By BOB MARTIN
Eagle Times Staff
NEWPORT, N.H. — Supporters of the LaValley Family Community Center gathered in the shiny, brand-new gymnasium on Thursday afternoon to celebrate the center’s grand opening, with Newport Parks and Recreation Director PJ Lovely cutting a ribbon held by donors to mark the beginning of an era.
While Harold and Geraldine LaValley were down in Florida, the couple who is credited with the namesake of the new community center in Newport made sure they sent along their support through a letter that was read by their son-in-law Larry Huot.
Harold’s letter recalled the hard work it took to bring this center to fruition, giving a shout out to former Town Manager Hunter Rieseberg for “having the know how to raise the money.” LaValley wrote that he went to the old armory building that housed the town’s community center and saw how inadequate it was.
“I wanted to build it so badly,” he wrote. “Eight years ago, when Hunter came to town I met with him in our office, and I told him how I had some money set aside for a new community center. He then carried the ball from there, and it is far from what I imagined. I am humbled to have our name memorialized, but I think the building will always be for the families of the Newport Community Center.”
The $9 million state-of-the-art facility has been open for a couple weeks now, but Thursday was the true unveiling of a donor wall on display in the lobby. This gives credit to the 130 donors who gave anywhere from $100 to upward of a million dollars who made the project happen. Thanks to donors and a $4.5 million bond that was secured by Rieseberg, the entire project doesn’t cost taxpayers a dime.
It wasn’t an easy street getting to this point as many in the community know. This is a project three decades in the making, with several failed votes, large amounts of lobbying and fundraising efforts along the way. However, about a year-and-a-half after breaking ground, the center is open with events of all kinds planned to be held in the coming days, weeks and months.
At Thursday’s ceremony, things kicked off with Town Manager Kyle Harris giving opening remarks.
“Today marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for Newport,” Harris said.
Prior to this, as supporters were flowing into the gymnasium bleachers, he commented on how amazing it was. You could see the looks of all involved and felt that this is something truly meaningful to the community for generations to come, something that speakers throughout the event touched upon.
Harris’s remarks included a nod to the late Larry Flint, the former Newport Parks and Recreation Director and supporter of the community center who recently passed away. Harris said his love for the community helped shape the program during his 10 years as director, and he was someone who will be missed. Flint’s family was on-hand, and the room took a moment of silence in his honor.
After a flag dedication by American Legion Post 25, Lovely gave a little history lesson about the fruition of the community center. He went back to a news article from the Argus Champion in June of 1968, a few months removed from the creation of the former community center. In 1967, thanks to “local forward thinkers,” the town purchased the armory built in 1939 for $1. It is now home to the Newport Recreation Department and has served the community for nearly 60 years.
Lovely noted that the first recreation director of Newport was actually in the crowd, Bob Young, who came by train from Florida for the event, which garnered him a round of applause. Lovely continued, saying that in the 1970s the center offered programs like rifle shooting, belly dancing and more for no fee. He said the center was full of life and energy, but there was a need for more space.
In 1990, Flint identified the need of the new facility and to be places as the number one project in the Newport Master Plan. Lovely said he wore many hats, but “our hats are off to you, Larry.”
During the ‘90s, maintenance work was done on the armory building to expand the life and usage of the building for the center. In the late ‘90s, advisory committees took surveys from the community but struggled to make headway on a new center, but in 2011 structural issues arose and the need for a new facility became more evident.
“The facility became a victim of its own success,” Lovely said.
There were five major needs: spectator seating, gym space, a place to change, after-school space for teens, and multi-purpose space for recreation. In 2014 a new committee reformed and made progress. In 2017 a $200,000 feasibility study was approved and various options were explored. Ultimately, it was decided to build this facility in Meadow Road, and Breadloaf Architects was chosen with much of it due to including the athletic fields.
Lovely said the path to building the new center was filled with obstacles, as its municipal bond proposals were narrowly rejected in 2019 and 2021. In 2022, under the leadership of Rieseberg, the town was awarded a $4.5 million federal grant.
“With additional grants and overwhelming community support, notably the name on this building, the project was fully funded without any cost to the taxpayers,” Lovely said.
All of the donors were then recognized name by name by Newport Recreation staff and members, and then various federal, state and local officials took to the podium to speak about the successful completion of the project.
Director of Community Development Rebecca Boisvert of the Community Development Finance Authority said she is “still in awe,” calling the center “absolutely incredible. She said this is one of 27 projects funded and the fourth completed and brings a vital need to the community.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen could not be at the event, but staff-member Bethany York from the senator’s Claremont office read aloud a letter of support that said it was a “strong community effort.” York also commented saying “It definitely took a village. It took everybody.”
Executive Councilor Joe Kenney is no longer representing this district as he is in District 1, but was on-hand as Newport means so much to him. He said when he grew up, he didn’t have a gymnasium to play in, and he told the youth of the community that this is something amazing for them.
“For these local kids, count yourself special,” Kenney said.
District 2 Executive Councilor Karen Liot Hill was also at the event and commented on the community’s effort to get it done, as well.
“I know that projects like this do not happen without many, many people as we have heard about all the donors and the team of people who made this project possible,” she said.
After Huot spoke, the audience also heard comments from Newport Recreation Advisory Board member Aggie Proper, Hillary Halleck of the Friends of Recreation, and Selectboard Chair Jim Burroughs.
“It really does take a community to do a project like this,” Burroughs said.
