a look at the past, present and future

The first ever Market Square Day kicked off in June, 1977, giving birth to an annual tradition that has marked the onset of summer in Portsmouth for the last three decades. 

“Thirty years later, I don’t know if anybody really imagined that it would continue every year, but I think it’s safe to say that it’s kind of become an institution,” said Barbara Massar, executive director of Pro Portsmouth. “It’s an expectation that on the second Saturday of June, Market Square Day will happen.”

Market Square Day 2007 occurs on June 9, beginning at 9 a.m. with the annual 10K Road Race. Musical performances begin an hour later and continue throughout the day with a total of 15 acts on three stages. About 150 area vendors will set up booths around Market Square, where several blocks will be closed to traffic.

With an estimated average attendance of between 60,000 and 80,000 people, Market Square Day is the largest of the four main events organized by Pro Portsmouth every year. The nonprofit organization is also responsible for Children’s Day in May; Summer in the Street in June, July and August; and First Night on New Year’s Eve. It also oversees the annual Christmas tree lighting in Market Square.

But Market Square Day has been scaled back considerably over the last several years, and Pro Portsmouth must continually overcome a variety of challenges to stage its events year after year. The organization has traveled along a rocky path as it attempts to balance the pressures of raising money, finding volunteers and securing sponsors while dealing with circumstances that are often beyond its control. 

A survey conducted last year by Americans for the Arts revealed that Pro Portsmouth enhanced the city’s economy by approximately $3.7 million into through its events, which attracted a total of some 150,000 people. Visitors flood downtown Portsmouth on Market Square Day, spending money at local shops, restaurants and hotels. The event also unites the business and artistic communities.

Financially, Pro Portsmouth operates on a cycle based around its four main events. Organizers rely on the success of each event to generate adequate funding for subsequent events. If a blizzard makes roads impassable on First Night, or a thunderstorm darkens Market Square Day, funding for the entire year is jeopardized.

“We are particularly at risk, because with the exception of First Night, where all of our performances take place indoors, everything we do is outside,” Massar said. “We are always kind of on the edge. A bad First Night can make for a bad next year. A good first night can make us all feel a little more comfortable about everything we’re going to do after that.”  

The weather was cloudy and drizzly on Market Square Day 2006, resulting in a slightly lower turnout. One of the events for last year’s Summer in the Street, which consists of six outdoor musical performances throughout the summer, was interrupted by a deluge of rain, and another was postponed after a storm sent the North Church steeple crashing onto Pleasant Street.

Poor weather causes lower turnouts, which can make sponsors nervous about supporting future events. According to Massar, it was a lack of sponsorship that nearly canceled the annual fireworks display at this winter’s First Night. Pro Portsmouth called on the public to pitch in with contributions, and a last-minute donation gave the organization the $10,000 it needed to put on the display.

It was not the first time the fireworks nearly fell through the cracks. There was no fireworks display in 2001, and the entire organization temporarily shut down nine months later. Prior to that time, Market Square Day had included a fireworks display and an evening concert. But the organization lacked the finances to cover such a large-scale event.

Massar’s predecessor, Doug Knight, lasted less than a year as executive director and was removed from the post in April 2002. The organization shut down due to financial constraints in September 2002, laying off its staff and selling its building.

“Everything that happened back in 2002, it was all fiscally based,” Massar said. “We were spending money we didn’t have.”

Joshua Cyr, who was president of the board of directors at the time, said a variety of factors contributed to the temporary closing, many of them beyond the organization’s control. A downturn in the economy kept sponsorship down, Cyr said, and fears stemming from the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center a year earlier drove up insurance costs and kept many people away from large public events like Market Square Day.

“The bottom line was we were out of money. We just didn’t have enough cash flow to take care of the obligations that we had,” Cyr said. “It was a very tough couple of years.”

Cyr, who has been involved with a number of nonprofit organizations, said blame for the 2002 closing does not rest with any single individual. Financial struggles come with the territory of operating a nonprofit organization, he said.

“I think any nonprofit is a challenging endeavor,” Cyr said. “Every one that I’ve been involved with has had financial needs not being met.”

But Pro Portsmouth barely skipped a beat in 2002, reopening in time to put together a scaled back First Night at the end of the year. According to Massar, who has been on the Pro Portsmouth staff since 2001, the organization has since adopted a number of cost-saving measures. While there were once four paid employees, the staff has been reduced to Massar and a part-time coordinator. The evening portion of Market Square Day, which cost an extra $15,000 to $20,000 to produce, has been eliminated.

“I think we’re much more fiscally responsible,” Massar said. “In coming back in this much smaller version, it’s a lot of work for a small staff like my coordinator and myself, but we’re smarter about what we do, we ask the right questions before we do it, we have a board that is on top of things, and they ask the right questions, too.”

The organization has become more selective about the vendors it accepts on Market Square Day, creating more space on the streets with fewer booths. While the festival once included about 300 vendors, that number has been cut in half in recent years.

Massar feels the organization is currently in good shape to go forward with all its remaining events for the year. Children’s Day, which was held on May 6, attracted a large crowd of 15,000 to 20,000 people. And a new insurance policy should make it easier for small businesses to set up booths on Market Square Day. Small businesses, craftspeople and artists can join the Pro Portsmouth policy for just $27, instead of paying around $300 to privately insure their booths for the day.

In Massar’s mind, there is no reason to worry about the future of Pro Portsmouth. “I think we feel good about where we are,” she said. “I think we have a good number of business people in positions to help support us financially. They get what we do and they understand that there’s value in it for them, too.”