Calera ice cream shop + bakery wins top grant from Main Street Alabama

Main Street Alabama awarded grants to five local businesses in the first-ever “Bright Ideas” pitch. Taking home the prize of $25,000 was Creations Galore and Moore, a Calera-based bakery and ice cream shop.

Keep reading for the other grant winners, and what Creations Galore and Moore has planned with their prize!

Main Street Alabama helps local communities thrive + small businesses grow

Main Street Alabama is a non-profit organization that stresses community engagement and strategies to create jobs, spark new investment and attract visitors to our communities.

The annual Main Street Alabama conference gives downtown revitalization professionals an opportunity to network and learn from experts in technology, economic development, community identity and more.

During the 2025 aLABama Conference in Jasper, Main Street Alabama introduced “Bright Ideas”—a grant program to support each district’s small businesses.

How does it work? Local businesses make a “Bright Ideas” pitch on how they would expand and grow their small businesses.

To qualify, each interested business completed an online business course through AL Spark and subsequently submitted a three-minute “video pitch” on how to best invest the Bright Ideas grant funds to help expand and grow their business.

Calera local bakery + ice cream shop wins “Bright Ideas” pitch

Creations Galore and Moore—winner of the $25,000 grant—said that the money would be used to:

• Convert the business’s courtyard into a multi-use space with a greenhouse
• Add a trailer for mobile units
• Buy a flour mill
• Publish a baking curriculum
• Enhance branding + marketing
• Expand educational and farm-to-table experiences.

A total of five regional winners were selected. The other four finalists were:

• Good Company Café: 2nd place, $6,000
• Corner Bistro: 3rd place, $3,000
• Trolley on Main: Honorable Mention, $1,500
• Ulti-Mutt Bakery: Honorable Mention, $1,500

“It was incredibly heartwarming to hear the stories of how impactful AL SPARK and Bright Ideas have already been for these small businesses. The success they are experiencing demonstrates the power of investing in entrepreneurs at the local level.

We are grateful that this opportunity was made possible through a federal appropriation from the U.S. Small Business Administration.”

Mary Helmer Wirth, President and State Coordinator, Main Street Alabama in a press release

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