Cortland community rallies behind local bakery after owner cancels annual Fall festival
LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — The Cortland community is rallying behind a local bakery after it had to make a tough decision.
Paper Moon Pastries announced they are canceling their “Once in a Blue Moon” Fall festival this year.
The festival usually brings hundreds of vendors and people from across Nebraska together.
“We lost our house this year,” said owner Lindsey Oelling. “We get sponsors that will fund our bands and radio ads, but I fund through the bakery basically everything and plan everything. My husband and I organize the vendors, which we enjoy, but it’s just really hard to do when your brain is all over the place trying to figure out how we’re going to pay for a house.”
The devastating decision to cancel did not come easily for Oelling.
But after trying endlessly to find a solution, it was one that needed to be done to prioritize herself and her family.
“This is a happy place. I want to spread positivity,” she said. “I want it to be a place where people come and feel happy, and eat good food. We don’t talk about the crappy things people argue about all of the time. It’s a place to come get to know each other and hang out so having to be like ‘hey this thing I look forward to and I know everybody else looks forward to is no longer happening, and it’s for a deeply personal reason.’ I needed people to know we’re struggling.”
Instead of anger and disappointment from the community, words of encouragement flooded in on social media.
Dozens wrapping their arms around Oelling and making sure she knows she’s not alone.
That’s something she said feels just like the movie ‘It’s a Wonderful Life.’
“The message is no man is poor as long as he has friends. That’s how I feel. It’s overwhelming in a really great way. I never thought I’d be in this position, and it’s really nice to know that there are people out there who care and understand. It’s very supportive. People are going out of their way to be kind.”
