50 Businesses, 50 Solutions
March 15 was Nellie Smith’s one-year business anniversary and she was supposed to be hosting friends and family for a party at her store, Red Wagon Bakery, in Canaan. But, given that the pandemic seemed to be worsening, she’d cancelled the party the previous week. Now, she watched as the news got increasingly worse, with schools and stores closing throughout New Hampshire.
As a licensed psychologist and researcher at Dartmouth College, Bill Hudenko knows the importance of — and the barriers to — providing convenient, accessible mental health care. He noticed that the mental health field was moving toward text messaging-based counseling services, but saw there was an alarming lack of research about the efficiency of these programs.
Since 2014, Three Rivers Farm Alliance has connected wholesalers and producers, providing locally-sourced food to restaurants in the Seacoast region. When the pandemic closed down restaurants, Three Rivers’ customer base disappeared overnight, forcing the owners to make a quick pivot to delivering directly to consumers.
At Echo Farm, Inc. in Hinsdale, sisters Beth and Courtney Hodge can be found milking their 70 cows at a first-generation dairy operation that started out years ago as a 4H project. The sisters sell most of their milk to the Agri-Mark Cooperative, a Vermont-based operation best known for Cabot Creamery products. For 23 years they’ve kept some of their milk on hand to make Echo Farm Puddings, artisan desserts sold in farm stands and Hannaford supermarkets throughout New Hampshire.
It’s not the twenty-fifth anniversary year that Pam Peterson was envisioning for Gondwana & Divine Clothing Co., the boutique on North Main Street in Concord that she owns with her daughter Amanda Perkins. Instead of hosting sales and events to celebrate a quarter-century in business, Peterson and Perkins have been scrambling to shift sales online, engaging with their customers virtually and trying to keep the same fun, friendly vibe that has kept customers coming through their doors for decades.
When the pandemic took hold and Katharine Nevins moved toward curbside pickup for her shop, MainStreet Bookends of Warner, she reached out to her neighbors, the Warner Public Market. The shops should align their pick-up hours, Nevins reasoned, allowing people to shop downtown during one outing.
Under normal circumstances, the 14 employees of the Safe Sports Network are treating ankle sprains or evaluating players for signs of concussions. But since the pandemic, they’re more likely to be found helping with temperature screenings at local businesses or guiding school districts on policies to keep young athletes safe when, and if, school sports resume in the fall.
Since 2014, Rory Hurley and Eddie Gomez II have been working together to create short video content for small businesses throughout New Hampshire, from their shared workspace in the MAxT Makerspace in Peterborough. Their company, Drum Production Studio, produced everything from social media reels to marketing materials. But when the pandemic hit Main Street hard, 90% of business for Drum dried up, almost instantly.
The Gilford Village Store has been a landmark in Gilford Village since 1836. But when the pandemic hit, it had only been reopened for a year and a half, after owners Malinda Laflamme and Alex Fraser bought it three years ago and gutted the building, opening with a deli, bakery and convenience store.
