It’s the day after Remembrance Day in The Village at St. Clair in Windsor, and Christmas has exploded along Main Street. This is the first of a series of mid-week Christmas bazaars the Village will host, where neighbours (residents) come together with outside vendors to sell and trade gifts and baked goods in the lead-up to the holiday season.
Wayne is sitting at a table filled with boxes of butter tarts, trays of rosemary-infused focaccia and a large framed photo of one of his specialties – a decadent pecan cheesecake he can make to order.
The cheesecake photo draws visitors in, and he explains that as much as they might want it in the moment, they’ll have to place an order and give him time before they can enjoy the rich desert. In the meantime, the tarts move fast and the stack of focaccia loaves dwindles.
When Wayne moved into the Village in January, he carried a mixture of uncertainty and necessity with him. His physical limitations meant he could no longer stand at a stove, and living independently had become difficult. He had been staying with friends in Northern Ontario, but with his two children living in Windsor, the distance weighed on him.
“I didn’t want to be away from them anymore,” he says simply. That pull brought him south and into long-term care – a move he admits he wasn’t eager to make. “I certainly wasn’t looking forward to it,” he acknowledges. Being younger than most residents only added to the challenge, and the transition wasn’t easy.
He was looking for something he could focus his energy on and baking – something he first explored in his early twenties – was a spark that came to mind and his neighbourhood’s county kitchen was calling.
“I was looking for something to do,” Wayne says, and when the Main Street markets started taking shape, “somebody suggested I should sell at the market, so I thought, well, that’s an idea.”
He began experimenting with recipes, tweaking versions he found online until they were just right. Butter tarts, cheesecakes, and more started filling the small kitchen area, and soon enough, Wayne’s table became a familiar stop for residents, team members, and families. Word spread quickly.
And with that, something shifted.
“Now that I started doing this, I have a lot more enjoyment here,” Wayne says. “I like doing this, and it keeps me busy.”
The work isn’t without its hurdles. Because he can’t stand for long, he relies on team members for help, at times, and he’s always mindful that they’re supporting many residents at once. But even when progress is slow, the purpose he’s found is steady.
“It’s the only kind of cooking I can really do now,” he says, “but it’s enough.”
Enough to spark joy and enough to remind him that even when life takes unexpected turns, meaning can always be found in connecting with others, especially over trays of delicious baked goods as the festive season approaches.
