LEWISTON — The fences around Kennedy Park’s bandstand came down briefly Tuesday afternoon, just long enough for the city to cut ribbons and celebrate the renovation of the downtown landmark.

Members of the Bandstand Restoration Committee took advantage of Tuesday’s warmer temperatures to schedule an official unveiling and ribbon-cutting ceremony.

“We have a good deal of history in this structure,” Chairman Bill Clifford said. “And it’s not only been a site for noted politicians, but culture. The Franco American Heritage Festival used it during the 1970s and numerous bands and other events have been here over the years. So we are very proud of it.”

But work on the bandstand is not finished, Clifford said. Crews still need to build railings around the edge and repaint the roof. It should take a few weeks, he said.

“We have to bring in an environmental company to take away the last bits of lead paint on the roof,” Clifford said. “That’s a problem we didn’t anticipate. So we have to get the lead out and repaint it and get up the rails.”

Until then, the safety fence will stay up.

The gazebo has been closed and fenced off since 2010 due to safety concerns — damage to the concrete floor, erosion on the brick supports, wear on the wooden columns and the wood structure under the roof.

City officials and volunteers have been trying to come up with a way to renovate it since then, but ran into problems with the floor height. The current gazebo is 3 feet shorter than its predecessor and connected to the nearby sidewalk with a gently sloping ramp.

In July, the cost of the rebuilding work was pegged at $156,600.

According to local historian Douglas Hodgkin, the first bandstand was built in the park in 1868 and rebuilt in 1881. The last gazebo was built in 1925 about 10 feet from where the gazebo sits.

It has been used for concerts and political events, including presidential candidates and presidents — Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. in 1960, John F. Kennedy in 1963, Hubert Humphrey in 1964, Lyndon Baines Johnson in 1966 and Edward Kennedy in 1978.

Groundbreaking for the renovation began a year ago with a similar ceremony. Work began in July, when crews from Hebert Construction dug a new foundation a few feet away from the old structure.

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