BIDDEFORD — Lifelong Biddeford resident Priscille Gagnon said she has fond memories of Biddeford’s downtown from her youth. She remembers having a vanilla Coke at the Puritan Restaurant, a popular hang-out in her teens, going to the movies with her future husband at the Central Theater and sledding down the hill on Pike Street in the winter.
These are the types of memories that the Heart of Biddeford wants to hear about for its project “HeartSpots: Downtown’s Memory Lane” which kicks off on Thursday.
The downtown business promotion organization, in partnership with the city and sponsored by a grant from the Orton Foundation, is working over the next two years to engage the community in remembering its past to help create a vision for the future.
HeartSpots: Downtown’s Memory Lane is just one part of the Orton Foundation projects funded by The Heart & Soul Community Planning project.
At the La Kermesse festival in June, Heart of Biddeford gathered the names of places significant to residents and will be putting up wooden signs at some of these special locations throughout the city’s downtown, said Heart of Biddeford Executive Director Rachel Weyand.
A telephone line is also set up so people can call in and leave a recorded message about what makes a particular HeartSpot memorable to them. Others will be able to listen to these messages at the Heart of Biddeford Web site.
Gagnon has a lot of found memories from her youth.
“We used to hang around the Puritan a lot,” said Gagnon about what was once a favorite hang-out for several generations. The restaurant, which was located at the corner of Main and Alfred Streets ”“ where the Happy Dragon Restaurant is now located ”“ closed in the 1970s.
“A lot of us met our future husbands there,” said Gagnon.
Another popular spot when Gagnon was young was the City Theater. Gagnon said she and her future husband, like other young lovers, would sit in the balcony and hold hands while younger children sat in the seats on the floor level.
“I had to bring my brothers,” said Gagnon. “I had to pay my brothers not to squeal on me.”
The tangible outcome of the Heart & Soul Community Planning project, of which the HeartSpots project is one aspect, will be a master plan.
Unlike other master plans which often are prepared by city officials, the emphasis of this project is to find out what residents want.
“We don’t want to set parameters,” said Weyand, “we want to hear from the community.”
Thursday’s launch event of HeartSpots: Downtown’s Memory Lane begins at 5 p.m. at the Heart of Biddeford office at 205 Main St. The event is free and open to the public. Beverages and light refreshments will be served.
After the meeting, there will be a party at the Hogfarm Studios Annex at 140 Main St. to showcase a multi-media presentation of Biddeford stories already collected by documentary students at the Salt Institute in Portland.
For more information about the launch event or about Heart of Biddeford, please contact Rachel Weyand or Holli Andrews at: Heart of Biddeford by phone at 284-8520, by e-mail at heartofbiddeford@gmail.com, or visit the Web-site at www.heartofbiddeford.org.
To record a story about a HeartSpot, call 571-1617.
— Staff Writer Dina Mendros can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 324 or dmendros@journaltribune.com.
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