Belknap Mill looks forward to changes, success at annual meeting

LACONIA — Changes big and small are ahead for the Belknap Mill Society, whose members met Wednesday night to recognize three outgoing board members and review the challenges and successes of the organization over the last year. 

Mayor Andrew Hosmer, Shawna Bentley and Peter Karagianis stepped down from the mill’s board of directors after numerous years of dedicated service. There were 30 people in attendance during the meeting on the upper floor of the Belknap Mill.

“Downtown Laconia wouldn’t be what it is today without the mill,” Alan MacRae, board member, said Wednesday night. 

The Belknap Mill had a big year — a large, anonymous gift helped the organization reconfigure their historic museum in September, further emphasizing the unique features the mill brought to the city over decades, and modernizing their exhibits.

Last year also saw the founding of the Mayor’s New Year’s Eve Ball, which raised $36,000 to support their operations. 

On the bottom floor of the mill, rotating displays in the Riverside Gallery feature oil paintings by Ian Kabat, enchanting visitors through their representation of interesting people, events and symbols. A particularly evocative painting describes riders on a ski lift, traveling up a mountain shrouded by fog. 

Members of the Belknap Mill Society wandered through the gallery, greeting each other before heading upstairs to handle the organization’s business. It’s a sense of community and progress which brings these people together.

“I wandered into the mill one day for a writers group, and just never left,” board member Katherine Switala-Elmhurst said. “This place, there’s just something about it.”

Karagianis is leaving the board of directors after serving since 2019. He’ll still be involved in the organization, though.

“I spent six years officially on the board, but I would love to continue on, supporting the mill,” he said. 

Hosmer, who himself served as a board member since 2017, said the mill is a special place to him.

“The power of the mill is the people it gathers, I find,” he said. 

Members of the organization presented Bentley, Hosmer and Karagianis with paintings and photographs to commemorate their contributions to the mill. Their seats will be filled by new members Janine Page, owner of the Downtown Gym; city Planning Assistant Director Tyler Carmichael; and lawyer Ben French. 

“Today’s annual meeting is not just a chance to reflect, but also to look forward,” Laura LeMien, board chair and acting director, said.

In the next year, the organization will look to expand performances in the park through the summer, hire a part-time events coordinator and lean into hosting “micro-weddings” on the property, consolidate the organization’s operations to the first floor, leaving half of the second floor available to potentially lease to a commercial tenant, formalize a corporate sponsorship program, and benefit from 10 days of charitable gaming at the Lakes Region Casino.

Micro-weddings are new this year and organizers hope they’ll prove financially sustainable. They’re miniature weddings, held over a shorter time period than typical weddings and limited to 80 people. 

“The past year hasn’t been without its challenges,” LeMien said. “Like many nonprofit organizations, we faced obstacles such as determining how to develop and implement a financially sustainable model for a mixed-use historic building. Even in those difficult moments, we’ve learned, adapted and persisted.”

The mill is also seeking a Land and Community Heritage Investment Program grant to support infrastructure improvements to enhance the building.

“I love a big, hairy, daunting challenge, and this institution has plenty of those,” board member Kevin Switala said.

The organization also remembered Francis Andre Paquette, who died Feb. 6, a longtime supporter of the mill.

“Andre was a special educator, and we’ll miss him a lot for that reason,” Karagianis said. 

Paquette dedicated a charitable foundation trust to the mill, seeded it with monies and also received donations. Deemed a “super supporter”, he served on the board and contributed to the mill over 50 years.

“That is a wonderful gift that Andre left to us,” Karagianis said. “Andre will live with us beyond."

LeMien thanked members of the Mill, calling the generosity of supporters “the backbone” of their organization.