Midcoast Entrepreneurs: Bright Ideas, Creativity and Enterprise
From restaurateurs to artists, and everything in between, the Midcoast is beaming with creatives and innovators in all mediums.
Since the inception of PenBayPilot.com, a collective goal of our writers has been to spotlight entrepreneurs and their creativity. Now, we have established a hub for our stories about the Midcoast’s entrepreneurs to permanently reside.
We encourage our readers to support as many local business owners as possible across as many industries as you can. Our neighbors need our support, so please browse through this hub for potential purchases or places to eat.
Bath Ale Works is the latest brewery to open in the Midcoast
WISCASSET—Ironically, Wiscasset’s first brewery is named after the nearby town 10 minutes away, but there’s a story for that. On Route 1, opposite from the Shaw’s Supermarket, Bath Ale Works, co-owned by Pepper and Jean Powers opened its brewery and taproom Memorial Day Weekend.
Powers, who arguably has one of the coolest brewer’s names ever, said, “We had the idea to open up in Bath several years ago, but we never found the right building at the right time, and then when we did, we… Read more
The long lost art of mending and alteration
BELFAST—The retro hobbies of knitting and sewing came roaring back during the pandemic for many people new to the craft, but Julz Larrabee, a sewist in Stockton Springs, has steadily stitching along all of the years, regardless of what’s going on outside her doors.
Her small shop, Julz Makes LLC, recently moved into the former “Maker Space” of… Read more
Midcoast Maine gains a new small book publisher and two literary magazines
NORTHPORT—A new small press has launched in Maine called Toad Hall Editions and its purpose is to give a platform to writers who don’t get noticed in the more traditional publishing arenas.
Founded by Amy Tingle, Liz Kalloch and Maya Stein, the trio all have skills in the publishing and design industries. The idea for the small press came out of years of collaboration on their own various projects. Their collective work on Stein’s latest book, The Poser: 38 Portraits Reimagined… Read more
Woodworker creates ‘gnarly’ reliquaries that hold precious secrets
ROCKLAND—Trees talk; scientists have been telling us that for years. But what you didn’t know is that they are particularly good at speaking to artists.
Roger Barry, a woodworker and artist, whose work is currently showing at Art Space Gallery in Rockland, has a connection to trees that goes back to his great-grandfather, the publisher of The Lumberman’s Actuary, a book of… Read more
How a portrait photographer works her magic to get a smile
Elizabeth Stanley is the last person who wants to be in front of the camera, which has noticeably given her insight when it comes to being a portrait photographer.
“I’m kind of an introvert, so I completely understand why people are hesitant to have their picture taken,” she said.
The Rockland-based artist-photographer got her start early on. Remember in the early 1990s when Kodak sponsored a group of 7th-grade CRMS students, giving them all a camera and instructing them to… Read more
The Mill Nutrition energy teas and shakes is the latest healthy spot to open in Camden
CAMDEN—Health seems to be on the minds of many businesses moving into downtown Camden this spring. The Mill Nutrition, at 25 Mechanic Street, is an herbal tea /shake shop that offers sugar-free Herbalife products with vitamins, protein boosters, and other nutritional add-on enhancements in custom drinks.
Owned by Marlene and Zac Cohn, the take-out shop opened in early April.
While the menu might be a lot to digest at first, especially for people not familiar with all of the… Read more
Ollie & David’s, a vintage store with factory-farm appeal, opens in Rockland
ROCKLAND — A spate of new businesses are opening up all around the Midcoast this spring, following a tumultuous year for shops and stores struggling during the pandemic. One of the newest is a curated vintage shop owned by David Robichaud called Ollie and David’s—with Ollie as a tribute to his dog, an English Springer Spaniel.
It is located on the first floor of the Thorndike building at 385 Main Street, once the great Thorndike Hotel. This overlooked building is often thought to… Read more
Art prompts spur community to get creative during Artists & Makers Week
ROCKLAND—As mud season is full underway, little pops of color in nature are turning up on roadsides and gardens. As part of Artists & Makers Week hosted by the Island Institute’s retail store Archipelago, little pops of color also appeared in artist Kim Bernard’s email inbox—the result of daily art prompts she put out to Maine’s communities and beyond last week.
Each day had a different directive and she encouraged each participant to spend no more than 15 minutes on each prompt… Read more
Tenants Harbor lobstering entrepreneur ropes in home decor market with handcrafted doormats
TENANTS HARBOR—Logan and Hannah Rackliff, co-owners of The Rope Co., have fostered a unique home decor business around an unlikely source—float rope, used by lobstermen to attach to lobster traps to the buoy and from trap to trap.
Logan, a fifth generation lobsterman, comes by the profession naturally, both as a working lobsterman and as the descendant of entrepreneurs who started rope companies in Maine.
His grandfather started Crowe Rope which… Read more
Belfast’s The Green Store tackles plastic waste with dispense-your-own soap
BELFAST—Think you’re being a good consumer by dropping your plastic recycling off at a Transfer Station each week? Well, don’t wipe your hands and be on your merry way, yet.
A Pew Charitable Trust … Read more