“It’s a disaster for the community,” our friend Mike said this morning. Mike lives north of Seattle. He has a place here on the Peninsula that he gets to infrequently — especially at this time of year. And, when he says “community,” he’s referring to the entire Peninsula and maybe even a bit beyond.
What he was talking about today was the closing of Bailey’s Cafe in Nahcotta. In the short time that we’ve known — we learned of it on the 10th; the last day was the 13th — we’ve heard the same outcry over and over again. “The end of an era!” “It won’t be the same without Jayne’s.”
Jayne Bailey
And in answer to my own lament, Jayne wrote: It happened quickly, going in circles, trying to be out by end of month. We will take a couple of months to re evaluate. Thanks for the thoughts..its been bittersweet…so many memories..so much hard work.
Our community, of course, includes all the part-timers and visitors and incidental tourists who have “discovered” and “adopted” Bailey Cafe over the years and have felt about it as if it existed for them, personally. Yes! We all know the feeling. I don’t think we have experienced such group distress since Nanci and Jimella sold the Ark back in 2003.
J
ayne opened her cafe next to the Nahcotta Post Office three years later — in 2006. It filled a huge void at the North End — an emptiness food-wise we hadn’t even known existed. There are more eating places now… but no place quite like Bailey’s Cafe. I’ve read and re-read the note she sent — “re-evaluate” stands out. Is that a hint that there might be a new incarnation? We can but hope.
I feel foolish to have been shocked when Standford’s across the country started closing. Hardly a nostalgic landmark, but a place to get soup on a rainy afternoon. Feel for your loss.