Jacqui DeFranca and Jon Denton, owners of Sweetcream Dairy in Biddeford, Maine. The science, the stubbornness, and the shared joy that brought Jon Denton back home to Biddeford — and let his wife Jacqui build a life around it The Sweetcream Dairy storefront. Sweetcream Dairy sits on Main Street in Biddeford like it belongs there, like it always knew it would end up exactly where it is. Not because the path was obvious. Not because it was easy. But because this is what happens

Sarah Hoover, program director at Apex Youth Connection in Biddeford, Maine. From the outside, Apex Youth Connection doesn’t try to impress you. The building on Granite Street isn’t pretty. It’s scrappy. It looks like a place built for use, not for show. The kind of place that gets the job done and doesn’t apologize for it. Inside, the order reveals itself. Bikes and bike parts are everywhere, but nothing is careless. Handlebars hang in clean rows. Cranks, chains, gears — al

Heather Paquette, President of Good Shepherd Food Bank of Maine. Outside the Good Shepherd Food Bank in Auburn, the morning felt unmistakably like Maine. The sun was bright, the air was cold, the wind was sharp, and snow clung to the edges of the parking lot. It was the kind of day that makes you hurry from your car to the door. Inside, the world felt entirely different. The warehouse moved with purpose. Volunteers sorted boxes beneath lights that cast winter light across th

Michelle and John Corgan outside Bell Farm Shops. They purchased the property in 2017 and have transformed it into one of the most beloved shopping destinations on the Seacoast. Bell Farm Shops in York has a presence that stops people in their tracks. The tall red barn at 244 US Route 1 looks like it could be the set of a movie. The cupola rises above the rooftops with a horse weathervane. The morning sun rests on the shingles and the red picket fence. Wind chimes move on the

Kathleen "Pidge" Pigeon, owner of Lucky Pigeon Brewing in Biddeford, Maine. Biddeford, Maine — The hum of a canning line cuts through the stillness of an afternoon brew day. Inside a restored brick building off Laconia Street, sunlight pools across the floor, the air rich with the earthy sweetness of fermenting grain. A group of regulars trade stories at the bar while a brewer wipes condensation from a stainless-steel tank. Behind the counter, greeting everyone by name, stand

Silas Wolff's face glows from the fire of a coal forge while creating a chef knife. Photo by Cy Cyr. Kennebunkport, Maine, hums with early - Fall quiet. The scent of salt and pine mixes with the faint metallic tang of steel in the air. Out back of an old family barn, beside stacks of wood and a coal forge glowing orange, a German Shepherd named Bjorn thumps his tail and drops a stick at the feet of his owner, Silas Wolff . Inside the workshop, sparks burst like fireflies as

Katie and Cody Sherer, owners of Mainely Blooms at 1903 Portland Road in Arundel, Maine. Photo by Cy Cyr. Three Generations on the Same Patch of Maine Soil Here on a long, humming stretch of Route 1 in Arundel, a family’s land has been put to work for three generations—and three entirely different businesses. That continuity is the quiet power behind Mainely Blooms , the perennial nursery and flower farm owned by Cody and Katie Sherer at 1903 Portland Road in Arundel, Maine

Mike Norcia, owner of Sternlines and Forewind Golf

A boat tour around Wood Island Lighthouse in Biddeford, Maine