Day-long celebration set for Laconia's 125th birthday

 LACONIA — City residents have already marked the 125th birthday of the downtown train station, and have welcomed the city’s 125th year with the Miss Laconia pageant and with the “Manifest” party in March. But those have all been opening acts for the big show, a day-long celebration to take place two months from now.

The events of Saturday, July 7, will be “the big shebang,” according to Jared Guilmett, who is a director of Celebrate Laconia, the organization that formed to promote the city for its 125th anniversary and beyond.

The “125th Extravaganza” will begin at 2 p.m. with a parade, which will step off from the high school and make its way to Opechee Park, where, at 3 p.m., a party will be held featuring crafts, games, vendors and live music, until 9:30 p.m., when a fireworks display, bigger and better than the usual Independence Day show, will send partiers home with a bang.

The Laconia Putnam Fund is sponsoring musical entertainment for the party. Kennell Orthodontics and The Laconia Daily Sun are also sponsors.

Not only do organizers want local residents, businesses and visitors to watch the parade and drop in to the party, they’re extending an invitation to be part of the fun.

“We’re looking to have a full-day event and working with other people in the community,” said Beth San Soucie, a director of Celebrate Laconia. Community members are invited to march in the parade, volunteer at the party or to operate a booth or activity at the park. For example, a local gym is planning to organize a fun, fitness-related event. Other businesses or organizations are welcome to host their own game or challenge, she said.

Similarly, Celebrate Laconia is hoping that a wide range of groups and businesses will be represented in the parade, which has the theme of “Celebrating our Industries.”

“Any industries or businesses that participated in the growth of our city, we’d like to celebrate them in our parade,” said Guilmett.

The parade will also welcome antique cars and boats, acrobatics, musicians and floats of all manner.

“Anything that’s dynamic or energetic to get people in the mood for the day, and for people to feel proud of the city,” Guilmett said.

“We want diversity, variety,” San Soucie added.

Celebrate Laconia is preparing a 2018 Souvenir Booklet that will be available for the July 7 event, and a copy of which will later be placed in the time capsule to be opened at a later celebration. The organization is inviting individuals and businesses to purchase space in the souvenir booklet.

“We have a variety of opportunities within that,” Guilmett said. “We aspire for it to be a keepsake, and to show what our city is today.”

For information on joining the parade, volunteering in the party or sponsoring the booklet, visit celebratelaconia.org or pick up a form from the organization’s window at 609 Main Street.

While the 125th Extravaganza is the brightest spot on the horizon for Celebrate Laconia, the group will continue to promote the city, though in a smaller scale.

“Our organization doesn’t just exist for 2018 and be done with it,” San Soucie said. “We are going to be carrying on that torch.”