By Liz Gordon-Hancock
Bluffton Farmers Market is the place to be on Saturday mornings in town. According to the Bluffton Area Chamber of Commerce, our town "boasts the best farmers market in northwest Ohio." 

In celebration of our small but mighty farmers market, the Icon will be featuring a market vendor each week over the course of the summer.

This week's feature vendor is SugarCreek Baked Goods.

SugarCreek Baked Goods is run by the three bright, young faces of Keaton Halker, age 19, Allie, age 13, and Annie, age 12, with Keaton as the frontrunner (and driver) of the business.

This is their first year of selling at our farmers market. SugarCreek Baked Goods specializes in gluten-free baked goodies, such as cinnamon rolls and cookies.

"I have a passion for making delicious gluten-free food, mainly driven by my family, of whom many are unable to consume gluten." said Halker. "I feel as if food should be able to be enjoyed by anyone and everyone, regardless of health concerns."

Although their mom helped with the initial recipes, the youthful trio are the sole bakers and sellers. They offer cinnamon rolls, banana walnut cookies, butterscotch pretzel cookies, chocolate chip cookies, monster cookies, zucchini bread, chocolate peanut butter cupcakes, and soft pretzels (see pictures below).

SugarCreek Baked Goods use Pamela's flour mix, which has no dairy, no nuts, no salt, no leavening, no corn and no soy. It's a mix of gluten-free grains, which has a better texture and enables much more versatility than single-type flours, such as rice or potato.

"We strive to create gluten-free baked goods that taste just as good, if not better, than normal baked goods." says Halker.

When asked if they mind getting up early every Saturday to come to market, they just shrug and smile. Unlike other bakers at the market, they do their baking on Fridays.

You can place an order via their website or by calling 419-996-8687. SugarCreek Baked Goods is based at 21718 Road 13, in Columbus Grove.

You'll find them every Saturday at the market, promoting a gluten-free menagerie of tasty wonders (but you might want to go early, because these goodies sell out quickly).

About the Bluffton Farmer’s Market
This story is part of a summer series on Bluffton Farmers Market vendors. The market is open each Saturday through the end of October from 8:30 a.m. to noon in the Citizens National Bank parking lot, 102 S. Main St. For vendor information, contact Greg Probst, market director, at [email protected].

Next week's vendor featured will be Muddy River Homestead.