Orcas Brown Bear Makes a Return as a Bakery

by Lin McNulty

The Brown Bear Baking owners and bakers at last in charge of the twists and turns. Photo: Cara Russell

The story of how the new Brown Bear Baking, at Main Street and North Beach Road, came into existence has at least as many twists as a cruller.

In March of 2013, Ben and Megan Kaufman, the previous owners of Wildflour Bakery, on a whim, listed their bakery for sale on Craigslist as they were looking to move back to Montana.

Meanwhile, David Ellertsen and Lee Horswill, residing in Las Vegas and working respectively as an architecht and creative director had been scouring the internet for months looking for a bakery to buy. They made visits to various bakeries in Las Vegas, New Orleans, Springsfield, MA, Guerneville, CA and  Seattle, but did not find the perfect match.

Within two days of the Craigslist posting, David and Lee made the decision to visit Orcas. Lee had visited Orcas 15 years prior so had some idea of what the island was like.

They came to the island on March 31, and immediately began work measuring the premise, David utilizing his architectural skills to come up with a design and layout. They spent the remainder of their first visit walking the village, including the labyrinth at Emmanuel Episcopal Church, where nearby they looked out at East Sound and agreed “this is it,” David recognizing it was not unlike the Norwegian fjords of his ancestors.

Feverishly long days of up to 18 hours were then dedicated to preparation for a July 4th opening.

On Sunday morning, June 30, going home after one of those long, grueling days, their vehicle left Channel Road in Deer Harbor and landed upside down in the water. David was able to kick the driver’s window out and escape the vehicle. When he surfaced, however, he could not find Lee so he re-entered the vehicle  to extricate him. They were further assisted by citizens who heard the crash. According to the press release from Sheriff Nou, David administered a “bear hug” to Lee to expel the water he had inhaled and return his normal breathing. Lee was airlifted to a mainland hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

The irony of the quoted “bear hug” from the Sheriff was not lost on the couple, as they had already picked Brown Bear Baking for the name. One of those Orcas coincidences?

And just where did that Brown Bear Baking name come from? Despite the alliteration of Brown Bear Baking, they had previously, in their research, located on-line a story about a woman on Orcas in the 1800s who had a brown bear cub she walked around town on a leash. It seemed another perfect fit!

Although they didn’t make the July 4th opening, they and their employees have managed to bring a wonderful new addition to the concept of what Orcas Island is.