Packwood Grocery Store Gears Up for Modified Mother’s Day Tradition

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Inviting the Packwood community to decorate Mother’s Day cakes has been a tradition at Blanton’s Market for the better part of three decades.

On a typical Mother’s Day, Blanton’s Market would invite families to come to the grocery store and let the kids embellish a cake with icing and toppings to give to their mom for the holiday, store manager Jamie Deering said.

But this Mother’s Day — due to the coronavirus pandemic — is far from typical.

In order to carry on the tradition, a contingency plan was needed, Deering said, and the scheme Blanton’s Market devised is to give away 45 cakes and a bag of toppings to garnish it with for individuals who call in and reserve one to be picked up on May 6.

That way, kids will still be able to decorate a cake for their mother, but this year, it will have to be from the confines of their house, Deering said.

Lylia Christiansen, the baker at Blanton’s Market, said this year will mark her tenth year working in Blanton’s Market’s bakery and helping out with decorating Mother’s Day Cakes.

She said the cakes are an 8-inch round cake that will be iced by herself and will include a prewritten “Happy Mother’s Day” in icing on the top.



This year, the two kinds of cakes being given away are a red velvet cake and a chocolate cake. The bags of toppings will include sprinkles, gummy bears, chocolates and a wide variety of sweets.

Deering, who had only been working at Blanton’s Market for less than a year, didn’t know where the tradition came from, but said it was a longstanding one. She reckoned the only person who would have the answer to that question is Blanton’s Market owner Hal Blanton.

Even Blanton, who started working for the business with his dad and grandfather in 1981, couldn’t put his finger on exactly where the tradition started, but his best estimate was sometime in the early 90’s.

“I think that we probably saw it from some other place, we don’t always come up with original ideas,” Blanton said. “But we thought, ‘what a cool idea to do for kids,’ and then we just started doing it and it took off real well.”

Blanton said while it is a disappointment the tradition won’t be celebrated in its full capacity this year, he is pleased to see it will be carried on in 2020 in this modified form.

As of Wednesday, Deering said 10 cakes had already been reserved. If you would like to reserve a cake, call Blanton’s Market at 360-494-6101.