BANGOR – Ben Gunn remembers the day his delivery truck, loaded with hundreds of fresh doughnuts from Frank’s Bake Shop, lost its brakes as it approached Dow Air Force Base in Bangor. The air police at the checkpoint weren’t thrilled as Gunn zipped past without slowing, but the servicemen were – the doughnuts got there more quickly that way.

These days, Dow is just a memory, but Frank’s is still a local institution. And so is Gunn, 75, who has traded delivery driving for tending the oven. He’s one of many longtime employees who will be on hand Monday for the bakery’s 60th anniversary open house. The event will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. at the State Street shop.

Joseph Soucy and Frank Soucy Jr. founded the business on Hancock Street in 1945. In 1947, the shop moved to its current location. Named in honor of Frank Soucy Sr., the business has remained in the family ever since, and now is owned by Joseph Soucy’s five children.

“State Street, when we first opened, was the main drag to the north,” recalled Bernadette Gaspar, one of the co-owners. “We didn’t have a highway, so we used to have all sorts of people stopping in.”

They still do. On a recent morning, a steady stream of customers lined up for chocolate doughnuts, apple turnovers, breakfast sandwiches and hot, steaming coffee. By the time the regulars got to the counter, Karen Walker had their order waiting for them.

“Our customers are very spoiled,” said Walker, who has worked at Frank’s for five years. “You know their name and you know what they want when they come in.”

For the last six decades, area folks have come in for the bakery’s ever-popular date-filled cookies, lard-fried doughnuts, handmade ice cream and the Wednesday night special, turkey pies. The recipes have remained mostly unchanged, and some of the shop’s old favorites will be served during Monday night’s festivities.

“I think a lot of it is comfort food,” Gaspar said. “It’s what people like, and that’s what we make – comfort food.”