Events center at Shaw Cherry Hill Farm in Gorham nears completion
Cherry Hill Place is a large new events center opening soon in Gorham. (Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer)
GORHAM — Driving into Gorham on Route 25, it is difficult to miss the large stone building that has been rising by the entrance of Shaw Cherry Hill Farm for over a year.
Called Cherry Hill Place, the New England post-and-beam barn, 5,917-square-foot structure will serve as an events center. It is in its final stages of construction and will open for its first weekly indoor makers market on Nov. 1.
Shaw Brothers Family Foundation, the nonprofit run by Jon and Dan Shaw, of Shaw Brothers Construction, is building the venue and leasing it to neighboring Sebago Brewing Co., which will administer and cater weddings, work gatherings, birthday parties, reunions and other events. It can hold up to 350 people.
“The owners want to get back to their agricultural roots,” said Lee Pratt, general manager of Shaw Brothers Construction. “This is a legacy building for them. It’s something that’s going to outlive all of us.”
The interior of Cherry Hill Place in Gorham, which features New England post-and-beam style architecture and a mezzanine. The crew still needs to finish the floor and other minor details before the center opens for a makers market on Nov. 1. (Madeleine Kaptein/Staff Writer)
The building features an open floor for gatherings and the 40-vendor market, a bar, industrial kitchen, and a silo with a spiral staircase leading to a second-floor mezzanine, where there are six bridal suite changing rooms. The owners of Gorham-based restaurant, MK Kitchen, will run a new ice cream shop, Milk Ice Cream, from a designated window and space in the back of the building come spring.
Large windows in the event space overlook the farm, which Pratt said are intended to provide bucolic views. There is also a projector and space for bands to play inside, as well as lighting that can change to custom colors.
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The large wooden beams that give the interior its historic barn feel are made of Douglas fir timbers brought in from Washington state because there are no trees large enough in Maine, Pratt said. The biggest are 62 feet and weigh 2,800 pounds.
Pratt declined to provide a cost of construction.
The back patio and window where the owners of MK Kitchen will run an ice cream shop at Cherry Hill Place in Gorham in the warmer months. (Madeleine Kaptein/Staff Writer)
The indoor makers market — a winter version of the farmers market held outside the center in the warmer months — will see food trucks, drinks sold at the bar and the projector streaming football games on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. through the end of the year, said Samantha Dyer, director of venue and event operations. Starting Nov. 27, Westbrook-Gorham Rotary Club will sell Christmas trees every day through December.
Dyer said some events are already booked for the months after the opening and she has many ideas for the future of the building, including hosting a summer camp, adding an outdoor wedding ceremony space, and holding Oktoberfest celebrations.
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Tagged: business, entertainment, weddings
Madeleine is a community reporter for Gorham, Buxton and Standish. She started her journalism career in Vermont, where she reported for Seven Days and served as the editor-in-chief of Middlebury College's. More by Madeleine Kaptein
