Courtesy / SCORE Maine
Edelweiss Pastry Shop in Biddeford
June 12, 2025
For SCORE award winners, 'easy' was not the chosen path
Photo / Peter Van Allen
At the SCORE awards luncheon in Freeport, Nancy Strojny, at podium, introduces, from left, SCORE mentor Steve Veazey and Grace Pond Farm owners Rhiannon Hampson and Gregg Stiner.
For the eight award winners honored at this year's SCORE Maine Awards luncheon, held Wednesday in Freeport, there was no easy path.
The honors are dubbed the Success Awards, but success did not come without trials and tribulations — ranging from cross-country moves to skepticism to a retail opening that coincided with a major downtown sewer project.
More than 100 people attended Wednesday's event, held at Freeport's Hilton Garden Inn and hosted by Nancy Strojny, deputy district director for SCORE Maine.
Alex Weissenfluh, a pastry chef who with his baker wife Valentina opened Edelweiss Pastry Shop in Biddeford, faced a wave of obstacles early on.
Construction delays quashed their hope of opening the Swiss-style bakery in time for the holidays in 2023. By the time the bakery opened its doors on Jan. 31, 2024, the landlord had unexpectedly leased an adjacent space to a cafe, which Weissenfluh said may have reduced potential sales by 10% to 20%.
Just as spring approached, the city of Biddeford initiated six-month sewer line replacement and repaving project in front of the bakery.
Despite those challenges, the owners "learned the importance of adapting their offerings to better serve their customers," Strojny said in her remarks.
Another honoree, Amanda Myers, owner of a Washington County dog grooming business, had moved her family of 11 kids from Texas. She sought out a "fulfilling future" both for herself and for one daughter with disabilities, which led Myers to start Bark & Bubbles in the town of Cooper. They both learned the ins and outs of the grooming business, with the daughter "gaining skills and confidence" that would assure her independence as an adult.
"As recent transplants from Texas, pursuing a new venture, we felt overwhelmed," Myers said in her application. "We reached out to SCORE after hearing a radio advertisement."
Courtesy / SCORE Maine
The Midcoast Fencing Athletic Club in Topsham.
Cara Taggersell, who founded the Midcoast Fencing Athletic Club, said she has fenced since she was eight years old and competed all through college.
When she was launching the idea for an athletic club that would offer fencing programs, she was met with skepticism.
"Like a chain-link fence?" she was asked.
Today, the program offers individual training, access to regional competitions and programs and camps for kids.
SCORE mentor Jon Anderson helped Taggersell with market research and marketing as well as introductions to accounting and legal experts. The fencing club has paid off its startup loan and is self sustaining.
Award winners
Veteran-owned business: Jeff Holley, Ripple Retreat Event Center, West Paris. SCORE mentor: Ted Hatch.
Agriculture business: Rhiannon Hampson, Grace Pond Farm, Thomaston. Mentor: Steve Veazey.
Tech/SaaS business: Hailey Lister, Max Meade of Alivo. Mentors: Jamie Lewis, Stephanie Miller.
Innovative small business: Josh Corbeau, Cloudport, Portland. Mentor: Nancy Strojny.
Successful young entrepreneur: Cara Taggersell, Midcoast Fencing Athletic Club, Topsham. Mentor: Jon Anderson.
Woman-owned small business: Amanda Myers, Bark & Bubbles, Cooper. Mentor: John Hangen.
Successful business plan execution: Valentina and Alex Weissenfluh, Edelweiss Pastry Shop, Biddeford. Mentor: Bill Webster.
Home-based business: Judi Michalik, Judi Michalik Photography, Bangor. Mentor: Jayne Giles.
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