Local business leaders, please mark your calendars for next Tuesday evening, May 22, from 5- 7 p.m., as we will be in the Pilot House Restaurant at Sebasco Harbor Resort in Phippsburg celebrating our May Chamber After Hours.

This a tremendous venue for our monthly networking series as this will be opening week at the resort. If you have never been, it’s a sight to see and you will quickly realize why thousands of tourists make the trip to Sebasco every summer. Many local business leaders have had this marked on their calendars for weeks.

The chamber welcomes all of our members, and the non-members too, to come out and meet many of our local businesses. Beyond the networking aspects, you will also hear updates from the chamber on our summer projects and even catch a glimpse of our new guest guide which we will highlight in next week’s column. Add the door prizes and great food and there’s no reason to miss it. Bring a friend and meet us there. Register on the chamber website at midcoastmaine.com. Admission is free with a business card. Cash bar.

On March 9, the Southern Midcoast

Maine Chamber hosted our annual awards event called the Big Night Out presented by Priority Real Estate Group. That evening eight awards were given to individuals and businesses who have shown exemplary support of the communities and our organization. This week we wanted to highlight the Large Business of the Year, Crooker Construction. This narrative was taken from the exact speech that was given at the Big Night Out:

Every community has family names that run deep — that’s true of the biggest communities and the smallest, and our region is no different.

The Crooker name runs deep in this region, and it should, as there have been businesses with that name for nearly 90 years in Midcoast Maine. What started as a trucking company in 1930s has become one of the most respected heavy equipment construction companies in the state and one of the largest employers in our region. Yet, just a few years ago, the future of the company, and the employees, was uncertain. The transition from that uncertainty to where they are today is what makes Crooker Construction a worthwhile recipient tonight.

As most people know, Crooker began in the 1930s as a trucking company started by Harry Crooker. By 1945, Harry took on a partner and created Crooker & Simpson. By 1957, Harry bought out Simpson and Harry C. Crooker & Sons, Inc. was born.

The company grew and expanded thanks in large part to the development across the region. Crooker trucks could be seen hauling materials and working throughout the Midcoast whether on the way to or from their multiple quarries, or onto one of their numerous job sites. By 1974, Harry’s sons Frank and Ted bought the company from their father, continuing the tradition, but also expanding even further. In 1979, they bought the former Granite Paving asphalt plant on Route 196 in Topsham which has become Crooker company headquarters.

The company experienced steady growth through the ’80s and ’90s, eventually getting to around 150 employees in the mid-2000s. Then the economy bottomed out. The heavy construction industry was hit particularly hard as municipalities and major construction projects were put on hold and investing was at a standstill.

It was just about that time that Ted and Frank were looking to retire and so the business was up for sale. After pursuing several leads, chief engineer and 28-year Crooker veteran at the time, Tom Sturgeon did some forecasting. The economy was shifting back, and all of those infrastructure projects that were put on hold would eventually need to be readdressed.

Tom and several colleagues saw the changes coming and approached a group of investors to buy the company and in October 2014 the sale was announced. Topsham Economic and Community Development Director John Shattuck put it best at the time, in an article that appeared in The Times Record saying, “I would commend the Crookers for their care and meticulous search for a buyer who would preserve their employees … not every employer would have done that.”

Since the transition, Tom Sturgeon has led the company to even greater heights. Payroll consisted of approximately 120 people when the company was sold and took on the new name of Crooker Construction. Currently, at peak season they have over doubled that with more than 250 employees. The workforce has over doubled because the revenues have too. Tom and his leadership team forecasted correctly and have been able to use those revenues to reinvest in their workforce and their equipment.

Currently, Crooker Construction is the second largest employer in all of Sagadahoc County and they are a major taxpayer for Topsham, accounting for an excise tax payment alone of 137 vehicles. Even more expansion is in the air too, as in 2018 and years to come, Tom is looking to possibly move the company headquarters to one of the other quarry sites still in Topsham.

The transition, if approved by the planning board and the community, would take multiple years, but could also open up their headquarters lot which is highly visible commercial area right off I-295 for other businesses who might want to expand into the Midcoast region. The SMMC will be working with Crooker Construction in the year to come to advertise when those informational listening sessions will be happening so that concerns of citizens and the business community in the region can be heard.

For all of their success, for maintaining their base in Topsham, and for all that they do to support the region, ladies and gentlemen please welcome to the stage the 2017-18 Large Business of the Year, Crooker Construction.