Celebrate Laconia brings overhead lighting to Canal Street

DOWNTOWN — The first phase of a two-year project to string lights above city streets, drawing attention to local businesses and providing a unique spectacle, is nearing completion. 

Celebrate Laconia, an organization dedicated to promoting the city's cultural and economic development, finished stringing a system of lights high above Canal Street Wednesday. A grand opening ceremony, when longtime downtown Realtor Warren Clement will turn the lights on, is scheduled for August.

The project, which was initially approved by city council in June 2023, cost about $24,000. A joint effort between the city, Celebrate Laconia and area businesses, which contributed around $2,000 to the installation, councilors unanimously approved the plan last year. 

The lights, installed by event lighting production company New Spectrum Lighting of Gilford, will illuminate the streets following an Aug. 10 ceremony on Canal Street. Organizers say they’ll invite city employees to attend the event that marks the beginning of a project that could expand to all three of Laconia’s villages in the coming years.

“What we wanted to do is to light up Canal Street,” Clement said Tuesday afternoon. “Right now, you drive by and you don’t see it.”

That’s set to change following the recent installation of commercial patio lighting, held over 15 feet above the street by 12 metal brackets in order to allow large vehicles like commercial trucks or party-disassembled cranes to pass through the tight, one-way street in the heart of downtown. 

Stainless steel wire can be seen suspended above the street, criss-crossing from one business to another and holding fast a system of commercial-grade lighting, constructed mainly out of heavy-duty plastics. 

The City of Laconia contributed $16,000 to the project and local businesses added roughly another $2,000, Celebrate Laconia treasurer Leia Fabian said Wednesday, and Celebrate Laconia paid the remainder. After their installation, the City of Laconia will retain ownership of the lighting system, Clement noted.

“I think it’s a really important project,” Fabian said. “It’s been a passion for Celebrate Laconia for well over two years. To have it come to fruition is so great.”

The lights will connect at the Laconia Housing Authority building on Canal Street and stretch west toward Main Street and east toward City Hall. New Spectrum Lighting also works with Celebrate Laconia to bring the Christmas tree display to downtown.

The day of the lights' dedication, Aug. 11, coincides with a Canal Street block party organized in large part by Dan McLaughlin, owner of Vintage Vinyl on the corner of Canal and Main streets, helping to illuminate another community event. 

The process took organizers through approvals from city council and the public works department. Public Works Director Wes Anderson told the group the lighting needed to be at least 14.5 feet high off the ground, but Clement said they put it even higher to accommodate the sag of the wires. Permission from the owners of buildings along Canal Street was also required, and Clement said the response was enthusiastically supportive of the project. 

Down the line, Celebrate Laconia volunteers would like to see the project expand to other areas of downtown including Main Street, Pleasant Street and the small alley between Wayfarer Coffee Roasters and Spyglass Eyeware, introducing much-needed light to a darker section of the district.

Celebrate Laconia President Beth Castrucci said the Canal Street project has been front and center on their agenda for a long while.

“We have been working on this project, I think for about two years, to get permanent lighting above Canal Street,” she said. “We’re going to make Warren [Clement] turn them on. ... We’re excited, we’re just trying to beautify everything downtown.”

Their work may complement other city projects to improve the aesthetic qualities downtown. Through the summer, artists and sculptors are working to install artwork and paint fixtures, including planters and benches.

“We are very excited to turn these lights on,” Castrucci said.