Barry opened Bruster’s Whimsy in 2020 because Toledo needed a third place. Not home, not work. Somewhere in between, where nonprofits could meet, families could gather, and the Main Street Association could plan without renting a conference room an hour away.
He bought the building on Main Street and filled it with over 300 board games, a coffee bar pouring Cuban and Turkish brews from a local roaster, and plans for a two-bedroom Airbnb upstairs. The basement’s being split: half will become a speakeasy-style meeting room, the other half houses the Model Railroad Museum’s 900-square-foot HO train layout.
But none of that works if people are sitting in their coats because you can’t afford to heat the place properly.
Barry’s been limping through winters on portable propane heaters, watching his utility bills climb while customers huddle over coffee to stay warm. His $13,000 Kiva loan buys him a natural gas furnace. Sounds basic. It is basic. That’s the point.
Sometimes the gap between surviving and thriving is just infrastructure nobody thinks about until it’s missing.
Toledo’s a small town. When one business creates a gathering spot, it becomes the gathering spot. Barry built a living room for his community. Now he can keep it open year-round without bleeding money on heat or asking people to endure Oregon winters in a drafty building.
Who makes this possible
The Ford Family Foundation leads funding, investing in rural Oregon to expand capital access for entrepreneurs that banks won’t touch. Since launching their Growing Rural Oregon program in 2021, the Foundation has worked to build entrepreneurial ecosystems across rural communities, recognizing that small businesses operate 85 percent of all establishments in rural areas and provide 54.3 percent of all rural jobs.
Business Oregon, through its Technical Assistance Program, pays for one-on-one support and CO.STARTERS programs that help people go from idea to launch without stumbling through the dark alone.
Umpqua Bank backs local lending. LISC and Mastercard Strive build digital inclusion and capacity so rural entrepreneurs can actually compete instead of just being told they should.
These partners fund a movement that connects rural Oregonians to opportunity without requiring them to move to Portland or completely restructure their lives to access capital.
