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[Event listing courtesy of Duck Soup]
The year 1971 featured the opening of the first Starbucks in Seattle and the first network email sent by Ray Tomlinson. Meanwhile in Sudbury, MA, Richard Ressler and Jim Barisano opened Duck Soup and the business remains a neighborhood institution to this day.
The iconic general store will celebrate the 55th anniversary of their October 12th, 1971, opening by holding special events throughout October including an October 10th anniversary celebration featuring an appearance by former New England Patriot Max Lane, local dignitaries and a ribbon cutting ceremony. A portion of the proceeds from sales that day will go to the Sudbury Food Pantry. The community is asked to submit their Duck Soup memories, old or new, and a favorite memory will be chosen, and that customer will be awarded a prize. Duck Soup was purchased by Louise Mawhinney, a former biotech CFO, in 2014. Mawhinney also purchased the famed Sky Bar brand via auction in 2018 following the closure of The New England Confectionery Company (NECCO). Their Sky Bar Candy Co. manufactures the original 1938 Sky Bar in a facility adjacent to Duck Soup and is the only NECCO product still made in New England. Duck Soup is a general store with thousands of products available for sale and is among the longest continuously operating retail stores in Sudbury.