SANTA YSABEL, Calif. — The iconic Dudley's Bakery is celebrating its 60th Anniversary by hiding sixty golden tickets in their pies.
In this Zevely Zone, I headed to Santa Ysabel for a promotion called '24 Days of Dudley's'. You heard that right, Dudley's is turning 60 and they're cooking up something special.
In 1963, on an old dirt road to nowhere, Dudley Pratt, the original owner of Dudley's Bakery, set up shop. "It's a history," said Lydia Bilic. She is the fourth Dudley's owner and possesses a passion for baking. A recent remodel added an espresso bar and more. "This is my living room, I have a living room at home at work," said Lydia from a space with leather couches and a fireplace.
Over 24 days (from December 1st to December 24th), 60 Golden Tickets will be placed at random in their pies made daily.
Each customer, once they open their pie, will see if they received a ticket. The ticket has a portion to be scratched off which will reveal the initial prize that is won. Prizes include free coffee, free loaves of bread, and coupons for $10 off in the gift shop.
Once they show proof of their ticket, the customer will also receive a piece of paper to write down their name, email, and phone number which will be placed in a drawing for a $300 Dudley's gift card that will be drawn on Christmas Eve. In addition to our lucky golden ticket winners, any customer who spends over $100 in-store will be allowed to enter the drawing as well (providing their name, number, and email).
Ask a customer why they love Dudley's and you'll get different answers: "I absolutely love just about everything in here," said one customer.
In the back of Dudley's, Shenendoah was baking Pistachio Venetian cookies. We found Brooke's making homemade cinnamon rolls. Chef Chris made lunch. "This is our Baja filet, club sandwich and that's breakfast BLT," said Chris. To top it off, Zea offered apple walnut bars. "Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow," sand Zea while sprinkling sugar on the treats.
CBS 8's covered Dudley's throughout the decades. In 1978, Doug McAllister filed a report and said, "On a busy day, the weekends are the busiest, they line up by the hundreds to buy from an international list of 21 different breads." In 1977, the bakery sold three hundred thirty-seven thousand loaves to some customers who weren't even looking for bread. "Actually, I got lost and this was a very unexpected treasure to find out here in the hills. I am from Goldfield, Nevada," said one customer. If you think that sounds far away, Grady Gaylord loved Dudley's so much he flew his plane to the bakery to buy pie.
"That is a Julian Apple," said Lydia. Sixty years later, Dudley's still bakes their bread using a secret ingredient. They still use well water from the property to bake their bread. "Yes, absolutely, absolutely, it's the best thing about our breads," said Lydia.
Taste, tradition, and timelessness, Dudley's is still the perfect place to bake and break bread and the greatest thing since sliced bread. For more information about the bakery click here.
