The Old Company Store last Saturday kicked off what will be known as Saturdays in the Park: A collection of local craftspeople and small businesses purveying their wares in the park-like space next to the Tremont Street store. We spoke with four of the inaugural participants.

Undercover Cakes

It’s not what you would expect to see sold in Mason jars: Chocolate and peanut butter trifle. Oreo cookie cupcakes with buttercream frosting. A sugary concoction featuring strawberries, blueberries and sponge cake.

But the fact that no one has ever seen anything like Cheryl Costeira’s Undercover Cakes may be part of the appeal. The “ready-to-eat trifle in a jar,” single-serving desserts appeal to eye, appetite and imagination.

The Wareham woman, whose day job is as a medical biller, said Saturday’s outing was her “first venture.”

Her question to passersby: “Do you have dessert for tonight?” Obviously, a lot of people didn’t. More than an hour before the event’s 4 p.m. end time, Costeira found her supply of goods well depleted. In fact, she was about to be sold out of the most popular Undercover Cake – a gooey mass of peanut butter and chocolate.

Palatable poop

Connor McKenna, then a senior at Dartmouth High School, was intrigued when his grandmother returned from Florida with chocolate candy branded as “flamingo poop,” “shark bites” and “gator poop.” He smelled a local market!

Now one year out of high school and with a day job making linguica at Amaral’s sausage company in New Bedford, McKenna has his own Chocolate Poop Candy Company.

Lobster, seagull, shark, quahog, and whale “poop” is all manufactured Kosher-style by Dorothy Cox’s Chocolates of Fairhaven. Lobster Poop is malted milk balls covered in shimmery chocolate, Whale Poop is pretzel balls covered in blue chocolate, and so on.

McKenna says he sells the poop in fish markets and at events such as Saturday’s in Wareham. And he’s looking for more locations.

There’s clearly more in the works. His website has a “soon to come” page for Poop apparel.

For more: http://chocopoop.com

Wicked Good Soups

The former owner of Café Lucia on Main Street “wanted to do it again – but not the whole store.” So, four months ago, Donna Verrier, husband John, and daughter Victoria joined forces to create Wicked Good Soups.

Together, the Verriers have found a niche in the creation and delivery of homemade soups. Doing business at Makepeace Farms’ weekly farmers market, events such as The Old Company Store’s anniversary celebration and by phone and e-mail, Donna estimates they are already moving about 40 quarts a week.

“We have whole neighborhoods calling us now,” Donna says.

Office manager at Gateway Dental in Wareham, Donna moonlights as the wicked good chef. John is sous chef and delivery person. Victoria, a 20-year-old marketing student at Stonehill College has created all their marketing materials.

The Verriers report that the best-sellers are chowder, minestrone and creamy tomato basil. That line-up might soon have competition from spaghetti sauce. A simmering pot of spaghetti and meatballs was getting enough attention from Old Company Store visitors to make the soup cooks think about canning it.

To learn more: www.wickedgoodsoups.com

Classroom inspiration

When asked for a business card, Nancy Barry quickly replied, “Oh, this isn’t a business!”

But there Barry was sitting under a tent alongside her display of handmade jewelry and little painted treasure chests filled with inspirational sayings – one designed for young girls, another for the religious.

The Onset resident spent 35 years teaching third grade at Minot Forest Elementary School before retiring two years ago. She got the idea for the treasure chests for girls from the daily inspirational sayings she used to post on the blackboard. The religious piece comes from her longtime affiliation with St. Patrick’s Church.

She’s selling things but, rather than a business, she described it as “just having fun doing what I want to do.”