Jeannie Dunnigan owns a cafe in South Portland, Maine but she's not just your typical cafe owner.
Jeannie works on rollerskates at her cafe.
And did we mention she is also a grandmother?
Jeannie and her husband of 30 years opened the Cia Cafe in Knightville, Maine about three years.
Jeannie says when her and her husband moved to South Portland they "stumbled on" a small neighborhood named Knightville.
Jeannie added, "I saw this building with its big dusty windows and thought what a great place to have an art gallery or a studio, but I needed to be realistic, who would come to Knightville to buy art? I decided that in order to succeed, I had to sell coffee and food to attract people and local art would be another part of the mix."
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Cia stands for "coffee, ice cream, and art" and the cafe is all about supporting local artists and businesses.
So why the rollerskates?
Jeannie says one day she was bored and decided to put on her old rollerskates and people started taking her picture.
She says "the floors at Cia are polished concrete and the streets in Knightville are amazing for skating."
Jeannie also added that she rollerskates everyday at work and to the market several times a day for vegetables and meats.
One day two 10 year old customers were outside Cia skateboarding with their Go-Pro and Jeannie asked if they wanted to follow her around on her skates and make a movie and they did.
Jeannie added, "I was shocked how well they edited it and put my logo in at the end. The (original) music they put with the movie was copy written so I asked my friend and customer if he wanted to create a song."
Check out the video!
Cia currently has over 25 artists who sell original, Maine made art, jewelry, pottery, clutch bags, and other unique pieces.
They also exhibit original art that rotates every 8 weeks feature local visual artists.
Jeannie adds, "I am a cafe owner, a grandmother, a rollerskater, an artist and a curator who picks, & hangs art to be seen by over 100,000 visitors last year alone. Who Knew?"
