Super Sundays at Marcus Dairy: Remembering an Unforgettable Piece of Danbury’s History

It was a hot August day in 1948 when Jack and Pearl Marcus opened a small dairy bar next to their business on Sugar Hollow Road.

I-84 was decades away, and Route 7 was just an easy-going country road back in those days. Whoever thought that this small roadside cafe that served up sandwiches and homemade ice cream would gradually turn into a Sunday morning destination for motorcyclists from all over New England?

Mindy and I are good friends with Jeff Marcus and his wife Annette, and we've heard so many fascinating stories of his life growing up around the dairy.

In the early 1970s, motorcyclists began pulling into Marcus Dairy for breakfast before taking off for a long scenic ride in the hills of Connecticut and New York. The dairy eventually became so popular with bikers, Sunday mornings turned into "Super Sundays" where thousands upon thousands of bikers, some from more than three hours away would congregate for breakfast and to show off their bikes.

During those occasional "Super Sunday" extravaganzas, event planner, Don Clady would bring in motorcycle vendors and sometimes even rock n' roll bands. In its heyday, those "Super Sundays" resembled the famed rallies at Laconia, New Hampshire and Sturgis, South Dakota. You could even enter your bike into various contests, shop for leather goods, and even have some new ink done.

June 20, 2011 was a sad day for the city of Danbury, when the demolition of Marcus Dairy began. The restaurant shut its doors in February to make way for a small, upscale shopping center. Arthur Andersen from Redding, a steady Marcus Dairy customer since the 50s, told the NewsTimes:

It was a great place to go and talk with friends. When you walked in there it felt like family.

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