{"id":5489,"date":"2024-06-03T11:45:32","date_gmt":"2024-06-03T15:45:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/betsiecurrent.com\/?p=5489"},"modified":"2024-06-03T11:45:37","modified_gmt":"2024-06-03T15:45:37","slug":"story-updates-goodys-lobster-shack-frankfort-chamber-monumental-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/betsiecurrent.com\/index.php\/story-updates-goodys-lobster-shack-frankfort-chamber-monumental-finds\/","title":{"rendered":"Story Updates: A Lot Can Happen in a Year or Two (or a Few)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Mark Hallett Opens \u2018Goody\u2019s Market\u2019 to Compliment \u2018Goody\u2019s Lobster Shack\u2019 in Frankfort<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"mark
Mark Hallett has been running Goody’s Lobster Shack over the past two summers, and he recently opened Goody’s Market in downtown Frankfort. Photo by Aubrey Ann Parker.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In Volume XI Issue 9, published July 14, 2022, we featured a Q&A with Mark Hallett (56),<\/a> a Long Islander who had moved to Benzie County after spending most of his life in New England\u2014which means that he knows good seafood.\u00a0

Hallett and his wife, Kate [Koengeter] (54), have spent the last two seasons running Goody\u2019s Lobster Shack. They have been serving up East Coast fare of lobster rolls, crab cakes, and traditional \u201cfish and chips,\u201d along with pickled slaw and homemade key lime pie.\u00a0

Kate grew up vacationing in Frankfort, and the couple together had vacationed here for a week or so each year after they met in 2008. Since they had become \u201cempty nesters\u201d around the same time as the pandemic layoff, they decided to move to Michigan permanently.\u00a0

In April 2021, they purchased a commercial building in downtown Frankfort that had come with renters\u2014Bayside Printing Inc. and the Frankfort-Elberta Area Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber moved out in December 2022 and Bayside moved into the Chamber\u2019s spot. Meanwhile, the next few months were spent renovating the building to create Goody\u2019s Market in the space where Bayside had occupied.

When we first interviewed Hallett two years ago, the couple had just opened Goody\u2019s Lobster Shack on July 4, 2022\u2014while they waited on permits and construction, this was a way to cut through some of the red tape and get their names out in the community by opening a to-go food kiosk in a custom-built \u201ctiny house\/kitchen\u201d in the parking lot next door.\u00a0

Fast-forward nearly two years, and Goody\u2019s Market had a soft opening on April 17, 2024.\u00a0

The market will offer: prime meat, including steaks, veal, pork, lamb, and duck; fresh fish from the Atlantic and nearby, including halibut, salmon, walleye, and a variety of smoked fish; an assortment of shellfish, such as dry sea scallops, oysters, and crab. There will also be Boar\u2019s Head meats, cheeses, and provisions, as well as house-made hot and cold deli sandwiches, fresh salads, homemade soups, housemade salads, pickle slaw, potato salad, pasta salad, and more. Also for sale will be snacking essentials, such as crackers, chips and dips.\u00a0

Additionally, the market has a retail license to sell beer, wine, and liquor, with wine-tasting events coming soon.\u00a0

\u201cWe are happy to provide a much needed service to the community of Frankfort,\u201d says Mark Hallett. \u201dWe are humbled by the local support for the Lobster Shack, and we are grateful for the opportunity to expand our vision with the butcher shop\/gourmet market. We are excited to continue growing alongside this community that we\u2019ve come to love.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Goody's
Goody’s Market will offer: prime meat, including steak, veal, pork, lamb, and duck; fresh fish from the Atlantic and nearby, including halibut, salmon, walleye, and a variety of smoked fish; an assortment of shellfish, such as dry sea scallops, oysters, and crab. Photo by Aubrey Ann Parker.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, the plan is to open Goody\u2019s Lobster Shack on Thursday, May 23, with a smaller menu than in the previous two years, since Goody\u2019s Market will have many items inside, too.\u00a0

When asked where the name \u201cGoody\u201d comes from, Hallett responds, \u201cYou\u2019ll have to figure that one out. It started way back in 1710 on Cape Cod\u2019s Wellfleet, Massachusetts. As a clue? Mariah \u2018Goody\u2019 Hallett.<\/a>\u201d

Goody’s Market is located at 515 Main Street, while Goody\u2019s Lobster Shack is located in the parking lot between the market and the West Shore Bank in downtown Frankfort. Websites for the Market and the Lobster Shack are connected and can be accessed at <\/em>GoodysLobsterShack.com<\/em><\/a> and <\/em>GoodysMkt.com<\/em><\/a> online, where open hours are posted. Visit \u201cGoody\u2019s Lobster Shack\u201d onFacebook. While the Shack will continue to be a mostly-summer endeavor, the Market plans to be open most of the year, possibly closing for the months of February and\/or March.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frankfort-Elberta Area Chamber of Commerce Moves in with Monumental Finds<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"bob
Monumental Finds, an antique store and art gallery, is owned by Bob “BT” Thomas, pictured here in 2014 with one of his creations. Photo by Aubrey Ann Parker<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Way back in Volume III Issue 7, <\/a>published August 14, 2014, we profiled the wildest of the wild things\u2014the collector and creator behind Monumental Finds.\u00a0

Driving down the Gateway hill into Frankfort, one of the first things that visitors see is a rooftop labeled \u201cANTIQUES\u201d sitting next to the Shell gas station and across the street from A&W. However, what is inside is so much more than 100-year-old furniture, fine china, or brass doorknobs\u2014though you are likely to find those, too.

The building is a 1,200-square-foot space that was once an appliance store and later a Sears Catalog business, but it\u00a0 has been filled with an eclectic array of strange, colorful art pieces\u2014made with scraps of this or that\u2014mixed in with antiques and collectibles that have never been refinished. Outside in the side yard, there are outbuildings made from old windows and adorned with rusty license plates and the grill of a yellow Jeep.

To have such an inventive imagination is a rarity. The creator of the madness is Bob Thomas, known simply to friends as \u201cBT.\u201d

In 2004\u201421 years after his first visit to Benzie County\u2014Thomas threw out his computer, packed up his life in Virginia, and moved a barn full of antiques via four truckloads all the way to Northern Michigan. He had been making annual summer pilgrimages Up North, but he was finally ready to trade in big city life for a lake house and swap out a business of carving headstones for one of sculpting from scraps.

Now, 20 years after that big move, he is still creating, thanks to his ever-evolving collection of supplies and accessories, such as: deer antlers (which make good shark fins), shoehorns (useful for fish scales), table legs, Sculpey Baked Clay, a bag of turkey feet, barbed wire, Venetian blinds, croquet mallets, driftwood, stumps, cow skulls, swordfish bills, and other very unusual accouterments.\u00a0

\u201cHalf the fun is chasing down the parts and pieces for my sculptures,\u201d he remarks.

Thomas now has a new neighbor to share the building with, however.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"joanne
Joanne Bartley is the executive director of the Frankfort-Elberta Area Chamber of Commerce. Photo by Aubrey Ann Parker.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Back in Volume IX Issue 6, published June 4, 2020<\/a>, we profiled Joanne Bartley, who has served as the executive director of the Frankfort-Elberta Area Chamber of Commerce since 2007\u2014this was a big switch from her previous job working for 17 years for a multinational company, Ford, to working for a very small operation here in Northern Michigan. She credits the \u201cevent-planning side of things\u201d as being what drew her to the Chamber job.\u00a0

To clarify for our readers, there are two Chambers of Commerce here: Frankfort-Elberta and Benzie County, the latter of which recently sold its office building at the corner of US-31 and M-115 in Benzonia; as of this publication, the Benzie Chamber still has no official office location and the director is working remotely.

Meanwhile, when we last profiled Bartley, the Frankfort-Elberta Chamber was located in downtown Frankfort in the same building as Bayside Printing, Inc. However, that building was sold in April 2021, and the Chamber moved out in December 2022.\u00a0

A contract was struck with B.T. Thomas to use half of his space at Monumental Finds, and the renovations took about eight months.

\u201cWe thought that the new location would be ideal for catching all of the visitors driving into town,\u201dBartley says. \u201cAfter moving in August 2023, we documented the visitors and where they are from and what their plans were when they were here\u2014more than 98 percent of visitors to our office had never been to Frankfort. They were traveling along M-22 going north.\u00a0 They had no idea there was a town of Frankfort or a village of Elberta and all of the goodies they encapsulate! Needless to say, we are pleased with our new location.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"frankfort-elberta
The Frankfort-Elberta Area Chamber of Commerce has relocated from Main Street in Frankfort to just below the Gateway, in the same building as Monumental Finds, owned by Bob “BT” Thomas. Photo by Aubrey Ann Parker.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Frankfort-Elberta Chamber has almost 200 members, up from 135 when Bartley started 17 years ago. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, when we last profiled Bartley, businesses have opened back up and events have been able to restart.

\u201cThe local economy seems to be booming!\u201d Bartley says. \u201cMay seems to be busy, earlier than usual! All storefronts are occupied with businesses, according to city superintendent Josh Mills. We look forward to seeing familiar faces and news ones!\u201d

Want to learn more about joining the Frankfort-Elberta Chamber or about what to expect in terms of events this summer? See the Community Calendar section of this newspaper and reach out to Joanne Bartley at <\/em>FCOFC@Frankfort-Elberta.com<\/em><\/a> via email or call 231-352-7251. Check out Frankfort-Elberta.com for more information.\u00a0<\/em>

Visit the Chamber and\/or Monumental Finds at 1311 Forest Avenue in Frankfort. The Chamber is open Mondays through Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and will be open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Friday beginning in June, but you might want to call first if you plan to visit BT\u2019s art and antique gallery to see if he is in: 703-675-7835. You will enjoy browsing his monumental finds, antiques, and embellishments, with no pressure to buy\u2014just have fun! There is a blog, if you are interested, but don\u2019t count on Bob Thomas to know what\u2019s being written\u2014no computer, remember? Visit <\/em>OutsiderArtOriginalSculptures.blogspot.com<\/em><\/a> to learn more.<\/em>

Featured Photo Caption:<\/strong> Mark Hallett (left) has been running Goody’s Lobster Shack over the past two summers, and he recently opened Goody’s Market in downtown Frankfort, in the space formerly occupied by Bayside Printing Inc, which moved into the space formerly occupied by the Frankfort-Elberta Area Chamber of Commerce. Joanna Bartley (middle) is the executive director of the chamber, which moved in with Monumental Finds, owned by Bob “BT” Thomas (right). All photos by Aubrey Ann Parker.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Goody’s Lobster Shack and Market, Frankfort-Elberta Area Chamber of Commerce, Monumental Finds gallery<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":5490,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[282,46,47,48,50,43,288,198,191,44,158,49],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/betsiecurrent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/storyupdate_2024_web.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3TDCr-1qx","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/betsiecurrent.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5489"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/betsiecurrent.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/betsiecurrent.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/betsiecurrent.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/betsiecurrent.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5489"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/betsiecurrent.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5489\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5495,"href":"http:\/\/betsiecurrent.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5489\/revisions\/5495"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/betsiecurrent.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/betsiecurrent.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/betsiecurrent.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/betsiecurrent.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}