Celebrate Laconia turns to holiday fun, community conversations

LACONIA — Celebrate Laconia is known for helping to toast the city’s 125th year, which culminated with a parade and festival on July 7 of last year. But the nonprofit organization didn’t end when Laconia began its 126th year, and the group has plans to engage the city community in a new way for 2020.

“Laconia Talks” is a series of community conversations aimed at provoking thoughtful, productive discussion about how life in the city can be improved.

“We’re really trying to encourage more civil discourse,” said Jared Guilmett, vice president of Celebrate Laconia. He said the goal is to generate ideas and actions. “These are not gripe sessions, we are not looking for people to complain,” he said.

Beth San Soucie, president of Celebrate Laconia, said she would like to see the series of conversations draw people who might not have seen themselves as community activists before. “It’s really about creating these opportunities for engagement that people didn’t know they had,” she said.

The series is kicking off at 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 13, at Lakes Region Community College. The talk will be facilitated by author and columnist Elizabeth Howard, and will feature Quemel Arroyo, the chief accessibility specialist for the New York City Department of Transportation. Audience input and engagement will be encouraged.

Guilmett said the talk will focus on “creating a barrier-free environment that is welcoming for every member of our community.”

Once the calendar flips to 2020, Celebrate Laconia plans to have about one Laconia Talks event per month. The talks will center around a rotating schedule of topics, and will be scheduled at various venues around the city.

San Soucie said she hopes the talks will allow Celebrate Laconia to become a means for city residents to communicate their needs and visions to City Hall.

But first, there’s a holiday season to attend to.

Light-Up Laconia

Laconia has had a long tradition of kicking off the Christmas spirit with a holiday parade on the weekend following Thanksgiving. Last year, Celebrate Laconia added a few activities for people to do while they were downtown, and this year they’ve expanded the schedule into what they’re calling the “Light-Up Laconia Holiday Festival.”

The festival will be centered around Rotary Park on Sunday, Dec. 1. The Belknap Mill will host its Yuletide traditions, including a meet-and-greet with Santa Claus and other family-friendly activities, from noon to 3 p.m. The Mill will also be showing a classic holiday movie at 6 p.m.

Starting at 1 p.m., there will be more activities in Rotary Park, including food trucks, music and cookie decorating. Celebrate Laconia will also be accepting donations of gifts, such as unwrapped toys, clothing, electronics and gift cards, to be given to local organizations and distributed to children.

The traditional parade will step off at 4:30 p.m., this year with a different route. The parade will start in Opechee Park and go backwards down Main Street to Stewart Park. Why? For one, it will end near the festivities at Rotary Park, and for another, the city’s official Christmas Tree will this year be one of the pines in Stewart Park. Santa will have the honor of lighting the tree at 5:30 p.m., signaling the official start of the Light-Up Laconia decorating competition.

Launched last year, the first Light-Up Laconia competition drew 30 residences and 15 businesses to compete for the best holiday decorations in various categories, as awarded by a team of anonymous judges. Those judges will pick the best decorated home in the following categories: Traditional, Themed, Clark Griswold, and Best Use of Space. There will also be categories for Community Choice, given to the residence and business which receives the most votes from members of the public.

No matter what category you plan to compete in, you must register your location by Nov. 22 on celebratelaconia.org. Then those addresses will be published for people to view. Votes for the Community Choice award will be accepted from Dec. 1 to Dec. 20, on both the Celebrate Laconia Facebook page or at the organization’s website.

San Soucie said the festival and lighting competition are the organization’s way to pay tribute to the efforts that community members make to better their city.

“It goes back to the community investment, the people’s investment. If there’s any small way we can highlight the people and the businesses that are the backbone of (the city), we want to do so to give back,” San Soucie said, adding that she hopes the event will, “get back to bringing neighbors together, spending holiday time together.”