After 37 years, Blue Heron Bakery set to move

Blue Heron Bakery, an Olympia baking institution for 37 years, is set for a new adventure, wanting a newer building, more room and a place where customers can sit and eat, longtime owner Evan Price said this week.

In addition to those needs, the business also has to move.

The new adventure keeps the business in west Olympia, but it will move from its Mud Bay Road address to a new building at 4419 Harrison Ave., which is next door to Jay’s Farmstand and not far from Kaiser Road.

Blue Heron is set to open there in March, but a fundraising campaign to help with moving costs and new equipment is underway, Price said.

That effort, which seeks to raise $20,000, was launched last week on the crowdfunding site Indiegogo.com. It so far has raised about 10 percent of its goal; the campaign ends Dec. 15.

And even if he doesn’t raise the total amount, the business will still relocate.

“No two ways about it, I have to move,” Price said. He explains in a video on the Indiegogo site about the challenges with his current property.

“We were told about five months ago by the Department of Health that despite the fact that we’ve had no bad water samples, our well is going to be de-certified,” he says in the video, forcing a decision to either move or close.

“We’ve decided we’re going to move,” Price adds.

Price, who first started working at Blue Heron in 1988, then became a partner to the business and then sole owner, acknowledged that some people are going to be sad and will miss the “funky” Blue Heron.

But he said the business will be more than it is today, with plans to offer fresh, fast and healthy meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner, in addition to everything that the bakery is known for: all-natural pastries, croissants, cookies, bread, granola and biscotti.

Longtime customer Sue Patnude of Matlock, who has been visiting Blue Heron since 1977, added that the current building is old — it was built in 1942 — and needs work.

“It’s time,” she said. “It’s time to move and I think the community will support him.”

In addition to the 30-plus years in business, Blue Heron also was a founding member of the Olympia Farmers Market, Price said, and sells its products locally to the Olympia Food Co-op and the Ralph’s and Bayview Thriftway stores.

Its granola, called Rebel Crunch, is widely distributed, he said.

“We’ve been active in the organic food movement ever since it began,” Price said, with organic grains, fruit and sustainably grown flour.

And that has always been the case at Blue Heron, he said, wanting to be “natural before it was fashionable.”

“The food we choose affects the world we are creating tomorrow,” Price said.

One of customer Patnude’s favorites is Blue Heron’s chocolate beet cake.

She also appreciates how the business over the years has employed students working their way through school, including her son.

Price said he employs about 16.

“I love the atmosphere there, and I love the people,” Patnude said.

This story was originally published October 24, 2014 at 5:00 AM with the headline "After 37 years, Blue Heron Bakery set to move."