Portsmouth 400th lobster dinner takes over Congress Street. Here's how it looked.

PORTSMOUTH — There were 900 lobster dinners successfully served to as many guests seated down the middle of Congress Street Wednesday night in celebration of the city’s 400th anniversary.

“Every ticket has been sold,” said Devon Datsis, one of the event coordinators for Fosters Clambakes and Catering, which catered the large-scale outdoor dinner. Her team spent the entire day, as well as prep throughout the week, to ensure the food was served.

Wednesday was the second attempt to host the “street.life!" dinner, held each year but this time on a bigger scale than ever before. It was organized by both the Chamber Collaborative of Greater Portsmouth and Portsmouth NH 400 Inc., the group behind the city's quadricentennial events in 2023.

A stage was well lighted underneath the Chestnut Street archway, where celebrity emcee Tom Bergeron hosted with wisecracks and memories of his early career in Portsmouth. The tables ran in a single line the length of Congress Street with televisions and speakers spread throughout for viewers to see the stage.

Bergeron recalled spending three years hosting a nightly radio show on WHEB-FM. He recalled his last night hosting the show in Portsmouth in 1983.

“I remember thinking that night, ‘I’d like to host one more night in Portsmouth,’” Bergeron told the diners. “And it only took 30 years. So hold onto your dreams.”

Messages from Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan were shared via video, as well as a letter from President Joe Biden and a video message from the International Space Station. Denise and Paul Pouliot of the Pennacook-Abenaki People spoke to reflect Portsmouth’s heritage before settlers arrived 400 years ago.

Portsmouth Mayor Deaglan McEachern commended Chamber President Ben VanCamp and Portsmouth NH 400 Inc. Director Valerie Rochon for organizing the event, calling them “powerhouses.”

“It’s not actually easy to close down streets in Portsmouth and have a big, giant-ass dinner down Congress Street,” McEachern said. “But you did, and we’re really appreciative.”

Bringing together a 900-person dinner outdoors

Organizers said Wednesday’s celebration took months of planning and an enormous amount of food and supplies.

“It took 900 of everything,” VanCamp said. “Nine hundred chairs, plates, forks, knives, all that stuff, and amazing vendors and partners.”

At the Fosters staging area, Datsis said her group was prepared to handle the food. She said Fosters serves parties of up to 1,000 people each year, including one major annual event in Washington, D.C.

The planning for the perfect 400th anniversary dinner began eight or nine months ago, she said, when Foster’s General Manager Beth Wilson began working with organizers on the perfect menu.

The food prep started in the kitchen at Fosters several days ago, she said, and staff were cooking Wednesday by 10 a.m. In the street, crews were setting up tables to be ready in time for the 6:30 p.m. dinner.

A Maine summer salad was the opening course, featuring strawberries, blueberries, goat cheese, toasted almonds and fig balsamic vinaigrette. Next, the main course was served family style with bowls of cooked lobster in their shells, half ears of corn, lemon and steamed clam garnishes, brown buttered potatoes and barbecue chicken.

The ticket to get in cost $150. Those who came said they were curious to see the spectacle.

“The idea of this mass production was enough to bring us down here,” said Sue Morrill, who came with her husband Brent. “Love to see the execution of this.”

The night ended with a laser show with beams overhead across the entire street and bouncing off buildings.

“I’m, like, so in awe,” Lisa Gainty said at her seat under the laser show. She came with her friend Anthony Conti. Both live in Portsmouth and work at local banks.

“From 1 to 10, it’s definitely an 11,” Conti said. “It’s new, and I think it’s a lot of fun.”

Locals reflect on Portsmouth amid 400th anniversary celebration

Many at the dinner were longtime residents of the city who have seen Portsmouth grow to where it is today.

Vernis Jackson, 91, has lived in the city since 1963 and taught in the Portsmouth elementary school system for decades. She also chaired the city’s committee on the African Burying Ground and was a founding member of the Seacoast African American Cultural Center.

Originally from Savannah, Georgia, Jackson said she was shocked when her husband told her more than four decades ago that they were moving north to Portsmouth for his position in the Air Force.

“I go, ‘What? Where? You’ve got to be kidding me,’” Jackson said.

Jackson said she immediately found Portsmouth to be a place where residents are willing to collaborate on important projects like the ones she helped lead. She believes Portsmouth has done well in addressing its history, including the challenging parts.

“The people are so connecting,” Jackson said. “I’m really happy about the, what I call, the increase in knowing.”

Some longtime residents watched the festivities from outside the rope that closed off the dinner from the sidewalk.

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“It’s a bit extravagant, but what the heck,” said Bruce Pingree, a fixture in the Portsmouth music scene who was general manager of The Press Room going back to the 1980s.

Pingree, also the first grand marshal to lead the Portsmouth Halloween Parade 20 years ago, said he remembers when Portsmouth celebrated its 350th anniversary. He was living in Durham at the time but eventually made his way to living on the corner of Cornwall and McDonough streets.

Portsmouth itself has become more “extravagant” in recent years, he said, causing him to move to Kittery, Maine, due to the rent prices.

“Then I moved from Kittery because Kittery became like here,” Pingree said.

Pingree has since made it back to Cabot Street in Portsmouth’s West End. While changes have come, Pingree believes there are still creative people in town, as well as those who work to keep the old Portsmouth’s history intact.

“There are definitely people trying to preserve the history, and I applaud them all for that,” Pingree said.

Conti, a local banker who attended the dinner, is also a caretaker for the Wentworth-Gardner House and the house manager at the Tobias Lear House. He believes Portsmouth walks a fine line between modernization and preserving history. He pointed to projects like Strawbery Banke Museum, where a 10-acre campus includes numerous historic buildings that go back more than 300 years.

“A lot of our great houses were saved and open to the public,” Conti said. “To be able to work and live here and walk to things? Not a lot of communities have that, so I feel fortunate to be here.”

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Portsmouth 400th lobster dinner takes over Congress Street