Labadie's Bakery in Lewiston
There’s a lot to love about Labadie’s Bakery in Lewiston, Maine. This sweet shop has been located on Lincoln Street for nearly 100 years. It was launched by an immigrant who arrived by train from northern Canada. Odilon Labadie built his new business in the shadows of the textile mills and tenement housing. The neighborhood was nicknamed, “Little Canada.”
Mill life in Lewiston belongs to a past era, but some things don’t change. Labadie’s Bakery is still family-owned and operated with third-generation, Fabien Labadie, now at the helm.
The Labadie Family
Manager Dawn Emond served as tour guide during my visit. She has been working at Labadie’s over twenty years. One of her favorite aspects of the job is hearing customers reminisce about their childhood memories of stopping by the bakery. Folks still come by to grab a coffee and a freshly baked goodie. The taste hasn’t changed because the establishment continues to use the same recipes from 1925.
By far, the bakery’s claim to fame is the not-so-humble whoopie pie.
This blog is written primarily for Mainers, but since those “from away” also frequent the site, some explanation is necessary. I’ll have Labadie’s provide the official whoopie pie description: “Two moist chocolate cake batter shells stuffed with a generous heaping of sweet cream.”
This is a much bigger deal than one might assume at first glance.
For one, the whoopie pie has attracted an unusual amount of media coverage in recent years. Part of this is due to the controversy over the treat’s birthplace: Pennsylvania or Maine? No matter the origin answer, it is undisputed that Labadie's Bakery was the first in the country to sell whoopie pies on a retail level.
Another reason the chocolate and cream combo made it to the news headlines was due the following bill introduced in the Maine State Legislature in 2011: An Act To Designate the Whoopie Pie as the State Dessert.
Not even kidding. That was a real thing. And it became controversial because it set the stage for the whoopie pie to knock the blueberry pie off its first place pedestal in the dessert category.
Not to worry, our lawmakers in Augusta were able to reach a compromise and resolve the issue. The Whoopie Pie is now Maine’s Official State TREAT. And the blueberry pie — which is actually a pie — remains Maine’s Official State Dessert.
Labadie’s ten employees make sure there is no official state treat shortage. They bake every weekday starting at 2AM. On an average day, they produce 300 dozen whoopie pies, along with mountains of cream rolls and donuts. Yes, the math works out to about a million whoopie pies a year!
If you’re looking to snag one for yourself, you can head over to the shop in Lewiston or find some of the baked delicacies in stores all over New England. Online ordering is an option through the Labadie’s website which is appropriately named whoopiepies.com. You can even find whoopie pies in Marden’s, but don’t worry — the ones displayed there aren’t surplus or salvage, but made fresh for this giant retail customer.
I’m on a mission to visit every town in Maine. Check here to see if I’ve featured yours yet: All The Visits.
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