Help Topper Bakery to Come Back from the Ashes

We are all saddened by the loss of Topper Bakery, our family-owned business which caught on fire late last night. The bakery was deemed a total loss by the Ogden Fire Department.

Topper was more than a bakery for my family. It was a connection to our heritage. My great-grandfather Marinus DeRyke, a Dutch baker, immigrated to the United States and brought with him all his family recipes and culinary traditions. He established himself in the Salt Lake Valley and passed along the baking tradition to my grandfather, Harry.

Harry opened Topper Bakery in 1939 at the end of the Great Depression as a way to sustain his large family and contribute to Ogden's economic recovery. He never sold date-old products because every evening he would go through the community and gave away all the remaining bread and pastries to those in need.

For over 82 years, the bakery has been offering donuts, hamburger buns, speculaas, and other baked goods. I remember visiting the bakery as a child with my parents, helping with the baked goodies. The tradition continued bringing Harry’s great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren every Christmas to bake speculaas cookies, a Dutch Christmas favorite.

My uncle Dave DeRyke ran the business until his death last year. His wife, Valeen and my cousin Lance have been running it since. The bakery has been the main source of income to our family for over eight decades. Please help us to support Valeen and Lance to rebuild the bakery and reopen it.

Thank you for your support,

Debra Stone, the grandchild of Harry DeRyke.



Photo: Gephardt Daily/Travis Pate


Photo: Gephardt Daily/Nancy Van Valkenburg