November 6, 2012

To Our Dear Community,

After three years of hard work, two years of false starts (and finishes), and one year of imminent transition . . . we have arrived! The moment has come; the successful ownership transition is but hours away. And the two of us are left with more emotions than our weary hearts and bodies quite know what to do with.

GRATITUDE. That one is easy. Gratitude for the mythic devotion and wisdom of the Co-op board members. Gratitude toward our staff for their excellence, commitment, and patience during this long and hazy transition. And gratitude to each one of you for walking through the doors, sharing your lives, supporting the Creamery with your purchases, showing up when we've needed help, asking for help when you've needed a hand, and being a cherished daily presence in our lives.

We don't know what our lives will look like in another month or two, but we DO know there is a space in our hearts that you, our Creamery community, have filled with love; we know we will deeply miss all of you; and we know we'll be around and will continue to see you all. We'll even have time to sit in the café and visit for a while!  

We are so very excited about the future of our beloved Creamery. Our general manager, Karen Doherty, brings expertise, wisdom, and humor with her. The renovation will address so many of the requests and suggestions we received from you all in our 2011 survey. The responsibility for the Creamery will be shared by many hundreds of owners. And we'll receive support and guidance from other co-ops all over the country.  

We've had many adventures with all of you. Births, deaths, parties, fires, storms, coffeehouses, tastings, films and lectures, holidays, birthdays, cooking classes, festivals, joyous times, sorrowful times. We've been a part of each other's lives.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for being a part of our lives these past twelve years. We look forward to seeing you when we have a bounce to our step, a twinkle in our eyes, and of course a smile and a hug.

With Gratitude,

Alice and Amy

P.S.: We don't know what we'll be doing after our rest time, but if you'd like to continue to hear about our future projects and interests, please reply to alice@oldcreamery.coop and ask us to add you to our email list. There will certainly be notices of cooking classes, dream groups, and other as yet unknown adventures. We'd love to keep you in the loop, so let us know if you'd like to hear more.