Eric Atwater has a hit with Obama Crunch Cookies

ST. PETERSBURG

The handmade sign at the intersection of 22nd Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Street S is an attention grabber, catching some motorists offguard.

"Obama Crunch Cookies ... Gotta Try 'Em" the bright yellow sign drawn with red and black markers proclaims.

The sign also got the attention of the restaurant's neighbor across the street, Walgreens.

Eric Atwater's Obama Crunch Cookies will soon be coming to local Walgreens and convenience stores throughout Pinellas County.

An agreement was reached during a meeting Wednesday led by Dea Langston and Laurie Suitt, owners of Executive Events Marketing, and other prospective distributors.

"We're waiting for the packing to come in before starting distribution for the Obama Crunch Cookie," Suitt said.

Atwater, 34, known as the cookie man of Atwater's Cafeteria, began baking 15 years ago at Dixie Hollins High's Culinary Arts Commercial Food Program.

"I love to bake. You see, I'd bake all day," he said.

Atwater's fascination with baking cookies began in the ninth grade. As a high school student he relished the community's response to his baking abilities.

"I started baking for the people," said Atwater. "Every time I started baking, people wanted to eat my cookies."

Atwater baked chocolate chip cookies for his high school friends, family members and teachers.

"The people in high school loved Eric's cookies," said Joe Carey, 32, a family friend. "They still ask me about buying Eric's cookies."

Atwater eventually set out to develop an original cookie recipe.

With the help of family and friends, he came up with Hurricane Crunch Cookies.

Atwater decided to change the name of the Hurricane Crunch Cookie to Obama Crunch Cookie as a bet that he set with himself.

"I told myself, 'If Obama won the election, then I would change the name of my Hurricane Cookies,' " Atwater said.

Clara Grace, 65, put an Obama Crunch Cookie to the taste test and declared: "These cookies are good." Grace has been buying Atwater's cookies since he has been selling them.

The cookies are $5 per bag. For information about Obama Crunch Cookies call Eric Atwater at (727) 564-4239.

Nikeya Williams is a reporter for the Neighborhood News Bureau, a program of the Department of Journalism and Media Studies at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg.