Portsmouth's 400th anniversary parade celebrates city's past, present and future

PORTSMOUTH — In the moments leading up to the city’s 400th anniversary parade Saturday, a host of bands warmed up one final time, old friends hugged, floats were given finishing decorative touches, and veteran sailors and active military members lined up.

A years-in-the-making event, not seen since the 350th anniversary in 1973, was about to step off. But before it did, City Manager Karen Conard, the first woman to hold the position, contemplated this era in Portsmouth history.

“It’s a fascinating moment in time to stop and reflect on what has been, what is right now, and where we'll be (in the future),” she said.  “I think everyone feels welcome here, and I think that's the goal.”

The parade, one of the quadricentennial celebration's signature events in 2023, had approximately 1,400 participants. Strongly outnumbering the parade marchers were the thousands of attendees who witnessed the spectacle, with crowds packed into Market Square stretching several rows deep.

The event was organized by Portsmouth NH 400th Inc., which is leading anniversary festivities.

Members of the current City Council, a few dressed in top hats, led the parade and climbed up to the Market Square parade platform, arguably the best view of the extravaganza along Congress Street.

“It’s just an honor to be able to march in the parade given the amount of effort that it’s taken to get to this point,” Councilor Kate Cook said.

“People are what make the city what it is, and it’s why we're lucky enough to live in a beautiful place with wonderful buildings and natural beauty,” Councilor Andrew Bagley said. “It’s the events when the people get together where we really shine.”

One float carried Portsmouth’s living former mayors, including Ted Connors (1964-67), Peter Weeks (1982-83), Robert Lister (2014-15), Jack Blalock (2016-19) and Rick Becksted (2020-21), plus current Mayor Deaglan McEachern. Former mayor Tom Ferrini opted to march in the parade playing trombone in the Portsmouth High School reunion band.

“It’s an incredible time to reflect upon things we have done well and things that we could always do better. But with every birthday comes the opportunity to think back,” McEachern said. “What does Portsmouth mean to us? Looking around, it’s made of great people. It’s a great place.”

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When he was mayor decades ago, Connors was considered to be America's youngest-elected mayor. Now 86 years old, the former Portsmouth and Newington municipal leader was the oldest mayor on the float.

In the winter, Connors informed Newington residents that he would not seek reelection to the town's Board of Selectmen.

“These are great people I’ve worked with,” Connors said. “It’s why I’ve lived here all my life.”

Before the procession began, in a parking lot full of familiar faces, Blalock, whose son Rich Blalock serves on the present City Council, reconnected with an old peer from their grade school days.

“It's really terrific. It makes me very proud to be  a citizen of Portsmouth for my whole life and having been involved with terrific people with the city. Something like celebrating your hometown being 400 years old is just cool. But more importantly, it's the people. I'm reconnecting with old friends,” Jack Blalock said.

Ruth Griffin, 97, referred to often as a city matriarch for her many leadership roles, was in the parade aboard a Volkswagen bus.

She has served on the Portsmouth School Board, Police Commission and the Portsmouth Housing Authority board, and held elected offices as a state representative, state senator and a 20-year New Hampshire Executive Council member.

Person after person approached Griffin, seated in the passenger side of the bus prior to the parade, to shake hands and reminisce.

“I’m just absolutely dumbfounded that so many people seem to remember me,” she said.

Giving tribute to the city’s charm, the official 400th anniversary float was named: “History in Bloom, an ode to the preservation of Portsmouth’s natural and architectural beauty, 1623 to 2023 and beyond.”

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Denise Wheeler, a parade organizer, headed efforts to make the anniversary group’s float in partnership with renowned area horticulturist John Forti. The float made nods to the Memorial Bridge, the famed riverfront salt pile, hops to symbolize the Portsmouth beer industry, purple lilacs — New Hampshire’s state flower — and cherry trees, a gift to the city from Japan after the signing of the Portsmouth Peace Treaty formally ended the Russo-Japanese War in 1905.

“One of my favorite things about it is that we will have five models in dresses handmade with real and silk flowers that connect with Portsmouth's history,” Wheeler said ahead of the parade.

Visitors from across the pond were represented in the parade, much as they were for Portsmouth’s 350th parade in August 1973. That year, then-Prince Charles III and crew members from the HMS Minerva sailed into Portsmouth Harbor and took part in the celebration.

The prince took in the parade from a viewing platform beside former city Mayor Arthur Brady Jr. and old Portsmouth, England Lord Mayor John P.N. Brogden.

Fifty years later, a number of his HMS Minerva shipmates reunited and walked in the 400th anniversary parade, carrying a banner stating King Charles regretfully could not be in Portsmouth.

The Minerva’s William Stacey, then a junior seamen, and Mike Golden, then a junior electrical mechanic, had not returned to Portsmouth since 1973.  On Saturday, the two recalled how in 2008, then-Prince Charles III held a gathering for old Minerva crewmen, which both attended. That’s where the pair became good friends, and ever since, they meet up every year.

“It was a lovely day, and off we went,” Stacey remembered of the 350th parade. “It was just a good day. We fell in love with Portsmouth. Everyone was so welcoming.”

Chris Brant was a Royal Marine lieutenant on the Minerva in 1973. With his shipmates, the Englishman attended a cocktail party ahead of the 350th anniversary parade, where he spotted Ellen Keyes, a Portsmouth resident and member of the Queen’s Court for the celebration.

The two were introduced, and 16 months later, they were married.

“My grandmother hoped I’d end up with Charles,” Keyes-Brant quipped.

Forty-eight years after their union, the couple, now living in Arizona, were given the opportunity to march in Portsmouth’s 400th anniversary parade, a city they haven’t returned to often since their introduction 50 years ago. Wearing a sash, Keyes-Brant was escorted through downtown in a red sports car, recognizing her title as a former member of the Queen's Court.

“Portsmouth has really elevated and is living up to its colonial past and heritage,” she added.

Joining the ex-Royal Navy sailors were representatives of the 13,500-ton, 432-foot-long HMS Scott, a deep ocean survey vessel that ported in Portsmouth on Friday with the help of tugboats, along with Dr. Peter Abbott OBE, British consul general to New England, and his family.

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Russ Grazier, executive director Portsmouth Music & Arts Center and a member of the anniversary’s parade committee, reported 230 past and present Portsmouth High School band performers were set to play in the reunion band. They were being led by PHS band director Eric Gagnon. The oldest member was from the Class of 1957 and traveled from California.

Featuring 50 marchers alongside the band and another 20 riding a trolley, the band paused in Market Square to play Neil Diamond’s classic “Sweet Caroline."

Parade emcee DJ Skooch informed the crowd the band has alumni spanning eight decades, including some who played in the 350th anniversary parade.

Parade participants also included representatives of the Puddle Dock chapter of the New England Woman Suffrage Association; the Portsmouth Garden Club; crew from the USS Cheyenne, docked at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard; the Portsmouth Historical Society; Strawbery Banke Museum; the Gundalow Company; Cross Roads House; the Portsmouth Halloween Parade; I Got Bridged; Haven; the 157 Air Refueling Wing at Pease Air National Guard Base; the Portsmouth School Board; Gather; the Portsmouth Public Library; and Seacoast Outright.

The day's festivities also included WOKQ’s Chowder Festival in Prescott Park, the Piscataqua RiverFest at Strawbery Banke, the weekly farmers market on Junkins Avenue and an open house at the fire station.

City Councilor Beth Moreau, who serves as the anniversary group’s signature events committee chairperson, took a moment to look ahead to the city’s 450th anniversary festivities.

What might the year 2073 look like in Portsmouth?

“I hope it's an even bigger party," Moreau said. "I hope they can honor what we've done and build on it."

Fifty years from now, the city manager hopes for continuity, that Portsmouth's people will still cherish city history and express their gratitude through grand displays. Such as a parade.

"I hope there's still respect and appreciation for something like this and that those cool people put their own spin on it," Conard said.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Portsmouth NH 400th anniversary parade draws thousands