A World of Events at the Belknap Mill

There was a time when a concert was rare. If a vocalist, pianist, or even a circus act came to Laconia and you could afford the ticket price, you put on your best dress-up attire and spent a delightful evening soaking up the entertainment. By the 1950s and 60s, movies had come on the scene, but attending a program with a professional, live performer was still very special.

At the Belknap Mill in downtown Laconia, Save the Mill members and those involved in preserving the brick building envisioned at least partial use of the building as a place for events and concerts. During the efforts to save the old mill building in the late 1960s/early 1970s, funds were needed, as well as the opportunity to show city officials and others how a cultural center could improve the lives of Laconia’s citizens.

A Save the Mill event was held on Sunday, October 17, 1971, and featured Doris Schuster. The Belknap Mill show was held in the Martha Prescott Auditorium of the Laconia Library. Tickets were $2 for adults and $1 for children; these prices would be laughably low by today’s standards but were par for the course in the 1970s. 

Shuster was a highly regarded pianist, and the concert featured such musical pieces as Rule Brittanie, Beethoven with Five Variations, other classical music, and five songs arranged for the piano, including the 1919 piece Swanee, Fascinatin’ Rhythm (1924), and others.  Ticket sales for the Shuster concert totaled $206, with other contributions of $17. Expenses included the hall rental, flowers, and a piano tuning. A profit of $186 was netted, which was suitable for an early attempt to coordinate and present a show.

To raise funds, the Belknap Mill held a concert with the New Hampshire Music Festival on Sunday, December 2, 1973, at the St. Joseph Parish Hall on Church Street in Laconia. The performance was billed as a “Benefit Holiday Concert” and featured the New Arts Ensemble. A press release stated, “This will be an interesting and varied concert for adults and children.” The concert was not held at the Belknap Mill, probably because the building had not yet been renovated for such an event.

Classical music seemed to be popular among Belknap Mill members in the 1970s, and on Saturday, June 15, 1974, the Save the Mills Society, in cooperation with the First United Methodist Church and NH Music Festival, presented soprano Suzanne Blum.  Performing in a concert of arias and songs, the Blum concert was held at the Methodist Church in Gilford. A Laconia News article from June 13, 1973, reported that Blum was, at that time, a master’s candidate at Eastman School of Music. She also was a Laconia High School graduate. The NH Music Festival contributed to the concert with the loan/use of their piano. (The pianist for the concert was Dorothy Grabczyk.)

The Laconia Evening Citizen reported in a February 25, 1975, edition that the Save the Mill Society’s fifth annual dinner and dance would take place at the Gunstock Area ski lodge on May 3. Jim Pollock and his band from Manchester were booked to play music. Well-known local radio personality Esther Peters of the Mill’s events committee helped sell tickets for the event.

Belknap Mill volunteers prepare for Save the Mill Society’s fifth annual dinner and dance at the Gunstock Area ski lodge, which was held on May 3, 1975. Among the volunteers pictured was well-known local radio personality Esther Peters (standing). (Belknap Mill collection/Laconia Evening Citizen)

Children’s art was featured in the winter of 1975 at the Mill, focused on the Revolutionary War. Participating students in grades 1 to 6 were from Laconia and Gilford. At the time, residents were coming to see the many uses the Belknap Mill offered the community. Perhaps those vehemently opposed to saving the building were changing their minds. They might realize that the salvaging and renovation of the Mill was worth the effort, since the space was being used for programs benefitting children as well as adults.

Elementary school children from Laconia and Gilford, 1975, participated in an exhibit of their work at the Belknap Mill. The work was part of a Revolutionary War-themed student project (Belknap Mill collection/Laconia Evening Citizen)

By 1978, the Belknap Mill was planning a series of springtime concerts, with the events on Sunday afternoons at 4 p.m. Co-sponsored by the NH Music Festival, the series kicked off on March 19 with music by Genette Foster, violinist and Regis Benoit, pianist from New York City. The April 2 concert featured the University of NH faculty woodwind quintet. The final concert was on April 23 and featured Susan Allen on harp, Leone Buyse on flute and piano, and Karen Groton on oboe and piano. 

According to an article in a 1978 edition of the Laconia Evening Citizen, fourth graders from Laconia’s Pleasant Street School enjoyed a tour of the Belknap Mill on April 10. While at the mill, the students went on a tour led by Mrs. Baldi, viewing a display of birds. The students were also told about the everyday life of typical Mill workers who were on the job from sunrise to sunset and endured a much different life than workers of the 1970s.

Artists used the first-floor gallery at the Mill for exhibits, with area artist Jack Dokus showing his work from June 26 to July 1, 1978. His exhibit, Mythical Thoughts, included drawings and creations in gold, silver, copper, and other materials. 

Fast-forward to the 1990s, a decade when the Belknap Mill offered many events, concerts, exhibits, and other programs. Executive director Mary Rose Boswell and the Belknap Mill’s active board of directors and staff brought entertainment to the Laconia area on a regular basis.

The second summer season of outdoor concerts at the Belknap Mill continued the original, bold move of an outdoor, free event. (At a time, such outdoor events were not the norm in the area.) 

With a grant from the New England Foundation for the Arts and sponsorship by First NH Bank, Nighswander, Martin, and Mitchell PA, and additional support from New England Telephone, the NH State Council on the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts, the first concert in 1992 was a testing ground to determine the public’s reaction for future outdoor events.

After a positive response from the public, the outdoor concerts continued in the summer of 1993. The band for the Saturday, July 17, 1993, concert was Humano, an African-Caribbean band. Humano performed during the 1992 outdoor concert series and returned the second year due to its popularity. The event was held in the (then) back parking lot of the Belknap Mill simply because it was an available space for such an outdoor event.

A press release on Thursday, July 13, 1993, by the Laconia Citizen quoted Boswell, “Humano played to a large crowd in the Belknap Mill’s first outdoor concert last August. The response to the Latin-beat band was positive, so we have invited them back to kick off the Riverside Concerts this summer.” Concertgoers brought their own lawn chairs and snacks. Soft drinks were on sale.

A further Riverside concert took place on Saturday, August 21, 1993, featuring the sounds of TJ Wheeler and the Smokers.

The outdoor concert series of 1992 and 1993 opened the doors to a new way of using the Belknap Mill for events, expanding to the outdoors around the building. From that early idea, the Mill today offers many outdoor events for all ages in Rotary Park, adjacent to the Belknap Mill. Each summer, the Arts in the Park Series, presented by the Belknap Mill, offers free outdoor concerts from late May to October. (Visit belknapmill.org/sock-hop) for a lineup of this year’s shows.)

The Belknap Mill’s annual meeting was a significant event for those interested in the historic building.At one time, the meetings offered something lighthearted and fun before the business side of the day got underway: an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast prepared by Belknap Mill trustees Walter Eshelman and Jon Nivus and their wives, Ella Eshelman and Barbara Nivus. Assisting in the kitchen were committee members Betty McGreevy, Peter Karagianis, and Don McFarland, as well as Margaret Demos, Ted McKean, Bob Graves, and Julie Upham.

The pancake breakfast on Saturday, February 27, 1993, was made and served in the Mill’s third-floor meeting space in Rose Chertok Hall. It was open to the public and cost a mere $5 per person and $2.50 for children.

At the 1993 annual meeting (after the pancake breakfast) on the Mill’s first-floor gallery, the business got underway during the late morning. Those attending were also treated to a chance to view the exhibit “The Mill & the Community.”

On February 22, 1993, Lakes Region chef Jeff Freehof of the Gunstock Country Inn taught a French gourmet cooking class. Freehof taught a group of interested participants in the Gunstock Inn’s kitchen, showing them the recipes and steps to prepare French food. Said Freehof, “I will show how to master this kind of cooking and dispel the myth that French cooking is only for the Julia Childs of the world!”

The cooking class series also included a Cajun class in November and a December Asian cooking class. March 1993 saw a sock hop at the Belknap Mill, which offered something fun and new for the public on March 6, 1993, from 8 to 11 p.m. DJs Warren Bailey and Konrad Kane spun tunes from the 1950s, 60s, 70s, and beyond. The dance/event was a Belknap Mill fundraiser.

Folk singer Sally Fingerett performed at a Belknap Mill concert in 1993. (Belknap Mill collection)

On May 7, 1993, the Mill presented folk singer Sally Fingerett in concert. The program was supported by local radio stations WEMJ, 94 WFTN, Oldies 105 WLKZ, and SUNNY 101.5 FM. The Belknap Mill offered a dinner option with participating area restaurants and the concert/dinner was timed for Mother’s Day weekend and brought some unusual fun to Lakes Region families.

Exhibits in the Mill’s first-floor gallery have varied over the years, from high school art to a fun and unique show of paintings by Lakes Region artist Ted Sizemore, who painted book covers for romance novels.