by Thaddeus Flint
The Stephentown Elementary School property has been sold to Stephentown cheese making company Four Fat Fowl, it was announced at the December 20 Berlin School Board meeting.[private]The Board had been in discussion regarding the sale since October. The District has yet to announce the details of the sale.
The Stephentown property, closed in 2009, had previously been the subject of an offer in June 2015 for $35,000.
According to meeting minutes, the Board will be looking into making sure that some bronze wall plaques in the building are preserved. They, along with similar plaques at the Grafton Elementary School building, also closed, are expected to be eventually rehoused at the High School/Middle School in Cherry Plain.
Willy Bridgham, owner and Head Cheese Maker, and his sister Josie Madison, Business Manager at Stephentown’s Four Fat Fowl cheese factory said they hope to open their new factory probably in September in the building that formerly housed the Stephentown Elementary School. The sale of the property has been brewing for quite some time and Willy joked that they had expended so much energy working around obstructions and getting the sale completed that they just hope to have enough energy left to get the building renovated and ready for cheese making. Actually he said they are optimistic that they have found a good contractor who has experience recently in constructing a creamery that Bridgham and Madison toured and were pleased with. Work is expected to begin in March.
Bridgham and Madison said Stephentown has been a good location for them and for their business. The cheese has taken off. Their St. Stephen triple cream cheese has won medals for artisan cheese at the New York State Fair – a silver medal in 2015 and a gold medal in 2016. St. Stephen was also a finalist in the Specialty Food Association’s 2016 sofi ™ Awards for cheese and sales have been better than they expected. They are wary about moving too fast and happy that growth has been good but gradual, about a 38% increase last year.
Madison said that they had reached a point where they can’t make enough cheese in their current building. More space is needed especially for aging the cheese. In the school building they will initially be using a little more than half the total space, but that is about twice what they have available now. The new plant will also accommodate some new equipment they plan on purchasing soon. Brigham said they have discussed adding a new product to their line, maybe a wash rind or a blue cheese, That’s for sometime down the road, not in the near future, but the new location will make that possible.
Madison said that when they do open their new factory they plan to have an open house for the community. She would also like to hold other fun events for the community in the old school house.
Stephentown Town Supervisor Larry Eckhardt says he is glad to hear that Four Fat Fowl has closed on the sale. The Town Board had heard that the sale was nearing completion and all members were enthused about the company staying in town and expanding.
“We need to retain all the businesses we can,” Eckhardt said. The Supervisor noted that of all the refreshments that were served at the Board’s end-of-year Reconciliation and Organizational meeting held on December 28, the highlight enjoyed by all was a wheel of Four Fat Fowl’s St. Stephen triple cream cheese. [/private]