On Friday, April 25th, 2025, it was announced publicly via Instagram that the Sunflower Oven, which served as a bakery by day and a DIY music venue by night, would be closing the next week. The news didn’t exactly come out of nowhere – to people familiar with the matter, it seems the writing had been on the wall for some time. I don’t know what makes any business run successfully, let alone a co-op bakery, but it managed to survive for two and a half years.

I can’t quite remember my first time at the Sunflower Oven, but I remember the peculiarity of a bakery doubling as a music venue. It was the early days of me attending shows in Jackson, early 2024 or thereabouts, so the concept was new to me. It was not your typical music venue: In lieu of a stage, there was an area rug that bands set their gear up on and a PA balanced atop a bookshelf. Bands displayed merch on old wooden tables next to a shelf of records. Your seating options were two old couches, some barstools, and a few chairs. A Simpsons arcade cabinet hung out in the corner of the modestly sized room. And most notable of all the features of the Sunflower Oven was that you could see loaves of bread being prepared amidst guitar breakdowns, guttural screams, and vigorous push pits. Despite the initial strangeness of the juxtaposition, I would soon see myself at this little bakery on several weekend (and sometimes weekday) nights, nodding along to heavy music in this tiny room lit only by two strings of Christmas lights, watching as moshers stumbled over two little plastic orange traffic cones concealing electrical outlets.

Just in my time attending shows in Jackson, I’ve seen both big touring bands and fledgling local bands come to perform and feast on sandwiches and rye cookies. I regret to admit I’ve never partaken in the baked goods of the venue (some social situations make me nervous, and I can’t eat when I’m nervous, fun fact), which is a bummer because I have recently been made aware that they had a salmon BLT that sounded really good. But aside from the music and the food, what the Sunflower Oven also provided was community.

There are only a few venues in Jackson that exhibit what people would consider the “DIY ethos”, and now we have one less. One less place for people of all ages to come together in a shared interest, meet new people, see bands, just hang out. One less bathroom to adorn with stickers and take mirror selfies. One less place people can go and just forget about the realities of the world for a while. Yes, nothing lasts forever, but the loss of the Sunflower Oven still stings.

Don’t get me wrong, Jackson still has some great venues that very graciously allow loud, aggressive music to be played there after hours and let bands walk away with everything they make at the door. But at the risk of sounding like an AI-generated travel guide, the Sunflower Oven truly felt like a hidden gem, its unassuming storefront on Jefferson St. being the setting of countless memories for show-goers in Jackson.

Like the many venues that have come and gone (Big Sleepy’s, The Carter, probably loads more I just don’t know about), the building will remain and turn into other things, but the pictures, the videos, the memories, and, yes, the friends we made along the way, will last a lifetime.

The Sunflower Oven will cease operations in early May, but its final show will be held on June 9th featuring Hoods, Brick by Brick, Plagueburner, and Facerot.