ABOUT FORGE

Susan Palmer Baker—affectionately known as “Susan Baker, Chocolate Maker”—has been sweetening Cedar City’s arts community for decades. A lifelong lover of music and theatre, Susan grew up surrounded by professional musicians and performers, eventually studying piano as an adult, playing violin in orchestras through high school, and singing in a large community chorus. Though she happily leaves the spotlight to the “gifted and brave,” she has become one of Southern Utah’s most dedicated champions of the arts. Susan has served the community in countless ways: writing articles for her daughter’s high school theatrical productions, serving on the USF Guild board for 25 years, and chairing the board for ACT (formerly SimonFest). She is now delighted to be a founding board member of The Forge Center for the Arts, where her passion, experience, and steady encouragement continue to make a lasting impact. Beyond the theatre, Susan’s expertise shines brightest in the kitchen. As the owner of a beloved local candy business for nearly three decades, she crafted fine, hand-dipped, small-batch chocolates—earning her nickname and making the world a little sweeter in the process. A native of New Mexico, she remains devoted to the distinct flavors of her home state and recreates them lovingly in her own cooking. When she’s not supporting the arts or creating culinary magic, Susan enjoys quilting, reading, traveling, and watching British detective dramas. She and her husband, retired SUU economics professor Joe Baker, are the proud parents of six children and nine grandchildren who live across five different states—though none, to her mild disappointment, in Utah. Warm, wise, creative, and endlessly generous, Susan pours her heart into every endeavor, enriching our community—and sweetening it—every single day.