Bailey Mae’s Trailhead in Chauncey to serve community, bikers, veterans

Art of Bailey Mae Martin, Kevin Martin and the Gilham-Frank VFW Post 8804. Graphic by Emily Crebs.

In Chauncey, the economic growth promised by the Baileys Trail System has begun to manifest. The village will soon have a new cafe: the Bailey Mae’s Trailhead Cafe. 

But the creation of the cafe is not just to satisfy the hunger and thirst of bikers passing through the village. It’s to give the people of Chauncey a place to gather and house the Gilham-Frank VFW Post 8804. 

“I want an exciting, cool, hip atmosphere that’s artistic and fun,” Kevin Martin said in a phone interview. “It’s a nice, safe, vibrant place for veterans and their families and a healthy environment for the community. That’s what my objective is.” 

While the cafe’s name seems to be a beacon for the Baileys trail-goers passing through, Martin named the cafe after his granddaughter, Bailey Mae, who is a two-time cancer survivor. 

Martin, commander of the Gilham-Frank VFW Post 8804, purchased a building in Chauncey as a new home for the post previously located in New Marshfield for 24 years. 

“We were the only VFW in the entire United States that didn’t have running water or a bathroom,” Martin said. “Needless to say, it’s harder to have events, and it’s harder to retain members, when you can’t get a drink of water or go to the bathroom.”

The building, located at 16 Converse St., was previously home to the Amvets Post 53. Martin said he soon came to the realization the post needed to be a place for the community to visit, not just veterans. 

The village of Chauncey had conducted a survey to see what community members wanted to add in their community. Martin saw the survey results, which showed the community had requested a sit-down family style restaurant, a cafe and a place to gather. 

“I saw, as a businessman, a great need for community service,” Martin said.

Martin also knew of the Baileys Trail System, which has a trailhead in Chauncey, and wanted to make the area accessible and attractive to bikers coming through the area as well. 

With that, the Bailey Mae’s Trailhead Cafe was born. 

Martin said the cafe will open in March. The cafe’s food will be cooked in an air-fryer, and drinks will include local craft beer, pop and distilled spirits. Martin also plans for the cafe to host art galleries throughout the year from community members and veterans. 

“I sort of want to bring Athens city out into Athens County,” Martin said. 

Martin worked with Connaught Cullen, the director of Chauncey’s Arts, Parks and Recreation board, in choosing colors for inside the cafe and to connect with a muralist. 

The Bailey Mae’s Trailhead Cafe features a mural on the outside of the building of a biker riding on a trail.

“It’s a way to attract people in, especially if they have a mural out front on the pediment,” Cullen said. “It’s just what art brings to the community anyways.”

In addition to working with Cullen, Martin is working with the Voinovich School at Ohio University, Rural Action and the Mayor of Chauncey, Amy Renner — all of whom are also involved in the Baileys Trail System project. 

According to Rural Action’s website, the organization’s mission is “to build a more just economy by developing the region’s assets in environmentally, socially and economically sustainable ways.”

Dan Vorisek, a resilient communities coach at Rural Action, has given Martin coaching and encouragement on the project. 

“I think a huge part of what we do, at least from my perspective at Rural Action, is to be a cheerleader,” Vorisek said. “I can’t be the entrepreneur, but I can encourage and give them the resources they need to be successful and show them examples of how these projects actually happened.”

Vorisek said he believes the Bailey Mae’s Cafe will have a resounding effect on Chauncey. 

“Kevin Martin’s venture, what I call it, at the VFW is really one of the more promising things happening in Chauncey because it is going to spur off more community activity, and it is going to spur off activity that’s going to support visitors,” Vorisek said. 

The Bailey Mae’s Trailhead Cafe’s plan to serve locally made drinks and hire locally supports one of Rural Action’s values as an organization, according to Vorisek. 

“One of Rural Action’s core principles is this idea of creating value chains economically throughout a community. That means a business runs in such a way that related businesses benefit,” Vorisek said. 

Vorisek said his role in Rural Action is to monitor excitement and energy in the communities around areas of economic development. This led him directly to the Baileys Trail, and eventually, to Martin. 

Jasmine Facun, the Baileys Trail System program assistant at Rural Action, said the Baileys Mae’s Cafe is one of the first business ventures to open up directly connected to the Baileys. 

Facun recently joined Rural Action after interning for the Wayne National Forest as a research assistant. She works with “all things Baileys Trail” and has encountered Martin on social media.  

While Vorisek and Facun expect more businesses to move into Chauncey, Martin isn’t worried about competition. 

“We won’t compete. We will be their competition,” Martin said.