The list of events Kim Smith has planned in Presque Isle for America’s 250th birthday is so long that it barely fits on the poster advertising them.
From this month through December, Aroostook County’s largest city will host more than 30 events celebrating the country’s semiquincentennial, setting the stage for perhaps one of the most expansive birthday bashes put on by a single Maine community.
Between revolutionary exhibits, re-enactments and fireworks displays, the undertaking has been in the works for almost a year, said Smith, who is the city’s resource development and public information officer as well as secretary and treasurer of the Presque Isle Historical Society.
It’s fitting then, that the celebrations will last just as long, she said.
“Here in the United States, we have so many rights and freedoms that other countries don’t,” Smith said. “I just felt that it would be anticlimactic and wrong to have a day. It’s too big for a day.”
The programming began with a kick-off celebration in December and continued into the new year with the installation of an exhibit on the history of the American flag at Northern Light AR Gould Hospital.
The historical society typically sets up exhibits in the hospital four times a year. This year, exhibits centered around the Revolutionary War are set to appear bimonthly.
The society is also hosting bimonthly presentations with the same topics as the exhibits at the Mark and Emily Turner Memorial Library.
July will be the busiest month, with at least six events planned around the Fourth of July. Some, like a cookout and car show put on by the Presque Isle Elks Lodge, happen each year. Others, including a reading of the Declaration of Independence on the steps of City Hall, will be introduced this summer.
The historical society has also inked several partnerships that will tie in a historical theme to regular local events and media.
Weekly trivia nights at the Northeastland Hotel will feature a colonial history category, and three local radio stations owned by Townsquare Media will air segments called “Semiquincentennial Moments.”
“One of the things I decided very early on is that this had to be a major collaborative effort,” Smith said. “Almost everybody I asked said, ‘Absolutely, we would love to be a part of that.’”
The yearlong celebration is funded through a roughly $10,000 grant from the Maine Semiquincentennial Commission, which is chaired by Secretary of State Shenna Bellows. Presque Isle’s historical society is one of 10 recipients out of more than 120 applicants in communities throughout the state, Smith said.
The commission has not yet listed the recipients.
Presque Isle’s historical society also received a $5,000 grant from the Maine Office of Tourism to fund marketing efforts for the 250th birthday festivities.
As a result of the grants, nearly everything on the schedule will be free for the public to attend.
“I wanted as much to be free as possible because that encourages people to come,” Smith said. “25% of the population here is 65 and older, so that means fixed income. We also have a large percentage that lives on the poverty level. You have to make these things available to your audience. In our case, that means free.”
There are several events throughout the year focused on Maine’s role in the Revolutionary War period.
It took 44 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence for Maine to separate from Massachusetts and another 22 years for the U.S.-Canada border in northern Maine to be finalized, but its residents still played a role in America’s formation.
Paintings of George and Martha Washington by Bath-born folk artist William Matthew Prior will be on display at the Maysville Museum in June.
The city will also mark a “Founders Day” on April 4 to celebrate the day Presque Isle was incorporated, something Smith hopes to make an annual event.
“Of course, we weren’t established until 1828, but this is all about beginnings and roots, and so this is about our beginnings and our roots.”
The list of celebrations is expected to grow throughout the year. New events will be added on a new Presque Isle semiquincentennial website.
“We know that this is going to blow up by the end of the year and we’re going to have a lot more,” Smith said.
