BRATTLEBORO — The River Garden was filled with business owners and their families and well-wishers on June 25 as The Strolling of the Heifers and the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation handed out $64,000 in prize money to 20 new and existing businesses in the 2015 Windham Regional Business Planning Competition.
“This is like the Academy Awards of Brattleboro,” said Strolling of the Heifers founder Orly Munzing.
She was exaggerating only a little. There was much anticipation surrounding the announcement of winners of the contest, which provided $10,000 each to four first-prize winners, $3,000 each to four runners-up, and $1,000 to the remaining finalists.
Munzing said the contest, which gives out awards in two categories - farm and food, and general business - has given cash awards totaling $364,000 to 110 businesses since 2006, creating an estimated 250 jobs in the process.
“I am so impressed with the time, the effort and the creativity that each contestant put into their plan,” said Munzing. “I believe that, once again, this competition will grow jobs, because we believe in your leadership and very hard work.”
Most of the funding for this year's competition came from a $79,000 grant from the Windham County Economic Development Program, which was funded with $5 million in economic impact money paid to the state by Entergy after the closure of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant.
First-place winners in the farm and food division were Riversong Farm in South Newfane and The Bunker Farm in Dummerston.
Riversong Farm, owned by Juliette and Henry Carr, is a new small, diversified farm offering pastured heritage pork, charcuterie, and breeding stock.
The Bunker Farm, owned by Noah Hoskins, Helen O'Donnell, Jen O'Donnell, and Mike Euphrat, is an existing small family-run farm that sells various fruits and vegetables, meats, and maple syrup directly to local restaurants, and families and individuals through a 12-month CSA.
Taking first in the general business category were Wheel Pad of Wilmington and Good Body Products of Guilford.
Wheel Pad is a new business started by Joseph Cincotta and Julie Lineberger that hopes to manufacture free-standing bedroom and bathroom structures for people who use wheelchairs that can be attached to existing homes at a reasonable cost.
Good Body Products, owned by Chris and Trish Thomas, makes organic and locally-sourced therapeutic body care products.
Munzing offered encouragement for the other 16 companies that finished outside the winner's circle.
“In past business plan competitions, there were businesses that came in third place that today are at the lead in the growth and success of Windham County,” Munzing said.
That sentiment was echoed by BDCC executive director Adam Grinold, who owns Wahoo's Eatery in Wilmington, which won an award in the 2009 contest.
Finalists in the Windham Regional Business Planning Competition must submit three-year business plans which are scrutinized by the judges.
Grinold said having new, and existing, business owners produce business plans, and then having them inspected by local business leaders, is the most important benefit of the contest.
“As a previous entrant and winner of this competition, the value for us, that far outpaced the money, was having to go through the experience,” he said.
The next pitch
For the 20 businesses that received money on June 24, there will be a second chance to make a pitch for funding.
Munzing announced that Cairn Cross, co-founder of Fresh Tracks Capital, a Shelburne-based venture capital firm, would be coming to Brattleboro on the morning of Aug. 4 with his team to hear business pitches from entrepreneurs seeking advice and capital.
Fresh Tracks calls this their “Road Pitch,” and it will the second year that Cross and his team will be riding their motorcycles around the state in search of new business to fund. Last year, they rode 500 miles around Vermont and listened to more than 30 pitches.
Munzing said any of the start-up or established businesses that participated in the contest are welcome to participate in the Road Pitch, and that that Cross and his team are prepared to offer funding for plans that they like.