BIDDEFORD — “We love it here,” said Molly Walrath on Wednesday. She was waiting for her daughter to join her for lunch at Dahlia’s Delights, a vegetarian café on Main St.
“It’s a dream come true,” said the Ocean Park resident who works in Biddeford. “It was so needed.”
“It’s not just for vegetarians,” said Walrath.
She said her son and son-in-law, both meat lovers, also enjoy the vegetarian fare at the café, which opened in November.
The café’s owner, Jennifer Thibeau, came up with one of the three winning business ideas to be awarded a $10,000 forgivable loan, six-months’ free rent and other incentives through last year’s Main Street Challenge.
The other victors to open new businesses included Bekah and David Clark, the couple opened their woodworking shop Tote Road in November; and Michael Macomber, owner of Elements: Books Coffee Beer, which opened in March.
All the new business owners said they wouldn’t have been able to open without the incentives provided by winning the Main Street Challenge.
This year, the City of Biddeford and the downtown revitalization organization Heart of Biddeford are gearing up for year two of the Main Street Challenge, Main Street Challenge ”“ Encore.
On Tuesday, the city council will be asked to approve the competition.
This year, said HOB Executive Director Delilah Poupore, the challenge will be geared toward expanding existing businesses.
In addition, the funding source for the forgivable loans will be different.
Other than that, she said many of the incentives and other aspects of the challenge will be similar to last year.
The challenge winners from last year have nothing but praise for the program.
“We wouldn’t be here without it,” said Bekah Clark about Tote Road’s store front at 840 Main St.
“We’d still be working out of a 6-foot-by-12-foot trailer in our driveway,” she said.
In the couple’s new location, they have a retail store where people can browse, an instruction area where they hold small classes, and a work area where they fashion their signs, bowls and many custom orders.
“I like not having to eat breakfast next to a bunch of tools,” said Clark.
While she, like the other winners, said starting a new business is a lot of work, they all said they are happy they had the chance to start their ventures.
David Clark said he and his wife try to support other local businesses.
“We’re all in the same boat,” he said.
He said he and his wife made and gave away signs to 15 to 20 local businesses.
That support provides good karma.
Although it wasn’t planned, said Bekah Clark, about half of those who received free signs made purchases from Tote Road.
Thibeau said her business is also supported by owners and employees of other local businesses, as well local residents, college students and visitors to the area.
“It’s a mix,” she said, and “every day is different. I see new faces every single week.”
While the restaurant is a lot of work, Thibeau said she is grateful that winning the Main Street Challenge allowed her to open Dahlia’s Delights.
She said she is supportive of more businesses, whether new or expansions, filling up the storefronts of Biddeford’s Main Street, because they all support each other, and the more businesses that open, the more attractive the downtown becomes to local residents and visitors alike.
Like Thibeau and the Clarks, Macomber said without winning the challenge he is doubtful he would have opened Elements, which serves specialty coffee, books, beer and wine and other items.
“If not for the contest, I don’t think I would have taken the leap,” he said.
The forgivable loan and six months of free rent were important, said Macomber, but also the other types of support from the Heart of Biddeford and local businesses made a big difference.
The challenge “went beyond the mere incentives,” he said. “Not only did they pick us, but they followed up with hours of support.”
This fall’s Main Street Challenge ”“ Encore, if approved by city council, “will be playing on the ”˜E’ in encore,” said Poupore.
The selection committee will be “looking for people with more expertise or (who want to) expand their current business,” she said. Although those wishing to open a new business are also eligible.
The $10,000 forgivable loans, probably the most attractive incentive of the contest, will still be offered, but they would come from a different source than last year.
A revolving loan fund was established 10 years ago by the owners of Biddeford’s Maine Energy Recovery Company waste-to-energy incinerator, which closed last year, to help business owners, developers or new business owners in the mill district, said Economic Development Director Daniel Stevenson.
When established, the fund was to be used only for the mill district.
A proposal that the council will consider on Tuesday would extend the fund to be used in the downtown, said Stevenson.
He said he said he supports using the fund for the challenge competition so “we can continue to fill some of the vacancies in the downtown.”
Other incentives winners would receive include several months of free rent, design consultation, legal services, banking assistance, membership to the Biddeford-Saco Chamber of Commerce and Industry and other aid to help expanding or new businesses locate in Biddeford’s downtown.
The contest is being continued, said Poupore, because “All three (of the last challenge winners) are doing really well. All are doing better than their projections.”
The three businesses “are drawing (people) back to the downtown or people who had not previously been to the downtown,” she said.
“They’re building a buzz about Biddeford,” said Poupore.
— Staff Writer Dina Mendros can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 324 or dmendros@journaltribune.com.
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