Every Village Needs a Kitchen

The Procter Village Bakery, located in the historic Procter School served the community for over two decades as a much-loved gathering place.  Sadly, last fall, our village bakery closed leaving our community like a home without a kitchen.

Locals are not alone in missing the bakery, it is a destination point for summer residents, cyclists, hikers, walkers, and tourists from all over who come to gather and enjoy our famous cinnamon buns!

To continue to serve our visitors we are expanding the seating, upgrading the kitchen and making the bakery accessible for everyone.  The Procter Community Society estimates it will cost approximately $170,000 to upgrade The Procter Village Bakery.  As of Dec 5th, 2019 our newly adjusted GoFundMe goal is $25,380. Thank you again to our wonderful donors, every donation makes a difference. In the end, community makes it happen…and WE ARE NEARLY THERE!

Since the beginning of this year community members have donated countless hours of labour - they have donated supplies, attended fundraisers and continue to apply for grants, but in a village of only 800 residents, resources are limited.  

By donating to this community project, folks like you will once again be able to come and enjoy a cinnamon bun and visit with friends and family. We would like to treat you to a cinnamon bun.  How many buns can you eat?  You will receive a cinnamon bun coupon for your generous donation based on the scale below.  

Everyone that comes to visit our bakery have become such an important part of our Spring and Summer culture, and your support will help us to once again welcome all with open arms.

Thank you for joining us in restoring a place where the history is honoured,  warmth is engaged and where community can gather for whatever shows up.

Every Village needs a kitchen - what we need to fill it:

Commercial Freezer
Commercial Glass Door Fridge
Pizza/Bread Making Oven
Dough Mixer
6 Burner Gas/Propane stove with Convection Oven
Microwave
Ice Machine
Hood Fan Commercial Hood with Fire Suppression
Espresso Machine
Hand Sink (small commercial kitchen type)

Donate any of the following amounts to receive your Bun Coupon(s)!

        50-100  =   1 bun
     101-200   =  2 buns
     201-300  =   3 buns
     301-400  =   4 buns​​​​  
     401-500  =   5 buns
      501-600  =   6 buns 
      601-700  =   7 buns
      701-800  =   8 buns
      801-900  =   9 buns
   901-1000  =  Baker's Dozen, 13 buns



Links:

https://www.facebook.com/The-Procter-Village-Bakery-2158007620949635

http://www.valleyvoice.ca/_PDF_2016/ValleyVoice190620web.pdf

https://thenelsondaily.com/news/every-village-needs-kitchen-%E2%80%94-proctor-tackles-restoration-village-bakery

https://www.nelsonstar.com/community/procter-working-to-reopen-community-bakery/

 
 Story:  

"The Heart of a Village"

By Goody Niosi

The Village of Procter in the West Kootenays has taken on a big challenge. Yet the community is undaunted by the task of rebuilding its bakery/café – it’s meeting place and heart. But to do that it needs help.

Since 1938, the Procter Community Society (PCS) has pulled together to create a village that is unique in the West Kootenays. While other small towns are centered around major roads that connect them to the cities of Nelson, Castlegar, Trail and Nakusp, Procter is a little bit out of the way and just a touch more remote.

No one arrives in Procter accidentally. You have to want to be there – and a good many people definitely want to visit Procter.

The village lies just north of Nelson and is accessed by a five-minute cable ferry ride. Once on the other side, it’s a farther 8-kilometre drive or bike ride to the heart of the pretty community, surrounded by mountains and lush fields and cozied up to the shores of Kootenay Lake.

The village has a general store, a library, a potter, a pair of chiropractors and a diverse population of artists, artisans, professionals, skilled tradespeople, retired people and young families. At the core of the community is The Village Bakery. For at least two decades, the café, tucked into the old schoolhouse, has served as the town’s meeting place, eating place, discussion forum and social heartbeat.

In the fall of 2018, the Village Bakery shut its doors and the community rallied. No Village Bakery? Unthinkable! But the question was, how to re-open? How to keep it going?

Lisa Norris, vice president of PCS explained, “In order to re-open we need to do upgrades and buy new equipment.”

Those upgrades include electrical, plumbing, installing an accessible front door and bathroom – and so much more. In fact, The Procter Community Society estimates it will cost approximately $170,000 to upgrade The Procter Village Bakery.   With a population of 800, that might seem like a daunting task. But when the local population was presented with the facts, there was no hesitation. “Let’s do it!” they said.

The fundraising began. In short order, the community raised almost $5,000. Other contributions came from skilled tradespeople with offers of hands-on work.

Today, the bakery is gutted. Work is in progress. But a lot of work still needs to be done. Norris said they do not yet know who will run it. “We hope to still have lunch with friends, Saturday brunches, Friday night pizza and of course, cinnamon buns. We will have the opportunity for evening dinners and hopefully other interesting café-like surprises” 

She added that the community also wants the bakery to open during the winter months. Because, she said, it is the focal point of the community. It is where people meet and have done for years.

The bakery is also much more than a local meeting spot. Cyclists make it a regular destination, especially on weekends. Apparently, nothing is quite as exhilarating after cycling the hilly road from Nelson than pulling into Procter and sitting down to coffee and a cinnamon bun. In fact, Nelson cyclists have been suitably enthusiastic participants of the 70K in and out “bun run” – so named for what Trip Advisor reviewers name the best cinnamon buns anywhere. And while locals may mourn the temporary shutdown of their local café, others likely have deeper regrets over the absence of cinnamon buns.

Susan Foot, who took over the bakery in 1998 when it’s first incarnation as a bagel factory closed, invented the sweet treats that put the Village Bakery on the map.

Foot had taken a cook’s course, had worked in restaurants and fishing camps and moved to Procter in 1997 to be near her son.

“So I opened a coffee-shop/lunch thing,” she said. “I baked bread for the Procter General Store and cookies and brownies and did a lot of gorgeous chocolate cakes.” And then there were the cinnamon buns. “When I did cinnamon buns they were filled with blackberries or raspberries or blueberries or pecans or raisins. They were drippy and yummy and sticky and gooey.”

And they made The Village Bakery famous. Customers learned quickly to call ahead to say they were coming and could Susan put a bun or two aside please?

When Foot ran the bakery, it was open Monday, Wednesday and Friday. She was open on weekends in the summer and she catered to construction workers in the area.

“We had tons of fun,” she said. “I cranked quite a few of the local kids through there on summer jobs.” She also recalled the story-telling festival that got the entire community involved and that once again focussed on the bakery – the heart of the small community.

Michael Martin was the next person to operate The Village Bakery. He purchased it from Foot in 2007 and ran it until 2017. He recalled that he had no intention of owning a bakery or café. He’d been in the sciences, had held a number of jobs, and had graduated from university with a degree in accounting.

But when he bought Susan Foot’s house and she offered the bakery as well, he thought, “Why not?”

“My mom was a fairly good cook and she baked and I baked bread once in a while so I had some interest there.”

Foot agreed to show Martin the ropes and after a two-week crash course, Martin was on his own. It was only three days a week, he said, so it wouldn’t be too onerous an enterprise. However, the three days soon evolved into five days that included lunches.

Then Martin noticed that people were drinking espresso in Nelson and he introduced a small machine. Pretty soon he had to buy a bigger machine. As the bakery changed so did some of Susan’s recipes including the one for cinnamon buns. Just slightly, mind you, and no one complained.

One day, one staff member suggested a pizza night on Fridays, which immediately took off with people coming in for pizzas and ordering them to go. Next, was Saturday breakfasts with eggs benny and other treats.

On Friday mornings, a regular cycle gang from Nelson would show up to meet at The Village Bakery for cinnamon buns and coffee. Hiking groups also began to turn up and pretty soon the Village Bakery was open six days a week.

After almost 10 years of serving the community, Michael Martin sold the bakery. The restaurant business is tough, he said – the hours are long and hard. Still, he remembered those days as good ones.

“The Village Bakery became a place to meet,” he said. “There was lots of socializing. I hope it’s successful. There’s lots of enthusiasm. It’s a nice community and a very community-oriented place.”

Years before the Village Bakery was a café and a going concern for Martin and Foot, it began life as a bagel factory called The Only Bakery – owned and operated by Dana Rothkop and his then-wife Debbie Crichton. Rothkop is currently a director of PCS, working to restore the Village Bakery.

Back in 1994, the bakery space was still part cloakroom and part boiler room. He and Crichton leased the space because no one in the area was making great Montreal-style bagels and everyone wanted them.

They built a massive wood-fired bagel oven that could turn out 200 dozen bagels a day to feed the demand. The business was strictly wholesale, Rothkop said, although two years into the venture, he hired Susan Foot who began to expand the business by baking bread and other goods. In 1998, he and Crichton moved the business to Nelson while Foot took over the bakery.

“By providing an updated kitchen space and an attractive work environment, I’m hopeful we’ll attract a person who will create a new business here,” Rothkop said. “It’s important to the community and to people from farther afield. I’m hopeful that we can make it even better than it ever was.”

As a successful entrepreneur, Rothkop added that The Procter Village Bakery offers a genuine opportunity for the right person. “I don’t think anyone is going to become rich but they can buy themselves a good job without having to drive to Nelson and that saves a lot of money in itself.”

Crichton agrees. “In the summer, it is a real going concern. I think someone, hopefully a local, could really make it into something.”

She added that even in the winter, the café is important. “If you’re open three days a week, you’re full. It’s a destination in the summer. It’s a relaxed atmosphere and a social hub. We miss it.”

Lisa Norris is hopeful of receiving government grants to match the funds raised by the community and those outside the community who are fans of the café. Those grants will stretch the renovation work to include outside decks and upgrades to other facilities inside the old heritage building that started life as a one-room schoolhouse.

Norris calls the entire project a “Labour of love.”

“The community really has a say in what they’d like to see happen. We do regular community updates and the community has been involved in a really significant way and I think that’s important for everyone. The volunteer aspect has been massive. This community spirit goes back in history. It’s natural for people here to come together when they believe in something.”

The completion of the renovations does not yet come with a firm date. “We’re trying to steer away from giving time lines because we can’t promise anything,” Norris said. “We’re moving forward with a steady pace and we keep everyone informed as it goes.”

Among the society’s strategies are a GoFundMe page, a T-shirt logo contest, a silent auction and sales of a puzzle taken from an original sketch of Procter executed by the late local artist, George Reid.

The vision for the “new” Procter Village Bakery isn’t a grand one – it’s one that captures the heart of a small community. Norris said she imagines a place full of warmth that celebrates the community’s roots while it creates fresh memories.

“There’s no getting around the fact that it’s going to be a new space. So how do we take a brand new space and still give it a community feel? We want to create warmth in the newness. We might incorporate photos of community members and maybe local artists on one wall and maybe a chalkboard wall that changes. I don't know – but a place where the history is honoured and the warmth is engaged and where the community can gather for whatever shows up. We’ll create it together.”  

Sidebar: The Village Bakery Cinnamon Buns according to Susan Foot.

1.    Make a sweet white bread dough or just add more sugar to your usual yeast-raised dough.
2.    Let it rise
3.    Roll it out into a rectangular sheet and butter it well.
4.    Spread brown sugar on top of the butter.
5.    Sprinkle cinnamon on top
6.    Cover the cinnamon with pecan bits or raisins or fresh or frozen fruit of your choice.
7.    Roll it all up and cut into sections
8.    Place buns in a deep pan – this is important – you want to be sure to catch the drippings.
9.    When baked let cool and cover with glaze made of icing sugar, milk, butter and orange zest.

No – there are no exact measurements. If there were, it would not be a secret recipe. But if you do need precise times and measurements, Susan said to simply research Joy of Cooking. That could turn out to be helpful.