REMEMBERING JUNE 1978

Long before the Internet, cell phone, laptops and iPods there was Market Square Day. Thirty years later, those who attend the annual June block party may be unaware of its humble beginnings. It was local people celebrating the revival of the city’s downtown – a revival that marked the marriage of the arts and history that continues to this day.

READ ABOUT latest Market Square Day

(Portsmouth historian Bruce Ingmire conducted the annual Market Square Day walking tour from 1978 until his death in 1992. This article, published in the Portsmouth Press in June, 1992, was his 15 year retrospective. We reprint the article here in memory of Bruce at what is now the 30^th anniversary of this ever-popular street event in downtown Portsmouth, NH. – Courtesy Barbara Massar, Executive Director, Pro Portsmouth, Inc.)

Locally people insist, "There was no Market Square Day like the first." That day, June 10, 1978, was organized in Portsmouth. It was envisioned as a farmer’s market and celebration of the newly decorated Market Square. About 1925 when electric trains were abandoned, the square became an exclusive area for automobiles.

Gilley sold his fare next to the North Church and provided the only reason to venture into Market Square except for church on Sunday. During most of the weekend the square was deserted resembling an empty parking lot. By 1977 even Gilley planned to abandon the Square. Residents and visitors took their lives in their hands crossing from the thin sidewalk in front of the North Church to the one hugging Green’s Drug Store. There is a theory that the success of Green’s was directly related to the amount of aspirin sold to survivors of the crossing. You see, they had gotten a headache dodging five lanes of traffic in crossing Market Square.

In 1971 the new city planning director was A. Robert Thoresen. In 1975, he developed a municipal program using Community Development Funds to brick the Square and create a plaza reserved for people. The planners reduced the amount of automobile traffic, submitted their proposal in October 1976. The Council voted unanimously for the new square in Feb. 3, 1977.

As physical plans for the square took shape, Monica Aring wrote a grant to the N.H. Council for the Humanities and Portsmouth received a grant to insure that the refurbished square would become a focal point for the town. Monica Aring headed the program that organized the "rechristening of Market Square."

Meetings were held in the fall of 1977 to develop interest and explore ideas for celebrating the completed square. In March and April of 1978, town meetings captured interest. They were the first since 1849 when the city had authorized the adoption of a city charter. The promotion was successful because volunteers signed on to help.

As the day approached, the workers of Coakley Construction were putting the finishing touches on Market Square. Saturday, June 10, 1978, dawned a beautiful day. Much of the city had been up at sunrise and were full of anticipation. I worked with Jean Webster and we blew-up balloons for Roomet Aring’s balloon arches. Everyone was anxious to see the square which had been completed the night before. The best was seeing the people gathering and the booths being erected.

The vendors were locals who had invested monies and spent Friday making quantities of foods to sell. Artists were juried and assigned spaces on the square. The rentals were low. Today local artists pay $65 for a booth and an out of town food vendor $350. The rain date for the first year was Sunday. Since then logistics and too many people from out of town are included to make rain dates possible. A lot of people showed that day and almost everyone, especially food vendors, sold out long before the day was ended. Theatre By the Sea was in its heyday and Sandy Mitchell and many volunteers painted the little children’s faces.

The most incredible experience that fist day was looking at booths of people whom we knew from daily encounters in Portsmouth. They displayed their beautiful artistic creation. Each of us was struck with the incredible talent that filled this "old town by the sea." We had a new impression of Portsmouth. We knew many performing artists but seeing them together thrilled us. The old shipbuilding capitol had become a unique twentieth-century community.

Many invited friends. Barbara Filleul of Concord came over for the day and remembers the special quality of pride that all of us shared in the new square. It was a private celebration. Like Woodstock, it just worked and cannot be repeated because it was special. I have been to every Market Square Day since and I agree with the sentiment that no day will ever be the same. That, however, should not detract from the event today.

In 1980, John McMaster was president of Pro Portsmouth and Nancy Hammond, now Seagren, took over as the director of the non-profit created to sustain the concept of Market Square Day. Many of the traditions arose during their watch. The year before, Nancy had suggested to me that we create a historic walk to open the event on Friday night. Nancy has to be credited with encouraging me. I spent much of that spring trying to wade through Brewster’s Rambles. Since most of the names had been changed and the place references were gone, the book was confusing. But on Friday, June 7, 1979, I set out on my first walk in costume. It was a success and has continued every year since.

Nancy held fund-raisers and in 1980, invited the first tall ship, the Pride of Baltimore. In 1981, the schooner Roseway, came down from Camden, Maine, and a parade of ships met the ship. Upon arrival, there was a Captain’s reception at the Pannaway Club. That event evolved into the annual clambake which is now a fundraiser with an auction. Nancy began the parade of local officials to start off the day, and the concert to end the day. The concert was devised to get people out of Market Square so it could be cleaned and opened up.

In 1981, the fourth Market Square Day, there was rain but such a crowd gathered in the Square, the runners could not line up. Someone on the podium said, "Send the Air Force Band through the square." They did, it worked, the runners lined up and two traditions were born, the band before the race and the tradition of rain.

There have been a host of directors since Monica and Nancy, including Sue Tebbets, Mark Kelliher, Sandy G. Mitchell, Diane Solmonson, Cynthia Shanley, and finally Lisa Dennison. For 10 years Pro Portsmouth was a six-month operation. Each director contributed to the event and boards worked hard. Additions to the event have come and gone. Tall ships are gone, the three-day weekend proved cumbersome, but concerts, the clambake, the walk, the run, the artists, and sausage sandwiches remain.

Since then, new entrepreneurs have used the day as their opening salvo. A host of out-of-town-vendors now participate in Market Square Day. Of course rain has become a myth surrounding the event. Three years in the running from 1981 to 1983, it rained. Wits called it Portsmouth’s "annual rain dance." Since the change to the second Saturday, the event has had more sunny days than rainy ones. The road race has become the premier event and fire works now close the day.

Starting in 1988, Pro Portsmouth began a year-round operation and initiated First Night. That year the assistant director loaned a computer and Pro Portsmouth was sold on computers. That year all the food vendors were put in the same location. With year-round operations, the bugs have been ironed out. The coke wars have ended. Messy vendors have been eliminated and ugly balloon crayons, silly string and other junk have been discouraged.

In retrospect, the first Market Square Day worked. In 15 years Market Square has become the meeting place that Thoresen, Aring and other people had hoped it would become. We all venture into Market Square and are greeted by fellow townsmen and townswomen. The Café Brioche has become one of our favorite stops. Once it was Teddy’s but now the Brioche feeds our impression of the Square.

We hoped the Square would be used and it is disappointing to me that there is agitation over the young people who gather there. They have picked a spot. There are complaints that they do not spend money. In this recession, few of us have money to burn and it must be incredibly hard on these young people. Young people dominate the participants in the recent Market Square Days. I think it is a credit to the community that we have an event our youth and young adults enjoy and a place they like to gather. Let’s not hassle them for being in the Square.

Market Square Day is not a church supper or fair which tend to be in-house affairs. I am not putting down suppers or fairs, but suggesting the health of the yearly season opener is that it continues to draw and appeals to successive generations of the young and old.

It is reported that some residents leave town that weekend to avoid the inconvenience. They are missing the spirit of Portsmouth, of welcoming visitors. We are ever more dependent upon visitors and tourists. Every business succeeds when tourism is up. Good luck, hope for sun, and enjoy Market Square Day!