Alisha May waited 17 years for the perfect spot to open a bakery, and she has found it next door to Echo Lake Cafe.

May opened Buckaroo Bakeshop & Catering the week before Thanksgiving in a portion of the log building at 1187 Montana 83. Since then she has been on the run, supplying customers with her specialty cheesecakes and other signature cakes and baked goods.

During the long wait to open her own bakery, May purchased the equipment from the now-defunct Bigfork Bakery some time ago, fully intending to use it in her own bakery. Time got in the way, though.

“I sold the bakery equipment off last spring to put in a roping arena,” said May, an avid team roper. “So when this space was available I then had to piece all of the equipment together. The deli case is from a tattoo parlor in downtown Butte.”

May and her husband, Lincoln, also own Rebar Placing Co., a business that ties rebar for commercial and industrial projects. With a continued downturn in the local construction industry, the family decided it was an opportune time to put May’s culinary skills to use.

“I’ve always done catering on the side,” she said.

May’s background in the food industry goes back to her teenage years. When the Bigfork native was in her freshman year of high school her family moved to Enumclaw, Wash., where she began working at Baumgartners, a German delicatessen, at age 16.

She worked at the popular German eatery all through high school and eventually became the catering manager.

“My cheesecakes come from that foundation,” she said.

After they were married, the Mays settled in Bigfork, where they’re now raising their two children: Lincoln Jr., 14, and Landry, 8.

Like many small businesses, Buckaroo Bakeshop is a family affair. May’s mother, Alana Lee, is her “right hand” in the kitchen, doing whatever needs to be done.

“Landry, she’s my cookie decorator,” May said. “Lincoln [Jr.] has a good artistic eye. And my husband is an iron worker who rolls cookie dough.”

Bigfork area residents have savored May’s cheesecakes through the years at weddings and social gatherings such as the Bigfork Chamber of Commerce Sundowner events.

Chocolate espresso, ganache-covered Irish cream, strawberry shortcake, maple pecan-topped pumpkin, key lime and peanut butter-chocolate are among her most popular cheesecakes. Her signature layer cakes — red velvet and German chocolate — have a dedicated following, too.

Starting this month, May will begin wholesaling desserts to area restaurants. She’d like  eventually to develop a mail-order business for her desserts.

“I’m a home-grown baker,” she said. “I like elegant and simple.”

May said she’s been encouraged by support from the Bigfork community in her business endeavor. Support has come in many forms, she said, noting how a neighboring business owner, Carole Hill of The Barn antique shop down the road, brought her dinner one night when May was working around the clock to get the bakery open.

Another feature of the bakery will be a full line of sandwiches available after 2:30 p.m. May is leasing space in the log building from Echo Lake Cafe owners Bob and Christi Young, and part of the agreement is that she can’t serve lunch, coffee or muffins at the bakery while the cafe is open.

May said she’s happy to oblige the Youngs’ requests since they’re renting the space to her at a reasonable cost. She plans eventually to offer deli meats and cheeses and has found creative ways to supplement her menu.

She sells top-of-the-line Boehm’s Chocolates from Issaquah, Wash., and rounds out her drink offerings with Flathead Lake specialty sodas and low-calorie beverages from The Dry Soda Co. with unusual flavors such as rhubarb, cucumber and lemon grass.

May wants to bake her own bread, too.

“I’m set up for it,” she said about bread-baking. “It’s just finding the time.”

May’s days at the bakery begin after she gets the kids off to school — “they’re my priority,” she stresses — and almost always she’s at the bakery long after it’s closed.

“A huge portion of my business is special orders,” she said.

May’s catering menu includes a variety of hors d’ oeuvres such as teriyaki chicken drumettes, brioche pie, smoked salmon torte and tomato and basil bruschetta.

Though the workload likely will get even heavier as time goes on, May embraces the challenge.

“This is my dream,” she said. “It’s been a long time coming.”

Buckaroo Bakeshop & Catering currently is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. For more information or to place special orders, call 837-5200 or find the bakery on Facebook.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.