By James V. Horrigan
Staff Writer
It was a Friday evening and Scarborough Downs was hopping. The excitement and anticipation among the hundreds of people who filed in and out of the third floor clubhouse between 5 to 8 p.m. was nearly palpable.
But it had nothing to do with horse racing, simulcasting or pari-mutuel wagering.
The occasion was the long-awaited book launch party for “Scarborough at 350: Linking the Past to the Present.” Several hundred people attended the event, including many who had pre-ordered, for $100, a special, limited edition, numbered copy of the coffee table book. Those who hadn’t pre-ordered however were not disappointed; copies of the standard edition were on sale for $40.
Scarborough 350th Celebration event planner Judi Clancy estimated that between 40 and 50 copies were sold on the spot.
Pat Dunn, a member of the anniversary committee, who sat with Clancy at table piled high with books, was not surprised at the size or enthusiasm of the crowd.
“I think we felt we would get a good turnout and it’s great to see everybody here,” Dunn said, gesturing toward a group of people wearing pink “Author/Contributor” tags around their necks.
Although Saco resident Susan Dudley Gold, a Scarborough native, was hired to edit the book, the hundreds of chapters, sub-chapters, sections and vignettes were written by more than 40 different people including, in several instances, more than one member of some families.
Dr. Susan Snow, one of the book’s earliest supporters, was a major contributor to “Scarborough at 350.” Among her many contributions, Snow, a member of the board of directors of the Scarborough Historical Society, wrote the sections on Pine Point and Dunstan, conducted interviews and contributed photographs.
In addition, according to the book’s acknowledgment page, Snow “obtained valuable resources for the book and served an important role as an expert on town history.”
But she wasn’t the only member of the family to participate. Snow’s father, Harold F. Snow and daughter, Ariana Susan Bratt also contributed. At 90 years old, the eldest Snow, who offered an essay on the history of Snow’s Canning Company, is the oldest contributor.
Annie Laughton, 14, an eighth-grader at the Scarborough Middle School, is the youngest.
The daughter of Rodney Laughton, whose family has run the Breakers Inn on Higgins Beach for more than 50 years, Annie Laughton submitted an essay on growing up in a family business.
“I’ve always known what I want to do when I get older, be an innkeeper,” she said.
Her father Rodney Laughton, author of two books on Scarborough history in the “Images of America” series, served as the book’s fact-checker and like Susan Snow, conducted interviews and allowed personal photos, postcards and documents to be used in the book.
Many of Susan Snow’s classmates from Scarborough High School class of 1967 played major roles in the book, including editor Susan Dudley Gold, Carol Rancourt, Bud Waldron and Kitty Chadbourne. Like Snow, they still remember the town’s 300th anniversary celebration in 1958.
“It was very nice and they did a lot on the history of Scarborough, but I always thought it failed to capture Scarborough in 1958,” Snow said. It was an omission she was determined would not be repeated during the 350th anniversary.
Although many of the approximately 200 people who attended the festivities throughout the evening stayed for a while and left, Clancy said she was surprised to see how many people settled down at a table, nibbled on appetizers and listened to live music provided throughout the evening by Coos Canyon.
But not everybody remained in one place. Many of those who purchased the book went around the room and had it signed by every author and contributor they could find.
Snow said there are a number of things in the book that aren’t found in typical history books, such as the high school’s academic decathlon and the Gym Dandies, a Scarborough-based unicycle club. She said she was very happy that the authors and contributors managed to capture the spirit of the town today.
“That’s why they called it Scarborough, ‘linking the past to the present,’” she said.
But that’s not to say Snow felt the celebration a half-century ago was disappointing or in some ways unmemorable. Snow and fellow contributor Elaine Frederick Killelea recalled the events of 1958 with a laugh.
“They had a commemorative coin that you got for a dollar and used those in place of dollar bills in Scarborough in those days,” Snow said. Earlier that day, Town Councilor Judy Roy spoke of finding one of the 300th anniversary coins not long ago in the back of a dresser drawer.
Both Snow and Killelea said they will never forget one aspect of the 1958 celebration.
“They had this thing where you couldn’t shave during the 300th anniversary unless you bought a shaving permit for a dollar. Everybody was all scruffy. Everyone you saw had a beard, she said.
One of them was a fellow who asked her sister Linda out on a date. When he came to the door to get her their mother was shocked at her daughter’s hirsute suitor.
“She said, ‘Oh, Linda, don’t go out with him.’ But she did and they’ve been married now for 45 years. They have five children and 12 grandchildren. It was just so funny,” Snow said.
Although there are no plans this time around to issue a commemorative coin or require men to buy shaving permits, Killelea pointed to a round pin on her jacket lapel emblazoned with the official 350th Anniversary Celebration logo.
“These will be on sale soon, too,” she said to a fellow author/contributor who admired the pin and aid she wanted one for herself.
For more information on purchasing a copy of “Scarborough at 350,” see the page on the committee Web site, www.scarborough.me.us/350thcelebration/book.html.