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.
Teen welder makes functional art out of metal scraps
ROCKLAND—Take a walk through the cavernous welding/fabrication shop at the newly built Midcoast School of Technology and you’ll be surrounded by industrial machines, tools, workbenches, and vices. For some students, it might be intimidating. But 17-year-old Mikayla Tolman feels right at home.
The senior at Zenith Alternative School takes a welding class at Midcoast School of Technology every other day and is one of two female students in the welding/fabrication program.
“When… Read more
wolfpeach restaurant owners switch to temporary BBQ pop-up
CAMDEN—Restaurants operating in a pandemic have had to make enormous changes in order to stay afloat. Gabriela Acero and Derek Richard, a couple featured in our recent story “wolfpeach, a new chophouse with a Maine twist, to open in Camden,” have reviewed their original restaurant plans under these circumstances. Their restaurant, wolfpeach, has not yet… Read more
Gathering Thyme, farmhouse decor boutique opens in Rockport
Winona Elmore just opened her dream shop in Rockport, a farmhouse decor boutique called Gathering Thyme, opposite of Midcoast Recreation Center on Route 90. Her grand opening was Saturday, February 6.
“I had a vision of a place where people could come to find beautiful things for their home,” said Elmore, whose business is a family venture with help renovating the shop from her husband, her daughter, and her son-in-law.
Elmore’s shop is filled with dried flowers, wreaths, and… Read more
Maine couple creates Valentine’s Day cards for ‘affectionate men and women’
The typical mainstream Valentine’s Day cards you find in supermarkets and stores and on TV commercials generally present a heterosexual angle to the holiday, which doesn’t represent other populations in love. One Greene, Maine couple, Lewis Alessio, and his husband, Jim Shaffer, have been producing creative variations of vintage photograph stationery that tell another visual story.
The couple created In Your Own Words LLC in 2013 to creatively augment vintage photographs into cards… Read more
New healthy beverage company aims to boost immunity and health
WARREN—With the deepest part of winter upon us and a heightened societal need to stay healthy during a pandemic, a new energy drink bar is set to open in Warren.
Elev8 Energy and Nutrition, owned and operated by Hunter Grindle with assistance from his operations manager, Richard Eaton, plans on opening the first week of February.
Grindle, who also owns Hybrid Fitness, a fitness center in the same building, came up with the idea of a new energy drink bar, after brainstorming… Read more
How improv gives permission to play in an ultra-serious world
ROCKLAND—When creative improvisational master Ryan Jackson gets down to serious business, there are going to be a lot of laughs.
The Rockland native is hosting a series of virtual improv workshops for adults through the Farnsworth Art Museum through April. The class, titled “Improv Reprise! Making it up as you go with Ryan Jackson”, is meant to loosen people up and get them to experience new sides of themselves.
A graduate of the University of Maine with a bachelor’s degree… Read more
Montville artist Leslie Woods captures ‘strength, beauty and attitude’ of sports
MONTVILLE — Leslie Woods, a Montville artist, has a unique approach to why she paints sport figures that encourages viewers of her work to place themselves within the portrait.
“Sport is where people can be totally absorbed physically, mentally and emotionally, where people function at the essence of being human,” Woods states on her website. “I paint figures in sport because our bodies are meant to move and each sport… Read more
New Rockland business, Affinity Nutrition: ‘Nourish your body, achieve optimum health’
ROCKLAND — Affinity Nutrition, a new nutritional business, opened Friday, Jan. 22 in the Rockland Plaza, edged between Hannaford and Planet Fitness in the space formerly occupied by Green with Envy Hair Salon. The owners aim to provide nourishment to Rockland and the greater Midcoast community.
The business is owned by Jessica Ripley, of Washington, and Lisa Ladd, of Owls Head, both longtime Midcoast residents… Read more
wolfpeach, a new chophouse with a Maine twist, soon to open in Camden
CAMDEN—Many wondered what would become of the classic Scottish pub Drouthy Bear after owners Andrew and Shannon Stewart announced last May that the COVID-19 virus restrictions on their beloved pub had forced them to permanently close.
The Midcoast community will be happy to know that the building has been purchased and is currently being renovated by Camden newcomers Gabriela Acero and Derek Richard to become a new restaurant. With a new aesthetic and flair, the restaurant will be… Read more
Butter Up Cakes, all-gluten-free bakery, cafe, brews and ciders opens in Damariscotta
DAMARISCOTTA—Faced with the food limitations necessary for their own family, a baker and her husband have decided to open a completely gluten-free bakery and cafe at 77 Main Street in downtown in mid-January named Butter Up Cakes.
Candice and Patrick Brady have three children.
“Two of our children have celiac disease, are lactose intolerant and can’t have high fructose corn syrup, and my husband is the same way,” said Candice. “So, I make all of their food from scratch,… Read more