Building a Community Gathering Place

Aroma Coffee Company, Fall City, WA

Nearly every morning, when you walk up the stairs to enter Aroma Coffee Co., you will be greeted by Rich, sitting in a porch chair sipping on his daily 12 oz. latte. Rich has taken it upon himself to become the official greeter at Aroma, welcoming regulars and new customers alike. This warm welcome is reflective of the thoughtful, adaptive approach that Emily Ridout (LE'16), Kelsey Wilson, and Sara Cox (LE'15) took in creating a space of belonging in Fall City, which happens to also serve coffee. 

Best friends Sara Cox (LE’15) and Emily Ridout (LE’16) spent twelve years dreaming up and designing a coffee shop that would bring the community together. Aroma has truly lived into its purpose: a place to gather, a craft to savor, and an invitation to linger. 

In the beginning, they asked critical questions, such as “What does it mean to truly belong?” and “How do we create a space that can become a gathering place for everyone?” Over the years, they slowly built out a mission, vision, and business plan. Along the way, good friend - Kelsey Wilson - joined the team and helped better define and elevate the vision for the craft component, enabling Aroma to offer the first specialty coffee to the Snoqualmie Valley.

L to R: Emily Ridout (LE'16), Kelsey Wilson, and Sarah Cox (LE'15)

 “We are extremely collaborative and we also have our individual areas that we own. Gather – Emily handles communications, community building, social media, events. Savor – Kelsey manages operations. And Linger – Sara handles finance, legal and HR. This division of labor makes working as a team possible.” 

On the main route of Fall City sits the Prescott-Harsman House, the perfect place for Aroma Coffee Co. Originally owned by Newton and Julia Harsman, the home holds so much history, serving as the Harsman Telephone Company and later the Fall City Telephone company. The home was designated as a King County Landmark in 1984.

Emily and Sara told us about finding the Prescott-Harsman House. “As soon as we walked in we could feel the deep sense of being at home, of belonging – this is (all of) our place. Aroma needed to be a house. This is a historic landmark and everyone has a story: they lived here, their friends lived here, they worked at the telephone company. This was the central point of connection in Fall City – also owned by a woman - and we knew it was the home for Aroma.”

“LE was so foundational to both of us.”

We sat down with Emily and Sara to hear more of their story.

“LE was so foundational to both of us,” Sara tells us. Emily’s team project was working to build community in Fall City. “The project wasn’t just work for class,” said Emily. “It was a personal passion focused on building community in Fall City, her hometown.”

Sara shared her perspective and the challenge of addressing adaptive issues: “You have to identify the problem. It’s a slippery slope, you can create a new problem in the process. How do you set out to provide the community with something they need in a way that is not patronizing or manipulative. How clearly do they need to name the problem versus us helping to cultivate the information.”

They also recognized that “the issue had to be ripe – there had to be a readiness. “When we first thought we were going to open Aroma, the lease didn’t happen. We realized the community wasn’t ready,” said Sara. “We ended up opening during Covid. The community was lonely. Parents were making massive value shifts, people wanted to be localized. The timing was perfect for the community.”

Aroma today:

“Aroma has become the community center. We launched something much bigger than a coffee shop,’ said Emily. “We thought we’d have around five staff, we are now at 15. We are intentional about being engaged in community conversations. Everyone is coming to us to let us know what is happening. The community takes ownership. There is a line out the door with regulars bringing friends here to introduce them to their coffee shop. We watch people meet in line who live on the same street.”

“Today, we filter our mission through ourselves, our staff and our community,” said Sara. We might only have those who join our team for a brief moment of life, but they get to form and keep a community connection here. Yet, the heartbeat of Aroma must flow through us, and we ensure there is continuity of care.”

“We have launched a number of community building projects. We run summer markets, and we have a Treefort! We are now figuring out how to manage a park and are looking to offer the space as an event venue. Gather, Savor, Linger – now we’ve added Play.”

Aroma is a place of respite, connection, and community. One employee reconnected with a friend after 30 years in our lobby. They didn’t know that they had been living seven miles apart for over two decades! Another customer, already  regular, came in after she was just diagnosed with cancer and needed a place to not be alone. Later, we all celebrated her going into remission. On the other hand, we’ve lost beloved customers even while celebrating fullness of life alongside others in f the community. “It’s all the good things and all the hard things. It’s home.”