Colonial’s iconic sign comes down; to be replaced by replica

LACONIA — An iconic downtown fixture was removed Tuesday, but will be back by the end of the year as a hallmark of a revitalized business core.

The Colonial Theatre’s blade sign was removed from the front of the building Tuesday morning and placed on a flatbed trailer to be taken to a workshop in Concord, where craftsmen will produce an exact replica.

For the better part of a century, the two-story-tall sign with the vertical letters “‘COLONIAL” has served as a beacon for local residents out for an afternoon’s or evening’s entertainment. The sign went dark in the early 1990s after the Colonial closed. But shortly after the restoration project was announced in 2015, the sign was turned back on — a flashing reminder that the Colonial was coming back to life.

The sign, along with the front and end caps of the marquee, will be reproduced by Advantage Signs of Concord.

Russ Aubertin, Advantage’s owner, stood in the middle of a blocked-off Main Street on Tuesday morning as workers employing a crane and bucket truck from Sousa Signs of Manchester began the delicate process of taking the sign down.

After removing the hundreds of individual lightbulbs which outline the blade sign, a cable was lowered from the end of a construction crane and fastened to the top of the sign. Then a worker was raised up in a bucket high enough where he could reach the bracket which fastened the sign to the upper part of the building. Then, using a reciprocating saw, he cut the metal bracket, whereupon the sign, tethered by the cable, swung away from the building. Workers then steadied the sign and gently placed it on the flatbed trailer.

The sign and the facings of marquee are too far deteriorated to be restored, Aubertin explained.

“You look closely and there’s just too much rust,” he said.

Instead, Aubertin and his artists and workmen will create exact reproductions, fabricated from aluminum plate and stainless steel, he said.

Once the reproductions are complete these will be installed on the Colonial’s facade — only this time they will be placed 22 inches higher.

The only entrance fixture which remains today is the marquee roof, which is held in place by large diagonal chains affixed to the building’s brick exterior. That, too, will be raised 22 feet as part of the restoration.

Meanwhile, workers are continuing the process of transforming the interior of the 750-seat theater, as well as creating residential apartments which will be housed on the second and third floors in the front part of the building.

City Council Bob Hamel, who serves on the Colonial Project Oversight Committee, told the council Monday evening that the restoration work has slowed after some of the contractors had to reduce the size of their crews because of COVID-19 social distancing guidelines. He said while the plan was for the work to be completed in November, estimates now are for the work to be done in December or January.