Pomeroy resident Bee Vacca started out with a career in information systems for a company that contracted with the NASA shuttle program. But 10 years after leaving her tech job to be with her husband as he retired, she has traded computers for cakes.
Every Wednesday and Saturday, the 55-year-old owner and creator of Heaven's Oven sets out for the Athens Farmers Market to sell a variety of baked goods. She began baking goods for sale in October.
When I was a kid
she said reminiscently, nobody told me that I could do what I love for a living. I loved baking back then but I didn't know that it could be a career.
I wanted to be able to cook but I also wanted some way to have an audience. Vacca uses Athens Farmers Market as a way to test her products.
Depending on the day, Vacca is one of 15 to 65 Farmers Market vendors, a number that continues to grow, said market manager David Gutknecht.
At her stand, customers find a variety of cheesecakes, cookies, breads and coffeecakes. Gourmet cakes sell anywhere from $2.50 to $3 per slice, or $18 to $23 for a whole cake. Her most popular product, an Italian cr+
who is my motivation.
Vacca spends about 10 to 15 hours a week creating new products and making old favorites, with help from the Appalachian Center for Economic Networks, a non-profit business development organization that offers kitchens for Vacca and others to use.
Paulette Halliday, who works at ACEnet, describes Bee as a very cheerful
very loving and kind person who bakes the most fantastic cakes.
For other baking entrepreneurs, Vacca has one piece of advice: Love what you are about to do because it is a lot of work.
Vacca plans to expand her cooking to casseroles and salads for summer, in addition to selling her cakes at a local restaurant and taking orders.
Athens Farmers Market takes place at the University Mall parking lot on East State Street. It is open year-round from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays and Wednesdays during those hours from April through November.
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Stefanie Toth
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This past cold and windy Saturday morning at the Farmer's Market, Bee Vacca, owner of Heaven's Oven, smiles and holds onto the white tent that covers her beautiful and delicious cakes and other baked goods.
