In February 2024, we kicked-off our first annual Kids’ Pick Awards competition for Greater Portland. The month-long voting period was preceded by a public nomination process. In fact, most aspects of the awards were molded by a public process! Individuals were asked to vote only once per business/organization, per category. Over 13,000 votes were verified.

The local business community and parents, alike, showed such strong support for this new awards program, in it’s inaugural year, that we decided to offer our first annual Kids’ Pick Awards event on May 18th, 2024 at Ketcha Outdoors in Scarborough. The event was offered in partnership with Ketcha Outdoors and the support of a long list of local sponsors (see list below).

At the event, we recognized and celebrated the top 3 businesses and/or organizations in each category. The event also served as an opportunity to support the Locker Project. We offered a raffle with contributions from 18 local businesses an 100% proceeds went directly to the Locker Project. This organization has a very special mission of helping to feed food-insecure children and their families in the Greater Portland area. For more information, or to donate, visit mainelockerproject.org.

Sponsors

Thank you to our sponsors for helping to make this event possible. This was truly a community effort and what an amazing community it is!

Event Partner:

• Ketcha Outdoors

Lead Sponsors:

• Castles in the Sky Events
• MePowered Pastries
• Amanda Huebner Photography
• Charcutemarie
• Balloon Decor by Laur
• SugarME
• Brickyard Hollow

Silver Sponsors:

• Goldfish Swim School

Bronze Sponsors:

• Baby Booty
• Centerpoint Martial Arts
• Dunstan Tap & Table
• Just for Kids Pediatric Dentistry
• Maine Happy Glampers
• Southern Maine Pediatric Dentistry
• Studio for the Living Arts Dance Complex

2024 Results

Outdoor Playground

1.           Eastern Promenade

2.           Deering Oaks Park

3.           Payson Park

Beaches

1.           Ferry Beach, Scarborough

2.           Pine Point Beach, Scarborough

3.           Crescent Beach, Cape Elizabeth

Nature Trail

1.              Mackworth Island

2.           Wolfes Neck, Freeport

3.           Bradbury Mountain

Summer Camp (Ages 3 – 7)

1.           Wolfe’s Neck Center

2.           Ketcha Outdoors

3.              Fiddlehead Center for the Arts

Summer Camp (Ages 8 – 12)

1.           Ketcha Outdoors

2.           Animal Refuge League

3.           Wolfe’s Neck Farm

Swim Lessons

1.           Goldfish Swim School

2.           YMCA of Southern Maine

3.           Swimming B ISR

Dance Studio

1.           Studio for the Living Arts Dance Complex

2.           Drouin Dance Center

3.           Collective Motion Arts Center

Martial Arts Dojo

1.           Fournier’s Leadership Karate

2.           Dragonfire Martial Arts

3.            Centerpoint Martial Arts

Music Lessons

1.           317 Main

2.              Fiddlehead Center for the Arts

3.           Jacquis Music Studio

Team Sports Programming

1.           XL Sports Saco

2.           Gorham

3.           YMCA Southern Maine

Art Studio

1.           Color Me Mine

2.           Portland Pottery

3.           Love Lab Studio

Toddler Enrichment Class

1.           Little Music Maker with Miss Ellie

2.           Learning with Yaya- Spanish for Kids

3.           Growing Littles

Parent & Baby Class

1.           Baby Booty

2.           Birth Roots

3.           Playful Development

Hands-On Activity

1.             MEPowered Pastries

2.           Mad Science of Maine

3.           Mr. Drew & His Animals Too

Daycare

1.           Seedlings to Sunflowers

2.           Children’s Odyssey

3.           Heidi’s House

Preschool

1.           Childrens Odyssey

2.           Lil Folk Farm in Scarborough

3.           Kidz Go Eco

Indoor Play Place (0-5)

1.           The Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine

2.           Raise Playspace

3.           The PlayLOT

Indoor Play Place (6-12)

1.           Urban Air

2.           The Point

3.           Salt Pump Climbing

Birthday Party Venue (Ages 1-5)

1.           Mr. Drew & His Animals Too

2.           Raise Playspace

3.           The PlayLOT

Birthday Party Venue (Ages 6 – 12)

1.           Spare Time Portland

2.           Salt Pump Climbing

3.           Mad Science Portland

Birthday Cake

1.           The Cookie Jar

2.           Reilly’s Bakery

3.             MEPowered Pastries Tied With:

      Scratch Baking Co.

Party Entertainment & Experiences

1.           Mr. Drew & His Animals Too

2.           Castles in the Sky Events

3.           Maine Happy Glampers

Party Extras (Decor, Rentals)

1.           207 Bounce

2.           Castles in the Sky Events

3.           Maine Party Pop Tied with:

      Balloon Decor by Laur

Sweet Treats

1.           Holy Donut

2.           Wild Oats Bakery

3.           SugarME Maine

Kid Fitness Gym

1.           Maine Academy of Gymnastics

2.           Tumble Tikes

3.           Maine Warrior Gym

Animal Visits

1.           Smiling Hill Farm

2.           Maine Wildlife Park

3.           Mr. Drew & His Animals Too

Kids Musician

1.           Miss Ellie

2.           KindKids Music Duo

3.           Tunes with Tucker

Family Photographer

1.           Webb Photo of Portland

2.           Taylor Jan Photography

3.           Megan Gormley Photography

Ice Cream

1.           Toots Ice Cream, N. Yarmouth

2.           Smiling Hill Farm

3.           The Saco Scoop

Candy Store

1.           Wilbur’s of Maine

2.           Len Libby Candies

3.           Havens

Toy Store

1.           Treehouse Toys

2.           Island Treasure Toys

3.           Rainbow Toys

Clothing Store

1.           Lots for Tots

2.           Boutique Little

3.           The Hive

Haircuts

1.           Trimmings Falmouth

2.           The Borough Barbershop

3.           Salon Mimosa

Pediatric Practices – Tie for 1st Place

1.           Intermed Pediatrics

     Maine Medical Partners

2.          Personalized Pediatrics of Maine

Dental Office

1.           Just for Kids Pediatric Dentistry

2.           Southern Maine Pediatric Dentistry

3.           207 Pediatric Dentistry

Pizza

1.           OTTO Portland

2.           Flatbread Company

3.           Gorham House of Pizza

Best Kids Menu

1.           The Friendly Toast

2.           The Great Lost Bear

3.           Dunstan Tap & Table

Best Restaurant Atmosphere

1.           The Friendly Toast

2.           Maine Beer Company

3.           Gritty McDuff’s, Freeport

Indoor Family Activity

1.           Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine

2.           Spare Time Portland

3.           Maine Mariner’s Hockey

Outdoor Family Activity

1.           Smiling Hill Farm

2.           Pineland Farms

3.           Portland Sea Dogs

Kids’ Pick Awards: Background Info (Prior to the event)

Stemming from a simple idea of how we could bring more positivity and support to the Greater Portland kid-friendly community, it really all started coming together in early January 2024, when we began asking the public to weigh-in and help shape the program. With some input from local parents (and their kids) and local business owners, by mid- January, we had ironed out 40 different categories for voting. For a week preceding the voting, we allowed the Greater Portland community to submit their nominations across all of these categories, which would help streamline the voting process in February.

February 1st: Voting was opened with a simple voting page containing 40 (optional) categories to vote on, with dropdowns to all nominees and write-in capability. The new competition was promoted through Instagram, Facebook and by shared within our collaborative network of local businesses and engaged local parents. After a week, we took any businesses and organizations that received multiple write-in votes and added them to the voting page dropdowns as nominations as well. Voting concluded on February 29th. We allowed one vote per business/organization, per category, per email address. This means that any one person was allowed to vote only one time for their favorite business or organization in any given category, but they could technically vote for 2 businesses in any given category if they wanted to.

In March we verified over 13,000 votes! Every single category was competitive and received strong numbers for at least the top 3 businesses or organizations. Voting in a lot of categories was very close, and in some cases numbers were exactly the same! While we originally planned to release the results to the public by April, the the enthusiasm surrounding the contest gave us the confidence to move forward with an event and to let that serve as the first official announcement of the top 3 results for each category.