Residents of the Boone area ventured to Stick Boy Bread Company on Tuesday for Free Cookie Day, where 3,480 cookies were given away to celebrate the local family-owned bakery’s 13th year of being in business.
“It has been a great 13 years and we still love what we do,” said Michelle Bollman, manager of Stick Boy.
The bakery, which is located adjacent to Appalachian State University’s campus on Hardin Street, has given away cookies in celebration for their anniversary every September. It bakes artisan breads, breakfast pastries, wedding cakes and various desserts, including cookies, according to stickboybread.com.
“We are blessed to live in a wonderful community that has loyally supported our business since day one,” Bollman said. “We love sharing our baked goods and making people
smile, so once a year we do it for free.”
The bakery made 3,700 cookies Monday night in preparation for the event. Bollman said the company’s German oven with five stone decks can hold over 400 cookies at once, but that the company realistically bakes approximately 150 at a time throughout the day.
“We mix the cookies ahead of time and scoop them so they are ready to bake,” Bollman said. “Just for the cookies we gave away [Tuesday], we used over 100 pounds each of
butter, chocolate chips and sugar.”
Senior music performance major David Marvel has been coming to Stick Boy’s anniversary celebration every year since enrolling at Appalachian.
“A great local business like Stick Boy celebrating its birthday is really awesome because they’re giving back to us,” Marvel said.
Bollman said the company is always happy to give back to the community.
“Seriously, I think our cookies are great and people like eating them, especially for free, but hopefully it is more than that,” Bollman said. “Hopefully Free Cookie Day at Stick Boy is an event that creates community and shared joy bigger than the 3,700 free cookies. Seeing groups of students, local friends and long time customers hanging out eating cookies, laughing and smiling is what makes it special to us.”
Story: Casey Suglia, Intern A&E Reporter
Photo: Carson Hager, Photographer