FARMINGTON – Six years of toil in the tiny kitchen and labyrinthine chambers of the Granary in Farmington were recognized last week when the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce recognized Tom and Rocell Marcellino, owners of the eatery, with the chamber’s Small Business of the Year Award. Also honored were Saddleback ski resort in Sandy River Plantation for Large Business of the Year and Pierce House in Farmington for Nonprofit of the Year.
“It was very exciting,” Rocell Marcellino said Monday. As caterers for the event, the couple was busy serving dessert when it was time for them to receive the honor.
“Hurry up! They’re calling our names,” Rocell told her husband as she handed a platter of desserts to someone else.
The event, originally planned at their restaurant at the bottom of Broadway, was relocated to Franklin Memorial Hospital when more than 150 members and guests had signed up to attend, said chamber Executive Director Laurie Blake.
“It went fabulous,” she said Friday. “It was wonderful all the way around.”
The couple have been working with the chamber since purchasing the restaurant and bar in 1999, Rocell said. Chamber members nominate businesses for the awards, which are then chosen by a committee based on the nominations.
It was big honor because “the people who’ve been honored in the past, I’ve always admired,” Rocell said.
“We were approved by our peers, which means a lot,” added Tom Marcellino. “That was the thing I appreciated most. Chamber members voted for us and they understand how difficult it is to run a small business.”
Irene Berry, owner of Saddleback, said Monday she told the assembled crowd at the event that the award was “a big surprise” but said she wished she had expounded more on her family’s vision for the ski mountain.
“Our family vision is to keep it the way it is (with unobtrusive buildings),” she said. “Never, ever, as long as I live, will we have housing up the mountain,” she added emphatically. There are 8,000 acres and housing can be built at the base of the ski area.
The family also wants to keep the area affordable for Maine people.
“There’s got to be a place in the state for ordinary Maine people to ski,” she said.
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