AUBURN — A Saturday ceremony might be the best chance for the public to get a glimpse of four historic New Auburn bells until the city is able to purchase them.
City officials and local historians will be on hand at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Cote Corp., 2980 Hotel Road, for a ceremonial unveiling of the bells. It’s a kickoff to a fundraising effort designed to collect at least $12,000 by January to purchase the bells from the Catholic Diocese of Portland.
Plans call for creating a historic display somewhere in the city.
But until then, the bells will remain in storage at the Cote Corp.
Auburn City Councilor Leroy Walker said fundraisers may try to schedule another showing in a few months.
“I’m sure we’ll try to do something later to keep the excitement going,” Walker said. “The best opportunity would be to have them shown someplace downtown, but we can’t do that. So I expect we will try to do something in a couple of months to remind people of what we are doing.”
Saturday’s ceremony will feature presentations by Mayor Jonathan LaBonte, Walker and family members from the church, as well as traditional Franco fiddle music by Les Troubadours and the Dirigo Rising Stars Fiddle Ensemble.
The bells were cast in 1915 at a French foundry and then shipped to New Auburn’s St. Louis Church. They were blessed and placed in service in 1916.
They were designed to the specifications of local families, the Provosts and the Duponts, the New Auburn church and its Franco-American parishioners. Their surfaces are covered with fine details — sculptured faces, Latin inscriptions and scrollwork.
They were kept in the church tower for 98 years but were removed from the decommissioned church in November.
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- Al Manoian, Auburn’s economic development specialist, stands with the four bells that were lowered from the tower at St. Louis Church in Auburn. The public can see the bells Saturday at the Cote Corporation in Auburn.
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