It’s not every company that can say they share a hometown with a 2010 Winter Olympics gold medal winner (hold the Gold Medal Flour jokes, please!)
Hannah Kearney, of Norwich, Vermont – home of King Arthur Flour, and population 3,544, last time we checked – won the United States’ very first gold medal, on the first day of the Vancouver games. Hannah took Olympic gold in moguls freestyle skiiing, and the town welcomed her home on Friday.
Townspeople gathered at the elementary school playground, and amid MUCH more press attention than anyone around here is used to, Hannah was presented with a key to the city.
Er, town.
Village?
The kids were let out of school early, so there was plenty of noisy celebration. And Hannah seemed pretty happy; after all, Friday just happened to be her 24th birthday.
So, what’s a birthday celebration without birthday cake? King Arthur baked up some treats for the homecoming celebration – thank you Bonny Hooper, our Baker’s Store demo kitchen baker. And there were some pretty creative baked goods at the celebration, besides ours…
Golden cupcakes…
The Olympic rings…
Celebrating the red, white, and blue, of course…
A “Hannah cake”…
And our favorite, Ms. Nutter-Butter skiing through coconut cupcake moguls. Jumps, turns, and flips optional.
Hannah was presented with a “golden” shirt, signed by all the kids…
…and received a “bag of gold” from our Baker’s Store.
Oh, and one more thing. When she’s not thousands of miles away skiing the World Cup circuit, Hannah likes to come home and cook, garden, and bake.
A girl after our own heart, for sure.
Congratulations, Hannah – and thanks.
Special thanks to King Arthur Flour communications director Sarah McGinley-Smith for the photos, and help with this blog.
February 27th, 2010 at 2:57 pm
Being from a small town is awesome and you guys rock! What a fun and wonderful way to celebrate and bring the community together.
February 27th, 2010 at 3:35 pm
Awww, that was so sweet! Congratulations to Hannah!
February 27th, 2010 at 3:39 pm
I LOVE THE FIRST PHOTO! Congrats to Hannah! Vermont must be so proud!
February 27th, 2010 at 8:05 pm
That was wonderful. Thanks for sharing it. Loved the mogul skier, Mrs Nutter-Butter.
February 27th, 2010 at 8:11 pm
We watched Hannah win the first gold medal on TV not realizing she was from your town. How exciting for you all. Congratulations Hannah!
February 27th, 2010 at 8:41 pm
I watched Hannah win that gold medal…and when they mentioned she was from Norwich, the first words out of my mouth were “That’s where King Arthur is!”
February 27th, 2010 at 9:11 pm
what a wonderful “all american” post…just great!
congrats to hannah!
February 27th, 2010 at 9:19 pm
You need to put her photo on the front of something–not Wheaties, of course. How about Golden Pound Cake mix? Or, something suitable–front of catalog???
Congrats — made her town proud too.
Whoa, good idea, Marcia – so cool! I’ll suggest to our merchandise team… PJH
February 28th, 2010 at 11:38 am
I love the photo with the little girls behind Hannah. They’re obviously so pleased and proud of their hometown hero! I love all of the home baked goods too and the expressions of originality. Those mogul cupcakes with the nutter butter skier make me smile.
February 28th, 2010 at 3:25 pm
What a great story! I loved watching Hannah win gold.
February 28th, 2010 at 5:30 pm
This is so great. One of the things I love about KAF is how you’re such a part of the community!
March 1st, 2010 at 8:52 am
I saw the start of her parade in front of CRREL over in Hanover. Gah! If I knew there was going to be KAF treats over in Norwich, I would have driven over!
The mogul cake made me giggle.
March 1st, 2010 at 1:34 pm
Thanks so much for sharing this with us! Of course I SWEAR by the KAF products and recipes but one of the things that has always drawn me to your company is the sense of community and family. Long before this blog came to be, I looked forward to each catalog. Not only did it have items I drooled over, but it was like receiving a letter from a friend. My husband always teased me that he was going to “quiz” me on the catalog the way I read it from cover to cover.
I still read the catalog from cover to cover but I also get to enjoy the blog and the website! Thanks so much for including us in your celebration!
Way to go Hannah!! All of the US is so very proud of you!!
Thanks for connecting here, Denise. The nice thing is, in a small town you actually do know these “kids” – well, at 24 I guess she’s not a kid anymore. I remember when they were in elementary school, Hannah was the only kid who could beat my son in a foot race – boy OR girl! PJH
March 1st, 2010 at 3:54 pm
We were going to make cupcakes today and are sad that the Olympics are over, so we will just have to make some Olympic cupcakes to help us remember the fun of it all. I think Hannah’s gold medal win was our favorite so we’ll definitely have to make some moguls for the memories
Thanks, as always, for being a company that deserves it’s very own gold medal!!!
March 1st, 2010 at 4:06 pm
If we could get the flours and supplies in Canada without it being shipped would be great! Love your products and congratulations to the US for being on the top of the medal standings. What a game that was between the US and Canada on Sunday, the last day. We were so lucky to beat that fiesty young team from the US!
you were a great team to lose to. Mary@ KAF
March 1st, 2010 at 5:20 pm
Congratulations Hannah! So nice to see your home town support you!!!
March 3rd, 2010 at 3:22 pm
Worth a mention that Hannah is not only a champion athlete: she started her own charity to provide safe drinking water in Kenya. “Hannah’s Gold” is her family’s own maple syrup, sold through Vermont’s Green Mountain Sugar House. Goes great with KAF pancakes! See http://www.hannahsgold.com.
Whoops, different Hannah – that’s Hannah Teter, a silver medalist at the recent Games. She’s from Vermont, too. “Our” Hannah is Hannah Kearney. PJH
March 3rd, 2010 at 11:06 pm
Many congratulations to Hannah! I once called Norwich home, and this kind of community esprit is what I miss most of all.
Susan, come on back anytime – Dan & Whit’s misses you!
PJH