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 With a
population of over 22,000, Biddeford is Maine’s sixth largest city.
Historically, the city was a world leader in textile manufacturing and is
still home to West Point Stevens, a blanket manufacturer. Today, the economy
has diversified as the city and private owners are working to redevelop the
historic mills for new uses as new ventures are coming into the downtown
area. Cabinet, furniture, and other woodworking firms have joined musicians,
artists, and restaurants in repopulating the mills.
Over the
past few years Biddeford has welcomed a burgeoning art community,  with artists moving into downtown
apartments and renting studio space in the mill district. To emphasize this
movement, Heart of Biddeford holds the Chalk on the Walk festival annually, and
downtown Biddeford hosts a monthly Art Walk the last Thursday of each month.
These two events attract a lot of attention locally and give people a chance
to discover the “new” Biddeford.
In
addition to the creative economy in Biddeford, Main Street has welcomed over
15 new businesses to downtown over the last three years including several
ethnic restaurants, an artist supply store, an independent book store, a
pilates studio, and two art galleries. Anyone familiar with Biddeford can see that there’s a lot of energy and enthusiasm behind downtown
revitalization and that downtown is once again becoming the thriving center
of this community.
Since being designated a Main Street Maine
community, downtown Biddeford’s revitalization efforts have resulted in:
•6 net new businesses
•$975 thousand in new public and
private downtown investment
•Over 900 volunteer hours
•31 net new jobs
•For every $1 invested in the Heart of Biddeford program, an additional $6.60 have been invested in downtown Biddeford
For more
information on the Heart of Biddeford, please go to their website.
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