I just looked at an event flyer for the 2025 Greater Nashua Public Health Week Kickoff Event on Monday 4/7. When Grokster Beth Scaer showed it to me, her caption said, “It’s the third year in a row that they have moved the kickoff inside after I attended the kickoff on the city hall plaza with my Save Women’s Sports flag.”
Bravo to Beth, who has been ahead of her time on women’s sports issues and there’s plenty of old flagpole stuff in the Grok archives if you desire a trip down Memory Lane. However, other things caught my eye because the fine print says “Join us for a walk with the mayor and a public health community celebration featuring local community organizations, giveaways, fun activities and a free raffle.“
Seeing that it’s an indoor event, what exactly is a “walk with the mayor?” Can a woman pretending to be a man follow him into the restroom and watch him relieve himself? Or is it like “coffee with the mayor,” which is an event where members of the ruling class, in other words, his fan club, pack the event venue and he calls on them by name so they can praise him or ask pre-approved questions?
What kind of “public health community celebration” do they have in mind? If the city defunded Bobbie Bagley or changed its charter to prevent a “Mask Madness 3.0” from ever happening, that would be germane to public health and worth celebrating.
As for local community organizations, which ones are participating? Were any churches closed by covid edicts invited to the event? And what about the “fun activities” mentioned? Since it’s an indoor event inside city hall and not the wastewater treatment plant, so much for expecting any dunking machine marksmanship games with the mayor seated on the plank or under the bucket.
The other items mentioned are “giveaways” and a free raffle. I asked Beth some questions that she could not answer with certainty, but she speculated that the prizes are probably some swag.
I suppose one could file some RTK inquiries about giveaways and prizes and how they were paid for, but we all know how hostile the City is to anything 91A. They heap abuse on people who are much more polite(such as Laurie Ortolano) and for things much less petty(such as showing the big money trails involving the arts center).
An exciting “giveaway” would be something like renewing your car registration without being charged. And an exciting raffle prize that wouldn’t involve swag or spending city money could be an appointment with the mayor that’s unconditional or unlimited and uninterrupted public comment time at the mic with no blackout dates. Those would be things that could make this otherwise stupid event worth attending.
