For our fourth annual Feast of Macrina celebration honoring our staff, their families, and our community at Macrina we encouraged everyone to wear wigs. Why not have a little fun? So on July 14th we closed our cafes at 2, just like a bakery in Italy does to honor a patron saint, often the whole town for that matter. We gathered at a beach in Lincoln Park to celebrate St. Macrina’s Feast Day (For you sticklers, her actual feast day is July 19th). St. Macrina was known for working to improve the quality of life for people in her community, my kind of gal, and why I found her so inspiring when naming my bakery. But it takes more than a patron saint to run a bakery and Macrina wouldn’t be what it is today without the talented, hard-working team we have. With silly wigs on our heads, we feasted on amazing food and laughed a lot. There were scavenger hunts, a balloon toss (a great way to cool off in the hot sun, as many discovered), and a prize for the best wig. When I opened Macrina in 1993, we had a staff of six and could celebrate in a backyard. Now we need many tables and acreage at a park. It’s been so much fun watching the bakery grow, and I am honored to be able to celebrate and feast in honor of St. Macrina with so many great people.