The Apopka Museum at 122 E 5th Street will soon acquire the sign for the recently closed Maters & Taters Market & Creamery, ensuring the iconic local business will not be forgotten. 

Maters & Taters opened in 1984 at 454 N. Park Avenue under the Boyer family. After Jeff Boyer died in 2024, stepson Andy Ray took over the business. Due to financial difficulties, the store closed its doors Nov. 15.  

After it closed, Apopka Museum curator Lorena Potter dropped by for a visit. 

“I was moving equipment, and then she stopped in, introduced herself, and asked about acquiring the sign and told me what she wanted to do with it,” Ray said. “I talked to my mom about it and asked her, and she said, ‘Yeah, absolutely.’” 

Potter said her daughter, Nicole Molnar, shared the idea at one of the Apopka Historical Society’s board meetings. Molnar had seen one of the museum’s artifacts, the sign for Ustler Brothers Foliage Nursery, and thought it would be fitting to do something similar for Maters. 

“I always used to get my produce from them,” said Potter, who moved to Apopka the year after Maters opened. “They had a really goodvariety, and their prices were competitive.” 

Potter remembers walking from her house to Maters, which sold freshly baked zucchini bread. 

“They were influential in the community,” she said. 

Ray said he will take down the sign with his “maintenance guy” and deliver it to the museum once he and Potter discuss the details of the acquisition. 

“It’s gonna be kind of cool — bittersweet, too — but I think it’s what my dad would’ve wanted,” Ray said. “He’s not here now, but I think he would want something down there to show everybody, so people can see and reflect on it.”