Stacy’s Sweetstuff sees support

Twenty-four hours before RAGBRAI cyclists would start filling the streets of downtown Newton on July 27, business owner Stacy Grams found out her bakery, located half a block west of the town square, was not featured on a map showcasing the lists of vendors and restaurants available to guests.

The owner of Stacy’s Sweetstuff — which has been in business for almost nine years — said in a Facebook post that garnered more than 100 comments from locals that she was hurt and disappointed. While her shop does not have set hours, she does remain open for every community event.

“I’ve spent so much time and hours preparing for this,” she said in the post. “My intentions are not to bash anyone I’m just pretty hurt.”

Stacy’s Sweetstuff opened in 2015, and since that time Grams has offered cookies, cakes, brownies, cake balls, truffles and the like at the shop. Although her exclusion from the map did not stop her from opening during RAGBRAI, Grams was still upset to not be featured, given her tenure in the community.

“I’m involved in the community, and just being left out made me feel like I didn’t matter,” she said. “I try to do what I can for the community. At Thanksgiving time I’m open for the courthouse lighting and do a lot of things like that. I guess I just didn’t know why I wasn’t put on there.”

In response, the community reached out to Grams and expressed their support. Other businesses in the area also offered poster boards and other signage to entice riders to her store. Performance Sign & Design, of Newton, even surprised Grams with a sidewalk sign with the bakery’s logo printed on the front.

“It’s been a huge help,” she said. “People have said they can see the sign and the balloons on them. It’s so cool we can help each other as business owners.”

Newton News met with Grams the day of RAGBRAI, and she said about 60 customers had walked through her doors by noon. A lot of the hungry cyclists really enjoyed the monkey bread she had prepared in small tins, which had filled the bakery with a lingering aroma of cinnamon.

Also available to riders were fresh-spun cotton candy and snow cones, which were advertised on the brand new sign from Performance. Despite the rocky start to the day, Grams was happy her candied creations were popular with the folks who strayed from the beaten path, and she was thankful for their support.

“We’ve seen quite a few people,” she said. “A couple of the guys came for snow cones and said they were going to taunt everyone with them, and then a whole bunch more came in and we had to shave a bunch more ice. We’ve had to replenish our brownie cups. They really liked our sugar cookies and cake balls.”

Sweet-toothed cyclists left the shop happy, and so was the storeowner behind the counter. Even though Grams was hurt, the town and the out-of-towners still showed up. To know customers had her back and even showed up the day of RAGBRAI to help her business was a good feeling for Grams.

“And it was amazing to see the online response of so many people messaging me,” she said. “There were over 100 comments but I also got texts and calls, and people reached out on Messenger and Instagram. People saying they were going to come see me today to support me made me forget all about it.

“…It’s just nice to see people come together to support you through the good times and bad.”

To spread the good vibes even further, Grams delivered extra sweets to officers of the Newton Police Department and Jasper County Sheriff’s Office.

“I sure appreciate what they do and their part they played in RAGBRAI and keeping us safe!” she said in a post about the donation.