Concord to Commemorate Paul Revere’s Midnight Ride with Giant Lantern
This April will mark 250 years since the battles of Lexington and Concord. The Massachusetts towns are commemorating these history-making events that shaped the American Revolution.
A Concord-based community arts organization, “Arts for All,” has teamed up with sign maker Bill Crosby to fashion a unique symbol of the “Concord250” anniversary.
According to an NBC10 News Boston report, Crosby and his designers hand-crafted a distinctive tribute to the famous lanterns that signaled the Minutemen “one if by land, and two if by sea.”
Crosby and his artists created a Concord250 Lantern that’s almost twice as tall as an adult woman and big enough to fit more than 250 of the original Revere lanterns inside it.
The only surviving lantern from Boston’s Old North Church is exhibited inside the Concord Museum.
On Sunday, March 23, cyclists followed the route of Paul Revere’s ride by carrying an LED torch in an Olympic-style relay from Boston to Concord. The event concluded with a symbolic lighting of the giant Concord250 lantern on the lawn of the Concord Museum, where it will be displayed through the April 19 anniversary.
“Here we are 250 years later commemorating that moment,” said Krassner, “but also it gives us an opportunity to reflect on what those values mean to us as Americans and as citizens.”
