(NECN: Peter Howe, Peace Dale, R.I.) - For just $60 and a compellingly persuasive one-page essay, you could become the owner of a thriving bakery cafe here in one of the quaintest corners of Rhode Island. After nine years of 4 a.m. baking, Sweet Cakes Bakery & Cafe co-owners Betsy Rosengarden and Sarah Patten have decided they want to make a career change, and decided to put the shop up for sale. But, Betsy said, "Instead of just trying to sell it, we wanted to do a contest where someone could win it." It was an idea inspired by a Maine innkeeper selling his business the same way a few years back. Instead of offering the business for sale for around $250,000, Patten and Rosengarden are hoping to make about that much money by getting 4,100 people or so to pay the $60 contest entry fee, due with a one-page essay on why they want to run it and how they will maintain and strengthen community ties. Contest entries can be sent in through www.sweetcakesbakeryri.com. "We'd be able to have a little control over who gets it,'' says Betsy, a Chicago native who came to this village of South Kingstown, R.I., ten years ago when her then-husband took a job in Newport building wooden boats. "I actually do not want somebody who says, 'Oh, we're going to keep this just the same.' I want someone who's going to come in and make it their own ... that really cares about the community, that it's local, they'll keep it local, that they're not just in it for money, that they love it.'' Peace Dale is just minutes from ocean beaches and Newport and the Amtrak station near the University of Rhode Island. It's a shop that's known for treats like a chocolate pudding cake, lighter-than-air egg tarts, and a full range of coffees and teas. The owners say they grossed $500,000 last year and made a profit, which they won't divulge, although the business took a blow when a drunken driver plowed into the front door and shut them down from December 15 to January 15, killing their Christmas-season business. Loyal customer Robin Mello of South Kingstown says, "I love the atmosphere. I love the food. Betsy's scones are absolutely the best.'' She says the contest is just what she'd expect. "A great idea. Totally unique, as I would expect from Sweet Cakes.'' Her advice to win-a-bakery hopefuls? "I think you have to show your commitment and passion to not only the business but the community, because that's what Sweet Cakes is all about.'' And Betsy's next move? "What I want to do,'' she says, "is buy an RV and reboot it into a bakery and drive across the country and teach culinary pastry in inner-city schools and rural schools.'' Patten and Rosengarden are pledging to keep the contest open through at least May 15, and announce a winner by August 1. If they don't get enough contestants, an attorney who is keeping the contest fees in an escrow fund will rebate them to entrants, and their plan then is to sell the shop through a more conventional process. (With videographer Chris Garvin)