Flannery leaves the Merc ...

[pitamakan]

http://nfnews.net/flannery-coats-says-g ... orth-fork/

[joybird]

[Jen]

WHAT???

[toddnick]

Is this even allowed??

Boy, I hope that this doesn't affect the Merc!!!!

It would be a tragedy to lose Park Cafe's pie and Polebridge Mercantile's heavenly baked goodies in the same season!!!!

[pitamakan]

Yeah, I'm definitely a bit worried about Polebridge at the moment ... especially since Stuart's family are part-owners of the Northern Lights, as well.

I'll be up in that area next week, so maybe I'll hear some news ...

[Jen]

New owners at Home Ranch Bottoms this year also. I'm afraid times are a changin'

[rhughes]

Since Deb Kauffman carried some of my artwork at the Merc when they owned the place I was interested in knowing what the new owners were like. I happened upon this video clip at the time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_cNjcQ_8LE. I was immediately taken with Stuart and Flannery.

Later, when I met them in person I felt that they fit the North Fork environment perfectly. Since I've been visiting the Merc since I was a teenager in 1957 I feel qualified to offer my views on the subject.

Whatever the reason is that Flannery will not be returning, I hope Stuart decides to keep on running the Merc.

[pitamakan]

Well, the Merc opened for the season today, right on schedule. I probably need to do a bakery run one of these weekends.

[joybird]

Heh. You ARE rubbing it in.

Just be sure to post pics, OK?

[pitamakan]

And ... the Merc has been sold:

http://www.flatheadnewsgroup.com/hungry ... 963f4.html

I don't personally know the new owner, but I know of him, and I think he'll be a very good custodian of the place.

[Selkie]

Thanks for the update. That seems a very promising development.

[pitamakan]

A great news article about the Merc, from the Flathead Beacon:

http://www.flatheadbeacon.com/articles/ ... erc/39324/

[Littlejohn Dsgn]

That was a great read, thank you. But now I need to get back again this summer to help bring in 100 years. Sadly I will have to be ok with year 101.

[pitamakan]

I drove up to Polebridge yesterday, mostly just to stuff myself with a variety of baked goods from the Merc. Purely for research purposes, of course!

The good news is that everything is as delicious as ever. My lunch sandwich was stuffed with turkey, cranberries, and cream cheese, and it was amazing. The bad news is that prices have been raised, fairly noticeably. A baker's dozen of cookies is $9 now, which seems a little over the top even for Polebridge. The usual mob of tourists at the counter didn't seem to mind, though.

[Littlejohn Dsgn]

I drove up to Polebridge yesterday, mostly just to stuff myself with a variety of baked goods from the Merc. Purely for research purposes, of course!

The good news is that everything is as delicious as ever. My lunch sandwich was stuffed with turkey, cranberries, and cream cheese, and it was amazing. The bad news is that prices have been raised, fairly noticeably. A baker's dozen of cookies is $9 now, which seems a little over the top even for Polebridge. The usual mob of tourists at the counter didn't seem to mind, though.

Can't blame them, the demand looks to be there. Guess I need to pad the Polebridge budget a bit more for our return in 2015.