The Abbey Celebrates 10 Years

On Saturday, Nov. 4, The Abbey Coffee Company celebrated its tenth anniversary with vendors, food trucks, and live bands.

The Abbey serves the Marion community with their specialty blends and handcrafted seasonal drinks.

Founded in 2012 by Chris Demarse, The Abbey has continued to keep to the same standards as when they first opened.

Visitors said The Abbey is a unique place to come to hangout, do homework, and drink coffee.

Sophie Coppersmith visited The Abby for the first time.

“It’s my first time here and it’s pretty cool. The lighting is really cool, the decorations too. There is a good turnout and lots of vendors,” Sophie Coppersmith, a first time visitor, said. “It’s fun just to walk around and get some coffee and stuff.”

Months of work went into planning for the tenth anniversary celebration.

“The team and I have been working on it for almost three months, but the music portion, much longer than that,” Chantal Sallade, a barista, said.

The turnout for the event was large and Sallade said the community support was strong.

“I think we’ve seen a lot of people who are here regionally too. So, people who have gotten pictures on the bar like when the abbey first started, and people are pointing out like I was there for that and it’s like really awesome,” Sallade said.

Community support is something baristas at The Abbey said is important to them.

“The Abby started as something that was for the community through coffee, but really the main focus of The Abby has been the people that come here the community, and the space we can have for the community,” Eli Gilmore, a barista, said.

Gilmore explained the importance of the celebration and what it meant for The Abbey.

“Just to celebrate 10 years of all the hard work that people have put into making The Abby run and to who we are, and to celebrate everybody who’s kind of supported The Abbey, just putting on music and everything we can,” Gilmore said.

The hard work and preparation beforehand made the celebration a success.

“We had to make sure that it flowed well, and that it wouldn’t feel too crowded, as well as making sure every staff member could be here to help serve all the drinks that needed to be served and help with everything that needed to happen in the atrium for the event,” Gilmore said.