'Sweet': A tribute to downtown Laconia

After enjoying a “berry” salad with raspberries, candid rhubarb, roasted beets, crumbled blue cheese and walnuts tossed on fresh greens, in the enchanting patio at Trillium Farm to Table restaurant just off Main Street, how could I possibly resist a dark chocolate ball? My fork slid like butter down through the thick, rich round of pleasure. Sweet, I thought. Just as the lunch had been. The conversation. The flowers and shrubs bordering the patio. The white puffy clouds floating above in the clear blue summer sky.

The next morning, waiting for a coffee at Wayfarer, I noticed the large jar of energy balls on the counter. Another ball of sweetness. There are two flavors, and my favorite is made with dates, coconut, and dark chocolate, as sweet as can be and not a grain of sugar or butter. There is also a ball made with oatmeal and cranberries. I often ask to have one of the date balls slipped into a small bag when I’m ordering a coffee with the idea I’ll enjoy it later. Often, it’s been devoured by the time the coffee has arrived and I’m walking out through the door to Main Street.

On this morning I walked down to Scentapy, the lovely shop filled with plant-based soaps, lotions, and candles. A sweet scent came wafting through the air as I opened the door. Wait a minute, wasn’t sweetness a flavor? Now I realized it was a scent. Natural and rich the chunky soaps that add sweetness to every bathroom.

I can’t walk down Main Street and not stop to say hello to Melissa at The Studio who is, in her own words, an “advocate and bon vivant, a lover of laughter and good food.” Her vision for The Studio was “a brighter tomorrow — or at least a tomorrow that has more laughter in it. Everything is chosen with an eye for delight and joy.” Melissa has been on Main Street since 2009, spreading her sweet sense of living. Then sweet isn’t just a flavor and a scent, it’s an attitude? It’s pastel colors?

Finally having two watches that required a battery change and a favorite necklace that needed a small repair I stopped at All My Life Jewelers. The family that owns the shop has deep roots in Laconia and the Lakes Region. It was late in the afternoon, just a short time before closing and the family was there. We had a lovely conversation filled with smiles and laughter. I left with two watches ticking and a necklace soon to be repaired.

The music and programs at the Colonial, the sweet flavors, and I didn’t even mention Ooo La La Creative Cakes or stopping at the Soda Shoppe and sitting at the counter for a frappe or a tuna melt, the creative shops being conceived and opened by entrepreneurs using local products, continue to transform Laconia.

Sweet is a flavor, a scent, an attitude and even a color. Remember when the word “sweet” was used in the vernacular, as slang that probably originated in New Zealand or Britain. “Sweet” one would say, to suggest approval and a certain coolness. I just can’t think of a better word to describe downtown Laconia ... “sweet!”

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Elizabeth Howard is the host of the Short Fuse Podcast, found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or through the Arts Fuse. Her career intersects journalism, marketing, and communications. Ned O’Gorman: A Glance Back, a book she edited, was published in May 2016. She is the author of A Day with Bonefish Joe, a children’s book, published by David R. Godine. You can send her a note at eh@elizabethhoward.com.