Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org
Surnames: Sigurdson, Dern, Brunette
----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI) 10/08/2020
Sigurdsons Bringing Bakery Back (2020)
Sigurdsons Bringing Bakery Back to Downtown Neillsville
By Valorie Brecht
After more than 20 years of having no bakery in town, Neillsville residents will once again be able to enjoy homemade treats from, a downtown shop.
Erik and Jenna Sigurdson, the owners of M&M Catering, decided to expand their business ventures into the baking arena.
“I got to baking as a kid with my mom,” said Jenna. “I cooked and baked throughout my whole childhood. I’ve always wanted to have a bakery business, ever since I was a kid. So, I knew eventually it would happen.”
And happen it did. Last Thursday, Oct. 1, was the opening day for the bakery, which Jenna has named Love and Flour Bakery. She said people can expect to see all the usual items they would find at a bakery on the shelves, like donuts, pastries, cinnamon rolls, coffee cake, muffins and pies.
“There’s a lot of family recipes used here,” she said.
There are also drinks available like coffee, milk, juice and water. People can also special order cakes or cupcakes. Eventually Jenna hope to sell fresh-baked bread as well. He is also in conversation with people from local grocery stores and restaurants about having her baked goods sold there.
The bakery is at 510 Hewett Street, the same location from which the Sigurdsons operate their catering business. The building has a lot of history, including being the site of Bast Bakery for many years. The building was erected in 1890 and is part of the National Register of Historic Places. According to information from the register, the building originally served as a meat and flour retail store.
From 1900 to 1920, the building was home to Bast Bakery. In the 1920s, Art Dern purchased the property and continued operating a bakery out of the location.
“Art Dern’s untimely death in the 1940s left the business in the hands of his widow, Ruth, who ran Dern’s Bakery until the late 1960s. Over the next 20 years the building had several owners who also operated bakeries there,” the Clark County History Buffs webpage explains.
In the 1990s, Mark and Merrill Brunette purchased the building to house their business, M&M Meats and Seafood. Over the years, they expanded their market and began catering for more businesses and events such as weddings and parties. The business also went through a couple name changes, to M&M on the Main and then M&M Catering. Jenna moved to Neillsville six years ago. About two-and-a-half years ago, she and her husband bought M&M Catering. Now, they felt the time was right to start a bakery business.
Erik and Jenna Sigurdson are excited to have opened Love and Flour Bakery at 510 Hewett Street, the site that was home of Bast Bakery from 1900 to 1920 and several other bakeries after that.
“We’re looking forward to bring something we haven’t had for 20-some years and to be able to offer homemade treats for people to enjoy at events and get-togethers,” said Jenna. “We’re trying to get downtown business going in Neillsville.”
With starting the bakery, M&M Catering will now be offering desserts and desserts for special events,” said Jenna.
For the first month, the bakery will be open weekday mornings with some occasional pop-up hours. Jenna said she hopes to eventually expand to being open on Saturdays.
For more information on the bakery, check out “Love + Flour Bakery” on Facebook.
Jenna Sigurdson adds icing to a donut, Neillsville’s new Lave and Flour Bakery offers a variety of sweet treats including donuts, Danishes, sticky buns and more.
From (l-r) Haddie Mathis, 3; Benjamin Mathis, 7; and Owen Sigurdson, 10 peer into the bakery display case while Erik Sigurdson waits behind the counter. Love and Flour Bakery opened last week Thursday in Neillsville.
Nancy Curtin/Clark County Press photos.
