Now, before all of you non-Cleveland Browns fans put this down and refuse to read this narrative, today’ column is not about the young quarterback of the Cleveland Browns. Today’s piece is about the memories we all have, and hopefully can be brought back by closing our eyes and remembering the smells of what was sung in an old Pillsbury commercial, “Nothing smells lovin’ like something from the oven.” I’m speaking of the memories we all have of opening the door of our local bakeries and becoming intoxicated by the wonderful smells that emanated from those little corner baked goods’ shops in our community.

During my lifetime years in this community, I recall a number of bakeries, some my mother took me to from time to time, as we waited for mom to do whatever shopping she had to do in that little shop. In some of them, we were given a cookie as we waited for mom to finish her shopping in those places. As I am penning this narrative, just as it was walking through the doors of those houses of breads, cakes, cookies, and other delectable delights, I can almost smell again, the wonderful aromas of those bakeries, and almost taste the tastes of those amazing treats we enjoyed back then, bringing back so many great memories of childhood and adolescence.

We’ve had many great bakeries in our community. There was Billings Bakery, The Cake Shop, Jones’ Bakery, and Ecklof’s Bakery, which is still in operation. Who could forget Sandees’ Bakery, which has grown to be an amazing Catering business, and a lunch deli, and still makes their famous Meat, and especially popular Pork, pies.

There were, and are, the bakeries of our local supermarkets, Loblaws, then Belle’s. There was Rockman’s, Super Duper, Quality, now Tops, Farm Fresh, Walmart, and Wegman’s. There was the Bagel Shop, Mr. Donut, and now Tim Horton’s and the GypsyMoon Cake Co., all these places where the aromas of freshly baked, any or all of the following: rolls, cakes, pies, tarts, eclairs, scones, doughnuts, bagels, cookies, and, brownies, etc., tickle(d) our olfactory sense and excite(d) us for the treats we were about to enjoy.

There were probably many more places where you could get fresh baked goods back in my day, but these are the ones I remember best, the ones mentioned, and one local bakery that is celebrating its 100th Birthday in the City of Jamestown this year. This one had, at one time, the largest brick oven in this part of the country, maybe across the entire United States. I am speaking of Tilaro’s Bakery, which has been proudly a family operated business in our city spanning three generations of the Tilaro Family. What I remember most about Tilaro’s Bakery is their red, white, and green bakery truck making its deliveries, and the intoxicating aroma of their fresh baked bread. If you timed it right, at times you’d get a loaf fresh from the oven and we couldn’t wait to get home while it was still warm so the butter would still melt and seep through the entire piece of warm bread just before you ate it. Often times, the life expectancy of a loaf of Tilaro’s bread at our house was about a half an hour after we got it home.

Another memory I have of Tilaro’s bread was the wonderful crustiness of the bread, and when my brother and I would cut a hunk of pepperoni and stick a fork in it, hold it over the flame of our gas stove, heat it, and when it was just right, wrap that crusty, fresh piece of Tilaro’s Bread around it, and we’d savor that delicacy, which also got us in trouble, but we didn’t mind. You see, when you hold a chunk of pepperoni over a flame, the oils of the meat which make up pepperoni drip out, and it made the stove quite messy, and living up to the statement of the times, “Boys will be boys,” we enjoyed our Italian meat sandwich so much, we forgot to clean the stove, and usually got yelled at when Mom got home and saw grease all over the burner. The enjoyment of that sandwich though, far outweighed the scolding we got when we chose to make ourselves that delicious snack.

In a discussion with Sally, recently, I said that I hope to be able to live to be a hundred. It’s not an impossible dream, but likely an improbable one. It’s also kind of tough for the same business to not just remain in operation for a hundred years, but to be operated by the same family for a hundred years. I think, that’s what makes Tilaro’s Bakery’s hundredth birthday this year that much more amazing and impressive.

So Happy Birthday to Tilaro’s Bakery, and Congratulations to the Tilaro Family for letting the aromas of your wonderful baked goods, and for me, especially that wonderful crusty bread, escape and then emanate from oven to nose over those years I’ve been around to enjoy them. Thanks for being a part of those pepperoni sandwiches my brother and I enjoyed so much, even though they brought with them a scolding from Mom.

Nothing lasts forever, and I am sure at some point Tilaro’s will be touched by that sentiment, but if, and/or when, that happens, you and your family will have definitely made a lasting impression on the City of Jamestown, and many of us who enjoyed the fruits of your labors for so long.

Happy Birthday, Tilaro’s, and oh yeah, Go Baker Mayfield!! (Sorry, I tried hard, but just couldn’t talk this much about bakers without throwing in a shout out to the Browns QB.)