Fountain City Creamery Park Grille

Twenty-two years ago in a small park side building in the heart of Fountain City, Jeff Patin opened a little dream called The Creamery. It started as a small ice cream shop where his three boys, Matt, Adam and Ben could come and work and maybe learn a few life lessons along the way. Salads and sandwiches soon followed and before we all knew a restaurant was emerging. The Creamery Park Grille, as it would later be named, became a staple in Fountain City. Opening up the second floor to allow for more seating and allowing for larger parties and events to be held in this family owned business. Kids from Gresham Middle School would swarm the counter top looking for bags of fries and ice cream in every shape and form they could get. And Jeff was always there with a smile, laugh, strong handshake and a hug. For many kids this became their first job, whether it was scooping up ice cream or taking orders for a Seven Layer Salad, or in the back kitchen grilling up burgers and chicken. What a lot of people didn't know is that the Creamery is so much more than a restaurant.

For those of us that have worked at the Creamery it quickly became apparent that we were becoming part of a larger family. Jeff was, and still is to many, like a second father. He liked to boast about all his beautiful daughters and would be just as protective of any one of them as if they were his own. The boys in the back are a rambunctious rowdy group that are fiercely loyal to each other and The Creamery as a whole. We are The Creamery Family and The Creamery is our home. 

My wife and I met working at The Creamery, she was the beautiful waitress that brought "service with a smile" a whole new meaning, and I was the bandana wearing cook that could grill a mean burger but couldn't look her in the eye for trying. Two years later Jeff hosted our rehearsal dinner in the upstairs dinning room. Why would we want to have it anywhere else? I left The Creamery but was never too far; always there to help out for an event or cleaning equipment during a remodel, it was home after all. When my two children were born the first place we took them was of course The Creamery. When Jeff asked if I could come back part time and help out, as all three of his sons had all moved on, I rushed right over. It was like riding a bike. Whoever said, "you can never go home again" never worked at The Creamery.

This morning all of us woke to a nightmare. As we slept our home had burned down. True, we are all extremely thankful that no one was hurt. To lose one of our own would have been too much for us to bear. But to drive down that familiar stretch of Hotel Road and instead of seeing the bright red roof we loved we saw a collapsed burnt husk. The anger, the shock, the wave of helplessness that washed over all of us was as severe and personal as if our own houses had burned down. But none of that came close to the loss we knew that Jeff was feeling, as he watched his dream come to a horrible end. 

So, we need your help. This is a small family owned business, not a big corporation or franchise, but one man, one family's whole world. The building we were in was over a hundred years old, it isn't going to be brought back up quickly, easily, or cheaply. Jeff would never ask for help, but myself, and the rest of his Creamery family are. Jeff has given so much to us that we want to give something back to him, and with your help we just might be able to do something amazing. To watch a dream burn down and then to maybe see that spark of hope build the dream back up, well that’s nothing short of what this wonderful man deserves. All of us at The Creamery thank you, Fountain City is a small community but its a strong one and one that we know can help rebuild one man's dream.