Jeff Todd of Independence Township had a perfect treat in mind for his son’s birthday party at Clarkston Elementary ? cookies from Clarkston Village Bake Shop.
“It’s those big star cookies that my son loves,” Todd said. “They’re about a half inch thick, and probably about 1,000 calories apiece.”
One problem: the order was for Wednesday, June 11, in the middle of a blackout affecting thousands in the Clarkston area, including the bake shop.
“Tuesday, they called and apologized for having no power and I said ‘it’s not your fault.? My son went to school, he was disappointed, but he understood,” Todd said.
Power was still out Wednesday morning, so he gave his son the bad news.
“I told my son, I’ll just go to Krogers and probably get you something from there. He said ‘OK, no problem dad,'” Todd said.
“About a half hour later, Stephanie called to say that she had personally gone home and made the order, like 30 cookies. Two dozen and half.”
Bake shop owner Stephanie Vo, who was recovering from surgery Monday, filled Todd’s order as well as another in Bloomfield Hills.
“I think it was just phenomenal what they did,” Todd said. “I said ‘Jimmy guess what? These are from the bakery.’ He said ‘daddy, how did you get them?? I said, ‘well the power is still out, but Mrs. Stephanie went home and baked them in her own oven and brought them out to us.??
She wasn’t the only business owner to adapt to the lack of electricity, to serve their customers.
After a blackout in 2003, Curt Catallo, owner of Clarkston Union and Clarkston Caf?, bought a 10-cylinder natural gas generator. With the generator, he was able to power the Union and his house, as well as Kinetic Systems bike store next door with some extension cords.
‘It’s great to provide Mac-N-Cheese regardless of what’s going on out there. We have to keep the ‘Mac Machine’ running ? that’s the general number one rule,? said Catallo. ‘It’s nice, too, when people are out of power, it’s good for us to know that we’ll be able to feed them even if their kitchens are in the dark.?
He wasn’t able to keep the caf? open, but he did have ‘one leg of power? running through the restaurant, which was enough to power one of his walk-in coolers.
‘We moved everything into the one walk-in that was still on, but because the restaurant was closed for two or three days, you still end up throwing a lot of product away, which is unfortunate,? he said.
The power cords helped Kinetic Systems stay open, powering a refrigerator, calculator, and lamps, said owner Louise Kasl.
“That was awesome, very cool,” Kasl said. “We didn’t have to bring our big generator over.”
Offices of The Clarkston News stayed open, working in the dark with cell phones, paper, and pencils.
For Clarkston Area Chamber of Commerce, the blackout meant a few meetings in the dark, said Penny Shanks, executive director.
‘One thing that was consistent all the way through was everybody had a pretty good attitude about it,? Shanks said. ‘As frustrating as it was losing time and losing money, I think people really persevere and it brings out the best in people. At least that’s what we saw from our end.?
Throughout the Detroit area, about 400,000 people lost power, according to DTE Energy ? 148,000 in Oakland County. Of those, 5,000 were in Independence Township, 2,000 in Springfield, and 400 in Clarkston. Power returned for Springfield and Clarkston last week, but about 40 customers in Independence Township were still without service on Monday, said Scott Simon of DTE.
‘They should be back in service today (June 16),? Simon said.
‘It seemed like DTE took forever to repair everything, but it was a major storm,? said Dave Wagner, Independence Township supervisor.
Rudy’s Market, with its stocks of refrigerated and frozen items, was hit hard, said Robert Esshaki, owner.
The shop closed for almost three full days, Esshaki said.
‘We lost a lot of our perishable items, meats, produce, and ice cream,? he said. ‘In addition to that, it took us a few days after that and over the weekend to try and get our store filled up.?
‘With the economy at the level that it is, it was not good timing for the businesses to be affected like this,? said Sharron Catallo, Clarkston mayor and Curt’s mother.
Wagner said a few of the township’s well sites ‘got hit pretty hard.?
Workers were still getting them back up to speed, Monday, but no residents lost water, Wagner said.
Phil Custodio contributed to this report.