Opera House open house attracts a crowd

LACONIA — People formed a block-long line Saturday to get a look at the newly renovated Lakeport Opera House, new home of The Laconia Daily Sun and a second location for Wayfarer Coffee.

Visitors – at least 300 of them, according to organizers –  were advised to wear facial coverings and were let in one group at a time.

First stop was a tour of the newspaper office.

This is the third home of The Laconia Daily Sun in its 20-year history. The move was spurred by the decision of Mike Baron to sell the building at 1127 Union Avenue, which the newspaper had called home since September 2011.

The newspaper was located at 65 Water Street when it printed its first edition on June 5, 2000.

One question someone on the tour asked of publisher Adam Hirshan was where visitors to the newspaper should park. He said there is limited street parking, as well as parking in the lot behind the building and many spots in the huge lot across Union Avenue from the Opera House.

Baron was one of the people in line for the tour.

“I would like to sign up for the home subscription,” he said. “I used to get it every morning.”

Baron shared the building with the newspaper at 1127 Union Avenue, operating a pool table manufacturing workshop in the back. He has sold the building and is planning a retirement in Arizona.

“I do still read it online, though, just so you know,” he said.

Does he read it cover to cover? The newspaper has an E Edition online that simulates the print product.

“I scan through some of it,” he said. “I’m starting to avoid the letters to the editor.”

Local news

Tara Shore, operations manager for the Belknap Mill, was also in line.

What does a community newspaper mean to her?

“It tells me what’s going on in my city — I mean I think that’s important,” she said. “I read it every night when it first comes out online.

“There are times when I’ve not been able to read it and I get frustrated. I feel like I’m missing something.

“It’s not just the political stuff that’s happening. It’s also the community stories.”

Also in line was Bob Sawyer, owner of Sawyers Jewelry and other properties. He said the newspaper is part of his daily routine.

“I get up in the morning and I get my coffee and reading the newspaper is one of the first things that I do, and I do it when I’m in Florida as well because it’s my connection to what’s happening,” he said.

“Today, I thought the great human interest story was the story that Frank Roche wrote talking about Kevin Shaw and the developer. I grew up with Kevin’s dad. It’s a small town.”

The story discussed how Shaw, of Roche Realty, was the agent in the sale of the Opera House to developer Scott Everett.

Shaw and Everett began their long friendship in kindergarten in Gilford and played competitive soccer, basketball and baseball together as they continued through school.

Lakeport renaissance

Jill Desruisseaux, of Gilford, was also waiting in line. She has two young children and is an avid reader of news and features about schools.

Desruisseaux looked around and said she was pleased by the way Lakeport is being improved.

“I grew up here,” Desruisseaux said. “I worked at C.J. Avery’s from the age of 14. So it’s really refreshing to see it coming up.”

Lakeport is going through a renaissance because of Everett.

During the open house, he held court on the second floor of the Opera House, discussing his refurbishment of the 1880s building as well as a mixed-use development he is planning on nearby Elm Street.

But before visitors could get to the second floor, they had to smell the coffee at Wayfarer on the ground floor. The rich aroma greets visitors the moment they walk in the door.

Co-owner and coffee roaster Ben Bullerwell, who has been dividing time between the downtown and Opera House locations, said hello to the guests, answered questions and explained there’s more room to drink coffee, eat pastries and kibitz upstairs.

The second floor of the coffee shop opens into the building’s pièce de résistance, the Opera House stage, with its embossed tin ceiling, decoration along the front of the balcony and suspended glass globe light fixtures.

Everett plans to revitalize the space and open it for the performing arts, including school productions. There is also a third floor, which will be used for residential spaces. Plenty of work remains to be done on the upper floors.

He stood near the stage.

“It’s going along terrifically,” he said.

A lady approached.

“Are you going to live on the third floor?”

“No, I live on Paugus Park,” Everett said. “But it’s nice up there. It’s beautiful. It has the same ceilings as this.”

Everett said he hopes to have the second floor completely refurbished in the spring.

“We hope to have our shows next summer,” he said.

Work will begin on two condominiums on the third floor after the second floor is done.

Everett is still in the city approval process for his Elm Street developments, which will replace a string of older storefronts near Union Avenue. There will be retail on the ground floor and condos upstairs.

“We’re on our third approval, and it takes four,” he said. “It just depends on if we can get our architectural plans done to get to the October meeting, or November, and then within 30 days after that final approval, I’m sure we’ll start the demolition.”