How a Block of First Avenue Became Sandpoint's Bakery District, and How to Spend an October Morning There

"People are so funny, they're like, 'Oh my gosh, the battle of the bakeries,'" Abby Stolfo told the Sandpoint Reader this summer, shortly after opening The Cakery on First. "But everyone has been so kind."

The "battle" she means is on one short stretch of North First Avenue near Cedar Street. Bluebird Bakery holds the corner. The Cakery on First is two doors down at 323. Sawyers Bakery sits across the street at 320. The Reader calls the cluster a "bakery district," and in July it described both Sawyers and The Cakery as newcomers next to the long-established Bluebird.

Taste alone doesn't explain how it happened. Two things lined up. First Avenue storefronts came open, one of them after three decades with the same tenant, and the Sandpoint Farmers Market had already been producing bakers with loyal customers. Once you see that, Harvest Fest at Farmin Park on Oct. 17 reads differently. For several of the bakers you bought from on Saturday mornings, the end of market season now just means walking a few blocks to their shop.

Bluebird Came First, and Then the Storefronts Opened Up

Jill Severson's Bluebird Bakery, at 329 N. First Ave., held its grand opening on Oct. 31, 2019, after she secured the corner space at First and Cedar. It's known for sourdough, rye, croissants, Danish pastries and cinnamon rolls, and the Inlander's Best Of 2026 named it Sandpoint's top bakery.

The change came through two neighboring storefronts. Ward Tollbom announced that Hen's Tooth Studio, his bird-painting gallery and framing shop, would close at the end of 2025 after 30 years on First Avenue. Charlie and Donna Parrish, who had a storefront coming open when Tollbom retired, met Stolfo at the Farmers Market and told her about it. The Cakery on First opened in that space on June 20.

Across the street, Becky Sawyer moved into the old Image Maker space at 320 N. First Ave. She spent five years looking for a lease that would let her put in a kitchen. That detail explains why bakeries don't simply appear wherever a "for lease" sign goes up. Her family did most of the renovation. They tiled the floor, back wall and ceiling, painted, and hung the lighting and artwork, and Sawyer hired only the trades she was required to hire.

Sawyer's family has history on this street. Her great-uncle, Bode Kemmis, baked at Harold's IGA and at Haworth's Bakery, which stood just down the street from her shop. She says his maple bars are what started her love of baking.

The Farmers Market Has Been Training Bakers

Stolfo didn't arrive with a storefront and wait for customers. She sold at the Sandpoint Farmers Market starting in 2023, baking at first in a commercial kitchen she spent two years building in her detached garage, with her mother helping. Before that she worked as a professional food stylist. She told the Reader that Lay's packaging and the Williams Sonoma catalog are her work.

The same thing happened a few blocks away in the Granary Arts District. Sam Podmajerski was selling hundreds of sourdough loaves a week at the market when she met Emily Peilleron, who had spent a decade running a bakery in the Basque region of France. Before opening a shop, the two hosted quarterly Sandpoint Supper Club potlucks after hours at Evans Brothers Coffee. They opened The Granary General Store at 518 Oak St., across from Matchwood Brewing Co., earlier this summer.

So the market works as more than a Saturday errand. It's where these bakers learned what would sell and met the people who later handed them a lease. Sawyer took a different route, through years as a home baker, a 400-hour pastry and chocolate program under Amaury Guichon, and a stint as bakery manager at Winter Ridge. The bakeries ended up on the same block either way.

The Counters Don't Overlap as Much as "Battle" Suggests

From the outside, three bakeries on one block looks like they're competing for the same croissant customer. Their reported hours and menus split the week and the menu more cleanly than that. These are the hours the Reader printed this summer. Stolfo said in July that she might adjust hers, so check before you go.

By those hours, The Cakery and Sawyers are both open only Thursday through Saturday. On Tuesday and Wednesday, Sawyers is the only one of the two on that block. On Sunday, The Cakery is open and Sawyers runs only its tea service. Bluebird's hours weren't part of this reporting.

The Cakery's menu runs to banana cardamom cream cheese coffee cake, blueberry rhubarb butter crumb muffins and lemon curd pound cake. Stolfo describes them as "nostalgic baked goods that you want to eat." Sawyer's favorite thing to make is laminated dough, and she's been doing crème brûlée and pistachio croissant rolls. The Reader noted her shelves are often empty by afternoon, so go early.

Sawyers' tea program is the piece most worth planning ahead for:

• Afternoon tea: Sundays at 2 p.m., a three-tier sit-down service for 10 people at $49.99. As of early September it was booked into December.
• Cream tea: a bottomless cup of tea with a scone, clotted cream and jam for $10, available any time the shop is open.
• 28-Cup Society: $28 a year to hang your own numbered teacup on the wall, plus 28% off tea every visit.
• Classes: hands-on baking classes most Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., with sign-ups at sawyersbakery.com.

If the Sunday tea is booked through the holidays, the $10 cream tea on a weekday morning is the practical way in.

October Brings Two More Reasons to Be on First Avenue

The block's next new tenant isn't a bakery. Teascarlet Fine Art, which opened its original studio gallery in Bonners Ferry in April 2023 under artist Hannah Sucsy, holds the grand opening of its second location, Teascarlet South, at 300 N. First Ave. on Saturday, Oct. 10, from 1 to 4 p.m. The gallery describes itself as an accessible studio offering original art, prints, commissions and community events. The opening runs from early afternoon, so it pairs easily with a late pastry stop down the block before the 3:30 closings.

Saturday, Oct. 17, is the day all of this comes together. The Chamber's calendar lists Harvest Fest at Farmin Park that day, the Farmers Market's season closer with entertainment, food booths and displays. The Chamber notes that dates can shift slightly from year to year. That evening, the first Sandpoint Idaho Film Fest opens with a free film crawl that starts at Matchwood at 5 p.m. and runs until 11. A $10 afterparty at The Hive features DJ Lady Oda at 7 and Glizi at 9. The festival runs through Oct. 24, with screenings around town and a closing-night awards event at the Panida Theater.

Here's one way to spend that Saturday:

1. Get to First and Cedar when the counters open at 7:30, before the shelves thin out.
2. Walk to Farmin Park for Harvest Fest and the last market morning of 2026.
3. Head over to Oak Street for a Granary sandwich before it closes at 4.
4. Cross the street to Matchwood when the film crawl starts at 5.

The vendors closing up at Farmin Park that morning are where two of these storefronts started.

The Parking Rules Changed Since Summer

If you skipped downtown in July because of the parking kiosks, the rules are different now. On Aug. 4, the City Council voted 5 to 1 to remove the on-street kiosks in the downtown two-hour zone. On-street parking there is free again with a strict two-hour limit, and an overstay can bring a $50 citation. If a tea service or class will run long, you can add time by text, using the number on the signs, or through the Park Smarter app.

City-owned lots, including the downtown City Lot, City Beach and the Pend d'Oreille Bay Trail lots, are still paid by the hour or covered by the $20 city or $35 county resident pass. The same motion directed city staff to plan free resident permits for 2027, once the current $20 permits expire at the end of this year. The details will be worked out later. The city's own parking page still mentions kiosk check-in, so go by the posted signs on the street.

A two-hour stop is enough for a cream tea at Sawyers and a box from The Cakery. You'll need to move the car before walking to Farmin Park.

At Monique Thielman, we pay attention to which Sandpoint storefronts open up and who takes them over, because that's often the first sign of how a block is changing. If you own on or near First Avenue and want to understand what the new bakery district means for your property, let's talk over coffee at one of these counters. Start Your Waterfront Journey: Schedule a Consultation.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.