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By Mike Barnhardt
Enterprise Record

BERMUDA RUN – The sugar cake is always popular, but how about those cake squares?
Dewey’s Bakery has a tradition of baking favorite treats for the holidays, and this year, the cake squares are Mindy Snyder’s favorite.
Snyder is heading up the Dewey’s store in the Lowe’s Food Shopping Center in Bermuda Run, with 35 percent of all sales going to the Davie County High School Band. Snyder’s son, Jack Williams, is a band member.
The store is only open for the holidays, and is staffed by volunteers. It includes a side room “bistro” where students can study or practice. Some shoppers have even been treated to some live holiday music.
Snyder said that while the sugar cake is the most popular seller, the cake squares are delicious. The store sells all flavors of Moravian cookies, Davie High School and Davie High band items such as caps, t-shirts and sweatshirts, and some homemade ornaments created by a band captain, Raegan Estep. Moravian starts are sold, and students will put them together if the buyer wishes. Gift baskets can be made to order, and volunteers will go to Winston-Salem to pick up items for people who order directly from the bakery.
The store is open Monday-Friday from 10 a.m.-7 p.m., Saturdays 10 a.m.-8 p.m., and Sundays noon-6 p.m.
“We couldn’t do this without our band parents and band boosters,” Snyder said. Not only do they staff the store, they had to remodel and decorate before opening.
For Raegan, being a member of the band is much more than playing music.
“My favorite part about the Davie High Band is the sense of family provided through music,” she said. “I get to grow as a musician and leader in a supportive environment, surrounded by others with the same joy for music as me.”
The daughter of David Estep, she was introduced to music at an early age, when her great-grandfather pastor would sing while she played piano. She started in band in the sixth grade, choosing the trombone “because it looked the coolest because of the slide.”
The holiday store has become an important part of the band program, said director Matthew Brusseau. It helps the band to buy instruments (a saxaphone sells for $4,000-$5,000, and a tuba can cost upwards of $10,000), travel to competitions and perform on other trips.
“It provides the funds that make the program go,” Brusseau said. He’s proud of the 160 students who participate in band, and expects that number to increase as COVID eases. “They’re great kids, really hard working. They’re excited to be in band and to perform at a higher level.”