Finding a sense of community at the Stage Stop Bakery

Pull off US 95’s dogleg alternate route on the edge of Yerington. The intoxicating scent of fresh-baked bread and doughnuts drifts through the Sunday morning mist.

It’s then you’ll know you’ve reached the State Stop Bakery, home of pastries and cakes, and a slice of genuine community.

It didn’t start out that way. More than five years ago, when Tom Talamante and Gustavo Novoa opened the bake shop with their friend, Gretchen Redwine, the Stage Stop catered to what appeared to be distinct and separate clienteles: The Anglo locals from around the farming community, and the Latino seasonal workers who came to Yerington each year to pick its incredible onions, garlic, and melons.

Redwine knows the place best. She once ran the Stage Stop as a roadside bar and steakhouse.

“It’s a place you can go and feel comfortable regardless of who you are,” Redwine says. “Some you don’t know, but it’s a good place to meet people. You’ll see a lot of other people in here who you know. When we first started, someone said we were too far from the center of town and nobody will ever come. We said, ‘If you have a good product, people will come.’ We have a good product.”