Keven Bingham operates the “Glen’s on 3rd” food trailer that serves as a pop-up mobile storefront from which he sells baked goods to the masses. This small business is the most recent incarnation of a long-standing community institution known to locals as “Glen’s Bakery”.
“I have folks from all faiths and political affiliations who come,” Bingham told Redwood Voice.
”Cookies are not political.”
According to the original business’s Facebook page, Glen and Rachael Young opened Glen’s Bakery and Restaurant in 1946. This downtown diner was well known by locals for its small town mom-and-pop charm, and beloved for its display case of tasty treats including fresh donuts and scratch-made cookies available for purchase to passersby. Ray and Roberta Young ran the diner from 1964 to its closure in 2009.
The community broadly expressed delight when plans surfaced for the diner’s rebirth in 2014. That’s when long-time Del Norte resident Keven Bingham purchased the business with intention to re-open. Unfortunately, the costs associated with modernizing the facility to meet health code standards hindered efforts to bring the former glory of Glen’s Bakery and Restaurant back to life.
Enter the food truck trend.
In spite of the bureaucratic obstacles that impeded progress on the location’s renovation plans, Keven Bingham’s mobile bakery offered an alternative option to fill the cherry-icebox-cookie-shaped hole in Del Norter’s hearts.
Bingham’s business would go on to set up shop at various vendor locations around Crescent City, most often in designated spots nestled alongside the stretch of northbound Highway 101 that runs through town.
Locals’ love for this small business runs decades long and defensively deep. So much so that Crescent City Manager Eric Weir found himself fielding phone calls from concerned community members earlier this year when Bingham posted on Facebook about the possibility of losing his spot in the parking lot of the Jedediah Smith Shopping Center on M street.
This small town lore set the stage for a perfect storm of community conflict Saturday when Bingham’s business found itself blocked by hundreds of individuals gathering to participate in the local manifestation of the nationally organized “Hands Off” demonstrations against the policies of the Trump administration.
The proprietor took to Facebook expressing concern about the potential revenue loss, and asking for community support with sales. Predictably, the social media-era keyboard warriors emerged in full force, invading the comment section and expressing their displeasure with the situation in less-than-civil ways.
“When I posted about it, it was meant to just be, you know, freedom of speech is our constitutional right, but let’s all be cognizant and courteous of small business,” Bingham told Redwood Voice.
“I pay to be here, I have to have insurance, I have to supply that to the fairgrounds…you have to have a permit,” Bingham explained.
Saturday’s local “Hands Off” rally attracted an estimated 400 protestors, according to Lupe Gutierrez, local organizer and Vice Chair of the Del Norte Democratic Central Committee.
The community conflict cookie concern was raised during the “Coffee and Conversation” debrief hosted at Del Norte Democrat HQ after the rally.
“Yeah, he lost business,” said Kevin Hendrick, chair of the local Democratic Party. “At one point he was in the middle of the line, and I told him that I would work the line and ask people to stop by and buy cookies, but then he moved further down the line, which made it even harder for people to get to him. But we didn’t know. I mean, we didn’t ask permission. But you know, we’re Democrats. We don’t ask for permission to exercise free speech as a rule,” Hendrick insisted.
“You can legally protest on any sidewalk, I understand,” Bingham told Redwood Voice.
“I’m not opposed to protest; I’m not opposed to freedom of speech. But you know, you had almost 3-, maybe 400 people here – just an estimation. The parking lot was full,” he continued.
“People were friendly, you know, if you were on their side, or point of view. But to other people who were driving by who did not…there were a lot of obscenities and hatefulness to the ones that weren’t aligned with their political ideology. Freedom of speech, like I said, isn’t a partisan issue. If you’re going to protest and stand up for your constitutional right, just at least be courteous to people who are working trying to pay their bills,” Bingham pleaded.
When protest participants at the Democratic HQ debrief learned of their impact on bakery business, they immediately began opening wallets and taking up a fund in an attempt to reimburse Bingham for his permit fees and lost sales.
Kevin Hendrick met up with Keven Bingham after the event to deliver $150 and an apology.
Keven Bingham announced this resolution to his “Glens on 3rd Bakery Cafe” Facebook page, and ultimately decided to delete the initial post due to all the negative comments it attracted.
“There is room for everyone in our Great Country to get along,” the Facebook post stated. “Can we get along? I think we can.”
Perhaps this small town story illustrating expressions of empathy across the aisle can serve as a model for community conflict resolution. In this internet era of hyper-polarization and hateful rhetoric, maybe, JUST MAYBE, cookies can create a common ground on which we will all stand, united.
Cookie Monster could not be reached for comment.
