The Inniger family continues to operate their restaurant and bakery, still appointed with homey decor and heavenly aromas emitted from the baking ovens. The menu board is bigger than ever with even more mouth-watering listings. The counter is still crowded with eager regulars in for their favorite fritter with coffee. The barbecue wagon has been out and about. But the Market has been without bread, cookies, doughnuts, and muffins all spring. “But I NEED my oatmeal bread!” whine their regular customers. Market members can closely identify as we had been used to enjoying a tasty mid-morning treat on Saturday mornings ourselves. It just has not been the same without “the bread guy.”
Gentle questioning and filling in the blanks generated a truncated explanation involving some sort of misunderstanding with regard to what can and cannot happen at the Market according to the food safety rules enforced by the State of Maine … something about hot water, sinks, and drains. Yes, in a parking lot. Or wrapping every doughnut individually. Or bringing one person to handle the dirty money and another to handle the clean (delicious!) food. Or some other sort of cumbersome, expensive, none-too-practical approach that precluded the simple, straight-forward, sanitary business operation that Craig and Amy have carried out at the Market over the years.
Glad tidings! The issue(s?) has been resolved and the bread guy is back! Only lately it has been the bread girls as Amy and her lovely daughter have been putting up the awning off the side of the van and laying mountains of fresh aromatic bread out on the folding table to tempt the savvy customer.
“We have good help in the bakery,” Amy says, and interest from several organizations hoping to bring bakery products to their location. Thus, the Innigers have been able to divide and conquer, Amy at one location and Craig at another. We are all delighted that their problems have been resolved and that their business is continuing to be successful and in demand. We are even more delighted to see the white van pull up to the parking lot on Saturday mornings with so many good things to eat.
Editor’s note: This weekly column is written by members of the Presque Isle Farmers’ Market. For more information or to join, contact their secretary/treasurer Steve Miller of Westmanland at 896-5860 or via e-mail at beetree@xpressamerica.net.
