Vince Lalonde is an artist. A bicycling enthusiast.  A quintessential greeter.  And a whirling dervish on the business scene.

He owns and manages Mount Bakery, a highly-popular downtown destination in Bellingham for not only baked goods, but creative quiche and sandwich and soup offerings. Mount  Bakery entered August on the move – about to open an additional locations, for baked goods only, in Fairhaven. The shop opened during the last week in August.

Taking over the space formerly held by Fairhaven Pizza on Harris Avenue, Mount Bakery delivers baked goods from the downtown café kitchen to Fairhaven, making it "basically a bakery and coffee shop,” Lalonde said.

FROM 1ST 'OUTSIDER' TO OWNER

Seated at a table in the entry room of the downtown shop recently, Lalonde reflected on where Mount Bakery has been on its way to where it’s going in expansion. "I was the first non-family member ever hired here,” he recalled.  The staff then was husband, wife, daughters – the Vrambout family.

Lalonde’s role? "The ‘other guy’.”

Translation: whatever needed to be done outside of the kitchen. "I’m not a baker,” Lalonde emphasized. For several years, he said, he worked at the bakery interspersing hours with his painting in a studio above the electric/radio museum diagonally across the street. (Several of his originals adorn the walls of Mount Bakery, and this day he was wearing a T-shirt with a bicycle design that he created).

Then, the family elevated him to manager. About 18 months later, the Vrambouts moved back to their family roots, Minnesota, and sold the bakery to Lalonde.

He expanded the site and the menu. "We were on a block that was known as Death Row. Nothing had survived in business here. And then with us, and Temple Bar, and Black Drop (coffee shop), the neighborhood thrived.”

Recently, the Pickford and a Woods Coffee new location added even more bustle to the block. Lalonde kept growing Mount Bakery, adding a dinner menu four nights a week this summer. What once was known for creative Belgian-styled baked goods and Belgian waffles now draws raves for its full-size meals.

All the growth created a pinch on the place. Limited seating, a cramped entry, and a kitchen much too small for the demands. "Our new location will allow us more seats and less pressure on the equipment and staff in the kitchen,” Lalonde said.

THROWING BLOCK PARTIES WITH PICKFORD & MUSEUM

During the Tour de France  storied bicycle race, two weeks of wheeling through the French Alps, Mount Bakery and Pickford teamed to show the televised event on the new screen on Bay Street. Sometimes that started as early as 4:30 a.m. "Some days we nearly filled the theater,” he said.

Next, on August 20, he is teaming again with the Pickford and with the Museum of Electricity and Radio for "Bellingham Bike-In.”  Bay Street will be closed off, a beer garden will be set up, and bicycle-related films will be shown.

Lalonde referred to "Show ‘n’ Shine” as an event to show off vintage and custom decorated bicycles. It has a Facebook page.

Just one more activity to keep him constantly moving.