Six businesses and one business leader rose to the top out of more than 100 nominations for this year’s South Portland business awards.
Taj Indian Cuisine won the Business of the Year award; Barber Brothers Meat & Provisions won the Small Business of the Year award; Seabird Aromatics won the Maker of the Year award; Second Rodeo Coffee Shop won the New Business of the Year award; the Locker Project won the Santo “Sam” Dipietro Community Impact Award; Wade Merritt won the Business Leader of the Year award and Dancing Harvest Farm won the Sustainable Business of the Year.
The celebration will be on Feb. 25 from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. at South Portland High School, with award presentations at 5:30 p.m.
Many of the winners were food-related businesses this year, said Lea Duffy, the city’s economic development director. The nomination and decision-making took place in November, at a time when Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits were on the chopping block because of the government shutdown.
“It was kind of on people’s minds,” she said. “Who are the people really making an impact in the food space?”
Here are some of the winners of this year’s business awards.
Dancing Harvest Farm, Sustainable Business of the Year
Daniela Aldrich, the manager at Dancing Harvest, has known she wanted to be a farmer since she volunteered on a farm during college.
“I loved it immediately,” she said, citing the physicality of the work, the repetition and the rainbow of produce that farming creates. Since then, she’s worked on farms in Brazil, cultivated gardens in urban spaces and raised vegetables and livestock.
Aldrich, who got her degree in Environmental Studies from Dickinson College, is constantly thinking about ways to make the farm more sustainable. The farm uses organic composts, mulches and cover crops to boost soil fertility, without chemical sprays or genetically modified organisms. And she’s trying to cut down on plastic use.
“It reaches all aspects of the farm, from having really healthy soil that continues to get healthier to having good practices for our bodies so that we can continue to do this work,” she said.
Sustainability can be challenging when mitigating disease and pest pressure without using chemical pesticides, but to Aldrich, it’s worth it. “[Sustainability] is all kind of wrapped up in showing up on the field,” she said.
Aldrich started Dancing Harvest Farm in 2021, and said it couldn’t be possible without community buy-in. The farm sells most of its produce through a community supported agriculture program.
“They really have to trust in the farm,” she said. “Throughout the harvest season, my job is to reciprocate.”
Seabird Aromatics, Maker of the Year
Amanda Breazeale’s favorite essential oil blend is sweet orange, balsam fir and lavender.
“It’s very grounding, very confidence-building and it’s quite uplifting,” she said.
She’s the founder and owner of Seabird Aromatics, a holistic aromatherapy business that sells handmade essential oils, soaps, candles and skincare products on Ocean Street.
“You can use plant oils to treat everything from mood and anxiety and stress to even physical ailments like menopause or inflammation,” she said.
She was self-taught for a couple of years after she discovered the healing power of aromatherapy for her own anxieties, and in 2020, she completed her four-year certification through the Aroma Apothecary Healing Arts Academy.
Breazeale started Seabird Aromatics in 2021, making products in her home. Through makers markets, she grew the business and opened a brick-and mortar-location in 2024. Over time, she’s cultivated a clientele of local regulars.
“Scent is such a powerful tool that we can use,” she said. “It’s great for our mind and body connection.”
Soon, Breazeale will launch winter workshops and private classes to teach people how and why certain oils blend well together. Each participant will get to take home their own product.
Second Rodeo Coffee Shop, New Business of the Year
“Everyone’s always saying ‘It’s not my first rodeo,’” said owner Lana Cooney. “But what about the second rodeo?”
Cooney, originally from Montreal, began her career as a touring musician, playing the drums all over the world and supporting herself by working in coffee shops.
She always thought that one day, she’d open a shop of her own, and made the dream true two years ago. It was her next step – her second rodeo.
The coffee shop on Sawyer Street, which is “mildly Western-themed as kind of a joke,” she said, serves seasonal drinks and community.
“The concept of the third space is one that rings really true to me,” Cooney said. “It’s nice to just be able to go into a space and feel like the people there have your back and know who you are and what you need.”
Local artists can show their work in the coffee shop, on a month-long rotation, and they donate a portion of their sales to a local organization or mutual aid fund. The shop hosts events after hours, such as trans poetry slams, and Cooney plans to add more.
While Cooney said she usually just has a cup of dark roast drip coffee, the shop rotates through fun seasonal drinks. For Valentine’s Day, the Burnin’ Love coffee drink pairs house-made cinnamon and cayenne syrup with espresso.
