Pro Portsmouth Unveils 2024 Market Square Day Festival Logo

PORTSMOUTH, NH — In a nod to a time when all event logos were drawn or painted, Pro Portsmouth unveiled the 47th Annual Market Square Day Festival & 10K Road Race logo that will be featured on all event merchandise.

Artist Peter Noonan’s submission was chosen as this year’s Market Square Day logo. Noonan is an award-winning illustrator, cartoonist, and fine artist. His illustration and design branding has appeared in numerous publications throughout the country. Noonan's fine art is featured in private and public collections nationwide, including the New Hampshire Statehouse Portraits Collection. A New Hampshire native, Noonan studied at Colby-Sawyer College, New London, and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts/Tufts University, Boston and Paris. He lives in Manchester with his family.

“The 2024 logo design is an homage and callback to the great hand drawn designs and creativity of those years, from the Blue Strawbery logo, to the posters of Calvin Libbey,” Noonan said. “I hope this year’s MSD-goers will feel the love and warmth imbued in the pen, ink, and watercolor logo design, and be inspired to have fun and keep on creating in that great Portsmouth tradition.”

Pro Portsmouth Executive Director, Barbara Massar, thanked the many area businesses, old friends and new, who make Market Square Day possible, in particular the 2024 Program Partner, Mass General Brigham Wentworth-Douglass Hospital, Xfinity and Ocean Property as well as Road Race Title Sponsor Atlantic Orthopaedic, and Festival and Race Supporting Sponsors M&T Bank, Harrigan Insurance, Runner’s Alley, Coca Cola Beverages Northeast, When Pigs Fly Bread, alpha graphics, Blue Dolphin, ad cetera graphics, LMNT, and InHouse Digital.

The logo will be featured on all Race and Volunteer T-shirts as well as the Festival T-shirt, which will be available at the Pro Portsmouth booth in Market Square during the event, as well as on the Pro Portsmouth website (on demand) in partnership with Blue Dolphin: https://proportsmouth.org/event-merchandise/

A variety of Volunteer opportunities are open. Information regarding Volunteering for MSD is available by contacting Amanda Gourgue at 433-4398 Ext. 4 or coordinator@proportsmouth.org.

Market Square Day features entertainment throughout the day on the Pleasant Street Stage. Various acts will fill the Downtown with music and dance; the complete schedule is noted on the Pro Portsmouth site.

An abundance of crafters, local businesses and food vendors will set up ‘shop’ on the streets of Portsmouth.

The MSD 10K Road Race kicks off the day with a 9 a.m. start in Market Square. Race registration can be accessed online at https://proportsmouth.org/events/market-square-day-10k/

Parking restrictions do take place in Downtown Portsmouth beginning at 5 a.m. on Saturday, June 8. Streets will be posted on Friday, June 7, to indicate where parking is prohibited during the festival. Parking restrictions will be enforced and vehicles will be towed at the owner’s expense.

Reminder: All event parking information is noted at https://proportsmouth.org/market-square-day-parking-and-street-closures/

Market Square Day is produced by Pro Portsmouth. Pro Portsmouth, Inc. is a 501c (3) organization serving the Seacoast area. Its mission is to promote the arts, culture, history, and community of the area through such events as Children’s Day, Market Square Day, Summer in the Street, and First Night Portsmouth. For more information on the group, including volunteer and sponsorship opportunities, visit proportsmouth.org.

Submitted by Pro Portsmouth.