Monday, December 07, 2009
No Santa, but we have baked goods and peanuts
Tom Angleberger
The New River Valley-based reporter answers your questions Mondays in his column, What's on Your Mind?
Recent columns
Readers, you don't want me to have a blue Christmas, do you?
Then I need your help. Last week's call for information about the Crossroads Mall Santa display that featured real, deceased, flying deer has turned up zilch. Don't tell me the reader who posed the question imagined the whole thing!
Of course, sometimes these things take a little time. Last year I asked for a picture of the Heironimus Store decorated with a huge bow. The picture just rolled in a few days ago.
But I don't want to wait a year to hear the details about this wild Crossroads setup. Surely someone knows the details. Surely someone took a picture. C'mon, folks, help us out here. If you have anything -- even a dim memory of a stuffed whitetail with a red nose -- send it in to woym@roanoke.com or call 777-6476. (By the way, I'll be happy to hear your memories of any other slightly odd or offbeat Christmas displays.)
Thankfully, I had better luck on the question about Michael's Bakery and its memorable Christmas treats. In fact, I hit the jackpot, hearing from Jimmy Michael, the grandson of the bakery's founder.
"The bakery was started by my grandfather, Walter C. Michael, in June 1906 and closed in June 1986," he wrote in an e-mail. "I am proud that after 23 years Michael's Bakery is still remembered as having the 'greatest pastry items.' "
The bakery was on Williamson Road. For a time, the pastries and breads were also sold in Crossroads Mall.
Jimmy Michael was the president, treasurer, secretary and specialty decorator. He remembered how the special Christmas treats shaped like Santas and snowmen were created.
"They were made in small pumpkin molds. Then baked and covered with a fondant icing (glazed icing). After that they were decorated by my niece, Patty Hite, and me."
He also recalled one particular Christmas Eve at the bakery. The last Christmas Eve before the shop closed.
"Our bakers hand made 2,200 dozen ham and tea biscuits. That was not enough. They were all sold with people waiting for more."
People may have lined up for Christmas biscuits, but they were buying their daily bread at the supermarket.
Things had changed, Michael explained, since the days when his grandfather's fleet of delivery trucks had taken bread to Roanoke homes. Meanwhile, Michael's children had found other callings.
"The bakery hours are long and the problems are many," he wrote. "It was a sad day when we closed, but I don't miss the long hours, the federal, state and local inspections and the other daily problems in running a business."
There's another Roanoke treat that's still going: Agnew's Peanuts. Jeremy Hartsel wrote in to tell me that the roaster is still roasting after more than 100 years.
"Even though Agnew Seed is now closed, the original peanut roaster was retained by the family," he explained. "Peanuts are fire-roasted in the circa-1894 roaster and sold in half-pound bags ... under the name 'Old Forge Roasting Co.' "
They can be purchased at Roanoke Valley Printworks, Country Crossing market in Roanoke County, Eagle Foodmart and Hartsel Auto Shop in Hardy, The Floyd Old Country Store and at some Mac Tools and Snap-On dealers.
Next week, I'll have answers about Triangle Park and acrylic socks. I'm still looking for information about the daring person(s) who perched an angel high up near Hanging Rock and that large, vacant building on U.S. 52. (Turns out it may not be a mill, even though it has a waterwheel.)
Got a question? Got an answer? Call Tom Angleberger at 777-6476 or send an e-mail to woym@roanoke.com. Don't forget to provide your full name, its proper spelling and your hometown. Look for Tom Angleberger's column on Mondays.
