About August First

August First Bakery & Café

Location: 149 S. Champlain Street, Burlington, Vermont 05401
Hours: 7:30am – 3:00pm 7 days a week

The Story

August First was started by Phil Merrick (he/him) and Jodi Whalen (she/her), a Burlington couple with a background in the baking, microbrewing, and marketing professions. Jodi and Phil took a small dream of a bakery that has an at-home feel, and turned it into one of the most bustling and beloved ‘mom and pop’ places in Vermont.

In 2022, Frank and Marnie Pace (longtime industry veterans and owners of The Great Northern Catering) became the proud new owners of August First. More on this serendipitous transition here!

This community bakery is dedicated to having fun, creating delicious food, and making you feel warm, welcomed and nurtured when you’re here. We are dedicated to creating natural, healthy food from scratch every day right here in the kitchen and bakery. Known for award-winning maple biscuits, classic pastries, locally roasted coffee, and delicious sandwiches, August First delivers something for everyone.

Located inside a big renovated garage in downtown Burlington, it’s bright and warm in the winter, and breezy and open in the summer, with plenty of outdoor seating in the warmer months. There are a few different ways to enjoy the August First menu: order at the counter and collect when your name is called, order online before you stop in, or check out our ‘August Fast’ grab & go options in our cooler.

Looking for catering? August First does not currently offer catering services, but you can enjoy an August First-inspired menu through The Great Northern Catering.

August First has been laptop free since 2014! We ask that you refrain from using screens while in our cafe. If you’re looking for a place to work, we recommend Kestrel or Muddy Waters.

Behind the Name

The name ‘August First’ is inspired by many things. There is the poem of the same name by Hayden Carruth (see below). Tied in with the poem is the idea that August 1st is the quintessential perfect Vermont summer day, when the lake is warm enough for swimming. Additionally, historically, this date was a typical harvest celebration day, marking the midpoint between the summer solstice and autumn equinox. Traditional celebrations included baking bread from scratch and sharing a meal made from the harvest with friends and family. All of these together evoke the spirit behind August First: warmth from a welcoming community, fresh-baked bread, and wholesome connection.

August First

by Hayden Carruth

Late night on the porch, thinking
of old poems. Another day’s
work, another evening’s,
done. A large moth, probably
Catocala, batters the screen,
but lazily, its strength spent,
its wings tattered. It perches
trembling on the sill. The sky
is hot dark summer, neither
moon nor stars, air unstirring,
darkness complete; and the brook
sounds low, a discourse fumbling
among obstinate stones. I
remember a poem I wrote
years ago when my wife and
I had been married twenty-
two days, an exuberant
poem of love, death, the white
snow, personal purity. now
I look without seeing at
a geranium on the sill;
and, still full of day and evening,
of what to do for money,
I wonder what became of
purity. The world is a
complex fatigue. The moth tries
once more, wavering desperately
up the screen, beating, insane,
behind the geranium. It is an
immense geranium,
the biggest I’ve ever seen,
with a stem like a small tree
branching, so that the two thick arms
rise against the blackness of
this summer sky, and hold up
ten blossom clusters, bright bursts
of color. What is it — coral,
mallow? Isn’t there a color
called “geranium”? No matter.
They are clusters of richness
held against the night in quiet
exultation, five on each branch,
upraised. I bought it myself
and gave it to my young wife
years ago, in a plastic cup
with a 19cent seedling
from the supermarket, now
so thick, leathery-stemmed,
and bountiful with blossom.
The moth rests again, clinging.
The brook talks. The night listens.