CHARLEMONT — The second Mohawk Trail Entrepreneurship Challenge’s $25,000 grant was awarded to a Franklin County business that has started operating out of the one that finished runner-up in Wednesday’s pitch event for wood-based enterprises.
A three-judge panel bestowed the honor to The Cruckfather LLC, which has been in a bartering arrangement with Hall Tavern Farm in Charlemont since November 2021. The event was sponsored by Lever, a North Adams economic development nonprofit, and hosted by Foolhardy Hill, a campground that won the inaugural challenge last year.
The Cruckfather, a timber frame business owned by father and son Alan and Blake Spooner and Christine Kimball, plans to put the money toward a $30,000 Wood-Mizer sawmill and a piece of equipment used to move logs.
“We’re surprised that we won. There’s a lot of competition. I’m so thankful we did. It’s going to change things for us,” Alan Spooner said after being announced the winner. He said the Wood-Mizer was ordered a few months ago, starting a 60-week process until it is delivered.
“People really want to use their trees,” the elder Spooner said. “If somebody wants to build a house and they’ve got a 50-acre lot, the thought of using their trees off their property is pretty attractive.”
The winner and runner-up were announced Academy Awards-style, with Kurt Gaertner, the assistant secretary for environmental policy at the state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, opening an envelope to read the companies’ names. The challenge was funded through a $60,000 grant from the EOEEA. The judges were Christine McGowen, forest products program director at the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund; Laurie Thomsen, a retired venture investor; and Chris Bignell, managing partner at The Alchemy Fund.
During his pitch, Blake Spooner explained The Cruckfather specializes in timber frame structures crafted by artisans. He told the judges most of the projects are built on site, but the company also sells kits for houses, cabins, sheds, barns and house additions. The Cruckfather is a member of the national Timber Framers Guild.
Earlier in the event, Jay Healy, of Hall Tavern Farm, took the floor to deliver his pitch. He was joined via Zoom by Christine Ellis, who Healy said is a relative interested in being involved with the business. Healy told the judges about the family-owned farm his grandfather started in the 1920s. It is the oldest privately-owned tree farm in the state.
Healy explained timber harvesting conducted by big-box stores is devastating for the environment, generating an enormous carbon footprint, and the wood is not sourced sustainably. He said 98% of Massachusetts-grown timber is trucked out of state.
“We do have a product that people can’t find or buy in other stores,” Healy said. “I’m surprised there’s not more people doing this sort of thing.”
Hall Tavern Farm did not win any money for finishing runner-up.
The Cruckfather and Hall Tavern Farm were two of the four finalists selected for the second Mohawk Trail Entrepreneurship Challenge. The other finalists giving pitches Wednesday were Larkitecture and Coopers Wood Products, both of North Adams. Lever describes Larkitecture as an aspiring builder of teardrop-style camping trailers called the Sapling, and Coopers Wood Products creates custom wood signs, mantles, beer taps, cabinets and more using mostly reclaimed wood.
Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or
413-772-0261, ext. 262.