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Lake County Sheriff Rich Martin (left) and Missy Boss, manager of Shoey's Log Bar, 846 Michigan Ave., install a donated parking sign for Noel "Duffy" Duffing behind his barber shop in downtown Baldwin.
Photos courtesy of Lake County Sheriff's Office
BALDWIN — Noel Duffing, the local Baldwin barber known as Duffy, now has his very own designated parking space thanks to Lake County Sheriff Rich Martin and general manager of Shoey’s Log Bar Missy Boss.
“Today, we installed a new "Reserve Parking Sign" for Duffy in the back alley of downtown Baldwin,” Martin said. “Thanks go out to the Lake County Road Commission for letting us use their ‘sign-post-poundy-thing’ for the installation.”
Martin said with the new blacktop in the rear alley, people have been parking in Duffing’s spot, so Martin made the decision to put up the sign.
Martin designed the sign and Shoey’s Log Bar, next door to the barber shop, paid for the sign and hardware, he said.
Duffing, a Korean War Veteran, grew up in Baldwin and has lived there his entire life. He has worked as a barber for 57 years, in the same barber shop his grandfather once owned.
"I enjoy it because I enjoy talking to people and meeting new people," he said.
Residents and friends said that Duffing is like a celebrity in Baldwin because of everything he has always done for others.
For example, during some severe storms in summer 2018, Duffing helped deliver food to storm victims in Baldwin.
Additionally, during the COVID-19 pandemic, he and a friend procured hundreds of N95 masks, which were donated to Lake County Emergency Management.
"I saw there was a need," Duffing said previously. "Someone had to do something. I just figured it was the right thing to do."
