Cerebella Winery's renovation is underway Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2022, where AJ's Little Cafe use to operate at 30 S.W. Emigrant Ave. in downtown Pendleton. The business is focused on bottled wine sales, wine club memberships and regional distribution.

PENDLETON — Four new Pendleton businesses are getting boosts to become success stories.

The Pendleton Development Commission on Tuesday, Aug. 30, announced four winners in its Path to Success business plan competition. Each winner is to receive a forgivable $20,000 loan and support to open a new business in downtown Pendleton.

The winners were Terri Leetch, Emily LeValle and Joshua McGraw, Ryan Smith and Robb Zimmel.

Smith’s Pendleton Outfitters, 234 S. Main St., is a retail store selling hiking, camping and fishing items. It also offers guided and educational outdoor experiences for people of all ages and fitness levels. Smith, 30, said he hopes to open his store and website in early November.

Leetch, 55, owns Buttercup Barley’s Florist, 343 S. Main St. The flower shop sells fresh and silk flower arrangements plus a variety of gifts, home decor and other custom items. The business also would provide a mobile bar service for special occasions. She hopes to open Oct. 1 but is waiting for glass to replace vandalized windows, which might not arrive in time due to supply chain issues.

LeValle, 33, and McGraw, 29, own The Studio Pendleton LLC, 233 S. Main St. It is an art and design school and gallery. It is to offer daily art classes, weekly open studio days and monthly paint and beer and wine sip nights for adults. They aim to launch during Pendleton Round-Up week.

Zimmel’s Cerebella Winery, 30 S.W. Emigrant Ave., is a downtown business focused on bottled wine sales via a tasting room, club memberships and regional distribution. It is to provide a restaurant, classroom, retail space and scheduled events. Zimmel has not returned a call seeking comment.

The Path to Success competition is part of the PDC’s Jump Start program, helping bring new businesses to Pendleton. In addition to the forgivable loan, the winners receive support to help make their business successful and contribute to a vibrant downtown economy.

During the next two years, a quarter of the loan is to be forgiven every six months as long as recipients follow the contract requirements. Winners are required to meet quarterly with a committee and keep regular business hours.

The development commission plans a second Path to Success competition for 2023, and applicants who did not win this year can try again.

Path to Success grew out of the 2019 conference of the Oregon Main Street agency in Tillamook, attended by PDC Associate Director Charles Denight and former Pendleton Downtown Association Executive Director Wesley Murack. They heard from the St. Helens and Klamath Falls downtown associations, both of which held business plan competitions and enthusiastically endorsed the concept.

“It was presented as a way to build enthusiasm for new business entrepreneurship through a concept that everyone can get excited about — a competition for the best,” Denight said.

The PDC approved the business plan competition on Jan. 18, 2021, and the project quickly attracted 32 applicants eager to start a new business.

Participants were offered free business planning classes through the Small Business Development Center at Blue Mountain Community College and access to a business development tool. A panel of judges then chose eight semifinalists. Those eight had to write their business plans and present them to the judges in one-hour sessions.

The original plan allowed for three winners of $20,000 each in forgivable loans, but the panel had trouble narrowing down the eight semifinalists to three, so it selected four finalists.

“All four of these final presenters had excellent business concepts, polished business plans, capital beyond the prize we’re offering, and passion and experience for the business category they are pursuing,” Denight said. “All of them have already shown initiative in finding a location, all four on Main Street. Not only will they bring unique businesses to downtown, they will also fill currently vacant storefronts, reducing our vacancy rate.”

The PDC on Tuesday, Aug. 30, approved an additional $20,000 in funding to award four Path to Success winners instead of three and announced the winners.

In addition to the Pendleton Downtown Association and the Small Business Development Center, the Pendleton Chamber of Commerce was a partner in producing the Path to Success competition.

The PDC oversees Pendleton Urban Renewal, a government agency dedicated to providing financial assistance for new and expanded retail, historic building renovations and new construction in the city.