Shaker Pond Ice Cream

Shaker Pond Ice Cream, owned by Ryan Whitten and David Swett, has been serving up delicious treats since 2008. What started as an ice cream stand in Alfred, Maine, has now grown to include a retail location in Sanford and a production facility in the same town. Their wholesale business began in 2011, and they continue to expand their offerings to this day. When asked about how they got started in the ice cream business, Ryan and David explain, "Both of us used to work at another ice cream company and decided to go at it on our own." They…

T & D Wood Energy

T&D Wood Energy, founded by Tony Wood and his father in 2018, manufactures premium wood pellets for the heating market in the Northeast. The company sells to all New England states, and in each of the three heating seasons, they have sold out of all their product and needed to make more. The owners had been working on developing a wood pellet plant for almost 11 years before they got close to building a facility. When the company was ready to close financing on its current plant, Coastal Enterprises brought Southern Maine Finance Agency (SMFA) into the relationship. "Working with…

Lucky Pigeon Brewing

Lucky Pigeon Brewing, founded by Kathleen Pigeon and three other owners in August 2021, is a brewery that specializes in gluten-free beer. They developed gluten-free beer as Kathleen became gluten intolerant and wanted to find a way to continue to enjoy good beer. What was out there was boring, not very good, and offered few options. "We settled in Biddeford because we kept hearing about the revitalization of the downtown area," says Kathleen. "The energy here is tangible. You can tell there is something special happening in this town." "We had a business plan developed and went to a couple…

Possum Hollow Farm Soaps

Organic and environmentally responsive soaps and skincare. When Robin and Jim Bedford started making soap as part of their family business, they determined to make it the best they could utilizing natural ingredients and being environmentally conscious. When their son Derek and Jennifer were married, soaps were the wedding favors. Derek and then Jennifer joined the business sometime after, determined to further develop the soap business. The business began in the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania and the name Possum Hollow Farm Soap came about because there was a possum hollow behind the family farmhouse. While in Pennsylvania, Derek and Jennifer…

Blueprints Early Learning Center

Building Foundations of Love When you open the door into Blueprints Early Learning Center in Lebanon, it is clearly a place where love abounds. Some children are busy with projects, others listening intently to a story read by one of the teachers and more are just waking up from naps. The infant room for little ones has two teachers and while some babies sleep, others are awake and being cuddled and fed. It is evident that the children are enjoying every minute and the staff provides a circle of calm and caring that make this the town’s number one full-service…

The Sellam Circus School

When an international circus performer and a girl entranced with the circus since age 8 got married, it seemed natural that they would base their new Sellam Circus School in her home state of Maine. In the summer of 2015, Amity Stoddard and Sellam El Ouahabi founded the Sellam Circus School and launched their Maine Coast Summer Circus Arts day camp program. This includes a summer camp for circus arts inside a traveling big top tent, as well as weekend performances by students and professionals. The circus played throughout coastal Maine including the towns of Biddeford, Rockport and Bar Harbor.…

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