By Terri Ogan, Globe Correspondent

The Enterprise Center at Salem State University has announced the finalists in the 2013 North of Boston Business Plan Competition.

One of the following will take home the $5,000 first prize; second and third place winners will receive $3,000 and $2,000, respectively:

- Apptomics LLC is a digital health firm developing mobile applications and devices for neurological conditions.

- North Shore Speech Therapy LLC is a therapist-owned pediatric speech therapy practice.

- The Bridge LLC is a social media website where Cape Ann businesses, nonprofits and community groups can raise awareness and share each other’s audience and network.

The three finalists will present their business plans on Monday May 6 to an audience of regional business leaders and interested observers in the Recital Hall on the Salem State central campus at 3 p.m. The public is welcome to attend both the presentations and the reception that follows.

The competition is designed to encourage companies to start and grow their businesses on the North Shore by offering cash prizes and, more important for most entrants, the opportunity to meet and get feedback from the judging panel of local business leaders, some of whom may be potential investors. Past winners have cited the competition as being a key factor in their success.

This year’s gold sponsors are East Boston Savings Bank, People’s United Bank and TD Bank.

Silver sponsors include North Shore Technology Council, Salem Five, Speaking of Leadership and West Hill Technology Council, along with over a dozen co-sponsors.

For more detailed information about the 2013 North of Boston Business Plan Competition, visit enterprisectr.org/bpc or call 978-542-7528.

Terri Ogan can be reached at oganglobe@gmail.com, or follow her on Twitter.

By Jonathan Simmons, Guest Columnist

The City of Gloucester recently released a video highlighting the City’s ongoing efforts to expand and diversify the maritime economy. The video provides an overview of the recent Maritime Summit.

According to a press release from the city, 150 stakeholders gathered at the summit "to exchange ideas and advance a vision for Gloucester’s maritime economy that celebrates traditional fishing while embracing innovative opportunities in technology, life science research, and robotics.''

"More than 20 experts made presentations about the role of research, technology, and science in the future maritime economy,'' the release said. "By combining historic waterfront resources, the spirit of innovation, and an unparalleled natural setting, the city of Gloucester is ready to set sail into a brighter tomorrow.''

In other news, the city recently approved Beauport Gloucester — a $25 million, four-story, 101-room waterfront hotel on the site of the former Birdseye plant. Read the Globe story about the hotel project here.

By Stephanie Francis, Globe Correspondent

Scott Santino, 36, remembers how loud it was last March when he led a group of hikers through the wetlands.

“The peepers were so loud you could barely hear anything else,” said Santino. “But we were lucky enough to hear a faint hoot from an owl in the background.” 

Santino works for Mass Audubon’s Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary as a Sanctuary Naturalist. Last year the sanctuary hosted a Full Moon Hike once a month. The next two-hour hike, “Vernal Pools Under the Full Worm Moon” will take place, Wednesday, March 27 at 6:30 pm and is located in the Sanctuary. Cost is $14 for members and $16 for those who aren’t. 

Santino started the program after being inspired by similar events at other sanctuaries he’s come into contact with. The name of each hike is the Native American name for each month’s full moon. Santino says that he tries to incorporate a theme with each hike. A few of the participants have been “regulars” so Santino tries to make sure that each walk includes a variety of new elements. 

“We get both male and female hikers,” said Santino. “A lot of people are from Essex, and we even get a couple of people from the metro Boston area.” 

The one thing that all of Santino’s participants have in common, though, is that they are active adults interested in the natural terrain of the region. And that’s just as he likes it; when he started working full time for Mass Audubon in 2001, one of his first responsibilities was to bring in an adult audience. 

But there are also opportunities for children to experience nature as well. Andrew Prazar, 34, is the education coordinator at the Sanctuary. He started in September of 2010, and works with family programs, after school groups and develops curriculum for homeschool programs. Prazar started full moon hikes for children and their families last winter. 

“The purpose of the family program is to help connect people with nature,” said Prazar. 

Prazar’s hikes usually have 35 to 40 participants who average from five to ten years old and are accompanied by an adult. The 2,000 acre sanctuary has a variety of habitats, and though most times he covers about half a mile, Prazar tries to incorporate all the habitats into his hikes. 

Santino finds that the number of programs drop in the winter due to the weather conditions, and Prazar had to cancel a hike in January because of freezing temperatures and harsh winds. Still, neither Prazar nor Santino say they’ve face any dangers on these hikes. In fact, Prazar claimed that the most dangerous thing could be walking around without a light. 

Both, of course, encourage hikers to do just that. Santino carries a lantern in his backpack in case of emergencies, and both allow artificial lights on their hikes, but they feel the experience—and the moonlight—is more pure without the help of a flashlight. 

“When there’s snow outside and there’s a full moon, the whole world sort of glows,” said Prazar. 

For more information, Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary <https://www.massaudubon.org/Nature_Connection/Sanctuaries/Ipswich_River/index.php> , 87 Perkins Row, Topsfield, MA 01983

ipswichriver@massaudubon.org 978-887-9264 or visit 

https://www.massaudubon.org/catalog/listing.php?program_code=1482-IP13WI1

This article is being published under an arrangement between the Boston Globe and the Gordon College News Service.

By Stephanie Francis, Globe Correspondent

Umesh Bhuju, 43, is a community man. As he sits in his Ipswich café, Zumi’s Espresso and Ice Cream, he greets customers by name as they walk in.

“In 10 years of business our biggest success is being able to connect with the community,” said Bhuju.

Zumi’s located in Ipswich celebrated its 10th anniversary by hosting a charity benefit on February17th for the Ipswich Food Pantry and the Ipswich Human Group. The drop in event goes from 8.am. to 4 p.m.

Umesh opened the coffee shop after being laid off from his job as a database administrator at a small Newton company. His short experience working in coffee shops in college inspired Bhuju to start his own, and ten year later he’s serving organic coffee and locally made ice cream to the Ipswich community.

Bhuju said that as a child he never knew anything besides organic food. “When I was growing up in Nepal, most of my friends, they were farmers kids,” he said. “I never learned how to do non-organic, the life style of that region where I came from was pretty much all organic.”

Bhuju feels that people should consume healthy and fair trade food, and desired to give people the opportunity to do so. He hopes to change the perception that organic doesn’t necessarily mean breaking the bank.

“People think that organic means expensive. We wanted to make it clear that that’s not true,” said Bhuju. “That’s why our prices are pretty close to what you would pay in a non-organic shop.”

Dean’s Beans Organic Coffee in Orange, MA, supplies Zumi’s with organic, fair trade and kosher coffee, sugar and cocoa. The two companies started working together in 2003 when Zumi’s first opened.

However, their exchanges aren’t completely coffee focused. Michael Skillicorn, farmer relations coordinator for Dean’s Beans, and Heather Rice of Dean’s sales, marketing and outreach division, recently were part of Zumi’s public lecture series about social justice.

“Michael and I came because Michael is going to do a talk about the work that we do at our framer partners,” said Rice. “This is primarily because Zumi’s puts a strong priority on people doing innovative and ethical work.”

Their partnership according to Rice is due to their united vision about how to work with coffee through farming communities. The organization, which will also be celebrating an anniversary this year at 20 years old, will soon be announcing a trip to as yet undisclosed location as they start a Java trip series this summer. This series is open to anyone and takes Dean’s Beans customers into the coffee villages that they work with.

The community-focused approach to coffee for both companies is, according to Skillicorn, what makes them successful and worth celebrating milestone markers.

“Community spaces like this are really important but, unfortunately, are few and far between, so people really respond to a place like Zumi's,” said Skillicorn. “Umesh decided to work with us because he agreed with the philosophy of our company. We have a similar community-oriented approach that meshes very well with Zumi’s.”

This article is being published under an arrangement between the Boston Globe and the Gordon College News Service.

In Newbury, high tide brought more beach erosion on Plum Island. Six homes were determined to be unsafe for occupancy after the storm had passed, Town Administrator Tracy Blais said in an e-mail Saturday.

“They cannot be occupied, pending further review,” she wrote.

Five of the homes are on Annapolis Way, a one is on Dartmouth Avenue. All are in stretch of the beach where decades of beach erosion has left many homes at risk of falling into the cold Atlantic.

“Public safety officials will be on the island, monitoring the situation through the next high tide,” Blais wrote Saturday.

See more coverage here.

Meanwhile, on Salisbury Beach, a "code red" was issued Saturday morning, according to this report in the Newburyport News.

By Stephanie Francis, Globe Correspondent

Ever since he was a little kid Jonathan Dallas liked making cities. Dallas, who is now a member of the New England Lego Users Group (NELUG), remembers discovering the joy of laying out a model train and adding the details to make it more real.

One of NELUG’s almost two-dozen members, Dallas will be helping set up the Lego Train Exhibit at the Wenham Museum. The exhibit and Legopalooza are part of the Lego-themed events that the toy museum will be hosting again this winter during school vacation from February 15th to the 19th.

NELUG was founded in 1999 by five adult fans of Legos (also known as AFOL) in the New England area. These Lego enthusiasts met through LUGnet.com—which is where many members find NELUG—and started NELUG. They partnered with the Wenham Museum in 2009 after a show in Wilmington where a Wenham Museum volunteer encouraged them to take their act to Wenham. The exhibit has been a staple of the museum since then. The train exhibit will only be open on the 16th and 17th and Legopalooza is a one-day event on the 19th. Both are free with admission.

“The Lego Train exhibit has a broader audience. It is really for all ages,” said Mary McDonald, educator of the museum. “Legopalooza is geared toward kids.” This is why the museum planned the event during February school vacation.

A member of NELUG since 2001, Dallas has been an executive committee member twice as well as helped convert the organization to a non-profit in 2011. Each member of the group must be over the age of 18, pay the annual dues and live in New England. Though the organization does not own any of the trains, members build every part of the display and use models from their private collections.

Legopalooza is an opportunity for playtime. At one and three p.m. children can create Lego masterpieces much like the Lego trains that will be on display. Though children cannot take their creations home, they can take a picture with it for their keepsake.

“Legopalooza is supposed to be a time of very pure play,” said McDonald. The free time is designed for children to express themselves creatively without being restricted by the burden of a step-by-step kit. Carolyn Nenart, the education director of the Wenham Museum, hopes that children will see the trains and understand “the true meaning of what Legos are, to be a creative building tool.”

“Every year the NELUG come up with a different design and theme,” said Nenart.

Usually for their displays NELUG has three to four train models running at a time on various tracks. Several workers of the museum thought that last year’s monorail train, which had a record breaking layout of 730 feet worth of track, stood out the most, especially considering the NELUG volunteers were still setting up the train when the doors opened to the public.

The exhibit is not as interactive as Legopalooza, but it does still seem to get children’s attention.

“Trains are a big part of these displays,” said Dallas, “because kids love to see things move.”

This article is being published under an arrangement between the Boston Globe and the Gordon College News Service.

By Terri Ogan, Globe Correspondent

A standard Valentine’s Day usually entails a box of chocolate, a bouquet of flowers, a dinner reservation, or nothing at all. In an effort to spice up the holiday, the Beverly Northshoremen Barbershop Quartets are continuing their tradition of delivering Singing Valentines to the lovebirds on the North Shore.

A singing quartet of four gentlemen between the ages of 45 and 75 arrive at the desired location of the customer’s choice, whether that be a home, office, school or restaurant, and performs two love songs, “Story of the Rose,” an old love song written in 1898, and “Let Me Call You Sweetheart,” by Leo Friedman.

“It’s different,” said Jack Dowd, chairman of the Singing Valentines and a quartet performerl. “We had all sorts of responses like ‘I’m going to kill him when I see him,’ or ‘I’m going to get even.’ Others it brings tears to their eyes. It’s something more than a box of candy and a dinner. The response generally is very, very positive. “

Dowd added that typically 50 to 60 people order Singing Valentines for their significant others.

Starting at $50, the gift includes a song sung by the quartet group, as well as a rose, card and photo. Additional charges are for specific time requests, or for deliveries outside of the area.

“It’s a great present to give your better half, whether it’s to a guy or to a girl,” said John Sketchley, 76, has been singing with the quartet for 10 years. “A lot of times people will cry.”

Sketchley added that he doesn’t recall any negative reactions to the Singing Valentines, but sometimes people get very embarrassed.

The Beverly Northshoremen have been winning the hearts of many with the group’s Singing Valentines for the last eight to 10 years. This holiday special represents one of the many fundraisers that the Barbershop Chorus conducts.

The non-profit organization also performs at assisted living facilities and nursing homes in the area, and appears at concerts and a cappella nights to help local high schools fund their music programs. All performances are free of charge.

To arrange for a singing Valentine call Jack Dowd at 978-744-3592 or email northshoremen@verizon.net.

Terri Ogan can be reached at oganglobe@gmail.com.

The late John F. Gale of Cambridge, a real estate entrepreneur, grew up in the small rural Vermont town of Plainfield and he never lost his love for the Northeast Kingdom.

Nostalgia for that area, which was described in 2006 by the National Geographic Society as “the most desirable place to visit in this country and the ninth most desirable place to visit in the world,” led Gale to start collecting paintings of Vermont’s snow-covered mountains and other wintry scenes by Aldro Thompson Hibbard (1886-1972), the Cape Ann artist who wintered in Vermont and became known as “the painter of New England winters.”

Gale’s interest gradually gravitated toward paintings of Rockport and Gloucester scenes by Hibbard and other Cape Ann School artists such as Frederick Mulhaupt (1871-1938), one of its premier impressionists and dean of the Cape Ann School; W. Lester Stevens (1888-1969), Rockport’s first native-born artist; T.M. Nicholas (1963-), considered one of the most prominent painters of his generation; and Emile Gruppe (1896-1978), known not only for his portrayal of Gloucester’s harbor and houses but also for his rural Vermont scenes.

Read more of Globe Correspondent Virginia Bohlin's story here.

By Steven A. Rosenberg, Globe Staff

The Gloucester Community Arts Charter School’s brief and turbulent existence will come to a halt next Friday afternoon, Jan. 11, when the school will officially close.

Citing a weak financial ledger and an inability to pay its staff, and already set to close in June after making a deal with the state last month to avoid having its charter revoked, the school’s Board of Trustees voted unanimously Tuesday night to shut down early.

“I feel terrible. We worked very hard to make this school work,” said James Caviston, president of the charter’s board of trustees.

Before the school agreed to close, Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester recommended revoking the school’s charter, citing poor academic performance, low enrollment, high rates of attrition and staff turnover, and fiscal instability. At that point, the school’s trustees volunteered to surrender the school’s charter – scheduled to last five years – in exchange for the state helping to fund the school through June.

But Caviston and Tony Blackman, another trustee and the charter’s founding executive director, said the school could not continue because of decreasing enrollment. The K-8 school began the year with 136 students – well below its capacity of 240 – and by late last month that number had dwindled to 110.

“In the end we lost our financial destiny due to the reduction in enrollment,” said Blackman.

The school, proposed by some Cape Ann residents who wanted another publicly funded option for children, was borne out of turmoil in 2009. Before it opened – some three weeks late in September of 2010 – the state’s inspector general issued a report charging that the charter had been issued by the state’s education leaders in response to political pressure on Beacon Hill.

Gloucester Mayor Carolyn Kirk said about 100 students would be displaced by the school’s closing. Kirk, who originally opposed the school’s creation because it would shift funds away from the public school district, threw her support to the school’s students and parents after it opened, and was the school’s graduation speaker last June.

Kirk said she has been working with school officials to welcome back any of the charter students who want to return to the district schools. “My compassion has rested with the families, who are just trying to do right by their children, and we’ll continue to demonstrate that compassion by easing their transition back to our schools,” said Kirk.