Walking tour offers a taste of Biddeford

 You don’t have to go far to go on a cultural adventure. The Biddeford Homecoming tour takes participants on a stroll through downtown Biddeford where they can hear the stories of entrepreneurs from all over the world who have made Biddeford their home.

The walking tour, presented by Heart of Biddeford, will premiere this summer. It will be led by college and high school students, and proceeds from the tour will fund outdoor and fitness programs for marginalized youth.

Heart of Biddeford Executive Director Delilah Poupore led a group on a preview tour last week. The tour, she said, will cover some of the layers of the city’s history not always told in brochures and textbooks.

Tour goers experience a taste of Biddeford, “literally and figuratively,” said Poupore. The walk stops at local businesses, where shop owners tell their stories and share samples of their products.

The first stop was Edelweiss Pastry Shop where owner Alex Weissenfluh told the story of how he and his wife and store co-owner Valentina met at culinary school in Switzerland, and talked about the Swiss-style chocolates that participants on the tour sampled.

At Maria Grocery Store, owners Maria and Andre Zombo, who moved to Maine from Angola, told how they opened the store so that they could offer the community items from Africa that were previously difficult to find. Maria talked about some of the items they sell and shared chin chin, a crunchy snack food, with tour goers.

Along the walk, Poupore pointed out the Pepperell Mills Counting House on York Street that was used as a place of worship by Muslim mill workers from Albania in the early 1900s and is believed to be the first mosque in the United States.

Rhona Deah, who moved to Maine from Liberia, spoke about her transition from working as a dialysis technician to becoming a licensed cosmetologist. She said she was inspired to make a career change to help fill the void in Maine of stylists who specialize in Black hair.

When she decided to open her own salon, Rhona Beauty, a few years ago, she found a home in Biddeford. One of the first people she met when choosing Biddeford was Poupore of the Heart of Biddeford.

“The welcome she gave me, it felt like family,” she said at her salon at 289 Main St. “I never felt this togetherness from other communities.”

At Layalina, a Middle Eastern restaurant at 273 Main Street, owner Talal Alzefiri shared fresh made falafel with dipping sauces. Alzefiri, originally from Iraq, said he learned how to coo from his mother.

“Food is culture,” he said, and he’s found many people are happy to try new types of food.

Other stops included Wooven Design, which carries items made by artisans in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia; and Biddo Banh, serving Vietnamese-style sandwiches and bubble tea. Alhadidi Market, which was undergoing an expansion during the recent tour, will be added to the list of stops when the tour is official this summer.

For more information on Heart of Biddeford, go to their website or check them out on Facebook.

Saco Bay News Publisher Liz Gotthelf can be reached at newsdesk@sacobaynews.com.