Dover 400th parade, fireworks, block party, historic walk, more: What you need to know
DOVER — The city's yearlong 400th anniversary celebration will feature most of its major events this summer, including a downtown block party, parade, music and fireworks over the July 1-4 extended holiday weekend.
The celebrations also include an interactive historic walk based at Henry Law Park on Saturday, July 1, which is also the day of the block party.
The walk is a collaboration between multiple Dover organizations featuring 13 tents depicting moments in Dover’s history.
"It's just a moment to pause and reflect on all the different kinds of people that have come before us within the past 400 years,” said Michelle Mastrobatista, the organizer of the event and a medical administrative officer with the Air National Guard.
The historic walk will kick off with an opening ceremony at 10 a.m. on the smaller waterside stage at Henry Law Park, featuring a color guard, singing of the national anthem, Mayor Bob Carrier reading the Dover Land Acknowledgement, and a reading of a Robert Frost poem.
Following the ceremony, people can begin exploring the tents.
The Garrison Players will provide actors to portray historic and mostly female figures, according to Kevin Collins, production manager of the players. These will include "mill girls" from the mill strikes of the 1800s, suffragettes, and Wentworth-Douglass Nursing School students from the 1900s.
“I think that one of the things that (Mastrobatista) wants to point out is that Dover women have played a major role in the history of the town,” said Collins.
Also part of the collaboration is the Woodman Museum, providing historical artifacts dispersed throughout the tents, ranging in eras including World War I, the Civil War, the Colonial period, and the Revolutionary War, with a tent largely put together by the New Hampshire 2nd Regiment.
The Children’s Museum of New Hampshire will host a kids voting booth, offering pretend ballots asking questions such as “what is your favorite food?” The Dover High School Art Club is creating interactive cutouts for people to pose with and take photos.
400th anniversary events in Dover
June 17-18 – The 1st New Hampshire Regiment - Camp and Living History at the Woodman Museum
June 23 – The Dover 400 Humdinger – a “once-in-400-years comedy show” hosted by Erin Feeley at Woodman House at the museum at 182 Central Ave. Gates will open at 6 p.m. for those 21 and older. Tickets are available at tickettailor.com/events/seacoastcomedyfest/914089.
June 24 – “Dover by The Water” will honor the 50 miles of water surrounding Dover, according to Jeannette Poulin, executive director of the Dover 400 committee. The event will include a small boat regatta.
The celebrations will start off at Hilton Park, with a commemorative ceremony for descendants of the Hilton family, who created the first New Hampshire settlement in 1623. The ceremony will serve as a sort of “family reunion” to bring together those who have descended from the original Hilton family. All Hiltons are encouraged to come and bring a picnic lunch for themselves to celebrate.
Following the ceremony, Dover 400 Rock Day bands will perform at the Rotary Pavilion from noon to 8 p.m. These include Silver Strummers, Shelli Lettore, Jamband, Jonnie and the Two Timers, Cool Beans and the Tony Mack Band.
From noon to 5 p.m., the Old Time Cruising Car Club will be at Henry Law Park hosting a “cruising style” antique car show. Anyone is welcome to bring old cars to show them off.
This will be considered an “all vehicle show,” according to Jed Greeke, president of the club.
“Everything from 1932 Ford Roadsters, up to brand new Corvettes and Modern Muscle cars,” he said. “Everything's welcome. Bring your car and hang out with us.”
Along with the cars there will be a beer/wine/beverage garden and an assortment of food trucks.
At 4 p.m. will be a boat parade down the Cocheco River led by Portsmouth’s own legendary “Gundalow.”
All boaters are welcome to come deck out their boats and participate, said Poulin. If interested, email 400Dover@gmail.com to register. More details can be found at dover400.org/events.html.
June 25 – A day of baseball at Leary Field in Portsmouth will feature, from noon to 3 p.m., a vintage baseball game utilizing 1864 era rules and uniforms.
June 29 – The Cocheco Quilter’s Guild will unveil a Dover 400th quilt at the Dover Public Library, using “reproduction cloths patterned from the original Cocheco Mill Textiles,” according to Dover 400.
June 30-July 1 – Capping off the Woodman Museum’s encampment month is the Piscataqua Company Encampment, which will be on the museum grounds. Encampment month features a few different encampment groups or “living histories” – these are groups that dress in the garb and reenact the experiences of different historic groups, explained Jonathan Nichols, executive director of the Woodman Museum.
July 1 – The Dover Block Party will take place on Central Avenue and a portion of the road by Henry Law Park, according to Stephanie Bolduc, the organizer of the event. She described it as being similar to Apple Harvest Day, an annual festival held each fall with vendors and entertainment taking over downtown.
Vendors will promote their businesses and organizations and musical groups will be playing all day at the Rotary Pavilion from 11 a.m. to around 9 p.m. Groups include the Dover Community band, Earth Kit, Soggy Po’ Boys, the 80s rock tribute band Ovation, Rory Makem, Thanks to Gravity and Gazpacho, which will end the night from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Other events throughout the day will include the historic walk at 10 a.m. at Henry Law Park, a Frederick Douglass reading at Dover Public Library and at Walton Court, an open mic for comedians and singers to perform and a performance by the University of New Hampshire’s youth traveling theatre group, Little Red Wagon.
July 2 – The Dover 400th parade on Sunday at 3 p.m. currently has 55 units committed to it, but Bolduc, the parade organizer, said they are still looking for more.
“We've got people actually coming from all over New England,” Bolduc said. “We're trying to make this multifaceted and multicultural."
A few of the groups inlude New Hampshire Police Association Pipes and Drums, Veronica Robles Mexican Mariachi Band, two Chinese Lion dancers, Grooversity Brazilian Drum Band, the Rhode Island Highlanders Pipe Band and a plethora of others.
“We're really excited and we're trying to encourage all of our local businesses and organizations to get involved,” Bolduc said.
July 4 – At 9 a.m. the Declaration of Independence will be read at City Hall. Later in the evening, the fireworks show will take place. The fireworks will be shot off from two different locations simultaneously: Garrison Hill and Maglaras Park. The New Hampshire Army National Guard 39th Army Band will play on the Rotary Arts Pavilion stage at Henry Law Park from 7:30 p.m. to 9:15 p.m. leading up to the fireworks, which are planned to be visible from all over downtown.
July 7 – Dancing Madly Backwards is the first performer in the Friday night concert series put on by the Cocheco Arts Festival. The festival is put on annually by the Greater Dover Chamber of Commerce and is being co-branded in 2023 with the Dover 400 celebrations.
July 15 – The Dover Artists exhibition will feature local Dover artists and their work in the Backstage Gallery at the Art Center. If interested in submitting work, artists can view details at their website. The submission deadline is June 26.
July 22 – In 1955, Hollywood had its East Coast premiere for a movie titled “The McConnell Story” at The Strand theater in Dover. The Hollywood biopic told the story of Capt. Joseph “Mac” McConnel, featuring Alan Ladd and June Allyson. The Strand theater will be recreating the movie’s premiere for this event. There will be a red carpet and backdrop with a photographer to take free photos of all the guests who attend, according to Jonathan Nichols, executive director of the Woodman Museum. Chapel + Main Brewery will offer a special Joe McConnel event beer, Nichols added. The Woodman Museum will also have a pop-up exhibit about the movie.
August 11 – The Greater Dover Chamber of Commerce will hold a free Milestone Anniversary Celebration to commemorate multiple milestone anniversaries of commerce members, including the Children’s Museum of New Hampshire, which is turning 40 in 2023. The event is 5-6:30 p.m. at the Children's Museum at 6 Washington St.
Looking ahead to fall:
October 7 –The chamber will host its Apple Harvest Day, which features multiple vendors for businesses and organizations, drawing thousands each year to downtown Dover.
This article originally appeared on Fosters Daily Democrat: Dover NH 400th parade, fireworks, historic walk, more in summer 2023
