Scottdale coffee shop owners have reason to celebrate during this year's fall festival

When Melville Petrosky first entered the coffee shop in the former Collections by Marty building in Scottdale a few years ago to see a friend’s artwork on display, he had to leave.

Not because he didn’t like the space, but because he loved it.

“I always wanted a coffee shop,” Petrosky said. “There were so many things that I wanted to do there, that I had to go.”

Even the line to one of his favorite poems was written in Sharpie on the wall, Petrosky, 50, of Belle Vernon, said as he motioned to a line from the T.S. Eliot poem, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.”

“I have measured out my life with coffee spoons,” the poem reads, and it is apt for Petrosky, who worked six years at a Starbucks in Boston before moving to Seattle, a city synonymous with coffee. He worked at one of the conglomerate’s competitors there before moving back to Western Pennsylvania in 2020 to help care for ailing family members.

“That quote applies to me with my cumulative coffee experience,” Petrosky said.

When he found out the coffee shop was for sale in August 2021, he reached out to his brother and sister-in-law, Jeff and Liz Adams, both 35, of Belle Vernon, and the trio jumped on the opportunity.

The sale moved quickly over the course of a few weeks, and Bad Rabbit Café & Roastery opened at 143 Pittsburgh St. across from the Scottdale Gazebo in time for the town’s fall festival last September.

The shop will mark its one-year anniversary this weekend during the 2022 festival, which will run Sept. 16-18. The annual event includes a parade, car show, monster trucks, sidewalk chalk and cornhole competitions.

Thomas Szczygiel, fall festival chairman, said this year’s event will have more vendors than ever before.

Bad Rabbit rushed to open in time for last year’s event. Liz Adams signed the paperwork one morning and had a paintbrush in hand that evening.

“Daily, 10 to 15 people, at least, stopped in to see if we needed help or to welcome us to the neighborhood. The whole community has made us feel so welcomed from the very beginning,” Jeff Adams said.

While Petrosky is knowledgeable about coffee, his older brother Jeff spent six years as a regional retail manager and oversaw a kitchen at a Ruby Tuesday franchise.

Jeff Adams can still recite by heart the recipe and method of preparation of one of that chain’s trademarks, so it was only natural that he returned to food service.

That experience has come in handy at the shop, where meats are sliced in-house and baked goods are made on the premises.

Bad Rabbit sold 236 bacon, ham and sausage croissants in August, making the breakfast sandwich the most popular menu item with the iced latte not far behind, Jeff Adams said.

They also roast their own coffee, which they also sell online and have shipped to all parts of the country.

Liz Adams left her job as a retail manager and now devotes all of her time to working in the shop and making all of the baked goods.

All three are quick to point out they could not be as successful as they are without the help of the three full-time employees that round out the staff.

One of those employees said she came in for a coffee one day and fell in love.

“I actually drive 25 miles from Uniontown to come work here, ” Lauren Sequete said. “There is nothing like it.”

Another employee, Emily Taxacher of Bullskin, said she enjoys the creative freedom of making and naming seasonal drinks.

Vampire blood — a red velvet nitro cold brew and white chocolate with red velvet cold foam — is the most popular at the moment. The spooky ghost is her favorite because of the way the sweet ginger cold foam makes little “ghosts” when it is added to the lemon ginger iced tea.

The shop, which has an air hockey and pool table, also hosts craft events and card games some evenings, along with live music.

“There is something for everyone. So even if you don’t drink coffee, maybe you read books or like music or play games or just like visiting with friends,” Jeff Adams said.

Their success is apparent as their customer base grows.

“A guy drove up in a backhoe that he parked in the street while he came in for his coffee. And the garbage trucks idle in the morning as the garbage men come in. We get just about everyone,” Sequete said from behind the counter.

Festival highlights

FRIDAY

3 p.m. — Pierce Dipner and the Shades of Blue (gazebo stage)

5:30 p.m. — Opening ceremonies and Jerry B and The Bonetones (gazebo stage)

6 p.m. — Practice Makes Perfect (Somerset Trust Co. children’s stage)

6:30 p.m. — Cub Scout Raingutter Regatta (Pittsburgh Street)

8 p.m. — The Vogues (gazebo stage)

SATURDAY

9 a.m. — 5K/10K Walk/Run (Pittsburgh Street)

Noon — Parade

1 p.m. — Brad Abbott (gazebo stage)

1:30 p.m. — Storytime and crafts (Scottdale Public Library)

3 p.m. — Southmoreland Color Run (Loucks Park)

3 p.m. — Metro (gazebo stage)

3:45 p.m. — Cornhole tournament (Pittsburgh Street)

4 p.m. — Magician/comedian Eric Davis (Somerset Trust Co. children’s stage)

5:30 p.m. — Norman Nardini (gazebo stage)

7 p.m. — Part Time Cowboys (Wish’s Bar & Grill stage)

7:30 p.m. — Sirkus Dayz Fire performance (Pittsburgh Street)

8 p.m. — The Fabulous Gemtones (gazebo stage)

8 p.m. — Part Time Cowboys (Wish’s Bar & Grill stage)

SUNDAY

Noon — Bigfoot meet and greet (Mongell Tire parking lot)

Noon — Car show (Rite Aid parking lot)

1 p.m. — Abacus Jones (gazebo stage)

1:30 p.m. — Spice (Somerset Trust Co. children’s stage)

2 p.m. — Bigfoot car crush (Pioneer Way)

3:30 p.m. — The 4 Jukes (gazebo stage)

6 p.m. — Buffalo Rose (gazebo stage)