LEYDEN — Sitting around a table in Leyden Town Hall, residents Marie Lovley and Dianne Ryan sipped coffee, talked about their families and discussed the upcoming primary election. Soft chatter, gentle sunlight and the smell of lilacs filled the room.
Even though Lovley and Ryan live only a quarter-mile apart, meeting over breakfast at the Leyden Cafe on the lower floor of Town Hall is the only time for them to see each other.
“It’s just a really nice, relaxing way to catch up with people that you don’t see very often,” Dianne Ryan said.
The cafe provides local residents with a gathering place, and serves up scones, apple streusel, coffee cake, breads, cookies, hot chocolate, coffee and tea from 9:30 a.m. to noon each Sunday. Leyden resident Karyn Brown does all the baking, and her blueberry scones are a crowd favorite.
According to Lovley and Amy St. Clair, two of the 15 volunteers that keep the Leyden Cafe running, the cafe first opened three years ago under the direction of Leyden resident Robin Neipp.
“She wanted to rebuild the feeling of community in Leyden,” St. Clair said. She explained that in the 1950s and 60s, residents used to socialize during square dances, but the tradition of dancing disappeared as the town’s population declined.
“We don’t have a post office, we don’t have a general store,” Lovley said, noting the town’s lack of a meeting place. “I think that’s really what drove Robin more than anything.”
For Dianne Ryan’s husband, Bob Ryan, the cafe is a “mechanism to unite the community.”
“There’s people I meet here that I never knew existed,” said Bob Ryan, who chairs the Leyden Broadband Committee. “For a town with only 300 homes, it’s hard to believe how many people we don’t know.”
St. Clair said the cafe is also a great way for residents to stay informed on what’s happening in Leyden.
“These round tables will be like a forum and people will come discuss what’s going on in town,” she said, whether the conversations include the weather or debating politics.
The cafe sometimes attracts customers from out of town, too.
“The attendees are increasing and they’re coming from farther away,” Lovley said, citing customers from Greenfield and Guilford, Vt.
Lovley said the volunteers hold monthly meetings to discuss the cafe’s operation and to plan events.
“It’s a labor of love,” Lovley said of the cafe.
The cafe periodically hosts movie nights, Council on Aging events and Market Days, where local vendors are invited to sell their products. Lovley said Market Days are well attended by residents who want to purchase fresh produce in town, as opposed to driving to a grocery store in Greenfield.
When considering how the Leyden Cafe could be improved, customers and volunteers agreed they would like their meeting place to be open more often.
“We’re hoping to branch to a second block of time,” Lovley said. She added that a time when the neighboring Robertson Memorial Library is open, such as a Wednesday afternoon, would work well.