Manchester Pride Festival
The Manchester Pride Festival & Parade will take place Saturday, June 27, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Veterans Memorial Park in downtown Manchester, according to manchestertrue.org. The parade will kick off the day at 11:15 a.m. starting at Bridge Street and heading down Elm Street to Veterans Park, the website said. There, the day will include live performances, food, local vendors and community organizations and more from noon to 5 p.m., according to the website, where you can see a map and a schedule of performers. See the Manchester True Collaborate website for details on other Pride events happening this week such as Queer Field Day in Livingston Park on Friday, June 26, from 4 to 7 p.m. and Manchester True’s Official Pride After Party on Saturday at Jewel Night Club (see the website for information on ticket tiers and after party entertainment).
Manchester’s Final Fridays
The first of Manchester’s “Final Friday” community block parties taking place monthly through October will come to Hanover Street between Chestnut and Elm streets on Friday, June 26, from 4 to 8 p.m., according to the event’s Instagram page. “We’re turning the last Friday of every month into a celebration of local art, music, food, makers, businesses, and community right here in downtown Manchester,” the post said. “The dates for Final Friday are scheduled for June 26th, July 31st, August 28th, September 25th, and October 30th,” according to the MEDO Minute, the newsletter for the Manchester Economic Development office.
Find Waldo
Wonderland Toys and Books in Manchester and 25 businesses in Manchester, Bedford and Hooksett are participating in the nationwide “Find Waldo Local” game held by Candlewick Press and the American Booksellers Association in July, according to a press release from Wonderland. “Families love joining the scavenger hunt to find the iconic children’s book character, with his red-and-white-striped shirt and black glasses, hidden in … local businesses and museums,” the release said. Pick up a “‘Find Waldo Local in the greater Manchester area’ stamp card at any of the participating stores. With each miniature Waldo they spot, searchers get their card stamped or signed by the participating shop. Eagle-eyed hunters can also look for Wizard Whitebeard hidden in Wonderland Books and Toys. Participants who collect store stamps or signatures at 10 businesses can return it to Wonderland Books and Toys for a Where’s Waldo? poster (limited to the first 125 seekers) and a $1 off coupon for a Where’s Waldo? book. Collecting 20 or more businesses will earn an entry into a grand prize drawing for Waldo books and other prizes from participating businesses and all hunters are welcome to attend the celebration party and prize drawing at Wonderland Books and Toys on Sunday, Aug. 2, at 2 p.m.” the release said. See wonderlandbooksandtoys.com/waldo2026.
There will be a public reading of Frederick Douglass’s speech “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” at the Warner Town Hall, 5 E. Main St. in Warner, on Saturday, June 27, at noon, according to a press release, which said this free event is sponsored by the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire in collaboration with the Warner Historical Society.
Concord painter Pamela R. Tarbell will hold an open studio/gallery on Saturday, June 27, and Sunday, June 28, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 236 Hopkinton Road in Concord, according to her newsletter. See pamtarbell.com.
NH Roller Derby plays a doubleheader on Saturday, June 27, with games at 4 and 6 p.m. at JFK Memorial Coliseum, 303 Beech St. in Manchester, according to a post on the team’s Facebook page. Tickets to this Pride-themed night will be sold at the door (doors open at 3:30 p.m.) and are $15 with discounts for veterans with military ID and New Hampshire Roller Derby veterans; kids under 12 get in free, the post said.
Local authors celebrate Manchester’s 180th anniversary on Saturday, June 27, noon-4 p.m. at Barnes & Noble in Manchester (1741 S. Willow St., bn.com). Attending authors will include Robert B. Perreault, author of Franco-American Life & Culture in Manchester, NH, the recent novel Courtship in Purgatory and other titles; Gary Samson, author of Manchester: The Mills and the Immigrant Experience; Yvette Lazdowski, co-author of Manchester’s Shoe Industry, and Kelly Kilcrease, author of Boston’s Long Wharf: A Path to the Sea.