One of the speakers during the public section of the Lowell City Council meeting last Tuesday brought up the impending 175th anniversary of the 1836 incorporation of Lowell as a city. Mark Goldman - lifelong Lowell resident and community activist - wants the city to celebrate and he has a plan. I haven’t seen it yet - he’s sending it to me in the mail.

Why would I care? Well, back in 1986 - when  Lowell celebrated the 150th of the city’s incorporation, I was the Vice-Chair of the Sesquicentennial Commission. Except for a spectacular Ball held at Ted Larter’s Wannalancit Mill on March 1, 1976 - where 800 people gathered many in period dress, the 150th anniversary of the founding of the town of Lowell was lost in the nation’s Bicentennial festivities. So ten years later with Bobby Kennedy as Mayor - the city was really ready to celebrate this significant milestone! There was both precedent and tradition for the Mayor to appoint a Commission to plan and execute a public commemoration of the event. The “Proceedings in the City of Lowell at the Semi-Centennial of the Incorporation of the Town of Lowell” stands as the official record of the who, what, where, when, why and how of the events of the March 1, 1876 celebration. A similar publication documents the same for the March 1, 1926 proceedings in celebration of the “Centennial Observance of the Incorporaton of the Town of Lowell, Massachusetts.” Both also include speeches, letters, dedications and poems along with lists of the elected officials, photos and the Commission reports.

While no official book or report documents the 1986 Sesquicentennial, there are newspaper stories, photographs, a tv video, programs and memorabilia that tell the tale. The celebration opened on April 11th with a birthday party complete with the state delegation led by Senator Sheehy, the LHS-ROTC color guard as official escorts, a 2000 ballon salute, first graders singing a song “Lowell” written for the occasion by their teacher Monique Healey, a countdown with a ball dropping from the top of the Civic Center and a giant birthday cake - baked and decorated by the Greater Lowell Voke students - all at the JFK CC and Plaza.  The Massachusetts Secretary of State Michael Connolly was our special guest. In a ceremony at JFK he presented the city a special proclamation and joined other dignitaries in speeches for the day. It should come as no surprise that a young poet - now my fellow blogger - Paul Marion offered a Lowell poem especially written for the celebration. The VFW-Walker Rogers Post 662 working with the Sesquicentennial Commission got the Annual State Loyalty Day Parade designated for Lowell that year on April 7th. It was a three-mile long parade with music, ethnic floats, community groups and contingents of veterans and military. School children distributed 12,000 flags provided by the Exchange club to spectators along the parade route. During the months of April and May many civic organizations and institutions held events - including the Highland Players, the  SPEBQSA -Barbershop Quartet group, ULowell’s Art Department, the Brush, the International Institute, the LNHP, the hospitals, the Lowell Girls Club, the city schools and the Lowell Historical Society whose annual meeting featured a film on Kerouac. The Society in partnership with the Pollard Memorial Library also mounted a wonderful clothing exhibit in Memorial Hall called “Dressed for the Ball; 1826 - 1936.”  Later in the year  - festivities culiminated with The Lowell Historical Society Sesquicentennial Ball - formal wear & costumes suggested - held on October 25th at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium. There was a Grand March, another 150th birthday cake and  a special toast from Mayor Kennedy. The music provided by The Angie Bergamini Orchestra ranged from Victorian and Edwardian, to sentimental songs and serenades, roaring twenties to the big band sounds culminating with Auld Lang Syne. A funny thing happened that night at the Ball - mini-televisions (an innovation)  were seen throughout the LMA with knots of men and some ladies gathered around. I remember particularly Atty. Victor Forsley outstanding in a group attired in vintage baseball regalia - so appropropriate - because the Red Sox were playing in the World Series that night! What competition! (Was that when that other ball was dropped?)

Let me cite a few members of that 1986 Commission: Mayor Bobby Kennedy, Mary Bacigalupo, Walter Bayliss, Bud Caulfield, Kevin Coughlin, Gus Coutu, Lew Karabatsos, Bob Malavich, Florence Marion, Jim Milinazzo, Armand Mercier, George Tsapatsaris,  Sandi Walter and Marie Sweeney. There’s more to tell from both the 1976 and 1986 celebrations - but I hope I’ve whet your appetite for yet another celebration - the City of Lowell’s 175th birthday anniversary in 2011. Stay tuned for more stories from the past and an update for the future celebration.