June 2020 – Page 6

Tropical Fruit Stack

Try this at home

The weather finally is turning to the warmth of summer. Although we, as New Hampshirites, are excited for the increased temperature, we also will be complaining about how hot and humid it is in the very near future. With that in mind, I have created a dish that welcomes the arrival of summer while keeping one cool.

Allow me to introduce to you the tropical fruit stack. While its name may make you think that it’s a sweet dish, it actually has a nice balance between sweet, savory, salty and even a little bit of spice. Yes, it’s all of the taste categories in one dish. Additionally, it has a nice balance between tender and crunchy, so what’s not to like?

This is a simple dish to make, but because of its simplicity you also need to be mindful when purchasing your ingredients. All of the produce needs to be fully ripened, as it won’t spend any time cooking or macerating to highlight its flavors. If you can only find under-ripe produce, that’s fine. The mango and avocado can be ripened by placing them in a paper bag on the counter for a day or two. The same is supposed to work with pineapples, although I’ve never tried that.

You may hesitate to try this recipe because you need a ring mold. However, there are many substitutes for a ring mold. You can make one out of aluminum foil. If you buy your pineapple whole but with the skin removed, that container can work, if you cut off the bottom. You also could cut the bottom off a large disposable plastic cup and use it with the widest part as the bottom of your mold.

With fresh ingredients and your tool acquired, you’re ready to make a dish that’s sure to wow. It’s pretty easy to make, elegant to view and refreshing to eat. Summer dining doesn’t get much better than that.

Tropical fruit stack. Photo by Michele Pesula Kuegler.

Tropical Fruit Stack
Serves 2

1 1/3 cup diced pineapple
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 avocado
1 teaspoon lime juice
1 cup diced mango
2 tablespoons finely chopped salted macadamia nuts

In a small bowl combine pineapple, chili powder, and salt.
Stir until pineapple is fully coated.
Remove skin and pit from avocado.
Place avocado and lime juice in a small bowl.
Using a fork, mash until avocado is creamy.
Place a 4-inch ring mold on a small plate.
Spoon half of the pineapple mixture evenly as the bottom layer.
Spread half of the mashed avocado on top of the pineapple.
Spoon half of the diced mango over the avocado.
Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of macadamia nuts over the mango.
Carefully remove mold, and repeat for second serving.
Serve immediately.

Weekly Dish 20/6/11

• Taste of New Hampshire goes virtual: Join the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central New Hampshire for the annual Taste of New Hampshire, which, for the first time in its 15-year history, will be going virtual. Normally a one-night event held in the fall at the Grappone Conference Center in Concord, Taste of New Hampshire this year will take place online over the course of a week. At 6 p.m. every day from Monday, June 15, through Friday, June 19, you can tune in to a free livestream through the event website, where discounted gift cards to several local restaurants will be sold. Local musicians are also expected to host livestreamed performances each evening. Visit tasteofnewhampshire.com or search “Taste of New Hampshire” on Facebook for more details.

• “Window” service: A new eatery offering made-from-scratch comfort foods and home-cooked meals is now open in downtown Manchester for online ordering and window pickup. Diz’s Cafe officially opened on May 29 in the former space of Lorena’s Cantina at 860 Elm Street, according to Judi Window, whose husband, Gary “Diz” Window, is the head chef. Due to Covid-19, windows directly adjacent to the front door of the restaurant are currently being used for walk-up orders and pickups. The menu is available for viewing in the window too; there’s a customizable “build-your-own” menu featuring a protein and three sides, plus other offerings like sandwiches and flatbreads, soups and salads, and specialty entrees, like chicken Parmesan, grilled steak skewers, buttermilk chicken macaroni and cheese, meatloaf and honey ginger shrimp stir-fry. Menu items, Judi Window said, will change all the time. For now, Diz’s Cafe is open Monday through Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., but the plan, she said, is to open for breakfast on Sundays once restaurants in the Granite State are allowed to resume indoor dining. Visit dizscafe.com.

• Pie season: The Live Free or Pie Stand (455 East Road, Hampstead), a seasonal business offering home-baked pies with local ingredients, will reopen for the season on Saturday, June 13, at 10 a.m., according to a May 27 post on its Facebook page. Owner Crystal MacDonald launched the stand in June 2018 at the end of her driveway. Throughout the summer and early fall she’ll restock the stand twice a week with full-sized and mini fruit pies for sale. Flavors include strawberry rhubarb, blueberry, triple berry, peach, peach raspberry, peach blueberry and apple, all of which are baked in her home kitchen with hand-picked fruits from farms, orchards or farmers markets in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. The stand will be open Thursdays at 4 p.m. and Saturdays at 10 a.m., and masks are required for all visitors. Visit livefreeorpiestand.com.

• Market news: Both the Milford Farmers Market and the Bedford Farmers Market are scheduled to hold their outdoor season openings this week. The Milford market will begin on Saturday, June 13, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 300 Elm St. in Milford, continuing every Saturday through Oct. 10. Bedford’s market will kick off on Tuesday, June 16, from 3 to 6 p.m. in a new location, the parking lot of the old Harvest Market (209 Route 101, Bedford). That one will continue every Tuesday through Sept. 29. In other local market news, the Derry Homegrown Farm & Artisan Market will not be taking place this year. Its board had announced in a May 11 press release that the scheduled June 3 start date would at least be delayed, but in a June 2 update the market was cancelled for the season. “We hope that people will understand that this decision was not made lightly and was a very difficult one to make,” the statement read. “At the end of the day, weighing the health and safety issues along with the impact of existing restrictions, the board did not feel we could offer the kind of market experience that patrons and vendors … have come to expect.”

• Burgers and brews: Join The Barley House Restaurant & Tavern (132 Main St., Concord) for its 15th annual Burgerfest, a gourmet burger fundraiser for Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock (CHaD). All kinds of unique burger creations with beef, pork, turkey, vegetables and seafood will be available at the restaurant from noon to 10 p.m., Monday, June 15, through Saturday, June 20, alongside a lineup of local craft brews. Since its inaugural event in 2005 Burgerfest has raised more than $10,000 in annual donations to CHaD, according to a press release. Visit thebarleyhouse.com.

In the Kitchen with Carmel Shea

Carmel Shea of Londonderry is the owner of O’Shea’s Caife & Tae (44 Nashua Road, Londonderry, 540-2971, osheasnh.com), a health-focused eatery and coffee shop that opened in 2018. O’Shea’s offers fair trade coffees, teas and espresso drinks, pastries and breakfast sandwiches, and bagels with homemade butters and whipped cream cheeses. The lunch menu features sandwiches, salads, smoothies and mroe. Shea co-owned The Grind Rail Trail Cafe in Derry before opening O’Shea’s. The cafe is currently open for takeout.

What is your must-have kitchen item?

The mixer. We do a lot of whipped creams and cream cheeses with it. We just started doing a whipped coffee.

What would you have for your last meal?

Filet mignon, mashed potatoes, green beans and a nice cabernet.

What is your favorite local restaurant?

I am a huge fan of the Copper Door [in Bedford and Salem].

What celebrity would you like to see ordering from O’Shea’s?

Ellen DeGeneres. I just love her and I can totally imagine her coming in here.

What is your favorite thing on your menu?

The oatmeal latte. It’s espresso with oat milk, brown sugar and cinnamon. It just has this really warm, comforting flavor.

What is the biggest food trend in New Hampshire right now?

People supporting local. … I think it’s been amped up even more now.

What is your favorite thing to make at home?

You can’t beat a nice batch of warm chocolate chip cookies right out of the oven.

O’Shea’s homemade peanut butter
Courtesy of Carmel Shea of O’Shea’s Caife & Tae in Londonderry
3 cups dry roasted unsalted peanuts
3 ounces vegetable oil
2 ounces simple syrup
Place all ingredients in a food processor on high for two minutes or until smooth.

Whisked away

New food truck debuts in Loudon

A new food truck rolled into Loudon last week, and as its name and the whisks on its logo suggest, the Whisked Away Cafe wants to “whisk” you away to a different part of the world — or to Grandma’s house — each week with an ever-changing menu of specials that includes creative takes on wraps, sandwiches, burgers, salads, kid-friendly eats and more.

Sisters Korrie Garland and Crystal Hopkins run the truck with their mother, Louise Cloutier. They began offering lunch service on June 2 at a dirt turnaround road on Route 106 in Loudon, steps away from Cascade Campground. You can now find them there every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., where a few dining tables are set up out front.

Fifteen years ago the three women also operated the Bonne Femmes restaurant in downtown Pembroke, a spot that was known in town for its breakfasts, sandwiches and soups. Years after she and Hopkins both had kids of their own, Garland said, they became interested in the freedom a food truck would give them to create different recipes. They ended up finding and purchasing the truck last November.

Prior to starting a regular lunch service last week, the Whisked Away Cafe sold homemade holiday pies late last year and dinners for local delivery in the Pembroke area in March.

“We were doing the deliveries … just to kind of help out the people that didn’t want to or couldn’t leave their homes, so that picked up some steam,” Garland said.

Now, Whisked Away Cafe’s menu features a variety of sandwiches, chicken or steak fajita sandwiches, chicken or seafood salad, and grilled cheese sandwiches called “toasties,” with flavors like jalapeno chicken popper, chicken cordon bleu and Buffalo chicken. There are also breaded chicken fingers, steak fingers, hand-cut french fries and beef, pork or veggie empanadas.

Hopkins said she, her sister and her mother wanted to create a section of the menu that was fun and accessible for kids too. The children’s menu features options like homemade macaroni and cheese and a grilled peanut butter and Fluff sandwich, plus an “octodog” and a “redneck sushi,” both of which come with chips.

“[An octodog] is a hot dog that we slice up so when it cooks it curls up and it looks like a little octopus with legs,” she said. “The redneck sushi is just a slice of ham with cream cheese and a pickle in the middle, so when you roll it up and slice it, it looks like little rolls of sushi.”

Garland said they’ve had several pages of ideas for what will be on their specials menu. They began their first week by featuring a special of pulled pork with homemade barbecue sauce and coleslaw on grilled ciabatta, with either fries or pasta salad as a side.

“Our idea was that we’re ‘whisking’ you away to Mexico, or to your grandma’s house, or to college with a ramen noodle dish,” she said.

For now, Garland said, the trio is sticking with the Tuesday through Thursday schedule. But eventually, she said, they may appear on additional days on the weekends, as well as at events at C-R Helicopters in Nashua, which Cloutier owns with her husband.

Whisked Away Cafe food truck
Where: 485 Route 106 South, Loudon
When: Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
More info: Find them on Facebook @whiskedawayfoodtruck

Treasure Hunt 6/11/2020

Dear Donna,
Can you possibly tell me what this is and what it was for? It is solid wood and 3.5 inches. I recently found this in a barn and thought it was interesting.
Ellen

Dear Ellen,
What you found is called a bung. I have seen many in the tops of old milk cans. I think, though, that they were used also in barrels such as whiskey, bourbon, etc., tapered like yours to be pounded in to fit tight and secure and prevent leaking. You can almost make out the ring around it.

Not all bungs are wood; they can be rubber, wax, cork or, I am sure these days, a lot of other materials as well. Yours is most likely an older one and looks to be in great condition. The value is in the $10 range, as they are not that easy to find in good condition. This is not a huge financial treasure for you, but it sure will make a fun story to share.

Kiddie Pool 6/11/2020

Animal adventure

Sneak in a little learning during your walks through nature. The New Hampshire Fish and Game department have Wildlife of New Hampshire cards available on their website at wildlife.state.nh.us/nongame/cards.html. The two-page color pdfs are on subjects such as “Wildlife of Young Forests,” “Backyard Wildlife of New Hampshire” and “Wildlife of Rivers and Streams” as well as cards for hawks, wild bees, frogs, dragonflies, different kinds of birds and more.

Join a circus

The Flying Gravity Circus based in Wilton will be offering an at-home program called “Circus in a Box” this summer. With two programs (one for ages 6 to 8 and one for 9 to 14) and three weeklong sessions, “Circus in a Box” delivers circus-related materials (such as a puppet stage for the younger group, juggling balls for the older group and clown noses to everybody) in a box and then offers five days of programming for kids to follow at home, according to the website. The cost is $100 and camps run the weeks of June 29, July 6 and July 13. See flyinggravitycircus.org.

Circus Smirkus, the Vermont-based youth circus that has traveled to New Hampshire in past summers, won’t be touring this summer but Smirkus fans can still get in some clowning. Circus Smirkus will present Smirk-O-Vision, an online presentation of six events. A season pass costs $90 or individual events (six are scheduled) cost $15 to $18, according to the website, which lists the shows including “Inside the Circus: Backstage at the HQ” (on Aug. 6 at 7 p.m.), which looks at how they put on the shows each year, and “Inside the Circus: Directors’ Commentary” (July 2 at 7 p.m.). The group is also offering Smirkus@Home programming on subjects including juggling, magic, clowning, contortion and more, with classes for kids as young as 5 and schedules that include one-day classes, weeklong classes or sessions with weekly classes. See smirkus.org.

Bee prep

Netflix’s new documentary Spelling the Dream (see page 24 for a review) is all about kids (and their families) competing in the Scripps National Spelling Bee. The movie is rated G and might be a good way to inspire kids who are “meh” about spelling but like competition, trophies and the idea of going on ESPN. And, if they catch the Bee bug (or if you are just looking for ways to get kids spelling practice), you can check out the official Scripps app Word Club. It has a paid component, of course, but it offers some free word lists that users can be quizzed on in a variety of ways. The app presents the phonetic spelling, audio of someone saying the word, definition, part of speech and other information similar to what you’d get in a bee.

Photo courtesy of https://www.smirkus.org/

Be kind to clovers

How to have a better lawn

Let’s face it: Most of us do not have a lawn that looks like the grass on a major-league infield. And I, for one, don’t want one that does. Most professional ballfields are doctored weekly with chemicals: fungicides, herbicides, fertilizers, insecticides. They are cut very short, and look “perfect.” I want a lawn that is green but also full of diversity — clover, different kinds of grass, and (I can see some of you shuddering) even a few dandelions.
The turf grass industry decided long ago that clover is a weed. Why is that? Because the herbicides they promote to control weeds like dandelions and plantain also kill clover — but not grasses. But clover is not a weed. It is a nitrogen-fixing legume that actually adds nitrogen to the soil. It is a friend to your lawn — and your children, who delight in finding good luck with a rare four-leafed clover. Add Weed-n-Feed and the clover is gone.
So what can you do to have a better lawn when the heat of summer arrives? I talked to Paul Sachs of North Country Organics, an organic fertilizer company in Bradford, Vermont. Paul has written books about lawn care and soil biology, and really is a very knowledgeable lawn guy. He mentioned several things you can do. First among them: adjust your mower blades up high.
Sachs explained that cutting the lawn at 3 to 4 inches will help to shade the crown of the grass and keep it cooler, which is good. Hot weather stresses most grasses. Taller grass will also develop a deeper root system because the longer blades will produce more food to nurture the roots.
I don’t recommend that you bag the clippings when you mow the lawn. If you are tending your lawn organically (avoiding all chemicals), the clippings will break down, creating a thin layer of compost. Earthworms will turn that organic matter into the soil, too, like little rototillers. The chopped grass will serve to shade the soil a little, helping to reduce heat stress. The only time I collect the grass clippings is when we get a week or more of hot, rainy weather and I can’t or don’t mow. When there are big lumps of grass, it can smother the grass and turn it yellow, eventually killing it. Fresh grass clippings, added to a compost pile, will add lots of nitrogen and heat up the compost quickly, and help it to break down the carbon-based brown matter.
If you have bare spots in the lawn, now is the time to plant some grass seed. Do that as soon as you can, as the hot weather ahead will make it harder for a new lawn to establish itself. You want to get new grass established before annual crabgrass takes over. The best choice for that is a perennial rye grass, according to Paul Sachs. It germinates quickly, in five to seven days.
Start by loosening the soil in the bare spots with a short-tine garden rake. Scratch it back and forth to loosen the soil and to remove any rocks. Scatter a layer of seed, then use a lawn rake to work it into the loose soil. I turn the lawn rake upside down, so I can drag the back of the tines across the seed. This will cover most of the seed.
You can help your new planting by shaking out some straw over the area, providing a thin layer to shade the soil. It is important that the seed not dry out once it has begun to grow. So if the weather is hot and dry, check the soil every day, and water as needed.
Paul Sachs told me that if you have an irrigation system for your lawn, you can help your lawn by giving it a tenth of an inch of water every day at the heat of the day. That light watering evaporates, cooling the soil and your grass. It’s similar to what we do when we sweat to cool down. Then once a week, he said, give your lawn an inch of water for a deep watering — if we have not gotten that moisture from the sky.
Another way you can help your lawn to grow better and avoid heat stress is to add mycorrhizal fungi to your soil. These fungi work with plant roots in a symbiotic relationship — one in which both organisms benefit. According to Paul Sachs, these are best added at planting time when preparing the soil.
The mycorrhizal fungi coat plant roots and benefit from sugars produced and exuded by the roots. In turn the mycorrhizal fungi breakdown soil minerals and provide needed nutrients to the green plants in a form they can use. Not only grasses benefit from mycorrhizal fungi; most green plants do. Learn more at mycorrhizae.com. A number of commercial products are available to provide these beneficial organisms, and many are present without treatment.
One last thought: If we could purchase daffodils that would grow in the lawn and rebloom after mowing, we would pay big bucks for them, right? Especially if they would send out seeds and show up even where we have not planted them. But call them dandelions, and some people declare war. Me? I love those bright harbingers of spring and summer and don’t mind them in my lawn. A diverse lawn is a healthy lawn. I like to say, if it’s green and I can mow it, it’s a lawn!

The Art Roundup 6/11/2020

• Virtual author events: Gibson’s Bookstore has two virtual author events coming up. On Thursday, June 11, at 6 p.m., Juliet Grames, author of The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna, will join Erika Swyler, author of Light from Other Stars and The Book of Speculation. On Friday, June 12, authors Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton and Jodi Meadows will present their new book My Calamity Jane. In this historical reimagining of 1876 America, characters from Wild Bill’s Traveling Show, including Calamity Jane, Annie Oakley and Frank “the Pistol Prince” Butler, hunt werewolves. The events are free and will be streamed live via Zoom. Registration is required on the events’ respective pages at gibsonsbookstore.com.

• Livestreamed classical music: The Manchester Community Music School’s Live Stream Concert series presents its final concert, “Sounds of the Oboe,” on Friday, June 12, at 7 p.m. The series features free online concerts performed by MCMS faculty members. “Sounds of the Oboe” will include oboe music performed by Kyoko Hida-Battaglia. Visit mcmusicschool.org.

• Celebrate Juneteeth online: Humanities to Go Online presents “Juneteenth: A Historical Celebration of Black Liberation,” on Friday, June 12, at 5 p.m. The free live Zoom event will explore how Juneteenth has been celebrated in New Hampshire and why it is important now, more than ever, to continue to acknowledge and honor the holiday. Executive director of the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire JerriAnne Boggis will lead the program. Visit nhhumanities.org.

• Players’ opening night online: In April, the Peterborough Players announced the cancellation of their 2020 summer season. On Wednesday, June 17 (what would have been the opening night of their 87th season) the Players will post “The Players Backstage (from Home) Party,” a pre-recorded cocktail party and talkback during which Players actors, designers and others will gather on Zoom and answer pre-submitted questions from the public. The video will be posted at and accessible any time after 7:30 p.m. on the Players’ Facebook page and YouTube channel. Visit peterboroughplayers.org.

Block by block

Young artist awarded for virtual replica of Kimball Jenkins Estate

Photo of young man in bowler hat, old fashioned coat, button down and tie, and mustache

Photo of the exterior of the Kimball Jenkin's Estate, a historic Victorian brick home.

A graphic of a Minecraft built 3d model of the exterior of the Kimball Jenkin's Estate, a historic Victorian brick home.

Interior of the Kimball Jenkin's Estate grand wooden staircase with a red carpet runner.

A graphic of a Minecraft built 3d model of the interior of the Kimball Jenkin's Estate grand wooden staircase with a red carpet runner.

Eighteen-year-old Clark Todd was recently named the winner of the very first Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health Artrepeneur Award, given by the New Hampshire Business Committee for the Arts. The award was created to recognize artists who use technology to expand their creative practice and collaborate with other artists and organizations. Todd built a replica of the Kimball Jenkins Estate, a historic building in Concord featuring high Victorian gothic architecture from 1882, on the popular building video game Minecraft. The replica has been used as a promotional piece to raise awareness of the Estate’s fundraising campaign for a $400,000 restoration of the original slate roof of the building. See a video of the replica at vimeo.com/417753858.

What is your connection to Kimball Jenkins?

My mother has been working there for a few years. During that time I took some art classes and went to the summer camp for a year. I’ve also done volunteer work there, including role-playing Amos P. Cutting, the original architect of the house, during historic tours.

Why did you decide to do this project?

I’d said to my mother that the house might be good to build in Minecraft, and she suggested that it might be an interesting showpiece. We never thought in the beginning that it would be as useful as it is now. So, I built it for my own entertainment and as a sort of tribute to the house itself.

What inspires you about Kimball Jenkins’ architecture?

The craftsmanship, the attention to detail in the design, the floorplan, and the build quality are all incredibly good. It feels wonderful just to be in there.

Describe the process of building the replica.

My brother Glen set up the ‘realm’ that the replica is built in, and our friend Nathan got it all ready for exhibition. I did most of the actual building and all the design work. I had copies of the original floor plans, so I recreated them on the ground in-game by placing blocks. Then I dug out the foundation, copied the basement floor plan into it and built up the walls. Next I did the same thing for the first, second and attic floors. At this point I had all the interior walls, window holes and doorways, so I sort of wrapped the whole thing in brick blocks and did some detailing. Then I built the roof, which was at least as hard as working out the floor plans. I built the porches, detailed the interior and exterior and, with a bunch of small alterations, it was done. I don’t know how many hours I put into it, but I ended up working on and off for about four months.

How can people interact with the replica?

You can watch a video of a walkthrough of the build. The realm is currently private, but we’re working on making it possible for people to log in and tour it. Minecraft is three-dimensional, and you can control your in-game character from a first- or third-person perspective. You can move freely, either on the ground or through the air, and can view the exterior of the house or go through the rooms inside.

What would you like people to understand about video games and architecture?

This is difficult to answer. It is true that adults, including people connected to Kimball Jenkins who have seen the video of the replica, showed great interest and maybe gained appreciation for the game. It’s also true that kids who toured the replica during events may have had something familiar to compare the real house to when they went through it. But at the end of the day, Minecraft is just a game. The real structure is infinitely more important. I feel like that’s true with many things. It’s my opinion that the world needs less games and entertainment and more good work and tangible things.

How did it feel to be the recipient of the first Artrepeneur Award?

I was surprised and felt honored. I’ve never been given an award like this before. I’m pleased that my creation was so appreciated.

How long have you been playing Minecraft? What do you enjoy about it?

I’ve been playing about six to eight years, on and off. I mostly enjoy building houses of my own design in the game.

What other kinds of video games do you enjoy?

I’m not into many other video games. I play Minecraft mostly because I’m interested in houses. My real-life interests are greater than my interests in any game. I’m interested in vehicles, tools and machines. I like creating things. Lately I’ve been making masks to donate.

What are you doing now? What are your future plans?

I home-school, and since kindergarten I’ve been pretty much self-taught. I have many interests, and I’m not sure yet what work I’m going to do in the future.

Quality of Life 20/6/11

Gala success

The Humane Society for Greater Nashua moved its annual fundraising gala online and surpassed its goal by raising more than $105,000 during the May 31 event, according to a press release. The livestream production featured an auction as well as entertainment, and more than 2,000 viewers tuned in. The Humane Society also delivered 82 Party Boxes that were ordered ahead of time to people in the Greater Nashua community. Those people got to enjoy a 1920s themed box with a meal from Mcnulty and Foley Catering and a bottle of wine from Incredibrew, plus treats for the humans and their pets.

Comment: “I thought this was the best event I have experienced in all of my years in nonprofit management,” President and CEO of the Humane Society for Greater Nashua Doug Barry said in the press release.

No city fireworks

Both Manchester and Nashua have canceled their fireworks this year due to concerns about large gatherings and social distancing, according to WMUR. Manchester’s fireworks, which are usually held July 3 at Arms Park, were canceled by the Manchester aldermen at a meeting June 2, with the initial vote tied 7-7 and Mayor Joyce Craig breaking the tie. Nashua voted June 4 to cancel its show, according to WMUR, and other towns like Andover and Portsmouth have canceled theirs as well.

Comment: There is still hope — as of June 9, Merrimack had canceled its Fourth of July parade but not its fireworks show, according to the town’s parks and recreation webpage, and no official announcement has been made to cancel Concord’s fireworks, or fireworks at Hampton Beach.

Know & Tell

The Granite State Children’s Alliance is getting support from local celebrity Seth Meyers, who appears in a new video for its Know & Tell program, which urges people to know the signs of abuse and tell authorities when they see it, according to a press release from the alliance. The video also features clips from local health care workers, Gov. Chris Sununu, Senators Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen, and kids of all ages urging adults to help keep kids safe by knowing that anyone over the age of 18 is required by law to report suspicions of abuse and neglect.

Comments: Find the Know & Tell video on YouTube at youtu.be/hcnJkiGX95o.

QOL score: 63 (the score is temporarily suspended, but QOL will still be keeping tabs on New Hampshire’s well-being each week)

What’s affecting your Quality of Life here in New Hampshire? Let us know at news@hippopress.com.

Month: June 2020