While it is true that the Spy attempts to cover regional news with an unbiased perspective, that it very hard to do when discussing Emily’s Produce in Dorchester County. This gem of a food store is one of the most successful, valued-driven local businesses on the Mid-Shore, and we make no attempt in covering up our admiration for its owners and what Emily’s has brought to the greater Cambridge community for 22 years.
Starting as a simple farmstand in 1999 by Kelly and Paul Jackson to supplement their salaries as a Maryland Highway Patrol officer and sixth-generation farmer to establish a college fund for their then newly born daughter, Emily, the store and Emily have graduated to a new level.
For Emily, the daughter, she has now graduated from college with a degree in agriculture and is now enjoying an internship at Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge.
And for Emily’s, the produce store, it will be 22 years of transitioning from that simple farmstand into a robust role model for entrepreneurship and community investment. Over those two decades, Kelly and Paul have slowly grown into a full-service stop for those seeking the best of local meat, produce, dairy, and now Maryland wine and beer.
With a staff of twenty-five, this tight-knit family of devoted employees plays host to countless local customers but also a stream of visitors who venture off Route 50 on their way to the coast to stock up on the “good stuff” before hitting the beach.The Spy sat down with Kelly the other day to check in on both of her “Emilys” as the Jackson family starts their 22nd season with both child and store.
This video is approximately three minutes in length. For more information about Emily’s please go here.
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