Winter Holiday Opening!

 

If it's on the board, it's official!

So let me tell you about the holiday opening that almost wasn't...

Bill and I have gone full circle a few times since closing after Thanksgiving and just yesterday had settled on a definite "no". We even changed our voicemail. (We aplogize to anyone who called.)There has been so much to consider this year (we won't bore you with the details... we all know what's going on).

Bill and I have been isolating. We're still isolating which, for us, means no family gathering, no get-togethers with friends, no joyful holiday celebrations. 

No opening.

We were having our morning coffee this morning and watched a car pull up to the house. They read the sign in the window "See you in May" and we both felt our hearts drop as they pulled away. 

That did it. May is a long way off. The Little Tart's Holiday opening is our tradition and for our own sense of normalcy (that's a word right?) more than ever, we have to keep this tradition alive. We're going to make some baking!

'kayso, if you happen to be in or around Haliburton this holiday season we sure hope you'll drop by. (Our covid protocols will still be in place.)

Have a wonderful week!

The Season That Almost Wasn't

From the season that almost ended before it began to the end of our season. What an emotional rollercoaster this year has been. Bill and I have always said we bake for our lives because our lives depend on it. Never has this been more true than this year.

Call it adaptability, tenacity or just plain old stubbornness but, against the odds, we’re still here and looking forward to next year whatever it may look like. Not a single day has gone by since we opened our doors in July that one of us hasn’t said “we’re so fortunate”.

We have always known that what we do doesn’t matter if no one comes. We can fill the store with tarts and treats but it’s just a store full of tarts and treats until you come through the door. Nothing we do matters without you and when we reflect back on this summer, as we often do until the next season begins, it won’t be covid-19 or masks or restrictions that we remember but rather how fabulous, cooperative, generous, kind, patient and overwhelmingly supportive everyone has been.

We will be here next year because of you and that is what Bill and I are most thankful. It has been an absolute pleasure and privilege to bake for you this year and we are looking forward to baking for you again next year.

We love you and we’ll miss you so please be safe, stay healthy and come back to see us again. ❤

Thanksgiving Weekend Hours

The frost is on the pumpkin. Brrr!

A Summer We Won't Forget

I usually start thinking about this post about two weeks before the season ends. Bill and I discuss what we want to express and I try to put it in words. Nothing about this summer has been “usual” and we’re taking a break to let the words flow.

From the time we decided to open until now and going forward, all our attention has been hyper focused on “Can we keep ourselves safe? Can we keep the people who come through our door safe?” and “How do we make sure the people who come here feel comfortable that we’re doing both of those things?”

We knew this would be a huge responsibility but until we opened the doors we didn’t comprehend the weight of that responsibility. Every summer we have our usual stresses; Will people come? Will it be busy enough? Is the baking our very best? Will the oven and fridges hold out? Can we stay healthy enough to keep up? And so one and so on… 

This summer add in covid-19, social distancing, masks, disinfecting, signage… so much disinfecting, so much signage We entered our season and carried on with one thought in mind… we have to get through to next year.

From opening day through today has been absolutely phenomenal. The summer of 2020 will be a summer Bill and I will never forget. The kindness, generosity and full cooperation of everyone who came through our door has overwhelmed us. We lost spring, our summer season was shortened and we don’t know what fall will bring. We decided this year’s success would not be based on revenue but rather on whether or not we would survive the summer, have a fall season and be able to open next year.

Bill and I agree that 2020 is already our most successful year! We have made it through the summer season, are ready to begin our fall season and are already looking forward to our 13th year beginning in May of 2021!

Thank you to everyone who visited us this summer. Thank you for your cooperation and understanding. Thank you for lining up in the sweltering heat and the driving rain. Thank you for your patience and your tolerance. (I almost made it through without the waterworks.) Thank you for your overwhelming support, for helping The Little Tart survive our most trying year. Most of all… thank you for your trust.

We love you dearly.

Please stay safe and healthy so we can all come out the other side of this together.

Summer Hours

Finally... We're Opening

Welcome to the new world!

Please keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times. Buckle up and hold on tight as we navigate the twists and turns of this uncertain terrain. It’s going to be a bumpy ride!

Over the past few months we have received an outpouring of support and so many suggestions to keep our little shop alive. We appreciate all of you and you and yes… even you (you know who you are).

There has been so much to consider. If you thought of it, so did we and even when we thought we had taken everything into consideration… something else would present itself.

We are opening on July 3rd.

To keep our operating costs down we will open Fridays through Sundays straight through to Thanksgiving. Now please bear with me as I explain how we came to our decision and what the plan is…

We want to open as close to normal as possible (which truly isn’t normal at all, but we’ll work with what we’ve got) so let me preface this by saying; we have never been all about the bottom line. Sure, keeping the doors closed and taking orders would be easier with no loss incurred. We have always said that whether you purchase a dozen tarts or just a tart or two, you matter to us. That’s not lip service. Orders would require a minimum amount which would mean those customers, and there are a lot of you, who arrive for a tart or two (some once, some regularly) would be left out. There would be no need for our sign on the road which would mean losing potential new customers exploring the area. It would mean missing out on the social interaction we look forward to every year. 

No chit chat, no banter, no music, no laughter, no smiles.

Uh… no.

(Also, on that note, our prices remain the same as last year).

‘kayso… on Friday July 3rd at 10am we will open with social distancing safety measures in place. We will be allowing one person (or two from the same household) into the store at a time. There will be signage and everything will be marked. A face mask or covering will be required inside the store.

Bill and I will be wearing a mask for your protection. We have heard both sides of the mask argument and we ask that our little business not become a battle ground for mask vs. no mask. When you enter our store, you are also entering our home. We wear a mask out of respect for you and to keep you and those you care about safe. We ask the same of you. We are simply doing what we need to do to keep our business running. Hand sanitizer will be available for use inside the store.

Are we going to make mistakes? Probably. Are people going to be annoyed with us? Definitely. Are we going to offer the same quality and care we always have. Absolutely!

Please be patient with us. I say this again… unprecedented. We have stressed our way through the past few months thinking only of how to stay safe, keep you safe, and keep The Little Tart from becoming a casualty of covid 19.

Thank you so much! We can’t wait to see you again!

Summer Season

"Unprecedented"

That's the word that keeps coming to our minds as we continue to cautiously navigate through this pandemic. In unprecedented times it's difficult to know the right thing to do. On a personal level, Bill and I have been doing everything we've been asked. We have isolated, we only go out for essentials and only when we can't make do with what we have and when we do go anywhere, we wear a mask a gloves and practice social distancing.

On a business level, we recognize that we are not essential. We feel that postponing our opening has been a show of respect and support to those who are. We don't want to encourage others to do what we won't and in that way we don't contribute to overburdoning the already over stressed and exhausted workers who keep essential services operating.

In my last post I explained the financial reasoning behind our postponing; we have to protect the business by not incurring costs we're not sure we can recover. Having said that, the Victoria Day long weekend approaches. We have struggled, stressed, and lost sleep (lots of stressing, lots of sleep) in making a decision about when to open again.

Now we've come full circle... unprecedented... so no matter what decision we make, it's going to feel like the wrong one. But we have to make one.

More than anyone, we want to get our business operating again. Bill and I are The Little Tart and this business means everthing to us. The only thing that means more is each other. The indecision of when to open again was driving us both insane. In the immortal words of the Fonz, "It was driving us nutso". Considering all factors (health, safety, financial, logistics) for peace of mind we had to pick a date and decide to stick with it.

We have decided to focus all our efforts and resources toward a summer season beginning the first weekend in July. As I've said many times before, we don't make any decisions lightly and with this decision we hope to turn our negative stress into the excitment of anticipating our opening.

In the meantime, the store is ready and we have taken on some necessary projects that we never manage to find time for before our season begins.

We're so sorry if this decision dissapoints but it is made with love for The Little Tart, for each other and, of course, for you.

Please stay safe and healthy. ❤