Up the River Baking: A Business Grown from Come Toward the Fire

Ya’uc! Hello!

My name is Carla, I grew up in Kitimat, B.C. and am part of the xa’isla nation. I’ve been a home baker for years and in June 2022, with the support of my husband Chris, started my small business called ‘Up the River Baking’. I specialize in custom, small-batch, handmade, decorated sugar cookies. I’m self-taught in the art of using royal icing to decorate cookies.

Where does the name ‘Up the River Baking’ come from?

I come from a family that’s always worried about whether you’ve had enough to eat. It’s our way of saying ‘I love you’. I grew up watching the women in my family cooking and baking. They’d bake loaves upon loaves of bread by hand. Yet, the real treat for us kids was eating the ‘up the river bread’ hot out of the oil and dipping it into Roger’s syrup. When my ancestors went up the river during oolichan season, they would fry dough in the oolichan grease making ‘up the river bread’. Generally, known as fry bread or bannock. Those early memories motivate me to bake and inspire me to express my creativity to bring people together with delicious treats.

As I mentioned, I started my business in June 2022 and Chan Centre’s Come Toward the Fire festival was our first market as an official business. Our nerves were high but everyone was so open and welcoming and we sold out in a couple hours which was a huge confidence boost for a new business. Since then we’ve looked forward to bringing our cookies to the event each year. We love watching the event grow.

The Chan Centre also supports our business throughout the year by purchasing cookies to sell at the concession. We customize the cookies for each event – our favourite being the annual Carnival of the Animals Reimagined event.