What better way to celebrate some of the hardest working people out there than with tasty drinks, sweet treats, professional photos, and spring flowers? On Saturday, May 9, Thunderbird Bakery and Cafe hosted their first ever Mocktails with Mom Mother’s Day event. This event included a partnership with the Dandelion Lounge of the Fox Valley, which runs out of their own beverage truck and offers non-alcoholic craft drinks and mocktails for events from Oshkosh to Fond du Lac and beyond. Throughout the day, Thunderbird also featured a local photographer and plant vendor to tie the experience together.

Lizz Redman has owned and operated Thunderbird with her husband for the past eight years, starting at a booth at the Oshkosh Farmer’s Market. In 2024, they moved into their current location, providing them opportunities to host events such as Mocktails with Mom.

“The Dandelion Lounge, which is a mocktail drink trolley, approached us, and I met them and they seemed really organized and had a really cool concept. We agreed that Mother’s Day might be a nice time for them to come and be in our parking lot and serve their drinks,” Redman said. “It just kind of grew organically; we had a beautiful day, and it was just a really fun event.”

Retail manager Toni Whitney has worked at Thunderbird for the past three years. She organizes operational flow, ensures the staff is ready to provide a high-quality experience, and manages “behind-the-scenes” logistics to keep the business running smoothly. While Thunderbird has existed since 2018, this was the first year that the local bakery and cafe hosted a Mother’s Day event.

“The idea really grew from our desire to collaborate with other local, women-led businesses. We’ve had a great relationship with The Dandelion, Cattail Garden, and Shaena Ragna Photography, and we realized that their specialties would pair perfectly with our offerings,” Whitney said. “We wanted to create an event where people could celebrate without the stress of a formal reservation.”

Casey Douglas worked as a vendor of plants, sprigs, and various seeds outside of Thunderbird Bakery at their Mother’s Day event. She offered tips to novice gardeners, free seeds from her collection, and a variety of starter plants for anyone in need of some new blooms.

“I'm just here to sell garden starts for people, educate and also give out free seeds,” she said. “I actually work at Thunderbird part-time, so I work here once a week. I do bookkeeping and I do food prep, so I'm here on Tuesdays, but also help fill in when people are sick, as a barista.”

Thunderbird used their Mother’s Day event as an opportunity to advertise up-and-coming small businesses throughout the Oshkosh area.

“I just started Cattail Garden Services this spring. I've been growing for about a decade now, but this is my first year doing a professional business,” Douglas said.

In the days leading up to the Mocktails with Mom event, Thunderbird Bakery allowed guests to order baked goods ahead of time, which community member Kayla Pfluger took full advantage of. With spring, and Mother's Day especially, being a very busy time of the year for the local bakery, the ability for guests to place their orders prior to the event allowed for much more flexibility and less stress on both sides.

Pfluger attended Mocktails with Mom at Thunderbird with her daughter, Aili. The event was advertised through Thunderbird’s various social media pages, but also simply via word of mouth.

“I was invited by my wonderful friends from church. I’ve been to Thunderbird Bakery before, and I love it, so it was not a hard sell,” Pfluger said.

The wide variety of experiences that Thunderbird offered throughout the day attracted a variety of members of the community.

“My favorite part was that they had all of these local vendors around. They had somebody selling plants, they had somebody selling the mocktails, which were amazing. And then they had little mini photography sessions,” Pfluger said. “It’s so important to support everything local.”

Shedding light on small businesses is always a plus when events such as this are hosted. Aili Pfluger understood the importance of supporting local businesses, like Thunderbird.

“It’s good to support small businesses, because Thunderbird’s not a chain, so they need the support. This event helps them get the support that they need and helps them become more known,” she said.

One thing every attendee could agree on was that the venue was the perfect place to celebrate any motherly figures and welcome in the fresh season of spring.

“I would say go because everybody there was so welcoming and lovely. And so if you're like, ‘oh, I don't know, it’s a small town’, it didn't feel that way. It felt very welcoming and very comfortable and all the important things,” Pfluger said.

Bringing the community together is always a priority when organizing any event, and Thunderbird definitely succeeded.

“I think these events are important because they bring the community together. It's kind of the season where people are kind of getting out of the hibernation zone and seeing everything kind of growing and changing,” Douglas said. “So I think it’s an important event to celebrate moms and families and also just the arrival of spring.”

Community events, particularly ones run by small businesses like Thunderbird, are a true labor of love for all of the workers and vendors involved.

“I think it’s worth mentioning that while the event is a fun party, the preparation is a massive team effort. From our kitchen staff preparing blueberry croissant bread pudding weeks in advance to our baristas mastering new syrups, we put a lot of work into the logistics,” Whitney said. “We are so grateful to the Oshkosh community for showing up for our first year. We definitely hope to make this a new tradition.”

by Kathryn Scheivert

Published May 26, 2026

Oshkosh West Index Volume 122 Issue VIII

Thunderbird launches Mother’s Day initiative to weave local vendors into tapestry