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Every year, a crush of humanity arrives in Maine for one of three things: the ocean, lakes, or mountains. Biddeford’s downtown area, full of former textile mills that sat quiet for decades until recently, has none of the above. What it now has, instead, is oceans of talent and mountains of collaboration—a swell of creative energy that’s beginning to rival the allure of Portland, as well as Maine’s other seasonally congested coastalfront towns.
Biddeford is rapidly becoming an updated model for how to take a negative—defunct former mills, in this case—and transform them, into not just nice shops and restaurants, but concepts that are cerebral and infectious. Think affordable incubators for culinary creatives, visual artists, and plant-based fashion designers; art-centric hotels in what was once a hotel desert; and innovations by aquaculture and agriculture visionaries.
“There's a very chicken-and-egg effect here,” says Don Lindgren, owner of Rabelais, which sells (by appointment) one of the finest collections of rare cookbooks in the country. “Talented people are bringing other talented people, and they meet up and hash out ideas for other new businesses, and then that attracts even more talent.”
Those meet-ups go down at spots across the 35-acre mill district—places like Elements, which arguably kick-started the town’s creative resurgence when it opened nearly a decade ago, offering the winning combination of book clubs, terrific pastries, their own micro-roasted coffee, and beer from Banded Brewing Company. The latter also proffers brews and snacks—the jalapeño grilled cheese is heavenly—in its tasting room in the Pepperell Mill, just next to Round Turn Distilling, home to cocktails laced with citrusy, house-made Bimini gin.
There’s plenty of brainstorming happening over sustainably grown vino at Lorne Wine—part community hangout, part bar and wine shop—which partners with Rabelais on regular events. Almost everyone lines up at The Palace Diner (another early pioneer of “The Biddaissance,” as locals call it) for Greg Mitchell and Chad Conley’s outstanding spin on vintage comfort food slung in an equally vintage dining car.
“When we first came here five years ago, we were incredibly impressed by all the people paying serious attention to the artistry of what they’re making,” says chef Bowman Brown. He and his wife Anna own Elda, their fine dining gem that’s reaped national adoration (including a recent James Beard nomination). “That sensibility made me feel like I was in the right place.”
Since then the couple has opened Jackrabbit Cafe, where they’re doling out astonishingly good Scandinavian pastry using heritage grains, and serving joe from nearby Time & Tide Coffee. “They’re the roasting experts,” says Anna. “Likewise, if people come in before their table is ready, we send them across the street to Lorne Wine. Each business has its own part to play in town.”
And more of those parts keep emerging—à la brothers’ Ian and Travis Kern’s Maine-focused cheese shop, Nibblesford, soon be joined be the likes of Fish & Whistle, a fish ’n chips spot helmed by Kate Hamm (pastry chef at Portland’s rising culinary star, Leeward) and husband Jason Eckerson (of Portland’s Eventide).
Of course, any creativity is boosted by having space in which to create. “Biddeford was a working town with massive production capacity,” reminds Lindgrun. “Some of that’s gone, but there are millions of square feet in mills being used again to make incredible things.” Witness the artisanal pastas from Four Star Fresh; or fashion designer Roxi Suger’s plant-based knits, angelrox. Last year the regenerative kelp aquaculture company Atlantic Sea Farms moved its entire operation into a 27,000-square-foot facility. And Portland’s Big Tree Grocery Hospitality—the restaurant group behind Hugo’s, The Honey Paw, and Eventide in Portland—has gotten into the act, moving its food production and meal kits business here. “Everyone here's excited about what everyone else is doing,” says events director Caroline Bergin.
Case in point: A new Sweet Cream location opening on Main Street this summer, where husband and wife team Jon Denton and Jacqui DeFranca scoop ice cream they make with ingredients from local farms. When it comes to inventing flavors, they often look no further than their neighboring businesses, working with them to create and name new ones.
“We did a black sesame with Bowman at Elda, and a butter cookie ice cream with Reilly’s Bakery," says DeFranca. “Biddeford’s such a world of ideas and energy, why not use our community as inspiration?”
Plan your visit
Soon folks will be hobnobbing at The Lincoln Hotel, opening in the former Lincoln Mill this August with a rooftop pool, a tiki bar, an outpost of Batson River Brewing & Distilling—and the property will play host to pop-up galleries introducing new artists and makers. For a longstanding gem that attracts locals and visitors alike, opt for The Tides Beach Club located just beyond the Biddeford town line in neighboring Kennebunkport.
