Tombler's Bakery Reopens After Fire

For most local bakeries, the Tuesday before Lent -- AKA Fastnacht Day -- is a big deal. 

But at Tombler's Bakery in Glendon, Tuesday was a much bigger deal than usual.

It was the bakery's grand reopening following a 2011 fire that destroyed its Industrial Drive building, and owners Karen and Skip Drake had a lot of people to thank.

Customers. Firefighters. Builders. Zoning officers. Temple Covenant of Peace, which donated temporary space. The Easton Farmers' Market, which organized a benefit to help the bakery.

"I cried for weeks after the fire," Karen Drake told several dozen people gathered outside the bakery for a ribbon-cutting. "Not because of the fire, but because I was so overwhelmed by the e-mails, and the letters, and the donations..."

The fire happened on July 16, 2011, destroying the 25-year-old bakery famous for its pasties, a baked pastry typically filled with meat, potato and onion. 

Skip Drake said there was never any question about rebuilding.

"I said 'We can't very well leave town. We better put the business back together,'" he told his guests.

Although based outside Easton, Tombler's has pretty strong roots in Easton, including its involvement with the farmers market.

Mayor Sal Panto went as far as to call Karen Drake "the heart and soul of the farmers' market," noting that she helped hold it together during some of its leaner years.

She shrugged that off. They had moved forward then, she said, and they'll move forward now.

The bakery's grand reopening will continue through Feb. 20, with hours Tuesday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.