By james art 
Wilmington – Business plan competition invests money in projects that will help expand a bakery, bring a print studio in the city and open a new store with a focus on products locally.
Samantha Kondraki, CEO of the organization in the city center Wilmington Wars, said 10 candidates in the Make on It Main Street Business Planzed competition to the second round of a total of 26. Four finalists appeared on the stage at Arthouse on Thursday.
“Let’s celebrate the talent, ambition and drive that turn Wilmington a thriving community,” Kondraki said at the beginning of the last event.
Kondrack thanked Dan Kilmuri, founder of the Wilmington Fund, for making the competition possible. The funds from the termination of the Wilmington Fund were distributed at the center of the competition organization.
Hannah Malak, owner of Butter Mountain Bakery in the old school community center in Wilmington, won $ 50,000 for expansion efforts. She said she started baking cookies with her mother while she was a child.
“It’s not changed much,” she said. “I still eat a lot of cookie dough.”
The little one grew up in Connecticut and spent time visiting Wilmington as a child. Her grandparents built one of the first houses in the Hymni Hill Association, she said.
A small visit a pastry shop in New York and moved to Vermont for the winter in 2013, with plans to teach a snowboard on Mount Snow.
“After moving here, I realized that this was where I should be,” she said.
She learned of “Where did the food come from,” by working at Boyd Family’s Family Farm. Janet Boyd, co -owner of the Farm, encouraged her to start baking for the community.
In the 2015 Whitingham Farmers market, Small began selling its cookies and producing from the farm. When the market was completed, it began to sell in a way similar to “farm shares” or agriculture supported by the Community.
In 2017, Small started operating from the already closed Cask & Kiln. She said her experience allows her to obtain a commercial bakery license.
A year later, she tied first in the original and only others who make it on Main Street Contest. This money was used to renovate the space in the community center.
The bakery opened in the fall of 2019 with a “line through the door”, said Mala. Covid-19 prompted her to “turn” the business in 2020. ”
Growth continues in the Butter Mountain Bakery. The little one said she “refined my craft” and “cultivated meaningful relationships.”
“The problem is,” she said. “I can’t keep up with the search and there are many of it.”
Money for awards will help her hire her first employee and buy a suitable bread oven. She predicts that this move will allow her to expand her offers, to shoot a greater market and to become a supplier of South Vermont’s craft dough.
The local cycle won $ 45,000. Nicole Leonard, co-owned, said the idea of her group’s business was to turn 24 West Main St. The yellow building opposite the DEERFIELD Valley House in South Vermont, which settled in about seven years-in “joint retail trade Retail hub. “
Proposals will include retail, food and beverages, embroidery and labeling services, ghostly rental, events and tastings. Leonard said the kitchen is intended to be used by different groups, but also to make items for the store.
With 20 years of experience in Retail Corporate trade, Leonard began Super Snowflake in 2022 after moving from the Pacific northwest to Vermont. She designs, prints and presses designs inspired by Vermont at American Made Apparel.
Its plan is to give priority to wearing items from more local manufacturers and to open seven days a week. She said the prize money would be used to build renovation, signs, bodies, inventory detection, kitchen equipment, embroidery machine, label printer, technological infrastructure and website construction.
Corrine Rhodes, owner of Bennington College, won $ 15,000 and plans to rent a place in South Main Street Arthouse. Screen, silk, silk screens and lithography classes will be offered in addition to the studio use, the printing of contracts and products printed by hand.
“I have heard from different people that Wilmington needs a printer,” Rhodes said. “Wilmington has a nice, thriving community of the arts. It’s a beautiful city.”
Her hope is to hire several people over time.
Valley Craft Ales, the other finalist, did not provide any funds in the competition. The terrain included the creation of a brewery in an unused building, previously a real estate office, in the North Street property known as Old Red Mill Inn.
Chrystal Holt, a VCA co -owner, said the business was open in November 2022 and is currently challenging the boiling. The craft beers are made in New York, leading to higher costs and ineffectiveness of the supply chain.
“It seems that there is a big concern for people who want to drink and support their business in Vermont,” Holt said, adding that the presence of brewery on the spot would allow tours, tastings and events to increase the increase in tourism and legs.
The project is estimated at about $ 205,000. VCA owners hoped to receive $ 75,000 offered by the Business Plan competition and then take a trade loan.
Kondracki noted at the end that the original cash prize was up to $ 75,000, then Wilmington Works invested an additional $ 20,000, and an anonymous donor contributed another $ 20,000.