By Rachel Galvin
At the grand opening of the Blooming Bean Coffee Company on Sept. 10 at Bailey Contemporary Arts (BaCA), guests listened to live entertainment, drank free coffee and bought pastries, cookies and more.
“Our pastries are made by local culinary artists and include vegan, gluten-free and sugary treats,” said owner Rick Stephenson. “This has been my wife’s [Sharon] vision for years. We wanted to create a place where you can bring kids to participate in the art or music while mom is enjoying coffee.”
Before it had its own location, Blooming Bean Coffee was working with the city of Pompano and serving up coffee at local events, green markets and at BaCA.
“For 20 years, I knew I was going to do this,” said Sharon. “I just didn’t know where. It is about bringing the community together.”
Proceeds from the locally roasted coffee locale help to stop child trafficking. They contribute financially to organizations like Hepzibah House and There Is Hope for Me. They want to go into the community and teach people about this problem and also mentor young people, girls especially, so that they can learn entrepreneurial skills and be able to stand strong (and not succumb to bad influences and peer pressure of those who may want to harm them).
“We want to captivate [the young girls’] hearts and help them find their passion, tell them they are of value,” said Sharon.
Also at the event, artist Steven Mikel was in the other room creating sepia-toned paintings made with coffee, both realistic and abstract. He mixes coffee with water and cooks it down until barely any water is left and uses that as his media. He either paints with it or he will paint it across the canvas and use a twisted wet T-shirt to pull coffee off. (www.stevenmikel.com)
Blooming Bean is located within Bailey Contemporary Arts [BaCA] in the Old Town Arts District in Pompano Beach (41 NE 1 St.). For more information, call 954-295-2225 or visit www.bloomingbeancoffee.com.
