While The Chronicle just missed seeing the Mead Family Market’s “legendary Bunny Bigfoot” at the business’s inaugural Bunny Bash Easter egg hunt on Saturday, Rick Mead and his daughters — Katie Mead and Rikki Mead — did get the chance to talk about their business as they prepare to celebrate a first successful year.
Located at 8136 U.S. Highway 12 in Glenoma, the Mead Family Market first opened on May 25, 2024, according to Rick, who already owned the building but had been leasing it out to another business.
“It was a fudge shop beforehand, but she left and went to Montana. So it came up for lease again. I used to own stores in Florida, and so my kids grew up in stores,” Rick said. “And they said, ‘Dad, the store’s for lease, and we can actually work it now.’ So we decided to take it on, and here we are.”
“Me and my sister and my dad just decided to go in and start it,” Katie added.
Katie also thanked the community for its support for their first Bunny Bash Easter egg hunt.
“We pour into the community because they’ve done nothing but pour into us,” she said. “I can’t be more thankful for them.”
Over 100 families attended the Easter egg hunt, which also had remarkably clean portable restrooms provided free of charge by Trackside Sanitation LLC, owned by Daniel and Michelle Stotts, of Randle.
“They donated all of the facilities for the event,” Katie said.
Rick said prior to being a fudge shop, the building was the location of both Glenoma Grocery and Redmond’s Grocery.
Originally from the area, Rick and his family spent some time in Florida operating a number of businesses, but left following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010.
“Tourism in Panama City just came to a stop,” Rick added.
Having just been elected as the nearby City of Morton’s mayor in 2023, running the Mead Family Market with his daughters is how Rick stays busy when he’s not handling mayoral duties.
The Mead Family Market offers a variety of grocery items along with a full kitchen for freshly cooked food along with animal feed.
“It’s different than any store out there, because we sell animal feed. Our gas is our feed,” Rick said. “There’s just as many farm animals out here as there are cars. So instead of trying to put a three-quarters-of-a-million dollar gas station in here, I decided it would be better to do feed. We don’t have any kind of deep-fried food. We do everything home-cooked. You won’t come in here and get a corndog or anything like that, but you can come here and get a Philly cheesesteak prepared right on the spot.”
It also features a new walk-in beer cooler that has “the coldest beer around,” according to Rick’s customers.
He added they serve dinners and have a picnic area for people to dine on Monday through Friday from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Breakfast options are available in the morning.
The market is open from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week.
As for the animal feed, Rick partners with Kyle Deskins of D9 Farms Hay & Grains down the road on U.S. Highway 12 near Onalaska to source many of his products.
With the Mead Family Market’s one-year anniversary coming up, the Meads are planning on holding a celebration with a barbecue and raffle. Details will soon be announced on the market’s Facebook page.
To learn more about the Mead Family Market, follow the business on its Facebook page at https://tinyurl.com/2mna3333 or call 360-492-7017.
For more information on Trackside Sanitation LLC, visit https://tracksidesanitation.com/.
Crazy Mary’s Coffee Stand
Additionally, The Chronicle also got to meet Mary Snyder, of Randle, who held the grand opening of her new coffee stand — Crazy Mary’s Coffee Stand.
The coffee stand is located in a trailer in the Mead Family Market’s parking lot and is open daily from 4 a.m. to 4 p.m.
“We just held our grand opening today, but we’ve actually been running for about a month now,” Snyder said. “We also did our soft opening in January.”
Crazy Mary’s features coffee from the Madrona Coffee Co., a micro-roaster located in Tacoma.
“They’ve been roasting coffee for a really long time. The master roaster, Chuck, he’s a really great guy, and Joe, his partner, is a great guy, too,” Snyder said.
Crazy Mary’s also serves up Lotus Plant Power fruit and energy drinks.
A Randle resident for nearly five years, Snyder had never run a coffee stand before but has always had a passion for coffee and wanted to pursue the business opportunity.
“I love being in the business, and I wanted to do something for the community and decided this was the way to go,” she added.
Opening at 4 a.m. is one way she does that, as she wants to ensure many of the farmers and loggers already heading to work at that hour have fresh coffee if they want a cup.
For more information on Crazy Mary’s Coffee Stand, follow the business on its Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/CrazyMarysCoffeeStand.
