Life & Styles

Dick’s Bakery looking to sell, stay in business

By CHASE J. GILROY Staff Writer

The owners of Dick’s Bakery, brothers Richard and Andy Baker, are looking to retire and sell their business to new owners after 30 years managing the family business.

The Bakers have been working at their father’s bakery since they were in their teens and have followed in their father’s footsteps ever since. Now in their 60s, the Bakers are looking toward retirement, and hope to sell their location on 70 Front St. to people who are willing to keep the “Dick’s Bakery” name, and who can be taught to prepare their family recipes such as their signature date and nut cake.

“I’m hopeful. I would like this to be our legacy,” Richard Baker said.

Bryanna Feagler, a sophomore with an undeclared major, said she has fond memories of the bakery and is happy that the business will remain.

“I think it’s really great that they’re selling, but still keeping the business alive,” Feagler said. “I feel like that’s something that would be very important to people in the county.”

The two brothers are only beginning the process of selling their business and do not expect an actual transition to begin, let alone finish, for at least another few years, according to Cheryl Baker, Andrew Baker’s wife and an employee at the bakery.

“They’d have to stay and teach someone, you know?” Cheryl Baker said. “It’s an art … so they’d definitely want someone to continue all their products.”

Dick’s Bakery is one of the oldest running shops on Front Street, having been there for the last 30 years. Although, prior to its establishment in the 1990s, the family had been running the bakery in a different location opened in the 1950s under the management of the Baker brothers’ father, Dick Baker. The family-run bakery has been supplying BW students, as well as other members of the surrounding Berea community, with the Baker family’s recipes ever since its relocation.

Feagler said she has fond childhood memories of the bakery, including stopping there for cookies with her mother after her brother’s guitar lessons, and her own birthdays.

“When I was growing up, probably since first grade, she would almost always go to Dick’s Bakery to get my birthday cake,” Feagler said.

By ALEX MINYARD

Contributing Writer

While Baldwin Wallace University has taken steps to support gender nonconforming students, such as giving them the option to change one’s preferred name and add one’s pronouns onto Canvas, according to some students, those steps have not led to fully feeling safe within the campus community.

Senior Hazelyn Smith and sophomore Charlie Schalk both said they have experienced microaggressions on BW’s campus. Microaggressions are statements, actions, or incidents of indirect, subtle or unintentional discrimination against members of a marginalized group.

Schalk, who uses they/them pronouns, specifically said that they often are given dirty looks for correcting people when being misgendered –or referred to using incorrect pronouns – on campus.

Schalk once overheard someone in Ritter Library referring to the genderinclusive bathroom with a slur directed at transgender people.

“It immediately took me out of studying," Schalk said. “I felt unsafe.”

Hazelyn Smith, who uses both he/him and they/ them pronouns, believes that most people aren’t even aware that they are making these harmful comments. “Cisgender people usually don’t realize because they aren’t as focused on gender,” Hazelyn Smith said.

Contrastingly, Kaitlin Smith, a sophomore who uses she/they pronouns, says that she has experienced people on campus purposefully misgendering her when the person is upset with them. While there are specific places or groups on campus that make many gender nonconforming students feel safe, there are some places or groups that cause the students to feel more uncomfortable.

Schalk said they feel less safe in the Lou Higgins Rec Center and around the baseball team and the men’s lacrosse team. Hazelyn Smith said they have their guard up around male athletes, business majors and certain fraternities.

Sophomore Rachel McElwain, who uses they/ them pronouns, says that they are just careful when in new or unfamiliar environments, but they don’t necessarily feel unsafe.

Schalk and Hazelyn Smith both expressed disappointment that there are no gender-neutral bathrooms in Lou Higgins Recreation Center and that there are only gendered areas for students to change. Hazelyn Smith also noted the lack of a genderneutral bathroom at Malicky Center for Social Sciences, which is the building that houses their major.

Kaitlin Smith suggested ways that could make students feel safer and more comfortable on campus: to correct people when they use incorrect pronouns for someone and to not be defensive when you yourself are being corrected.

“Misgendering on accident happens, just move on and be respectful,” Kaitlin Smith said.

Similarly, Hazelyn Smith said that students should use the right name and pronouns for their peers and that they should ask if they are unsure instead of just guessing. He also wants to see more inclusive language and activities on campus from their fellow students.

Schalk urged students to be more open-minded toward their peers.

“Respect them, even if you don’t understand,” Schalk said.