Representatives from 14 prospective Gloucester Court House businesses got the opportunity to introduce themselves and their plans for the future to the community during last Thursday’s Launch Gloucester Party.

A crowd of 100+ filled the Main Street Center Event Space to kick off the next phase of Launch Gloucester, an entrepreneur contest focused on encouraging business growth along Main Street. The selected entrepreneurs will now undergo an intensive eight-week business training program as they fine tune their business and marketing plans. At the conclusion, they will pitch their plans to a panel of judges, with three businesses chosen to share more than $95,000 in goods, services and start-up capital.

The selection of entrepreneurs mirrors that of the choice of Gloucester’s Main Street itself for this pilot program. Gloucester Court House is one of three communities (the cities of Staunton and Hopewell are the others) that received a grant for the first-ever Virginia ...