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connecticut

Emily Knapton

Mark Sudol

MarkMainSt6a89_2024-08-09-06-21-27

Well, this week we're heading out on main Street, Connecticut on a Friday. This week, showcasing all our local communities have to offer today. We're in dry and news. 12, Connecticut's Mark. Sudha is at uncle's Deli on the post road with more, Mark. Now, Becky, before you go walking away, clicking there on your high heels. I need to show you something that they have hanging up here at Uncle's Deli. It is when Jack's father who we're gonna talk to was on the exchange. This is in the eighties. Uh Look at, look at Rebecca Saran with David Smith here on the exchange. I thought this was a great picture to share with you, Becca. What do you think? I love it. I remember and say hello to Rob for us. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Well, we're going to introduce you to uh his son, Jack Williamson is here with us this morning. Thanks so much for being with us. Thank you. Of course for coming by. I appreciate. Yeah. So what almost 38 years in business? Your father started this. You told us a great story about why people commit you. You've made some great relationships. Yeah. So my dad's obviously been doing this a lot longer than me. And, uh, you know, it's nice because doing it 37 years we get to know so many generations of families. Like, I know a couple, I know some kids that have gone off to college or some kids that have gone into high school and it's nice and everything like that. I mean, my dad has known people that have had like, kids, they had grandkids and it's awesome. People come in all the time being like, oh where's Uncle Rob? It's like he used to, he used to work with me at this place and it's like, oh, is Uncle Rob still here or? They're like, hey, where's the big man? So it's, it's really cool to, you know, get to be a part of Darien for so long because we get like an entire families. Yeah. And you know, 6 a.m. you open? Um who are you getting at this hour? 6 a.m. I mean, most of the time people coming at 6 a.m. are either the guys that are going into work real real early. Uh Guys hopping on the train into the city or you know, just your average girl that couldn't sleep that late. So he's coming in because he's like, I need coffee and I need breakfast. So what are they coming for at this hour? Well, they're 100% coming for coffee because everyone needs coffee this early and then usually like a bacon egg and cheese, triple, double sausage, egg and cheese, something nice and good to get the way going. So now to talk about relationships that you go with your customers, this is a cool thing that they do here. They celebrate people's birthdays. Now I'm gonna share a little secret with you. Uh My birthday is actually two weeks from tomorrow. So I'm gonna put on the birthday hat. Now, what do we do when they put the, when they put the hat on? So give us the bell when you come in and you let us know it's your birthday. We always try and a, take a picture and b you get the full blown birthday bell and we always try to say happy birthday, happy and, and look at this. Look at this. Oh, please. Thank you, Becky. Hit a home run with this place. We're gonna be uh, at the Nature Center in our next hour. Um, I'll see you in a little bit. All right. Where did you get a bacon egg and cheese? So good. Not bad. Oh, yeah. Look at how thick that baby. I'm very jealous. Triple, double. Oh, double. Oh my goodness. All right. We'll let you enjoy that.

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MarkMain St7a89_2024-08-09-07-26-48

And we're heading out to Main Street, Connecticut on Friday this week, showcasing all that our local communities have to offer. Today, we head to dry Ann where News 12 Connecticut's Mark. Sudal is at the Nature Center on Brookside Road, Mark Good morning, Becky. Yeah, the big kid that I am. Most kids, they wanna see the animals, right? So we got over here a couple of owls who who blinking and luna. You got a couple of frogs here including uh Kermit the frog and there's a whole bunch of amazing animals here that you need to see. And we have some amazing ladies who are joining us this morning as well. So nice to join us. We have Diana Megan and Alicia. I knew I was gonna screw that up. Um So first of all, I know that you're closed right now uh for construction opening up later this month. Um But you rely on fundraisers. Tell me about that. Yes. So the da and Nature Center is a treasure in our community. We provide hands on experiences in nature, nature based Education and sustainability awareness. And we rely on the support of the community to support all of our programming that's to care for the animals, to care for our building. We have construction going on right now. Um And to support our fantastic teachers. And so the most fun way we think to support this amazing institution is through a fundraiser that's coming up this fall in October called Fireside. And yeah, it's so, yeah. So, Fireside, we're in our seventh year of hosting this event at the Nature Center. It really is an extraordinary event. Um It has evolved over the past seven years and it's really like, it's a wonderful way for the community to get together and to see everyone, you know, have some cheer and camaraderie. Um It's on October 19th. It should be a great time. It's in the fall. So there's cozy blankets and apple cider dancing bonfires. It should be a really, really good time. Wow, you guys do a great job here. I mean, it's such a great place for kids. Uh We thank you so much for being here this morning and, you know, Becky, they even have arm coma, coma, coma, coma. Kee. Uh Look at this. Isn't that cool? Look at this guy. He's got his own little uh nature spot here with uh I guess that's a little steam or something blowing on. Kind of a cool guy. I mean, you know, now I'm not allowed allowed to hold any of these animals. God forbid, I probably like screw something up here. But um, it's, it's, it's a great time, come check it out, end of the month when they're back open again and please, uh, support them. They do some great things here. Yeah, they really do. It's a nice resource for kids and families to take advantage of. Thanks so much.

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MarkMainSt8a89_2024-08-09-08-25-42

And we're heading out to Main Street, Connecticut on this Friday showcasing all our local communities have to offer today. We had to dry and where news 12 Connecticut's Mark Sud. All he is at flour, water, salt bread Bakery on Grove Street, Mark. Oh, Becky, they've been open for just a short time this morning and already the line is wrapped around and headed out the door and you know, they say on Saturday it's even, it's even worse. They're waiting out in the, in the plaza out here and, uh, just all the goodies. So you can see behind the counter there. I mean, if you love carbs, this is the place to be. No question about that. I'd like to introduce you to the man behind all this success. And that's, uh, Rob Van Ken. Thank you so much for being with us. Happy to be here. You've got a great story. You were in business and then you decided to start making bread, right? Yes, tell us about that. So it was, I worked in finance on Wall Street for about 15 years. Uh, ended up getting laid off from a finance job and took a trip to India, came home, brought a, bought a bread book and the rest is kind of history. Yeah. I mean, tell us about some of the great things you have here. Yeah. So, um, we, we're known for the sourdough bread. Um, we have a full line of pastries, cookies. Uh, Bomb Boloni. Um, a lot of these are a kind of an ode to my childhood desserts. Like the coffee cake. I grew up on men here, the cinnamon rolls. I grew up on the Pillsbury Grands. So we do our icing with a orange cream and, uh, oh, and then tell us about Thursday night. You do kind of something special. Yeah. So Thursday nights we do, uh, Neapolitan style pizza. It's Byob. We've got the whole courtyard out here. We do, uh, spring salad, five or six different kinds of pizza. Uh, that we do hot bombon ice cream sandwiches and so we sell out of them 430 to 730. Now you become so bakey, I guess you have to do the baking somewhere else. Correct? Yes, that's weird. Yeah. So we do all of that in Stanford. We've got a 6000 square foot facility in Stanford, um, that supplies this store, a few select wholesale accounts and our retail store in Greenwich. Wow, it is fantastic. We have a lot to offer here and you wish you all the success. What a great little business you've got here. Thank you so much. Yeah. Uh, if you're in the area, if you're in dairy in, uh, we've been in some great places today. I mean, Saturdays, well, maybe Saturdays you don't want to come here too early because they're gonna be a line wrapped out the door. But, you know, the rest of the week is gonna be great. Becky. I mean, I know, you know about this place, I'll try to see if I can get you a loaf of bread before we go. Oh, I love that. You know, I love my carbs. All right, Mark. Thanks so much.

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Main Street Connecticut: Showcasing the best of Darien

News 12 is checking out all of the best summer spots in Darien.

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