Karen and Shawn Shaunesey of the newly opened Village Public House, formerly the location of the now closed Gingerbread House, have been in the restaurant industry their whole lives.

“We’ve helped build and start up restaurants for other people and I guess I always wanted to do this, but things just didn’t line up until now, and so now things finally came together really well”, said Shawn.

Karen’s family is from the area for many generations and so when she and Shawn got together, he fell in love with the area. They enjoyed coming up for weeks at a time in the summer. You might recognize them from having been the ones to manage Oquossoc Marina this past summer.

However, last winter, they both came up and worked at Saddleback where they met Kate Williamson, former owner of the Gingerbread House and property.

“We knew it had been empty for a number of years, and when we were at the marina, I got kind of curious about the building and the possibilities and sort of on a whim I just came over and looked at the page that was on the windows describing the cost and all of the amenities here.”

He discussed the idea with Larry Koob (owner of Oquossoc Marine and Oquossoc Marina) who helped him with the numbers and then he approached Leon Narbonne (owner of the property) about the leasing options.

“Next thing you know things just started coming together. We have a lot of support from the community.” Not only friends and family, but people from the community reached out to help quite a bit. “Brian Preney is actually one of those people. I mean, I probably won’t be able to ever repay him for everything he has done for us. He’s been instrumental in getting us up and going.”

Renovations took about 3 months. “The walls were mostly white, and we wanted to make it a really warmer space, more comfortable for the people. We added the lounge by the fireplace. We’re called the Village Public House because the image I have in mind is a place where the community can get together and interact with each other and not just with their few friends and family that they come to eat here with. We extended the bar because it was really just a very small four seat sort of a service bar and on the same note, the larger it is, the more people can interact there. And that came from Saddleback. That’s just another example of help and support. I could never have afforded that much granite realistically speaking before I opened. Jim Quimby and Jared (Emerson), and Bruce (Lancaster), they all agreed to let us have the granite. It was just sort of sitting outside, kind of in pieces actually, (he laughed) and again Brian Preney helped me put that back together again as well.”

Another change I noticed was the attractive Village Public House sign. It turns out it’s a simplified version of Shawn’s Irish family crest. I just love that sort of personalization. I think it goes along with the family and community vibe the Shaunesey’s are trying to encourage. With the helpful response of the community so far, I think it’s working.

They wound up opening almost exactly a week before Christmas on December 17th. Now, not even two months old, they are getting used to the routine of their great new venture. Karen, who is usually more of a front of the house person assists Theresa Bakke during the morning shift as well as Ted Eames during the evening shift. Karen’s daughter Brooklynn also helps in many areas. Open from 8am – 2pm for breakfast and lunch Wednesday thru Sunday and small plates, appetizers and cocktails 5pm – 9pm Thursday thru Saturday, 5pm – 8pm on Sundays. Let’s wish them all some good old Irish luck, shall we?

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