Farmington Small Business Spotlight: Scene Art Bar

Every local business has a story worth sharing with the community. And that’s the belief behind this exciting series — to shine the spotlight on all our favorite local businesses, and to learn a little about the ones we may not know that well.

Business: Scene Art Bar
Owners: April Raymond and Sandy Clifford
Website: www.sceneartbar.com
Address: 29 Mill Street, Unionville, CT. 06085

How did you come up with the name?

It wasn’t easy! We did a lot of brainstorming and had lots of fun tossing around options for names. It was April’s fiancé, Neil, that came up with “Scene” as in “to paint a scene.” That’s how Scene Art Bar was born.

Why start a business in this town?

Both owners are local area residents. The idea for the business was April’s. She fell in love with the social painting revolution that has been sweeping the nation and wanted to bring it to her town to share with the local community. It’s such a positive and fun way for friends and family to spend time together or for people to come on their own and have a chance to enhance their lives with art, have fun and meet new friends. They knew they found their home when they first stepped foot in the circa 1860 historic ball bearing mill in Unionville Center; high ceilings, brick walls, beautiful windows and the chance to to be part of history – to make something old new again. What could be a better spot to tap into creativity and find your inner artist? Both owners are 9 to 5ers and are raising families so having a business close to their home also offered the convenience and balance they needed to juggle it all.

What business are you in?

Social Painting Classes - Art & Entertainment

What’s the most difficult challenge you’ve faced as a business owner?

Getting the word out about the business with a limited advertising budget.

What’s been your proudest achievement since opening?

Seeing our customers happy!

How does your business give back to the community?

We give back to the community in a variety of ways - we donate artwork to Gifts of Love, provide complimentary face painting for kids at the Unionville Movie Nights, Helped to Raise $2500 for MS through the WRCH Lite 100.5 fundraiser held at Scene and we offer complimentary coffee to our customers and ask that they offer a donation which we provide to the Farmington Food Bank. In addition, we offer fundraising painting parties where we reduce our portion of the sale of the ticket so that the fundraising organization can receive a portion of the ticket price as a donation.

Would you like to see your small business showcased in this series? Email wendy.mitchell@patch.com.