What does it take to get a new town stage built at Memorial Field in Pembroke?
A whole lot more than I ever expected, and that’s an understatement.
I’ve been a member of the Recreation Commission in Pembroke for five years, since we moved from Manchester to Pembroke. For a couple of summers prior to moving, I booked the summer concert series at Memorial Field for the chair of the commission, Rose Galligan, a good friend then and now.
Booking those shows at dusk, often surrounded by a truly stunning sunset over the Merrimack River, was magical to me, even before arriving in town. People seemed to enjoy the shows, even with small turnouts and a few well-attended performances. It had a richness to it, a real community feel where people listen and relax in a beautiful setting.
Then, about four years ago, I got to thinking about that stage as I planned the next set of summer shows, and how that stage needed more than a facelift. It needed to be replaced.
The current stage was built in 2012 by the local Boy Scouts, and they did a good job. Solid flooring, big and vast, looks right out into a green field pitched below. Those scouts are family men by now and have evolved, but this old stage has not. It flatlined years ago. It has no personality. It doesn’t define anything anymore.
Oh, and it has no roof.
A town stage should represent a town, as much as the town hall, police station or fire department. You don’t pay tickets or taxes at a town stage. A town stage is there for one sole reason: for the people to enjoy and take pride in.
Pictures of weddings, baptisms, ceremonies, children dances, political speeches and awards occur on these stages.
Comedians tell jokes and musicians play their instruments on these stages. And not nearly pass out from the sun beating down on them on a Saturday night in the summer, because, again, our stage has no roof!
Go and look at Londonderry’s stage or Keene’s town stage, or Nashua, Penacook or Epsom’s. All great stages with various personalities and styles, bold and representative of the town it resides in. Pembroke deserves that.
Ah, but ever dream costs money. As would a new stage. That’s when I thought, years ago, seeing that the massive construction company, Brady Sullivan, were rebuilding the mills on Canal Street and far from finishing, maybe, just maybe, they would donate some money for a new stage if we named it “THE BRADY SULLIVAN STAGE at Memorial Field.”
I presented the idea to the committee, and they said go for it. Good luck with that.
I got a meeting with Shane Brady and Arthur Sullivan, the owners of Brady Sullivan, and I pitched them, “Would you donate $40,000 to a new town stage in Pembroke that will sit across from your beautiful mill renovation and we call it THE BRADY SULLIVAN STAGE at Memorial Field?”
Shane looked at me and said, “The stage you want doesn’t cost $40,000. Here’s $20,000 and please keep us posted. It sounds great.” Just like that, 10 minutes and we had the funds for our new stage!
The $20,000 should cover the entire project — stage kit, concrete pad — and if there’s a little extra in spillover cost, there’s a small slush fund the rec commission can work with. It costs the townspeople nothing. Overall, a pretty straightforward project that should be completed by the start of this summer’s concert series.
Here’s the rub: Since the check got to town hall in November 2022, nothing has happened, until last fall, when serious discussions began. It’s been a grind to get any real movement on the project as I religiously bugged our hard-working town manager, Dave Jodoin. I hate being that guy, it always gives me a belly ache, but we made a promise to Shane and Arthur. Yet, we have not kept that promise. It’s bothersome.
Thankfully, nearly every ailment has a remedy. And as voters in Pembroke, we can cure our ills and keep our promises by voting YES for a new town stage at 9 a.m. at Pembroke Academy on March 14.
It is going to be a beautiful new stage — simple, definitive and so pride worthy that the flashes on your camera will be aching to go off. I promise.
Please, vote YES. Thank you.
Rob Azevedo can be reached at onemanmanch@gmail.com.