There are tributes — and then there’s the extra sweet offering served up in memory of a prominent community member by Bigfoot Donuts for May.
Every month, the business comes up with some special concoctions to go alongside their regular repertoire of doughnuts, but on their Facebook page on May 1, they noted they’d made something a little different this month: a doughnut with a back story.
They have put together a maple walnut Pershing doughnut in honour of their friend Wayne Bradley, who passed away in early April. There’s a little plaque in front in the display case.
“Maple was his fave, and maple walnut was in our starting trio in May of 2017,” the post says. “We weren’t able to have one last doughnut with our friend, Wayne, so this one’s for him and for everyone to raise a doughnut with us in celebration of a life well lived!”
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Bradley was a member of many community groups, supported many causes and served as a school trustee. He was a founding member of the World Community Development Education Society and was a key organizer with the World Community Film Festival. Through these efforts, he connected with coffee farmers in Nicaragua, and World Community was able to bring fair trade coffee to the valley.
Bigfoot’s Lyndsey Bell and Jay Valeri say this is not the kind of gesture they can do all the time, but in Bradley’s case, it was not just a way to remember a prominent community activist but also a friend to the business, who had a hand in lining them up with their coffee from day one.
“We had to do something,” Valeri says.
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Bradley was a supporter even before opening day, and they served a maple walnut in their first month of operations in 2017 because it was his favourite. Since it opened, he would visit regularly and bring friends with him to have coffee and talk about the news of the day.
“He was one of the first customers who’d bring in a crowd,” Valeri says.
Bell adds Bradley was really with them from the start and remained a good friend.
“He was here like twice a week,” she says.
Appropriately, the doughnuts will be supporting a cause. Bigfoot will donate 10 per cent of the proceeds from the sale of the maple walnut Pershings in Bradley’s honour to a local organization chosen by his partner Janet. The money will help LUSH Valley Food Action Society, which works to promote food security throughout the Comox Valley.
“She said LUSH Valley was something they were both supportive of,” says Bell.
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