For DeLaney Bracy, every whoopie pie is part business venture, part family tradition, and part love letter to the grandmother who taught her to bake.

Carrie Jones

just now

The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Geddy’s.

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SOUTHWEST HARBOR—When DeLaney Bracy first decided she wanted to sell baked goods, she wasn’t sure exactly what she wanted to make. Cookies were everywhere. Cakes were difficult to store. Then, during a drive with her mom, the answer came to them: whoopie pies.

“I’ve always loved to bake and I give my grandmother Barbara a lot of credit for that. She always involved me in what she was making and although she passed away in 2017, I find that baking is one way I can carry her with me,” Bracy said.

It was a fitting choice for someone who learned to love baking alongside her grandmother. Baking is a way to carry that relationship forward.

“I love that they are a true Maine staple. You can be really creative with the flavors and not many people sell them,” she said.

Bracy’s always been motivated and wanted to start her own business.

“When I was 13, I made my own bumper stickers and magnets of Mount Desert Island and I loved selling those but just sort of grew out of it as I got older,” she said. “My parents have always been really supportive of all of my big dreams and projects so they definitely play a huge role in all of this!”

Now, with her seven-week-old baby, Ryder, at home, DeLaney is baking several times a week, filling a bright pink wagon with homemade whoopie pies and building a small business of her own.

“I try to do all of my baking while he is napping so when he’s awake I can give him the attention he needs!” she said.

Bracy, who works as an educational technician at Pemetic and is currently on maternity leave, fits her baking around Ryder. On baking days, she may be in the kitchen from morning into the afternoon, trying to have fresh whoopie pies ready for customers the same day.

“This can make baking days an all day event, but it’s super fun for me! I try to bake and then have my whoopie pies out for sale on the same day. If I finish baking too late in the day, then I just put them out the next day in the afternoon. Right now I bake anywhere from 2-4 times a week to keep up with the demand of orders and being able to keep my wagon stocked,” she explained.

DeLaney’s Whoopie Wagon is still a new venture, but the response has already been amazing.

“It was terrifying to start! I was so worried that nobody would be interested in my whoopie pies and that they wouldn’t sell, but I was so wrong! I feel really grateful that people are loving them,” she said.

She really was just so wrong. Instead of no one purchasing any, orders have come from coworkers, family, friends, and customers stopping by her roadside locations in Southwest Harbor and Ellsworth.

“My favorite part of the business is experimenting with new flavors. I’m currently tweaking a biscoff cookie recipe and I look forward to sharing it hopefully this week or the next!” she said earlier this week.

It’s out today.

“My family is super supportive. I actually sell whoopie pies out of my parents lobster shop at their house in southwest harbor and my mom is basically my unpaid marketing assistant,” she said. “As far as shoutouts go, my mom, Suzanne Bracy and dad, Jimmy Bracy, are my biggest supporters! Also, my boyfriend Isaac sees all the behind the scenes and is always willing to help me, whether it be packaging whoopies or being on baby duty!”

They aren’t the only ones who have been supportive.

“My coworkers are super supportive and I’ve had a lot of orders from them! Even though I’m out on leave, I still stop by to see my students. I’m so passionate about the work I do with them,” she said.

Bracy’s pies are so good that they were gobbled up at the Acadia Chamber of Commerce’s open house with enthusiastic whoopie pie lovers carrying them to others like prizes.

“You have to try these,” one man whispered.

“Whoa. Amazing,” another man said.

You can typically find those whoopie pies at two sites.

The business’s signature pink wagon parked alongside the road was intentional. If she was going to call it DeLaney’s Whoopie Wagon, she said, she needed something more memorable than a folding table on the side of the road. Pink—her favorite color—became the obvious choice for the wagon and the branding. She’ll be taking the wagon with her to holiday markets this season.

Bracy’s two-year-old brother, Tripp, is already one of the wagon’s biggest fans—he insists on having a whoopie pie every day.

For DeLaney, though, the business is about more than selling a Maine favorite. Every time she bakes, she says, she gets a little piece of her grandmother back.

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All photos courtesy of DeLaney Bracy.

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LINKS TO LEARN MORE

Locations:

6 Gotts lane, Southwest Harbor and 16 Graham Way, Ellsworth

Facebook page where you can check out the hours, which will be changing in October. You can also order there.

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