Press Release: MDF’s Maine Downtown Center Announces Annual Awards for Standout Community Project, Small Business, and Individual
Augusta, MAINE — October 17, 2025 — The Maine Downtown Center, a program of Maine Development Foundation (MDF), is thrilled to announce awards recognizing a standout small business, project, and individual that have made the biggest impacts in Maine downtown communities in the past year. The awards will be presented during a celebratory ceremony at Bath Savings Bank in Bath on November 14.
“These awardees speak to the power of individual commitment to and passion for community, and how that fuels collective engagement in the place we call home,” says Anne Ball, Senior Program Director for the Maine Downtown Center. “They are significant contributors to the economic engine of their community, and Maine as a whole.”
The MDC team gathered nominations for the awards during a competitive process, and proudly recognizes the following winners:
Downtown Small Business Award: Common Roots Studio, Biddeford – This community-centered creative space connects people to nature through art, sculpture, music, custom longboards, and other artistic disciplines. What truly sets Common Roots apart is their commitment to accessibility and outreach. Their Mobile Art Bus brings creativity directly into neighborhoods, schools, and events, ensuring that art is not limited by location. This innovative extension of their mission allows them to reach people of all ages and backgrounds, reinforcing their role as a bridge between art and community. By offering local artists a place not only to make but also to display and sell their work, Common Roots supports creative entrepreneurship and helps strengthen the local creative economy. This community arts model contributes to job creation, retail activation, and increased cultural capital within the downtown area.
Downtown Project Award: Westbrook World Markets – Westbrook World Markets Project, Westbrook – This collaboration with the Immigrant Welcome Center (IWC) expands the visibility, marketing reach, growth, and sales of five international food markets in downtown Westbrook. This effort was made possible by a Domestic Trade Grant awarded in 2024 and aims to strengthen and support New Mainer-owned markets in downtown Westbrook. These culturally rich grocery stores—offering Sudanese, Rwandan, Congolese, Caribbean, Eastern European, and Arabic products—play an essential role in the city’s economic and cultural fabric. However, they face significant challenges in visibility, outreach, and competition from larger chain supermarkets. By working in partnership with these business owners, the project aims to increase visibility, expand their customer base, and help secure the future of these vibrant, community-driven businesses in downtown Westbrook.
William F King Jr. Downtown Champion Award: Tara Kelly, Exec. Dir., Maine Preservation – Tara Kelly’s dedication and leadership helps ensure that Mainers across the state – in an ever-growing number of communities – get to experience their towns and neighborhoods through a new lens of building community, educating each other, and feeling a strong pride of place. She joined Maine Preservation as Executive Director in 2021 with more than a decade of leadership experience in historic preservation, nonprofit management, policy and advocacy initiatives, public programming, and fundraising. As part of her statewide work, Tara initiated Maine Preservation’s “Residencies,” multi-day trips into the field to bring expertise and guidance directly to communities seeking support for preservation efforts. To date, the team has visited over 33 communities across Aroostook, Washington, Oxford, Lincoln, Waldo, Franklin, Piscataquis, Hancock, Androscoggin, and York counties and have spent a total of 30 days on the road. Tara has also been a driving force behind Jane’s Walk ME, part of a global festival of free, volunteer-led walking conversations inspired by community activist Jane Jacobs.
The MDC Annual Awards serve as inspiration statewide for communities and individuals working on downtown revitalization. They recognize outstanding efforts in communities which are part of MDF’s Maine Downtown Center program. This year’s Annual Awards Celebration will be held November 14 at Bath Savings Bank in Bath from 9:00-11:30 a.m. In addition to the awards presentation, Margaret Hathaway and Karl Shatz of Community Plate will give a Keynote Address about how the food we cook at home forges connections across time, space, and social groups and that, as so many traditions command, we are at our best when we open the tent flaps and invite everyone in to break bread together.
To learn more about the MDC Annual Awards event, Maine Downtown Center, and how your community can get involved, visit our website.