August 8, 2022 3:40 a.m.

Four entrepreneurs are sharing $ 2,000 from the Umpqua Growth Talks Pitch Night last week.

*Roseburg High School senior Nate Pritchard’s idea of going door-to-door with a pressure washer earned him $ 1,000. Pritchard said that Gunk Busters has the potential to expand to other cleaning services and locations in the county.

*CJ Bryant’s idea of using his airplane for spreading the ashes of loved earned the second-place prize of $500. His business, The Swann Society, was looking to upgrade the equipment he will use to make the process more automated.

*The third-place winner was John Blackwood, who is looking to create software that will allow him to teach martial arts classes to up to three people at a time using Microsoft Kinect devices

*The Audience Favorite Award went to Sean Vincent’s fledgling effort to scale his hot sauce company, Orion’s Kitchen.

Blackwood and Vincent each won $250 for their businesses.

Six people pitched ideas to the judges. Wayne Patterson, Executive Director of the Umpqua Economic Development Partnership said the event was a huge success.

Pitch night partners included the City of Roseburg, Brooke Communications, The News Review, the Cow Creek Tribe, Aviva Health, Umpqua Bank, Anvil Northwest, the Ford Family Foundation and the Southern Oregon Workforce Investment Board.

Umpqua Growth Talks will host additional Pitch Night events throughout the year. More information can be found at www.umpuagrowthtalks.com