Sebago Lakes Region Chamber welcomes new board chair and recognizes award recipients

By Kaysa Jalbert

The Sebago Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce celebrated 60 years with the theme “Honoring the Past, Treasuring the Present & Shaping the Future” at the Chamber’s Annual Meeting and Awards Dinner held on Thursday, Jan. 18 at Camp Sunshine in Casco.

From left, Vickie Bartlett, Jane Bartlett, President/CEO Robin
Mullins and Board Chair Jonathan Priest gather during the
Sebago Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce's annual
meeting and awards ceremony on Jan. 18 at Camp Sunshine
in Casco. The Bartletts attended the ceremony representing
the Bartlett family as the late George Bartlett was honored
with the Frank Koenig Chamber Hall of Fame Award.
SUBMITTED PHOTO  

“We shared a video on the Chamber’s incredible history and discussed how the organization continues to thrive and evolve as the region changes,” said Robin Mullins, President of the Sebago Lakes Region of Commerce. A table at the event highlighted the 60 years of the Chamber’s history, including regional guides and photo albums.

Two new Board Members were added to the chamber’s leadership team for 2024. Tricia Zwirner of the Nominating Committee introduced the new board members, Maureen LaSalle of Northern Lights Mechanical, and Maureen Mazur of Taro Health.

The Chamber Board also voted Jonathan Priest of J. Priest Insurance to succeed Jennifer Arsenault of Edward Jones as the new Board Chair. Arsenault was awarded a plaque to commemorate her term of service as Board Chair.

The Annual Meeting also included a social hour, a buffet dinner, a business meeting, and ended by recognizing the following award recipients:

Dave Pollard presented the Chamber’s Community Service Leadership Award to Lacy Antonson for her work in Gray, especially at the Gray Wild Blueberry Festival. Mullins said that the Community Service Leadership Award recognizes a civic-minded individual or group that has made a significant contribution to the quality of life in the Sebago Lakes Region. Nominees are passionate about a cause and work tirelessly for the greater good and to inspire others to become involved in their community.

The Chamber’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award is presented annually to a Chamber member operating in the Lakes Region whose innovation and creativity have succeeded in starting their own successful business while opening new economic opportunities for the Sebago Lakes Region. This member has donated their time and/or resources unselfishly for the good of their local community, Mullins said. This year, the Entrepreneur of the Year Award was presented to Shaw Dwight of Paul's Boutique in Windham. He thanked his team, his father, and his wife for helping him become successful.

Richie Vraux presented the Business of the Year Award to Kenny Cianchette and his team at Erik's Church in Windham. “This award is presented to a Chamber member operating in the region that has set an example in leadership, innovation, and quality, and has provided noteworthy economic opportunity to the people of the Sebago Lakes Region,” said Mullins. “This business should also have donated their time and/or resources unselfishly for the good of their local community.”

Mullins announced the winner of the Frank Koenig Chamber Hall of Fame Award. This specific award is presented to an individual whose commitment of time, resources and talent have made the Sebago Lakes Region a better place to pursue one’s livelihood and dreams.

“Frank Koenig was passionate about the chamber and worked tirelessly for the betterment of our region and his local Chamber of Commerce,” says Mullins. “Like Frank, the recipient should have a history of passionate and active contributions to the Sebago Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce. This person should have made an impact on the chamber and the local community all while maintaining the highest of integrity. The award is presented posthumously to George Bartlett, who we sadly lost in July of 2023.”

The Frank Koenig Chamber Hall of Fame Award given to Bartlett was accepted by his wife, Jane, and his daughter, Vickie, who spoke on behalf of the family, expressing their gratitude for recognizing how much George meant to the community, and how much he would have loved this award.

Mullins said that the Chamber looks forward to another busy year of events in 2024 such as the monthly Business Breaks, the Polar Dip in February, Member Appreciation Week in May, the Scholarship Golf Open in June, the Golf Ball Drop at Summerfest, a Pancake Breakfast at the Gray Wild Blueberry Festival, community Trunk or Treats, the Sebago Spirits Festival, and other community holiday events including the Bid of Christmas.

The Sebago Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce was launched 60 years ago by a group of innovative business owners and was called the North Windham Business Association and is now made up of 14 Board Directors and seven officers whose mission is to foster economic growth and prosperity throughout the region. <

Windham adult-use marijuana shops will not be open for months

Although Friday, Oct. 9 is the first day that
adult-use retail stores can sell marijuana in
Maine, Windham's two adult-use retail shops,
Paul's Boutique and JAR Cannabis Company,
which were granted final approval for
Windham town licenses on Tuesday night,
will not be ready for sales for a number of 
months. COURTESY PHOTO

Jar Cannabis Co. to become second adult-use retail when town rescinds Windham RSL’s conditional license

By Ed Pierce                                                              

For those eagerly awaiting the first day in Maine that adult use retail marijuana can legally be sold on Friday, Oct. 9, expectations will need to be tempered. And right here in Windham, it may be months or up to a year before retail adult-use marijuana shops are open and operating.

On Tuesday evening the Windham Town Council gave its final approval for the award of two adult-use retail marijuana licenses, voting to rescind the license of a business that had been awarded a conditional license on Sept. 15, replacing it with another candidate and finalizing the other retail license awarded to Paul’s Boutique.

Windham RSL had been awarded a conditional adult-use marijuana license previously by the council, but information received by the town manager concerning the lease contained in its license application was called into question. During a public hearing Tuesday, Councilors Jarrod Maxfield, David Nadeau, Nicholas Kalogerakis and David Douglass voted 4-0 for a finding of fact that without the submission of a master lease or sublease in the application of Windham RSL, the original vote on Sept. 15 was rescinded and the next highest finisher in their adult-use marijuana retail license scoring system, JAR Cannabis Co., should be awarded the license instead.

The lengthy town and state application hurdles for adult-use retail marijuana and uncertainty about the
licenses though, has led to a significant delay in Windham for adult-use retail marijuana shops being ready to open for business right away.

“We will definitely not be ready by Oct. 9,” said Shaw Dwight, the owner of Paul’s Boutique. “We’ve been positioning to hope to be awarded a license for over a year and discussing this with the town for over a year. Our company has done its due diligence to be professional with the store. It’s now time for my company to start preparing to enter the adult-use market to be successful.”

Dwight said rampant uncertainty about state and municipal regulations, ordinances, applications, and licensing has led to a bottleneck in the wholesale marijuana market right now, resulting in exorbitant prices for a limited number of products available and a poor supply to meet the market demand right now.

According to Dwight, the entire process of growing, drying and trimming marijuana for retail sales also takes time.

He said his company wasn’t ready to invest in a retail cultivation facility to deal with logistical issues and finalize other plans until it knew it was going to have a license and now that it does, the business can move forward. 

“We need to prepare this company for the future, but it will take some time, at least a year,” he said. “We have a conditional license from the state, but now we can go back and get a true license from the state. You can’t put the horse before the cart. We’re just trying to set up a plan that will ensure success.”

Dwight said he feels that not being totally prepared for what lies ahead for the adult-use retail marijuana business in Maine is naïve.

“Being prepared means being able to control reasonable price points, the availability of extracts and
edibles and the consistency to offer a diversity of products,” he said. “We’re not there just yet, but within six months to a year we will be. Now our work truly begins.”

Joel Pepin, who owns JAR Cannabis Company, said he was grateful to have been awarded an adult-use retail license by the council, but like Paul’s Boutique, find themselves in a similar place.

“Now that we’ve gotten local authorization from the town, I think it will take about a month to obtain a license, the state office seems to be moving quickly.”

Pepin said this year many medical marijuana providers have struggled to keep their supplies up for the demand and he expects that to be the case with adult-use as well.

“I don’t know exactly when we will make the transition from medical marijuana to adult-use, but we have two facilities and that could only be a couple of weeks,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of patients who are visiting our existing storefront and we want to make it a smooth transition for them and not alienate our existing patient base.”

According to Pepin, his biggest challenge going forward will be the keep costs low enough for his existing patients.

“We want those patients to be able to shop with us, but they may find that the excise tax and sales tax costs could go up,” he said. “We want our patients to go out the door with products at similar prices.”

Because they are vertically integrated where the products they sell come from their own garden and extraction lab, Pepin said that Jar Cannabis Company may initially be behind a bit in selling edible products, but he expects that to all work out over time.

“We’re aiming to be up and make the transition to adult-use by the end of the year or within the first few months of the new year,” he said. <