The owner of The Weathervane gift shop on Main Street and an ardent proponent of the Main Street merchant community was honored recently as Gloucester’s 2025 Small Business Person of the Year
Joe Ciolino was feted as Small Business Person of the Year by the Greater Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce at Oak to Ember.
Ward 1 Councilor and Cape Pond Ice Company President Scott Memhard introduced Ciolino during a well-attended gathering on June 10.
Ciolino is a former six-term city councilor who worked for 21 years with the Building Center before opening The Weathervane, which has been in business for 34 years, Memhard said.
Memhard introduced him as “our native son, my friend Joe Ciolino, a home-grown hero of Gloucester and the living definition of this award for small business leadership.” Memhard credited Ciolino for his hard work under the radar for the Gloucester Downtown Association, the Gloucester Rotary, the North Shore Health Project, and for “delivering us Gloucester’s Santa Parade.”
“It was great to be there to celebrate this well-earned recognition and to acknowledge some of the many ways Joe has supported our community,” Mayor Greg Verga said in a post on Facebook, having given Ciolino a citation at the event.