ASHLAND – It was those famous billboards that brought the Gatti family to Grandpa’s Cheesebarn and Sweeties Chocolates for the first time. Instantly, they were hooked.
“It became a regular stop we never missed, a part of every back and forth trip to Ohio State when my twins were there,” Lynn Gatti said. “You just always knew it was going to be a happy little stop, guaranteed.”
Her children have since graduated, but Gatti had those happy memories in mind when she drove down from Willoughby Friday for the business’s 40th anniversary celebration.
She met Dick Baum, better known as “Grandpa,” for the first time and had a chance to tell him how much his family’s store meant to her.
“Do you know how many people you’ve made smile?” she asked him. “Millions.”
The Cheesebarn never does anything small, so it’s no surprise the business went big for its milestone anniversary, bringing in a petting zoo, a polka band and a world-class cheese sculptor.
Sarah Kaufmann, who goes by “The Cheese Lady,” holds a Guinness World Record for carving the world’s largest cheese sculpture. Carved for the Wisconsin State Fair, the sculpture weighed in at a whopping 925 pounds.
Wearing a cow print hat, shorts, apron and tail along with an “I cut the cheese at Grandpa’s Cheesebarn (and I thought of you)” t-shirt Friday, Kaufman carved two 80-pound blocks of cheddar cheese into a replica of the cheesebarn. As she worked, she answered questions from delighted spectators and passed out samples of shavings from the cheese blocks.
Kaufmann will be back for more carving Saturday as part of the cheesebarn’s weekend-long celebration. She plans to carve cheese into the shape of a birthday cake.
Also Saturday, customers will enjoy a 1 to 4 p.m. performance by The Polka Pirates Band. On Sunday, the store will give away a free gift with any purchase, while supplies last.
Ohio Senate president Larry Obhof, State Representative Darrell Kick, Ashland Mayor Matt Miller and Ashland Area Chamber of Commerce President Barbie Lange all came out Friday to honor the business for its 40 years of success.
Grandpa’s Cheesebarn has been a family affair since 1978, when “Grandma and Grandpa,” Vera and Dick Baum, opened the store along with their daughter, Ronda, and her husband, Richard Poorbaugh. Ronda and Richard still run the store, and at 89-years-old, Grandpa still comes in and works about once or twice a week.
“It’s so good to be busy,” he said. “I enjoy waiting on people and it’s always a pleasure to serve the people.”
The family has been in the cheese business since the early 1900s, when Dick Baum’s father sold his only possession, a portable RCA radio, for a wheel of Ohio Swiss and started a store called Yarman’s in West Salem.
Dick Baum ran his father’s store for years, but everything changed when he learned the land at I-71 and U.S. 250, where the current cheesebarn is located, was up for sale. He knew the family had to buy it.
“I just told my daughter and son-in-law this location is the best in the country,” he said. “It still is.”
It may have been the perfect location, but the family had a lot of cleaning up to do. The cheesebarn was, in fact, a real barn.
Karla Snyder, Rhonda’s sister, recalls pulling straw out from between the floorboards and shivering upstairs the first winter because there was little heat.
“The changes are so exciting and so astronomical,” she said as she surveyed the place Friday. “We are fortunate that we do keep evolving, but our products are still quality-focused. We will not sacrifice quality.”
The family started the business with just one person hired to help. Now, the staff totals about 70.
There’s always something new at the Cheesebarn. Ronda opened Sweeties Jumbo Chocolates in 1995, selling the homemade chocolates and fresh fudge that have become as much of a draw for customers as the more than 100 local and imported cheeses.
In 2015, Grandpa’s granddaughter, Mistie Ankenmen, opened a second location in Norton. She also recently launched a small satellite shop in Summit Mall in Fairlawn.
Recent updates at the main location in Ashland include an outdoor patio for dining, additional parking to accommodate crowds decorative gateways to keep cars out of busy pedestrian areas.
Ronda said 40 years later, she still loves her job.
“It’s just amazing,” she said. “I guess if you still enjoy what you’re doing then you should still be here. So we’re just enjoying and trying to share it with everybody.”
