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| 1992 Mrs. Haegele, Josh (1yr), Cheryl |
Hard to believe that just a week ago was Halloween. Since then we've turned the calendar page to November, turned the clocks back and hour (from which I am still recovering), replaced the Ghosts in the window with Pilgrims, and made our first batch of Springerle. Though my witch’s hat has returned to storage and the bakery is preparing for Thanksgiving, my mind keeps stirring on HALLOWEEN! |
| 1996 Cheryl & Aaron (1yr) |
As customers came in the store that day, we heard over and over again of memories of trick or treating days on Barnett Street. We heard how Haegele's had to be "the first stop" so not to miss out on our washington cake. How amazing to have adults recall with such fondness, a little square of chocolate iced spice cake wrapped up in bakery tissue. Though Glen and I lived a few blocks away from the bakery, we brought our kids to Barnett St to trick or treat when they were little. For one our family was at the bakery and secondly, there was no other block like the 4100 block of Barnett Street. It was magical on Halloween night. There are 62 houses on the block with lampposts at their lower steps.
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| 1996 Glen, Aaron, and Trick or Treaters |
One year, a neighbor had bought plastic jack-o-latern pumpkins and placed them over the lamppost lights of her house and the neighbor's who shared her step. It didn't take long before the entire block was unisonly aglow in orange... Magical! Add to that those big old giant sycamore trees dropping their massive leaves. As you walked down the street in costume your feet would cause them to rustle.
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2003 When being a baker
was a costume for Aaron age 8 |
It was a sound so loud that you heard it up and down the block and a sound that remains so clear in mind even after all these years. Add to that all the voices of the kids. The street was a giant wave of costumes and no cars drove down the block that night. It was all foot traffic by the hundreds. We used to give out 400 pieces of washington cake before closing our door that night, so "foot traffic by the hundreds" is correct. Then we have to add to that the neighbors on the block. They would be waiting at their doors or sitting on their top steps ready to greet you with candy. My kids probably remember the candy, or maybe they remember the set of steep steps it took to reach the candy.
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| 2003 Eli (2yr), Richard, Cheryl, & Jean |
But, I remember the greeting. The neighbors were genuinely excited to see the kids and their costumes. It took a while to make it down the block because there was conversation that went with the candy. I didn't know all the neighbors as I didn't grow up on the block, but all the neighbors knew us and my kids. Haegele's Bakery sat on the corner of the block exactly as it sits today!
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| The Haegele’s 2025 |
Those popcorn ghosts that I hang in the window are well over 40 years old. We had a customer who was moving away and she actually gave us her whole bin of holiday window ornaments because "Haegele's still uses them". The clown costume I'm wearing in a few of these pictures was made by my mother-in-law Jean who wore the costume first.
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2025 The next generation dinosaur
August age 1yr |
It was nearly 50 years old when I last washed it and it never recovered. So I became a witch! Jean also made the original dinosaur costume and the dalmation! All three of my boys cycled through those costumes over the years. When Amy and Auggie arrived to the bakery as dinosaurs this year, the hands of time catapulted back years in my mind. As Auggie sat on the counter and stood at the cases looking at the cookies... I could see his father. I had to go hunting in albums to find these pictures but they came to the forefront of thoughts that day... no hunting required... it was clear as day! And just like that 30 years flies by, quicker than a witches broom!
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| 2025 Josh, Colleen & Lily |
After closing up the bakery on Halloween night, I drove straight to my son Josh's house to catch my grandaughter Lily as Elsa. With no time to spare, I stayed in my witch's costume. What a surprise little "Miss Elsa" got when I arrived... "MomMom's a witch", and so I was for a day! Course you might just see that hat on me again next year. Better yet, maybe you'll see it on Lily one day if she stands behind the counter. History does like to repeat itself at the bakery, now doesn't it? Thank you Barnett Street for years of Magical Moments and 62 pumpkin lampposts that stood watch like soldiers on Halloween night!
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| 2025 Who says work is no fun? |
Magic
On Barnett Street
Posted 11/8/25
