2025 Kids Guide to Summer

Festivals, performances and other events offering big fun for the school-free season

Compiled by Amy Diaz
adiaz@hippopress.com

Looking for excitement and entertainment for the kids this summer? Here are some of the events and attractions to help you fill the next dozen or so school-less weeks.

Events

• The Concord Spring Fair is slated to run Wednesday, June 11, through Sunday, June 15 — opening at 6 p.m. on weekdays, 1 p.m. on weekends — at the Douglas N. Everett Arena (15 Loudon Road in Concord), according to the event organizers. Admission costs $3 and children under 6 get in for free. Unlimited ride wrist bands as well as individual ride credits are available for purchase. See fiestashows.com.

• Check out the professional sand castle builders at the 25th Annual Hampton Beach Master Sand Sculpting Classic, which will run Thursday, June 12, through Saturday, June 14, with the sculptures, lit up at night, on view through Monday, June 23. There will be a fireworks display on Saturday, June 14, at 9:30 p.m. See hamptonbeach.org.

• YMCA Downtown Manchester (30 Mechanic St. in Manchester) and YMCA of Concord (15 N. State St. in Concord) will each hold a Block Party on Saturday, June 14, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. These free community celebrations will feature a bounce house, music, games and crafts, food and drink and more. See graniteymca.org.

• The Aviation Museum of New Hampshire will hold its annual Father’s Day Weekend Fly In Barbecue on Saturday, June 14, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Nashua’s Boire Field, with the event taking place at Nashua Jet Aviation (Nashua Airport, 83 Perimeter Road). The public can come to check out the planes and enjoy the meal. Tickets to the barbecue cost $30 for adults and $10 for ages 6 to 12; kids 5 and under are free, the website said. Check out the planes without the food for $10 per person, kids 5 and under are free, the website said. Purchase tickets at the website or by calling 669-4877.

• SEE Science Center (200 Bedford St. in Manchester; see-sciencecenter.org) will hold its Kick Off to Summer, Dinosaur Edition running Saturday, June 21, through Friday, June 27. Throughout the week the center will offer special dinosaur activities and displays, which are included with the admission price. The museum is open daily at 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. on weekdays and 5 p.m. on weekends. Admission costs $14 per person ages 3 and up.

Plaistow’s Old Home Day returns on Saturday, June 21, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. with a parade and activities on the Town Hall green (145 Main St., Plaistow). See plaistow.com for updates.

• St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church (1160 Bridge St. in Manchester; stnicholasgreekchurch.com) will celebrate on Saturday, June 21, from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. with a lamb barbecue and food festival and on Sunday, June 22, from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. with gyros.

• Wilton Main Street Association will hold its annual Summerfest on Saturday, June 21, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. featuring live music on two stages, food, street vendors, a pancake breakfast, a duck drop and a fireworks display in the evening on Carnival Hill. See visitwilton.com/summerfest.

• The Somersworth International Children’s Festival will take place on Main Street and in Noble Pines Park on Saturday, June 21, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. with Wildlife Encounters, roaming entertainers, a petting zoo, World Cultures Passport Center, a play area and other activities for kids as well as food and craft vendors, according to the Somersworth Festival Association at nhfestivals.org. The Association will also hold a Celebration Night on Friday, June 27, from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Somersworth High School (11 Memorial Drive) with live music, magic, kids’ activities and fireworks, according to the website, where you can also find the Association’s series of kids concerts in July and August.

Miss Alli’s Kids Concert will take place Saturday, June 21, at 1 p.m. in Stark Park (550 River Road in Manchester; starkpark.com). Find Miss Alli Music on Instagram.

• The Nest Cafe (25 Orchard View in Londonderry; thenestfamilycafe.com) is holding the free community festival NestFest on Sunday, June 22, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The day will include live music (including Miss Alli), a bounce house, face painting, lawn games, touch a truck and more.

• The Hollis Strawberry Festival, presented by the Hollis Woman’s Club, will bring strawberry shortcake and other strawberry treats to the Town Common (7 Monument Square, Hollis) on Sunday, June 22, from 2 to 4 p.m. Visit holliswomansclub.org.

• The New Hampshire Audubon Nature Challenge will run Sunday, June 22, through Saturday, June 28, when participants can help to “document the birds, mammals, insects, reptiles, amphibians, flowers, trees, mosses, mushrooms, and everything that either stops at our sanctuaries or calls [the NH Audubon’s wildlife sanctuaries] home!” according to nhaudubon.org, where you can see the list of sanctuaries and get more information about how to participate.

• Concord’s annual Market Days Festival runs from Thursday, June 26, to Saturday, June 28, in downtown Concord from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. with local vendors, live entertainment, family-friendly activities and more. Visit marketdaysfestival.com.

• The next New England Reptile Expo is scheduled for Sunday, June 29, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the DoubleTree by Hilton Manchester Downtown (700 Elm St., Manchester). The show features more than 200 vendor tables full of reptiles, pet supplies and more. Tickets are $12 for adults, $6 for kids ages 7 to 12 and free for kids ages 6 and under. Visit reptileexpo.com.

• Joppa Hill Educational Farm (174 Joppa Hill Road in Bedford; jhef.org) will hold its KidsFest on Sunday, June 29, from 3 to 6 p.m. The afternoon will feature kid-friendly performers including Mr. Aaron, Miss Alli and Magic Fred as well as food trucks, face painting, crafts, balloons and more, the website said. Tickets cost $44.52 per family; register in advance via the website.

• The Hillsborough Summer Festival at Grimes Field (29 Preston St., Hillsborough) takes place Thursday, July 10, to Sunday, July 13, with live entertainment, carnival rides, a fireworks show on Saturday night, a 5K road race on Friday and a parade on Sunday. Festival hours are 6 to 10 p.m. on Thursday; 5 to 11 p.m. on Friday; noon to 11 p.m. on Saturday, and noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday. Admission is free. Visit hillsborosummerfest.com.

The Raymond Town Fair, its 50th according to the group’s Facebook page, will take place Friday, July 11, through Sunday, July 13, at the Raymond Town Common (Epping and Main streets, Raymond). It will feature live music, children’s activities, a fireworks display, games, vendors and more. See “Raymond Town Fair” on Facebook.

• The American Independence Museum (1 Governors Lane, Exeter) will hold its American Independence Festival on Saturday, July 12, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in downtown Exeter. The day will feature the arrival and live reading of the Declaration of Independence, historical reenactments and colonial-era artisan demonstrations as well as colonial-era games, music and dances. Visit independencemuseum.org.

• The 9th annual Fairy and Hobbit House Festival will take place at Bedrock Gardens (19 High Road, Lee; bedrockgardens.org) on Friday, July 18, through Sunday, July 20, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. Compete in the Fairy House and Hobbit House showcase (see the website in advance) or just come in costume to enjoy the day, which includes craft activities, story time and more. Tickets cost $49.87 per carload.

• The Stratham 4-H Summerfest returns on Saturday, July 19, at the Stratham Hill Park Fairgrounds (270 Portsmouth Ave., Stratham) from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The event will feature animal shows, agriculture exhibits, competitions and more. See extension.unh.edu/event/2025/07/2025-stratham-4-h-summerfest.

• Nashua will hold its Fairytale Festival in Greeley Park (100 Concord St., Nashua) Saturday, July 19, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The day will feature performances, princess characters and more. Visit nashua.gov.

• The Canterbury Fair is, as always, the last Saturday in July — Saturday, July 26, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Canterbury Center (Baptist and Center roads) with live music, demonstrations from local artisan and antique vendors, children’s activities and more. See canterburyfair.com.

Pizzastock 9, a family community music event featuring 13 music acts on two stages as well as information on mental health, physical health and suicide prevention, will take place on Saturday, July 26, from noon to 6 p.m. at Pinkerton Academy in Derry next to the football field, according to a post on the Jason R. Flood Memorial Facebook page. The event will also feature kid activities, a teen/young adult “tailgate” game area, food trucks and of course pizza from Kendall Pond Pizza, the post said. Entrance to the event is free. See pizzastock.org or find them on Facebook.

• Find music, art, food, kids’ activities and more at the Nashua Summer Stroll on Saturday, July 26, from 3 to 8 p.m. in downtown Nashua. Find details and updates on the event’s Facebook page.

• Coppal House Farm (118 N. River Road in Lee; nhsunflower.com) will hold its Sunflower Festival Saturday, July 26, through Sunday, Aug. 3, 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. daily plus sunrise hours on Sunday, July 27, from 5:30 to 7 a.m. The festival also features kid events, a craft fair, music, food and more. See the website for information on tickets and happenings on specific days.

• The Suncook Valley Rotary’s Hot Air Balloon Rally on Friday, Aug. 1, through Sunday, Aug. 3, at Drake Field, Barnstead Road in Pittsfield. See nhballoonrally.org for updates on this year’s schedule.

• The Belknap County Fair is set to return Saturday, Aug. 2, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, Aug. 3, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 174 Mile Hill Road in Belmont. Admission at the gate is $10 for adults, $5 for senior citizens 65 and older, police, fire and EMS personnel, and free for kids under 10 and for military service members. Visit bcfairnh.org.

More summer fun

Find more summer happenings in our Summer Guide 2025, which ran in the May 22 issue of the Hippo. Find the issue in the digital library at hippopress.com.

• Friends of Aine will hold its annual Kids Try-athlon on Sunday, Aug. 3, starting at 8 a.m. at Bedford High School and the Bedford Town Pool. The event is a swim, bike, run race for kids grouped by age — 4- to 10-year-olds and 11- to 15-year-olds, according to friendsofaine.com. The event is open to kids regardless of athletic ability and features a post-race festival, and registration currently costs $35 per kid, the website said.

• Tuesday, Aug. 5, is the National Night Out when many area first responder departments hold outreach events, such as fairs and touch-a-truck events. For example, in Concord, a National Night Out event featuring food, prizes, K-9 demonstrations, a climbing wall and more will take place in Rollins Park from 5 to 8 p.m.

Hudson’s Old Home Days will take place Thursday, Aug. 7, to Sunday, Aug. 10, on the grounds of the Hill House (211 Derry Road, Hudson). There will be carnival games, live music, food, vendors, a craft fair, kids’ activities and more. Event times are Thursday from 5 to 10 p.m., Friday from 5 to 11 p.m., Saturday from noon to 11 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. See hudsonoldhomedays.com.

• The Children’s Museum of New Hampshire (6 Washington St. in Dover; childrens-museum.org) will hold its annual Teddy Bear Clinic on Friday, Aug. 8, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Kids can bring stuffed animals in for a checkup and learn more about what happens at the doctor’s office, according to the website. Admission costs $14.50 for everyone over 12 months, $12.50 for 65+ and free for kids under 12 months, the website said.

The Sunflower Bloom Festival will take place Saturday, Aug. 9, through Sunday, Aug. 17, at Sunfox Farm on Gully Hill Road in Concord, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m daily. Visit the farm (admission costs $12 per person, ages 10 and under are free). Also at the farm find artisan and craft vendors, live music and food trucks, according to sunfoxfarm.org/sunflowerfestival.

Salembration!, a celebration of the 275th birthday of Salem, New Hampshire, will take place on Geremonty Drive on Saturday, Aug. 9, from noon to 5 p.m. The event will feature food trucks, craft vendors and more, according to salemnh.gov/1096/salembration, and will take place in conjunction with Field of Dreams’ annual Family Fun Day.

• The Hampton Beach Children’s Festival, Monday, Aug. 11, through Friday, Aug. 15. The event includes ice cream, dancing, balloons, storytelling, a magic show and a costume parade on Friday. All activities are free and open to the public. Visit hamptonbeach.org/events/ childrens-events.

Londonderry’s Old Home Days are scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 13, to Saturday, Aug. 16. See londonderrynh.gov for updates on details.

• The Mahrajan Middle Eastern Food Festival (bestfestnh.com) will take place Friday, Aug. 15, to Sunday, Aug. 17, at Our Lady of the Cedars Church (140 Mitchell St., Manchester, 623-8944, olocnh.org). Lebanese foods such as shawarma, falafel, lamb, grilled chicken and many types of pastries will be served. The fest will be open from 5 to 10 p.m. on Friday, noon to 10 p.m. on Saturday and 1 to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

• The Aviation Museum of New Hampshire (27 Navigator Road, Londonderry; aviationmuseumofnh.org) will hold Planefest on Saturday, Aug. 16, featuring an exhibit about the Tuskegee Airman and the World War II-era Woman’s Army Service Pilots, known as the WASPs.

History Alive 2025 will present a weekend of reenactments on Saturday, Aug. 16, and Sunday, Aug. 17, at Jones Road in Hillsborough. The weekend will feature reenactments of historical battles across the centuries — including Roman and Viking battles, the French and Indian War, the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, World War I and World War II, according to historyalivenh.org. The event will also feature other historical demonstrations as well as drawing and cartooning workshops with Marek Bennett, whose works include the Freeman Colby graphic novels about a real-life New Hampshire teacher in the Civil War. See the website for details and a schedule. Tickets cost $10 per adult, $8 for seniors and are free for kids 16 and under, the website said.

• Assumption Greek Orthodox Church (111 Island Pond Road, Manchester, 623- 2045, assumptionnh.org) will hold its 2025 Greekfest on Saturday, Aug. 23, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sunday, Aug. 24, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Visit the Church’s website for more information.

Candia’s Old Home Day will take place on Saturday, Aug. 23, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Moore Park (74 High St., Candia). The day will feature local crafters and artisans, town community booths, games, a wildlife exhibit, food and music. See candiaoldhomeday.com.

Pembroke and Allenstown’s Old Home Day returns on Saturday, Aug. 23, starting with a parade down Main Street in Allenstown to Memorial Field (Exchange Street) in Pembroke. A fun-filled day is planned at the field, featuring two stages of live entertainment, antique cars, children’s games, a craft area, bounce houses and a fireworks display at dusk. Admission and parking are free. See pembrokeallenstownoldhomeday.org.

• The Hopkinton State Fair bills itself as a Labor Day weekend tradition happening this year from Thursday, Aug. 28, to Monday, Sept. 1, at the fairgrounds (392 Kearsarge Ave., Contoocook). There will be livestock shows, a demolition derby, carnival rides, monster trucks, live entertainment, food and more. The fair hours are 5 to 10 p.m. on Thursday; 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday. See hsfair.org.

• The Exeter UFO Festival returns to downtown Exeter on Saturday, Aug. 30, and Sunday, Aug. 31 — the event commemorates the anniversary of the “Incident at Exeter” (the report of a UFO sighting on Sept. 3, 1965, in nearby Kingston) with speakers, kids’ events and more. See exeterufofestival.org.

Live performances

Hot Peas N Butter, a family music band, will play at the BNH Stage (16 S. Main St. in Concord, ccanh.com) on Sunday, June 22, at 2 p.m. Tickets cost $25 per person.

• Palace Theatre’s (80 Hanover St., Manchester, palacetheatre.org) Bank of New Hampshire Children’s Summer Series runs July 8 through Aug. 28, with new shows each week and shows on most Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 10 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. as well as Fridays. Tickets cost $10. The show schedule is A Winnie-the-Pooh Birthday Tail (July 8-11), Peter Pan Jr. (July 15-18), Annie Jr. (July 22-25), Madagascar Jr. (July 28-Aug. 1), Berenstain Bears On Stage (Aug. 5-8), Willy Wonka Jr. (Aug. 12-15), Shrek The Musical Jr. (Aug. 19-22) and Magician BJ Hickman (Aug. 26-28).Tickets for these shows are $10.

The Palace also has productions from its various youth companies on the schedule.

The Palace Teen Company will present Urinetown The Musical on Tuesday, June 17, and Wednesday, June 18, at 7 p.m. The Palace Youth Theatre camp, featuring performances in grades 2 through 12, will present shows including James & the Giant Peach Jr. on July 2 and July 3; A Year With Frog & Toad Kids July 11; Junie B. Jones Jr. July 25 and July 26; Annie Kids Aug. 1; Mean Girls Jr. Aug. 15 and Aug. 16, and a youth version of The Addams Family Aug. 22.

• Teen Actorsingers will perform Teen Anastasia on Friday, July 11, and Saturday, July 12, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, July 13, 2 p.m. at the Janice B. Streeter Theatre, 14 Court St., Nashua, actorsingers.org. Tickets cost $20 for adults, $18 for seniors and students.

• The Majestic Theatre (majestictheatre.net) will present Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoaton Friday, July 11, through Sunday, July 13, at the Derry Opera House (29 W. Broadway in Derry) at 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Tickets cost $15 to $22.

• RB Productions Theatre Company (PO Box 67, Concord, rb-productions.com) will perform The Wedding Singer (July 11 and July 12), Wizard of Oz Youth Edition (July 18 and July 19), Aladdin Kids (July 19), Alice In Wonderland Jr. (July 25 and July 26) and Beetlejuice Jr. (Aug. 1 and Aug. 2). Shows are slated for Capitol Center for the Arts in Concord according to RB Production’s website; see ccanh.com.

• Epping Community Theatre (Epping Playhouse, 38 Ladds Lane, Epping, eppingtheater.org) will present Seussical the Musical on Friday, July 18, through Sunday, July 20.

• Ovation Theatre Company (61 Harvey Road, Londonderry, ovationtc.com) will present The Hunchback of Notre Dame Thursday, July 24, through Saturday, July 26, at 7 p.m. at Derry Opera House (25 Main St., Derry; derryoperahouse.org).

• Kids Coop Theatre (232 N. Broadway, Salem, kctnh.org) will present Hadestown Teen Edition Friday, Aug. 1, and Saturday, Aug. 2, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Aug. 3, at 2 p.m. at Derry Opera House (25 Broadway, Derry). See derryoperahouse.org for tickets.

Summer day camp

Looking for some full-day fun for the kids? Check out our Feb. 22 issue featuring area day camps. Even though many camps start registering campers early in the year, some organizations don’t release camp schedules or programming until spring and many camps aren’t yet full or have waitlist opportunities that can lead to a camp spot.

• The end product of the Children’s Theatre Project Summer Camp, run by the Community Players of Concord (communityplayersofconcord.org), will be a performance of Moana Jr. on Saturday, Aug. 8. Check back with the website for details.

• Peacock Players (Janice B. Streeter Theatre, 14 Court St., Nashua, peacockplayers.org) will present a cast of 6- to 15-year-olds in Beetlejuice Jr. Friday, July 25, through Sunday, July 27. A cast of teens will performHadestown Teen Edition Friday, Aug. 15, through Sunday, Aug. 17.

Popcorn summer

• The Summer Movie Clubhouse, a lineup of kid-friendly films running Wednesdays at 10 a.m. at Cinemark Rockingham Park (15 Mall Road in Salem; cinemark.com/theatres/nh-salem/cinemark-rockingham-park-and-xd), started June 4 and continues through Aug. 6 with discounted ticket-and-snack combo prices. The lineup includes Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (June 18), Shrek 2 (June 25), Despicable Me 4 (July 2), Kung-Fu Panda 4 (July 9), The Wild Robot (July 16), Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (July 23), The Garfield Movie (July 30) and The LEGO Batman Movie (Aug. 6).

• The Milford Drive-In Theater (531 Elm St., Milford; milforddrivein.com) has two screens for movie screenings, each mostly offering double features, Fridays through Sundays. The box office opens at 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 7:15 p.m. on Sunday. Admission costs $35 per car (for up to six people; $6 per additional person). See the website for each week’s offerings.

• Red River Theatres (redrivertheatres.org) and Concord Parks & Recreation (concordnh.gov) will hold outdoor movie nights during the summer. Check back for updates on days, locations and films.

• Fathom Events (fathomevents.com) has anniversary screenings on the schedule for movies that might be of interest to teens and tweens at theaters including Apple Cinemas in Merrimack and Hooksett, Cinemark Rockingham Park in Salem, O’Neil Cinemas in Epping and Regal Fox Run in Newington. Films include Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (PG-13, 1989) on Saturday, June 14, and Sunday, June 15, and Wednesday, June 18, and Clueless (PG-13, 1995) on Sunday, June 29, and Monday, June 30. Fathom Events is also continuing its Studio Ghibli Fest 2025 with films including The Secret World of Arrietty (G, 2010) Sunday, June 22, through Tuesday, June 24; My Neighbor Totoro(G, 1988) Saturday, July 19, through Wednesday, July 23; Grave of the Fireflies (1988) Sunday, Aug. 10, through Tuesday, Aug. 12, and Ponyo (G, 2008) Saturday, Aug. 23, through Wednesday, Aug. 27.

Movies in the Park takes place in Riverfront Park in Tilton, hosted by the Hall Memorial Library (hallmemoriallibrary.org), on Fridays throughout the summer, with the park opening at 6 p.m. and the movie starting at dusk. According to the website, the upcoming schedule is The Little Mermaid on June 20; Garfield on July 25; Moana 2 on Aug. 29, and Minecraft on Sept. 26.

• Chunky’s Cinema Pub (707 Huse Road, Manchester; chunkys.com) will be hosting “Little Lunch Dates” (usually at 11:30 a.m. on some Tuesdays) and “Sensory-Friendly Showings,when house lights are left up and volume is lower than usual, throughout the summer. The next scheduled sensory-friendly screening is the new How To Train Your Dragon (PG) on Tuesday, June 24, 11:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.

• Your kids can practice Elphaba’s high notes in “Defying Gravity” along with the film at a sing-along screening of Wicked (PG, 2024) on Sunday, June 29, at 2 p.m. at BNH Stage (16 S. Main St. in Concord, ccanh.com). Tickets cost $15 in advance, $20 at the door.

• O’Neil Cinemas Brickyard Square (24 Calef Highway in Epping; oneilcinemas.com) will offer a Summer Kid Series with shows Monday and Wednesdays at 11 a.m. and special ticket and snack deals (tickets cost $2; popcorn and soda combo is $5), according to an email from O’Neil. The film schedule is Despicable Me (PG, 2010) on July 7 & 9; Kung Fu Panda 4 (PG, 2024) on July 14 & 16; Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (PG, 2022) July 21 & 23; Sing 2 (PG, 2021) July 28 & 30, and Trolls Band Together (PG, 2023) Aug. 4 & 6.

Visit the museum

Amoskeag Fishways Learning & Visitor Center (4 Fletcher St. in Manchester; find them on Facebook) was slated to open for the fish migration season. See fish on the move Mondays through Fridays, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Admission is free.

The Aviation Museum of New Hampshire (27 Navigator Road, Londonderry, 669-4820, aviationmuseumofnh.org) offers exhibits related to the aviation history of the state — as well as a cockpit kids can get inside of, featuring real audio from traffic control at neighboring Manchester Boston Regional Airport. The museum is open Wednesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m. Admission costs $10 for ages 13+ and $5 for ages 6 to 12 and ages 65+ (as well as veterans and active military) and is free for kids 5 and under.

The Children’s Museum of New Hampshire (6 Washington St., Dover, 742- 2002, childrens-museum.org) is a family museum featuring interactive exhibits with a focus on art, science and culture. It is open for morning (9 a.m. to noon) and afternoon (1 to 4 p.m.) play sessions Wednesdays through Saturdays and for morning sessions only on Tuesdays and Sundays. Admission costs $14.50 for everyone over 12 months, $12.50 for 65+; advance admission purchase is recommended. See the website for special programming, such as Toddler Tinker Time on Tuesdays, Wacky Art Wednesdays, Cultural Crafts on Thursdays and Science Fridays.

The Currier Museum of Art (150 Ash St., Manchester; currier.org) is open Wednesdays through Sundays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and admission costs $20 for regular admission, $15 for 65+ and students and $5 for ages 13 to 17 and is free for ages 12 and under. The museum also offers free admission for New Hampshire residents on the second Saturday of each month and offers free/donation-based admission during Art Off the Walls evenings, 5 to 8 p.m., on Thursdays June 19, July 17 and Aug. 21.

The McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center (2 Institute Drive in Concord; starhop.com), a celebration of space, science, engineering and aviation, is open daily, 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., June 16 though Aug. 21 (before and after those dates the center is open Wednesdays through Sundays). The outdoor Science Playground is open when the center is open, weather permitting. Admission costs $13 for adults, $10 for ages 3 to 12, $12 for ages 62+ and ages 13 through college. Planetarium tickets cost an additional $7 for ages 3 and up. See the website for the current line-up of planetarium films.

The Millyard Museum (200 Bedford St., Manchester; manchesterhistoric.org) is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and college students, $5 for ages 12 to 18, and free for children under 12. Print out the gallery games Mystery Objects and Millyard Museum Fun Book to help kids explore the exhibits.

Summer theater

Find information about summer theater in our May 15 issue. Go to hippopress.com and look for the issue in our digital library. The guide to summer theater starts on page 10.

New Hampshire Historical Society (30 Park St., Concord; nhhistory.org) offers exhibits related to the state’s history. The exhibition space is open Tuesday through Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission costs $10 for adults and is free for kids ages 18 and under, full-time students and active military.

SEE Science Center (200 Bedford St., Manchester; see-sciencecenter.org) is open daily at 10 a.m. — until 4 p.m. on weekdays and 5 p.m. on weekends. This hands-on science center offers exhibits on a variety of subjects. Admission (which is recommended to be purchased in advance via the website) costs $14 per person ages 3 and up.

The New Hampshire Telephone Museum (1 Depot St., Warner; nhtelephonemuseum.org) features nearly 1,000 telephones, switchboards and other telecommunication memorabilia and history and has an interactive kids’ room. The museum is open Tuesdays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturdays 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Admission costs $9 for ages 18 to 64, 7 for 65+ and $6 for students in grades K-12.

Attractions

Andres Institute of Art (106 Route 13, Brookline; andresinstitute.org) has a network of trails decorated with sculptures. Find printable trail maps as well as a gallery of the sculptures online.

Beaver Brook (117 Ridge Road in Hollis; beaverbrook.org) offers camps, regular walks and hikes and other programs as well as trails and gardens that are open daily. Maps for the trails are available on the website.

Bedrock Gardens (19 High Road, Lee) is a 30-acre public garden that integrates unusual botanical specimens and unique sculpture into an inspiring landscape journey, with fun programming for the whole family, according to their website. It is open Tuesday through Friday and the first and third weekends of the month from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., according to the website. Visit bedrockgardens.org.

Canobie Lake Park (85 N. Policy St., Salem; canobie.com), an amusement park with rides and water attractions, is open daily (opening 9 a.m. on some days during June and 10:30 a.m. in July and August) with tickets sold in advance only via the website. Prices vary by day. After-5 p.m. tickets are available Friday through Sunday nights.

Charmingfare Farm (774 High St. in Candia, 483-5623, visitthefarm.com) is a working farm with wildlife exhibits featuring animals such as black bears, coyotes and more. Charmingfare is currently open Thursdays through Sundays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. A Scouting for Bigfoot event will be held Saturday, June 21 and Sunday, June 22, featuring live music, food available for purchase, Bigfoot related activities and more. Reptile Day is slated for Saturday, July 19, with a reptile show scheduled for 1 p.m.

Chuckster’s Family Fun Park (Route 4 in Chichester; chuckstersnh.com) is open daily, hours vary by day (and weather). This year a new zipline is slated to open; the park also features minigolf, batting cages, bumper boats, a climbing wall, go karts and more. Admission varies based on attraction packages. Chuckster’s also has a minigolf-only location at 53 Hackett Hill Road in Hooksett.

Funspot (579 Endicott Lane in Laconia; funspotnh.com) bills itself as the largest arcade in the world, including classic arcade games, and also offers bowling, indoor minigolf, on-site eateries and more. Open daily, Funspot’s hours starting June 23 will be 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. (11 p.m. on Saturdays).

Joppa Hill Educational Farm (174 Joppa Hill Road in Bedford; jhef.org) is open daily, dawn to dusk, with a suggested donation of $5 per family. Visit the animals or check out the hiking trails, maps for which are on the farm’s website.

Mel’s Funway Park (454 Charles Bancroft Highway in Litchfield; melsfunwaypark.com) offers minigolf, go karts, laser tag, arcade, batting cages, bumper boats, bounce houses and more. The park is open daily, with hours varying by day and attraction.

Playground road trip

Looking for low-cost summer fun? Check out the Live Free & Play Southern NH Playground Challenge, available at salemnh.myrec.com. The printout features a list of playgrounds in Salem, Auburn, Londonderry, Pelham, Milford, Merrimack and Danville.

New Hampshire Audubon (nhaudubon.org) has two nearby centers — Massabesic Center (26 Audubon Way in Auburn) and McLane Center (84 Silk Farm Road in Concord). Both centers are open to visitors Wednesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Trails near the centers and in the Audubon’s 40 wildlife sanctuaries throughout the state are open daily, free of charge (though donations are welcome), the website said. Find maps and other information about the trails on the website, as well as a calendar of events.

Prescott Farm Environmental Education Center (928 White Oaks Road in Laconia; prescottfarm.org) offers 160 acres of field, forest and gardens on 3+ miles of nature trails and a Natural Playscape, according to the website. The outdoor amenities are open daily from dawn to dusk; the Samuel P. Pardoe Building featuring visitor information, conservation displays and restrooms, is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., according to the website, where you can find a calender of special events and programs.

Seacoast Science Center (in Ordiorne Point State Park, 570 Ocean Blvd in Rye; seacoastsciencecenter.org) offers exhibits, live animal displays and touch tanks featuring the nature of the New Hampshire coast and the Gulf of Maine. The center is open Tuesdays through Sundays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Advance purchase of tickets is recommended, according to the website where you can purchase both admission to the center and to Ordiorne Point State Park.

Squam Lakes Natural Science Center (23 Science Center Road in Holderness; nhnature.org) offers animal exhibit trails featuring native animals as well as hiking trails, according to the website. The trails are currently open daily, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. (last admission is 3:30 p.m.). See the calendar for information on special tours, events and the narrated lake cruises. Admission to the trails costs $28 for adults, $26 for 65+ and $22 for ages 3 to 15. The 2025 Family Picnic “Friends of the Forest” will be held on Saturday, July 12, 5 to 8 p.m. and feature food, live music, lawn games, kids activities and more (see the website for tickets).

Strawbery Banke Museum (14 Hancock St. in Portsmouth; strawberybanke.org) is open Wednesdays through Mondays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (and until 5 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays in July and August). The museum’s historic houses and exhibits look at 350 years of Portsmouth history “from Indigenous history to the present day,” according to the website where you can find the calendar of special tours and events. Admission costs $24 for adults, $22 for 65+ and students, $12 for ages 5 to 17 and $60 for a family, the website said. Kids under 5 get in for free.

In a town near you

’Tis the season of reading programs at area libraries and live music in town green spaces. Some town and city events are meant just for residents and others don’t specify. Your location’s library and parks and recreation department will have the most up to date information about summer happenings. Here are some of the family-friendly highlights.

Amherst: At the Amherst Town Library (amherstlibrary.org), Mondays are “Chalk the Walk” days, when chalk will be provided to draw on the sidewalk outside. The library is also kicking off its summer reading program with a concert featuring Steve Blunt Monday, June 16, at 6 p.m. (registration required).

The town’s big summer happening is the Amherst Fourth of July Celebration, which includes a parade (stepping off at 9:45 a.m.) and activities on the town green. See facebook.com/AmherstNHJuly4thCommittee.

Auburn: The Griffin Free Public Library (griffinfree.org) is hosting its annual book sale Saturday, July 26, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m, and Sunday, July 27, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Auburn Village School in the gym.

Auburn Parks and Recreation will offer a concert series with monthly concerts at Circle of Fun Playground, 5 Bunker Hill Road, at 6 p.m. on the third Thursdays: Jennifer Mitchell Band on June 19, and Ukeladies on July 17; Bob Pratte Band on Aug. 21, according to the department’s newsletter.

Movies will also be screened at the Safety Complex (99 Raymond Road): Paddington in Peru on Friday, Aug. 8, at 8 p.m.; IF on Friday, Sept. 5, at 8 p.m., and Mufasa: The Lion King on Friday, Oct. 10, at 7 p.m., the newsletter said. See auburnnh.gov.

Bedford: The Bedford Public Library ( bedfordnhlibrary.org) is also doing a summer reading kickoff concert with Steve Blunt — Tuesday, June 17, at 6:30 p.m. (registration required). A Wildlife Encounters event is scheduled for Monday, July 14, at 11 a.m. or 1 p.m. (registration required) for ages 6 to 12.

The Bedford Concerts in the Parks at the Gazebo in Bedford Village Common Park will run Wednesdays, June 25 through July 30, with a 6 p.m. start time, according to bedfordnh.myrec.com. To celebrate National Night Out, Bedford’s Police Department will play a softball game against Bedford Fire Department on Tuesday, Aug. 5, at 7 p.m., the website said.

Bow: At the Baker Free Library (bowbakerfreelibrary.org), the summer reading kickoff party for kids is from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. on Friday, June 20, with a show featuring Magic Fred from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. A comics workshop for ages 8 to 14 is slated for Monday, June 23, at 3:30 p.m. with author Mat Heagarty (registration required). The library is also staging a production of The Wizard of Oz (register to participate) with a performance on Thursday, Aug. 7, at 5:30 p.m.

Boscawen: The Boscawen Public Library (boscawenpubliclibrary.org) will hold its summer reading kickoff party Monday, June 23, from noon to 4 p.m. It will host Mr. Aaron on Tuesday, July 22, at 6:30 p.m.

See the performers

Some family-friendly performers make the rounds of libraries and other venues during the summer. Here are a few of the family performance favorites.

Miss Alli — Alli Beaudry has long been a regular on the local music scene and her family-friendly Miss Alli performances reach a whole new audience. Find updates at instagram.com/missallimusic

Mr. Aaron — Mr. Aaron offers classes as well as concerts. See a list of his upcoming engagements at area libraries at mraaronmusic.com/calendar.

Steve Blunt — Watch videos of Blunt’s performances at steveblunt.com, where you can also check back for updates on his scheduled appearances. He can sometimes be found at appearances with author Marty Kelley — the two have some upcoming library events scheduled, according to martykelley.com.

BJ Hickman — This family-friendly magician already has appearances booked at festivals this summer as well as a stretch of shows in August at the Palace. See bjhickman.com.

Magic Fred the Magician — Several library events are already on the summer schedule with Magic Fred; see magicfredshow.com.

Judy Pancoast — The singer/songwriter has a few New Hampshire library events on her schedule so far. See judypancoast.com.

Marek Bennett — A comics creator and musician, Bennett has some in-person library events on his upcoming schedule at marekbennett.com.

Brookline: The Brookline Public Library (brooklinelibrarynh.org) will hold its summer reading kickoff party on Friday, June 20, at 11 a.m. with ice cream, bubbles, lawn games and more. A petting farm will come to the library on Thursday, June 26, at 2 p.m. (registration required). On Wednesday, July 2, at 10:30 a.m. visit the trucks of the Department of Public Works (registration required). Science gets tasty at STEM and Scoops with Sub Zero Nitrogen Ice Cream on Tuesday, July 22, at 3 p.m. (registration required). An arthropod petting zoo will be held Thursday, Aug. 7, at 6 p.m. (registration required).

Concord: The Concord Public Library (concordnh.gov) will hold storytimes in the park on Wednesdays at 9:30 a.m.; see the website for a schedule of city parks.

Find Concord Parks and Recreation’s summer brochure online at concordnh.gov, where it lists programs as well as drop-in events like Saturday summer futsal. Find free concerts on Tuesday evenings (at parks across the city) and Sunday at 10 a.m. (White Park); check back with the department’s Facebook page for updates on Thursday concerts.

Derry: The Derry Public Library (derrypl.org) has a packed schedule of summer events for kids. Register for fun such as Level Up Glow Dance Party on Tuesday, June 17, at 1:30 p.m.; FanCon on Saturday, June 21, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Library Field Day on Thursday, June 26, at 11 a.m.; and the end of the summer party with Steve Blunt on Thursday, Aug. 7, at 1 p.m. Game Day on Thursday, July 31, needs no registration.

Get live music in MacGregor Park (12 Boyd Road) on Tuesdays at 7 p.m. through Aug. 19. Next up on the schedule is The Reminisants, according to derrynh.gov.

Dunbarton: The Dunbarton Public Library (dunbartonlibrary.org) will kick off its summer reading program with a concert featuring Steve Blunt and Marty Kelley on Wednesday, June 18, at 11 a.m. on the band stand. Additional summer fun includes a touch a truck on Wednesday, June 25, at 10:30 a.m.; a family concert with Mr. Aaron on Wednesday, July 23, at 10:30 a.m.; Raptor Rapture Outreach with Audubon on Tuesday, July 29, at 1 p.m. and more.

Goffstown: The Goffstown Public Library ( goffstownlibrary.com) will hold its summer kickoff on Saturday, June 21, with art programs that day for kids, teens and adults (registration required). The library offers a full slate of workshops and programs for kids and teens throughout the summer, including, on Thursday, Aug. 14, the Great Cake Off for kids in grades 5 to 12 (registration required). The library will also offer regular opportunities for kids to read to Candy, the reading therapy dog (see the website to sign up).

Hollis: Hollis Social Library (hollislibrary.org) will host the one-person Silver Circus on Monday, June 23, at 2 p.m. at the Lawrence Barn (registration recommended). Mr Aaron will play the barn on Friday, July 11, at 1 p.m. (registration required). The barn will also host a touch-a-truck on Wednesday, July 16, at 2 p.m. (registration required). Magic Fred will perform Friday, July 18, at the barn at 1 p.m. (registration required). The Pirate Guild the Brethren Order of the Northeast Sea will bring pirate fun to the barn on Saturday, Aug. 2, at 2 p.m. (registration required).

Hooksett: The Hooksett Public Library ( hooksettlibrary.org) will hold a touch-a-truck event on Saturday, June 28, at 10 a.m.

Hopkinton: Hopkinton Recreation Committee hosts the July 4th Family Fun Day in Riverway Park — a kids’ parade starts at 11 a.m. followed by the Independence Day parade at 11:30 a.m.; the Fun Day kicks off at noon in the park with live music by Brad Myrick, face painting, bounce houses, burgers and hot dogs, contests and more, according to hopkintonnh.myrec.com.

Hudson: The George H. and Ella M. Rodgers Memorial Library (rodgerslibrary.org) will hold a Cupcake Caper & Birthday Party on Saturday, July 14, at 10 a.m. (registration required) and a Tie Dye for Everyone project on Wednesday, June 18 (register for specific time). Magician Mike Bent’s AbraKIDabra! Magic show is scheduled for Wednesday, June 25, at 2 p.m. (registration required). Other events to register for this summer include Wildlife Encounters on Wednesday, July 9, at 6 p.m., a Teddy Bear Picnic on Friday, July 11, at 10 a.m., Mr. Aaron on Wednesday, July 23, at 2 p.m. and multiple Storytime Safari outings in Benson Park.

Litchfield: At the Aaron Cutler Memorial Library (litchfieldnh.gov/222/Aaron-Cutler-Memorial-Library) events include a family summer reading Kick-Off Concert with Mr. Aaron on Wednesday, June 25, at 10:30 a.m. (registration required), Tuesday scavenger hunts on the library lawn, Tween Summer Cupcake Wars on Thursday, July 10, at 4 p.m. (registration required), and a concert on the lawn with the Granite Statesmen Barbershop Chorus on Wednesday, July 16, at 6:30 p.m. (registration required).

Londonderry: Get some new-to-you summer reads at the book sale at the Leach Library (londonderrynh.gov/371/Leach-Library) on Saturday, June 14, 10 a.m. to noon; Tuesday, June 17, 9:30 to 11:30 a.m., and Saturday, June 21, from 10 a.m. to noon. Register for events including Pete the Cat’s visit to the library (Tuesday, June 24, at 11 a.m.; Wednesday, June 25, at 4 p.m., and Thursday, June 26, at 4 p.m.) and Children’s Cookie Decorating on Wednesday, June 18, at 4 p.m. No registration is required for a screening of Dog Man on Friday, June 27, at 1 p.m.

Outdoor adventures

Looking for minigolf or a state park? Check out our Best of 2025 readers’ poll results issue, which ran April 10 and features reader recommendations for all sorts of outdoor excitement.

Loudon: At the Maxfield Public Library (maxfieldlibrary.com), kid-friendly offerings include a Summer Reading Kick Off with Jason Purdy Magic Show on Saturday, June 21, at 11 a.m. and a wrap-up event featuring Steve Blunt and Marty Kelley on Tuesday, Aug. 5, at 11 a.m., both at Charlie’s Barn/Loudon Community Building (29 South Village Road).

Summer Fun nights on Wednesdays at 6 p.m. in Loudon include Touch a Truck on July 9; Ice Cream Social on July 16; Freese Brothers Big Band on July 23 (6:30 p.m.); Wildlife Encounters on July 30; Mr. Aaron Band on Aug. 13 and a Pickleball Tournament on Aug. 20, according to loudonnh.org.

Manchester: Manchester City Library (manchesterlibrary.org) offers programs for teens and kids throughout the summer — and the city, with bookmobile events (see the calendar for locations). Find community art projects on Mondays 10 to 11:30 a.m. at We Create Mornings, a drop-in event. Happenings to register for include Beach Party on Thursday, July 3, at 10 a.m. for ages 1 to 5; Escape Room on Wednesday, July 9, at 10 a.m. (grades 3 through 12); Captain Underpants Party on Wednesday, July 16, at 3 p.m. (grades preschool through 6), and more.

Check with manchesternh.gov/Departments/Parks-and-Recreation and with the department’s Facebook page for updates on the city’s pools.

Merrimack: At the Merrimack Public Library (merrimack.aspendiscovery.org), the Friends of the Library will hold a book sale on Saturday, June 21, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The summer reading program will kick off with a Minecraft Party on Thursday, June 26, noon to 2 p.m. followed by a concert with Mr. Aaron at 6 p.m. in Abbie Griffin Park (registration required for both). Other events to register for include Old McDonny’s Friendly Petting Zoo in the park on Monday, July 21, at 11:30 a.m. and a Teddy Bear Picnic on Thursday, July 31, at noon.

Enjoy live music on Thursdays, June 26 through Aug. 21, at 6 p.m. in Abbie Griffin Park; the program kicks off with Mr. Aaron on June 26, according to merrimackparksandrec.org. The Town of Merrimack also hosts Fourth of July celebrations including a patriotic concert in the park on Thursday, July 3, at 6:30 p.m.; the Sparkler 5K Road Race and Pancake Breakfast, both on July 4 starting at 8 a.m.; the Fourth of July parade at 1 p.m. and fireworks display at Merrimack High School at 9:15 p.m. (the evening starts at 7 p.m. with music and food vendors), according to merrimackparksandrec.org/4th-of-july.

Milford: At the Wadleigh Memorial Library (wadleighlibrary.org), the teen summer reading kickoff is Friday, June 13, at 3 p.m. and a children’s Level Up at Your Library party with yard games and a hot dog dinner is at 6 p.m. (no registration needed for either). Other events include the Silver Circus on Wednesday, June 18, at 1 p.m. at the Amato Center; a Red, White & Bluey party on Thursday, July 3, at 10 a.m. and Cookie Wars on Wednesday, July 30, at 2 p.m.

Milford Recreation will hold its 4th Annual Keyes Summer Bash on Saturday, June 21, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. featuring touch a truck, food trucks, kid activities, music and more in Keyes Memorial Park, according to milfordnh.recdesk.com

Nashua: The Nashua Public Library (nashualibrary.org) will hold its summer reading kickoff on Friday, June 20, from 6 to 8 p.m. featuring a life-size Hungry Hippo game, Mario Kart Live!, popcorn, snow cones and more, the website said. See the website for a rundown of programs for children, tweens and teens each week.

The city also offers a full calendar of SummerFun programming including Tuesday concerts in the park at 7 p.m.; a Tree Street Block Party on Ash Street on Saturday, June 14, from 2 to 6 p.m.; July 4 event that includes a Silver Knights Game, a free concert and more events leading up to a fireworks show; the Nashua Community Music School’s Musical Playgroup; the National Police Night out on Aug. 5, a Nashua Goes Back to School event at the library on Thursday, Aug. 21, at 5 p.m. and more. See nashuanh.gov.

New Boston: Whipple Free Library (whipplefreelibrary.org) will hold its summer kickoff with Wildlife Encounters on Monday, June 23, at 6:30 p.m. at the Town Common. In addition to story times, movie nights, teen events and more, the library will hold craft events, such as Build Your Own Pokemon Terrarium on Monday, July 14, at 6 p.m. (registration required).

Catch Concerts on the Common every other Tuesday evening at 6 p.m. at the New Boston Common starting June 24 with the Freese Brothers Big Band, according to newbostonnh.gov/recreation, where you can find the lineup.

Salem: At the Kelley Library (kelleylibrary.org), the summer reading fun starts Monday, June 23. Check back for updates.

Salem is celebrating its 275th anniversary with a series of events all year, including a reenactment of the return of Lafayette on Saturday, June 21, at 2 p.m.; Salem Nights at Hedgehog Park starting Tuesday, July 8; Salembration on Saturday, Aug. 9, and more, according to salemnh.gov/1097/Anniversary-Events-Info.

Windham: Nesmith Library (nesmithlibrary.org) starts the summer celebrations with a Tween School End Celebration on Thursday, June 12, at 6:30 p.m. for grades 5-8. The official Summer Reading Kick-Off featuring mini\golf will be Tuesday, June 24, starting at 4 p.m. (register for a time slot). Other events include Fun Cart Friday (find STEAM-related projects and play from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., June 27 through Aug. 1), a Summer Scavenger Hunt (Monday, June 30, through Saturday, July 5), Wildlife Encounters (Wednesday, July 9, at 10:30 a.m. or 1:30 p.m.; registration required); Meet the Town Vehicles (Wednesday, July 30, 10:30 a.m. to noon), and Magician Mike Bent’s AbraKIDabra (Wednesday, Aug. 6, at 10:30 a.m. or 1:30 p.m.; registration required), as well as a variety of children, tween and teen events.

Windham will hold Concerts on the Common (Emerson Carracedo on Saturday, June 14, at 2 p.m.; Windham Swing Band on Saturday, Aug. 23, at 1 p.m.) and Concerts at Griffin Park (PopRoks on Tuesday, July 15, at 6:30 p.m.; Relative Soul on Thursday, July 24, at 6:30 p.m.) and a Bubble Dance Party in Griffin Park on Thursday, Aug. 7, with the Fire Department, Police Department and Recreation Department followed by a movie (Moana 2) at 8 p.m., according to windham.recdesk.com. Catch an early Independence Day celebration on Wednesday, June 25, at Windham High School with a band, food vendors and fireworks; parking lot opens at 5:30 p.m.

More fun this weekend

This week, we made the whole cover story Kiddie Pool! The Kiddie Pool is our weekly column of kid and family fun. Other events happening this weekend:

On Friday, June 13, at 11:30 a.m., Gibson’s Bookstore (45 S. Main St. in Concord; gibsonsbookstore.com) offers a supersized story time. Four New Hampshire authors will attend with their picture books: David Preece and Jim Webber with Mr. Higgins to the Rescue, Katy Hunt with There’s a Wub in the Tub and Heidi Solomon-Orlick with I Have a Voice: A Book of Listening, according to the website.

At Bookery Manchester (844 Elm St.; bookerymht.com), there are three kid events on the schedule this week. On Thursday, June 12, at 11:30 a.m., the storytime will feature Mickey Davis and her book Noy, The Little Laotian Ambassador, according to the website, where you can reserve your spot. The event is free and geared at kids ages 2 to 10.
On Friday, June 13, from 5 to 7 p.m., the bookstore celebrates the spooky day with a Halfway to Halloween Party for kids (recommended ages 6 to 12). The event will feature games, prizes, a costume contest and more, according to the website, where you can reserve a spot.
And on Saturday, June 14, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. the story will host Scholastic’s nationwide Fire Fanwing Fest for readers of the Wings of Fire series. The event will feature games, activities and giveaways, the website said.

As the “Second Saturday” in June, Saturday, June 14, features free admission for New Hampshire residents to the Currier Museum of Art (150 Ash St. in Manchester; currier.org). The museum is open Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Celebrate Father’s Day — Sunday, June 15 — at Charmingfare Farm (774 High St. in Candia; visitthefarm.com) with free admission, a ride wristband and a meal for dads, according to the website. Fathers accompanied by kids 12 and under can have a complimentary meal at the barbecue party (loaded hamburger or two hot dogs with chips and a drink), the website said. General tickets cost $23 or $29 with a ride wristband, which includes pony ride, horse-drawn ride and a tractor train ride, according to the website, where you can purchase advance admission (required for free father admission).

The Nashua Silver Knights will celebrate Father’s Day after their Sunday, June 15, 3 p.m. game at Holman Stadium (67 Amherst St., Nashua) with post-game catch on the field. See nashuasilverknights.com.

Mountainhead (TV-MA)

Four of the absolute worst (and richest) men in America have a poker weekend at a mountaintop rich-dude compound in Mountainhead, a dark satire that maybe doesn’t know where to go with its joke.

Shortly before the weekend begins, Venis (Cory Michael Smith) and his social media company have released AI and associated Deep Fake-ish tools that are now fueling violence across the world. Jeff (Ramy Youssef) has crafted software that can maybe help tell the real from the fake and doesn’t particularly want to sell it to the untrustworthy, probably psychopathic Venis. Randall (Steve Carell) is, at least at the start of the weekend, the richest of the four men. He is dealing with a difficult health diagnosis and has become obsessed with post-physical-world eternal consciousness tech. And then there’s Jason Schwartzman’s character, referred to occasionally as Superman and sometimes Super — though we eventually learn the nickname is actually Souper, as in Soup Kitchen because, with his merely hundreds of millions instead of billions, he is the “poorest” of the group. Despite the gang’s “no deals” rules for the weekend, his goal is really just to raise money for his new meditation app.

Even at the Utah mountaintop retreat, the men soaking in the pool can occasionally hear gunfire from below and they watch clips of news feeds where, for example, they learn a mob has burned a group of people to death in a community center or that the mayor of Paris has been assassinated. But Venis is convinced it will all be fine, that the violent mobs are mostly doing it for the LOLs and eventually people will learn to be chill. Or maybe he’s just trying to convince himself of this, as his board breathes down his neck and the U.S. president is calling him. Or maybe, the men start to think, the best course of action would be to “coup out” the U.S. and divvy up control of the world between themselves.

With all their bro-y tech speak, their sky-high levels of self-delusion and obvious inability to, like, do things (three of the men attempt a gruesome task with two chickening out entirely and one half-heartedly participating), the four are easy pickings, comedy-wise. I feel like writer/director Jesse Armstrong (series creator of Succession) relished shredding these rich idiots and their specific brand of algorithm-and-venture-capital-based rich idiocy. I also feel like he didn’t entirely know where to go with these goobers in the limited time frame of a movie versus a TV show. The final third of the movie turns into a farcical thought exercise and then just sort of fizzles out. The writing and performances are sharp enough to basically make it work. B Streaming on Max or HBO Max or whatever we’re calling it today.

Deaf President Now! (TV-MA)

Focused on about two weeks of events in February and March 1988 at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., this documentary tells the story of the students who organized a massive protest after learning that a hearing woman was appointed president by the school’s board over two qualified deaf candidates for this university for deaf students. Fast-paced and well-edited, the movie features the student leaders, now middle-age Gen Xers, fondly looking back on their college selves and what they accomplished. The movie is a rousing tale of a group of people demanding visibility. A Streaming on Apple TV.

Fear Street: Prom Queen (R)

The R.L. Stine-inspired teen horror continues with this Shadyside-set 1980s slasher movie homage. Prom Queen feels more like a faithful recreation of a B-movie horror from the time of big hair than a satire. And other than “Sarah Fier lives!” bathroom graffiti and a mention of the 1978 Camp Nightwing massacre, this movie is more adjacent to the 2021 Netflix trilogy of Fear Street movies than a sequel. Here, we have an old-school red-raincoat- and mask-wearing murderer walking toward one prom queen candidate after another and axing them to death. After the first victim, a popular stoner girl, goes missing, the remaining potentials are part of a gang of popular mean girls led by Tiffany Falconer (Fina Strazza), who is sort of Heathering them into accepting her win as inevitable, and Lori Granger (India Fowler), an outcast because her mother was suspected of murdering her father around the time of their prom and who is looking to change her rep. Lori is supported by her buddy Megan (Suzanna Son), a horror-loving proto-goth girl who is fine with her fringe status. Though general creepiness sets in when the first prom queen candidate disappears, it isn’t until prom night that the disappearances really pick up.

And become more gory! Like, so, hilariously, severed-limbily gory in a nearly comic corn-syrup-fountain way. But the movie is so straightforward that even a boy with two hand-less wrists squirting stage blood as he tries to turn a door knob doesn’t register as particularly comic or horror-y. The movie doesn’t do satire or have a take so we’re just watching a straight-down-the-middle slasher where even the red herring potential killers aren’t given much attention. This is particularly strange as one of the side characters, the school’s stern vice principal, is Lili Taylor, which feels like it should be the movie doing a thing, Taylor being of the Yellowjackets-ish Gen-X indie girl all-grown-up variety. But Prom Queen, while perfectly adequate as a slasher, just isn’t doing enough to do anything more. C+ Streaming on Netflix.

Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning (PG-13)

Tom Cruise does awesome stunts with biplanes but you gotta wait through like two hours of movie to get to that in Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning, a movie that is allegedly the finale of this Mission: Impossible series.

In a movie with a smattering of Little Bads, the Big Bad here is the Entity — an AI that “eats truth” and is causing havoc all over the world, which is such an eyeroll of a “yeah, I’ve got that on my phone” thing but this one is attempting to hack into all the world’s nuclear weapons systems and control them so that it, the Entity, can destroy all life on Earth and … something. Throughout the movie I remained murky on the something, the explanation for how nuclear apocalypse benefits the Entity. But whatever the reason, it really wants this. And it has even convinced a few human people that nuclear apocalypse is a cool idea, so occasionally we get an Entity-puppet-person throwing a wrench in some Team Impossible Mission plan.

Nuclear apocalypse, that’s The Entity’s goal. The movie’s goal is to connect many of the various Ethan Hunt (Cruise) missions (i.e. the previous movies) as all sharing a part in the rise of The Entity. So we get a lot of flashbacks here to accompany talk about how this thing he stole in a previous movie provided some building block to the Entity in another movie or how this guy from the first movie is related to this thing now. The good news is that you don’t really have to care about any of this to enjoy the best parts of Final Reckoning. The bad news is that we all this discussion is a slog to get through and I wish we could have just replaced the movie’s first 40 minutes with one of those Star Wars crawls.

The meat of this deal is our familiar team — Ethan, Benji (Simon Pegg), Luther (Ving Rhames), requisite girl Grace (Haley Atwell), villain turned ally Paris (Pom Klementieff) and extra person American good guy Theo (Greg Tarzan Davis) — performing a series of tasks to attempt to stop the Entity before the Entity can blow up the world. President Angela Bassett (her name is Erika; Wikipedia says the character has been in three of these movies) is getting competing advice to either do a preemptive bombing on all the nuclear powers (which wouldn’t seem to solve a single problem but sure) or just unplug her weapons so the Entity can’t control them. (The movie doesn’t, as far as I can remember, address the “just unplug the weapons” element but it did stop me for a moment. Ethan and the team have to travel the world, cheating death multiple times, but also nations could just unplug their weapons? I get that the Entity has sown mistrust and nations of the world have stopped communicating with each other but I mean come on.)

Anyway, our heroes perform a bunch of tasks — and stunts — to stop the Entity, President Angela Bassett and assorted “Madame President, we can’t trust this one rogue agent” types are hanging out in a room with maps and countdown clocks, and then, throughout, assorted troublemakers show up to give the tasks an extra challenge. One of recurring regulars of this sort is Gabriel (Esai Morales), who was in the last movie.

We have here maybe a solid 50 minutes of fun action sequences, including an interesting sequence where Ethan has to fight his way through a sunken submarine that is on a shelf in the ocean, slowly rolling toward an abyss. And we also get the set piece finale with the airplanes, cross-cut of course with a scene of the Team trying to work out various computer-y, wire-y, bomb things. These scenes deliver the feeling of “wheeee!” that I look for in my Missions: Impossible. Tom Cruise with his “my family gets more death benefits if I die in the line of duty” energy doing absolutely crazy stunts that you can tell are, to some degree, not just green screen, is why I buy the ticket.

Unfortunately, this movie is two hours and 49 minutes long and we spend a whole lot of time in the other kinds of scenes, most of which don’t add any of the energy and lightness that is this movie’s hallmark when it’s really humming. There are very assembled-with-duct-tape story elements trying to draw in barely remembered characters or events from earlier in the series. As awesome as Angela Bassett is, there is probably too much time spent with her and her cabinet and their ultimately irrelevant discussions. There are some lesser action scenes that feel like a box of puzzle pieces are just being thrown at you — Hand! Knife! Tom Cruise’s face way too close up!

The Mission Impossible series is one of those franchises when the best movies pare back the story and let the artistry of the stunts shine. The Final Reckoning too often tries to steal its best elements’ spotlight. B- In theaters.

The Wedding Banquet (R)

Friends contemplate a green card marriage in The Wedding Banquet, a remake of the 1993 movie by the same name which was directed by Ang Lee and yet isn’t available on streaming or VOD as far as I can tell? Get on that, some streamer.

Angela (Kelly Marie Tran) and Lee (Lily Gladstone) have run through their savings and possibly most of their credit attempting to conceive via IVF for Lee. Maybe Angela, the younger of the two women, should try next, Lee suggests after the second round doesn’t result in a pregnancy. But this idea gets Angela all knotted up in her difficult relationship with her own mother and parenting fears.

Meanwhile, Korean artist Min (Han Gi-Chin) proposes to his long-term boyfriend Chris (Bowen Yang), who lives in Lee’s garage and is Angela’s longtime friend. But Chris, already reluctant to commit to anything (Min, finishing his dissertation) takes umbrage at the fact that Min’s proposal comes immediately after a conversation with Min’s grandmother Ja-Young (Youn Yuh-jung) where she tells Min there will be no more visa extensions and that it’s time for him to come home to Korea and run his family’s business. Chris loves Min but feels stressed about the prospect of marriage even if it’s the only way to keep Min in the country. Chris also knows that marriage won’t be as easy for Min as he claims; Min’s grandfather will disinherit and cut off the wealthy Min if he finds out Min is gay.

While talking with Lee, Min comes up with a plan b: he’ll give Angela and Lee the money they need for another IVF round if Angela will marry him. Min will get to stay in America, Chris will get more time to figure out where their relationship is going, Min’s grandparents will get to believe that he is married to a woman and Angela and Lee will get a chance at a baby. Even Angela’s mother May (Joan Chen), now a literal PFLAG award winner but once someone who had a hard time with Angela coming out, is willing to just go with the marriage if it means there’s a shot at a grandchild. But can Min convince Ja-Young to let him stay in America (without cutting him off) when she shows up to meet Angela?

The story takes some not entirely unexpected twists, which I won’t spoil but I will say that Ja-Young knows what’s up from the jump and this gives the movie something of a grounding in reality. We don’t have to bother with a bunch of Three’s Company secret-hiding silliness and instead get to spend time with the emotions of this gentle dramady. All the actors here are better than the at times too-pat material but the talents of the core six actors help carry the story off. In a world where actual couple Chris and Min can just legally marry, it could feel like extreme movie logic keeping them from doing so but the emotions of the characters and ultimately the premium they put on family in all its forms help all the movie’s choices make sense. B Available for rent or purchase.

Summer Guide 2025

Fairs, festivals, food, fun and more events to look forward to this season

Summer is here!

OK, maybe it’s more like “summer” is here, that time between Memorial Day weekend and Labor Day weekend, when we’re all in summer mode with our sunglasses and our shorts and our iced coffees and a desire to get out and enjoy the next three-ish months. Looking for some summer fun? Here are some of the big happenings — the festivals, fairs, sporting events and more — to put on your summer calendar.

Fairs and festivals

• The annual Mill Falls Memorial Weekend Craft Festival is happening Saturday, May 24, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sunday, May 25, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Monday, May 26, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Mill Falls Marketplace (312 DW Highway, Meredith). More than 100 New England-based juried artisans will gather to sell their foods and crafts. Admission is free. Visit castleberryfairs.com.

Celebrate Hillsborough, an event by History Alive, will take place Saturday, May 31, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in Hillsborough Center. The day will feature tours, music, activities, demonstrations, student art, workshops and more focused on Hillsborough history, according to historyalivenh.org.

• MakeIt Labs will hold MakeIt Fest 2025 on Saturday, May 31, from noon to 5 p.m. at 25 Crown St. in Nashua. This free outdoor festival will bring together local craftsmen, artists, makers and makerspaces with demonstrations, exhibits and more. See makeitfest.com.

The Northern New England Book Fair, a book and antiques fair with the New Hampshire Antiques Dealers Association, will take place Sunday, June 1, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Everett Arena (15 Loudon Road in Concord). Admission costs $5. Find the book fair on Facebook.

• Anheuser-Busch (221 DW Highway, Merrimack, 595-1202, budweisertours.com) will host the 2nd Annual Fire Truck Pull and Festival on Sunday, June 1, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Teams will work to pull a full-size fire truck and compete on time at this event, which will also include vendors, a car show, food and drinks for sale and more. See budweisertours.com/mmktours.

Milford Pride 2025 will take place Sunday, June 1, from noon to 4 p.m. at Keyes Park (45 Elm St., Milford) and will feature live music, food, vendors and more. See “Milford NH PRIDE” on Facebook.

First Fridays in downtown Concord are an event, with food trucks, live music, pop-ups and more from 4 to 8 p.m. On Friday, June 6, the theme is Beach Party with food trucks Batulo’s Kitchen, Kona Ice and Wicked Tasty and music from DJ Nazzy at City Plaza and The Wandering Souls Band in Bicentennial Square. On Friday, Aug. 1 (there’s no July event), the theme is “Dog Days” with an outdoor movie from Red River Theatres. See firstfridayconcord.com.

• The Goffstown Rotary Club’s Car Show is returning for its 11th year on Saturday, June 7, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Parsons Drive in Goffstown. Check out the classic vehicles along with the food trucks and vendors. See goffstownrotary.org.

• The Children’s Museum of New Hampshire (6 Washington St., Dover, childrens-museum.org) will hold its annual New Hampshire Maker Fest on Saturday, June 7, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Admission is a suggested donation of $5 per person. This family friendly event will showcase the all-ages engineers, arts, scientists, chefs, hobbyists and more and their inventions, experiments and projects, according to the website.

• The Windham Pride Festival will take place Sunday, June 8, from noon to 4 p.m. at Windham High School, according to a post on the Windham DEI Facebook page. This free, family-friendly event will feature live entertainment, food trucks and more, the post said.

• The Aviation Museum of New Hampshire will hold its annual Father’s Day Weekend Fly In Barbecue on Saturday, June 14, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Nashua’s Boire Field, with the event taking place at Nashua Jet Aviation (Nashua Airport, 83 Perimeter Road). Pilots, especially with vintage planes and home-built aircraft, are invited to fly in, according to aviationmuseumofnh.org. The public can come to check out the planes and enjoy the meal. Tickets to the barbecue cost $30 for adults and $10 for ages 6 to 12; kids 5 and under are free, the website said. Check out the planes without the food for $10 per person, kids 5 and under are free, the website said. Purchase tickets at the website or by calling 669-4877.

• This year’s Laconia Motorcycle Week runs from Saturday, June 14, through Sunday, June 22, and will include music, vendors, contests and more around Weirs Beach in Laconia. See laconiamcweek.com.

Plaistow’s Old Home Day returns on Saturday, June 21, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. with a parade and activities on the Town Hall green (145 Main St., Plaistow). See plaistow.com for updates.

• Wilton Main Street Association will hold its annual Summerfest on Saturday, June 21, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. featuring live music on two stages, food, street vendors, a pancake breakfast, a duck drop and a fireworks display in the evening on Carnival Hill. See visitwilton.com/summerfest.

Juneteenth New England, hosted by Black Womxn In New Hampshire Collective, will take place Saturday, June 21, from 1 to 5 p.m. at Crossway Christian Church, 33 Pine St. in Nashua, according to givebutter.com/juneteenthne. “It’s a free community celebration in downtown Nashua honoring Black American culture, history, and joy. The event will feature live performances, cultural exhibits, music, games, and more. Everything is free, including the food, thanks to the support of community members and sponsors,” according to an email from organizers.

• The Nashua Pride Festival and Parade will run Saturday, June 21, from 3 to 6 p.m. The parade will kick off at Nashua City Hall on Main Street and conclude at the festival grounds at the Nashua Public Library, 2 Court St., according to a Facebook post about the event. The festival will feature art, health information, activism, food trucks, music and more, the post said. Find “NashuaPideFestival” on Facebook for more.

• Concord’s annual Market Days Festival runs from Thursday, June 26, to Saturday, June 28, in downtown Concord from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. with local vendors, live entertainment, family-friendly activities, maybe an in-festival wedding on Friday, June 27, and more. Visit marketdaysfestival.com.

Manchester Pride 2025 will take place Saturday, June 28, with the theme “Picture Our Future.” The day will start with a parade on Elm Street at 11 a.m. headed to Veterans Park for a festival that runs from noon to 6 p.m. with entertainment, food, vendors and more, according to a Facebook post from Manchester True Collaborative about the event. See manchestertrue.org/pride-2025.

• The next New England Reptile Expo is scheduled for Sunday, June 29, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the DoubleTree by Hilton Manchester Downtown (700 Elm St., Manchester). The show features more than 200 vendor tables full of reptiles, pet supplies and more. Tickets are $12 for adults, $6 for kids ages 7 to 12 and free for kids ages 6 and under. Visit reptileexpo.com.

• The Hillsborough Summer Festival at Grimes Field (29 Preston St., Hillsborough) takes place Thursday, July 10, to Sunday, July 13, with live entertainment, carnival rides, a fireworks show on Saturday night, a 5K road race on Friday and a parade on Sunday. Festival hours are 6 to 10 p.m. on Thursday; 5 to 11 p.m. on Friday; noon to 11 p.m. on Saturday, and noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday. Admission is free. Visit hillsborosummerfest.com.

The Raymond Town Fair, its 50th according to the group’s Facebook page, will take place Friday, July 11, through Sunday, July 13, at the Raymond Town Common (Epping and Main streets, Raymond). It will feature live music, children’s activities, a fireworks display, games, vendors and more. See “Raymond Town Fair” on Facebook.

• The American Independence Museum (1 Governors Lane, Exeter) will hold its American Independence Festival on Saturday, July 12, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in downtown Exeter. The day will feature the arrival and live reading of the Declaration of Independence, historical reenactments and colonial-era artisan demonstrations as well as colonial-era games, music and dances. Visit independencemuseum.org

For the kids
Got kids to entertain over the many weeks of no school? Be sure to pick up our Kids’ Guide to Summer issue, slated to hit stands on June 12.

• The Aviation Museum of New Hampshire (27 Navigator Road, Londonderry; aviationmuseumofnh.org) will hold its annual Classic Car Show Saturday, July 19, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

• The Stratham 4-H Summerfest returns on Saturday, July 19, at the Stratham Hill Park Fairgrounds (270 Portsmouth Ave., Stratham) from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The event will feature animal shows, agriculture exhibits, competitions and more. See extension.unh.edu/event/2025/07/2025-stratham-4-h-summerfest.

• Organized by the Merrimack Valley Military Vehicle Collectors Club, the Weare Rally will run Thursday, July 24, through Saturday, July 26, at Center Woods School (14 Center Road, Weare). The rally features military vehicle displays, scenic rides, demonstrations, food and more. The cost is $5 per family. See mvmvc.org.

• The Live Free or Die Tattoo Expo runs Friday, July 25, to Sunday, July 27, at the DoubleTree by Hilton Manchester Downtown (700 Elm St., Manchester). The event features tattoo artists, contests, vendors, live music, food and performances. Show hours are from 5 p.m. to midnight on Friday, from 11 a.m. to midnight on Saturday, and from noon to 8 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets cost in advance $20 for a weekend pass ($25 at the door), according to livefreeordietattoo.com.

• The Canterbury Fair is, as always, the last Saturday in July — Saturday, July 26, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Canterbury Center (Baptist and Center roads) with live music, demonstrations from local artisan and antique vendors, children’s activities and more. Admission is free. See canterburyfair.com.

• Find music, art, food, kids activities and more at the Nashua Summer Stroll on Saturday, July 26, from 3 to 8 p.m. in downtown Nashua. Find details and updates on the event’s Facebook page.

• Coppal House Farm (118 N. River Road in Lee; nhsunflower.com) will hold its Sunflower Festival Saturday, July 26, through Sunday, Aug. 3, 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. daily plus sunrise hours on Sunday, July 27, from 5:30 to 7 a.m. The festival also features kid events, a craft fair, music, food and more. See the website for information on tickets and happenings on specific days.

• The Suncook Valley Rotary’s Hot Air Balloon Rally will be held Friday, Aug. 1, through Sunday, Aug. 3 at Drake Field, Barnstead Road in Pittsfield. See nhballoonrally.org for updates on this year’s schedule.

• The Belknap County Fair is set to return on Saturday, Aug. 2, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and on Sunday, Aug. 3, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 174 Mile Hill Road in Belmont. Admission at the gate is $10 for adults, $5 for senior citizens 65 and older, police, fire and EMS personnel, and free for kids under 10 and for military service members. Visit bcfairnh.org.

• The New Hampshire Antiques Show, hosted by the New Hampshire Antique Dealers Association, returns to the DoubleTree by Hilton Manchester Downtown (700 Elm St., Manchester) Thursday, Aug. 7, through Saturday, Aug. 9. Nearly 60 professional antique dealers will exhibit their collections of antique furniture, art, jewelry and more. Show hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday and Friday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday. Tickets are $15 on Thursday, and $10 on Friday and Saturday; return visits are free. Visit nhada.org.

Hudson’s Old Home Days will take place Thursday, Aug. 7, to Sunday, Aug. 10, on the grounds of the Hill House (211 Derry Road, Hudson). There will be carnival games, live music, food, vendors, a craft fair, kids’ activities and more. Event times are Thursday from 5 to 10 p.m., Friday from 5 to 11 p.m., Saturday from noon to 11 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. See hudsonoldhomedays.com.

The Sunflower Bloom Festival will take place Saturday, Aug. 9, through Sunday, Aug. 17, at Sunfox Farm on Gully Hill Road in Concord, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m daily. Visit the farm (admission costs $12 per person, ages 10 and under are free). Also at the farm find artisan and craft vendors, live music and food trucks, according to sunfoxfarm.org/sunflowerfestival.

Salembration!, a celebration of the 275th birthday of Salem, New Hampshire, will take place on Geremonty Drive on Saturday, Aug. 9, from noon to 5 p.m. The event will feature food trucks, craft vendors and more, according to salemnh.gov/1096/salembration, and take place in conjunction with Field of Dreams’ annual Family Fun Day.

• The Hampton Beach Comedy Festival will run Tuesday, Aug. 12, through Sunday, Aug. 17; check hampton-beach-comedy-festival.weebly.com later in the summer for tickets and details on the slate of comedians each night. According to the website, founder Jimmy Dunn won’t be at this year’s festival but you can catch him Friday, Aug. 1, at the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom, where he will appear on a bill with Jimmy Cash.

Summer of laughs
Looking for comedy this summer? Check out the Comedy This Week listings this week and every week in the Nite section for comedy shows at venues big and small.

Londonderry’s Old Home Days are scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 13, to Saturday, Aug. 16. See londonderrynh.gov for updates on details.

• The Aviation Museum of New Hampshire (27 Navigator Road, Londonderry; aviationmuseumofnh.org) will hold Planefest on Saturday, Aug. 16, featuring an exhibit about the Tuskegee Airmen and the World War II-era Woman’s Army Service Pilots, known as the WASPs.

History Alive 2025 will present a weekend of reenactments on Saturday, Aug. 16, and Sunday, Aug. 17, at Jones Road in Hillsborough. The weekend will feature reenactments of historical battles across the centuries — including Roman and Viking battles, the French and Indian War, the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, World War I and World War II, according to historyalivenh.org. The event will also feature other historical demonstrations as well as drawing and cartooning workshops with Marek Bennett, whose works include the Freeman Colby graphic novels about a real-life New Hampshire teacher in the Civil War. See the website for details and a schedule. Tickets cost $10 per adult, $8 for seniors and are free for kids 16 and under, the website said.

Candia’s Old Home Day will take place on Saturday, Aug. 23, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Moore Park (74 High St., Candia). The day will feature local crafters and artisans, town community booths, games, a wildlife exhibit, food and music. See candiaoldhomeday.com.

Pembroke and Allenstown’s Old Home Day returns on Saturday, Aug. 23, starting with a parade down Main Street in Allenstown to Memorial Field (Exchange Street) in Pembroke. A fun-filled day is planned at the field, featuring two stages of live entertainment, antique cars, children’s games, a craft area, bounce houses and a fireworks display at dusk. Admission and parking are free. See pembrokeallenstownoldhomeday.org.

• The Hopkinton State Fair bills itself as a Labor Day weekend tradition happening this year from Thursday, Aug. 28, to Monday, Sept. 1, at the fairgrounds (392 Kearsarge Ave., Contoocook). There will be livestock shows, a demolition derby, carnival rides, monster trucks, live entertainment, food and more. The fair hours are 5 to 10 p.m. on Thursday; 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday. See hsfair.org.

Cruising Downtown will return to the streets of downtown Manchester for a 23rd year on Saturday, Aug. 30, organized by the Manchester Rotary Club. The day will feature cars on display, along with food, live demonstrations, local vendors and live entertainment. Admission is free for spectators. Visit cruisingdowntownmanchester.com.

• The Exeter UFO Festival returns to downtown Exeter on Saturday, Aug. 30, and Sunday, Aug. 31 — the event commemorates the anniversary of the “Incident at Exeter” (the report of a UFO sighting on Sept. 3, 1965, in nearby Kingston) with speakers, kids events and more. See exeterufofestival.org.

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Arts Events

• Watch the four sculptors participating in this year’s Nashua International Sculpture Symposium at work on their pieces at Picker Artists (3 Pine St. in Nashua), where they are working Mondays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Wednesday, May 28, according to nashuasculpturesymposium.org. The pieces, which will become part of Nashua’s townwide exhibit of sculptures, will be unveiled in their installation locations on Saturday, May 31, at 1 p.m.

Meet the Local Authors on Saturday, May 24, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Manchester Craft Market (inside the Mall of New Hampshire, 1500 S. Willow St., Manchester). About a dozen writers are slated to attend this supersized book signing, according to a Facebook post on the Market’s page about the event. Signed books will be available for purchase, including children’s books, New Hampshire history books, mysteries and more. See manchestercraftmarket.com.

• After a Saturday of tap workshops, the Aaron Tolson Institute of Dance’s Grante State Tap Festival will present a National Tap Dance Day Show on Sunday, May 25, at 4 p.m. at the Dana Center (Saint Anselm College in Manchester; tickets.anselm.edu). Tickets cost $29.50.

Art on display
Find art exhibits at area galleries and museums throughout the summer in our art listings, which appear weekly in the Arts section.

• Catch the Concord Arts Market this summer — Art in the Park, featuring 65+ artists and their works in Rollins Park in Concord from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., will take place Saturday, June 7; Saturday, July 12, and Saturday, Aug. 9. Concord Arts Market will also appear at the Market Days Festival Thursday, June 26, through Saturday, June 28, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Pleasant Street in Concord. See concordartsmarket.org.

• The Currier Museum of Art and the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire celebrate Juneteenth with a program called “Never Caught: The Defiant Journey of Ona Marie Judge Staines” that brings Ona’s voice to life on Thursday, June 12, at 5:30 p.m. at the museum (150 Ash St., Manchester, 669-6144, currier.org) through a dramatic reading of her 1845 interview, originally published in The Granite Freeman, featuring New Hampshire actress Sandi Clarke Kaddy as Ona Judge. Following the performance, Dr. Erica Armstrong Dunbar, author of the Pulitzer Prize finalist Never Caught: The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge, will discuss Ona’s story. Admission is free but space is limited; reserve a spot at blackheritagetrailnh.org or by calling 570-8469.

• If you’re heading to the beach, check out the craftspeople at the 25th Annual Hampton Beach Master Sand Sculpting Classic, which will run Thursday, June 12, through Saturday, June 14, with the sculptures, lit up at night, on view through Monday, June 23. There will be a fireworks display on Saturday, June 14, at 9:30 p.m. See hamptonbeach.org.

• The Currier Museum of Art (150 Ash St. in Manchester; currier.org) will hold a Juneteenth Art Off the Walls on Thursday, June 19, from 5 to 8 p.m., when admission is donation based. The evening will feature music, dance, art-making and more in partnership with the Racial Unity Team, according to an email from the museum. Other Art Off the Walls programs will be held this summer on July 17 and Aug. 21.

• The 2025 Manchester International Film Festival is set for Thursday, July 24, and Friday, July 25, at the Rex Theatre (23 Amherst St. in Manchester). For tickets and an up-to-date schedule of events, see palacetheatre.org/film.

Uncommon Art on the Common takes place on Saturday, Aug. 2, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Main Street in downtown Goffstown. Find participating artists and more at goffstownuncommonarts.org.

• Positive Street Arts will present OBSCURE Runway Show on Sunday, Aug. 3, at 1 p.m. (rescheduled from April). The show “represents a convergence of creativity and innovation, bringing together local artists, designers, and boutiques in a spectacular showcase. … Through the fusion of art and fashion, Positive Street Art strives to create a platform where diverse creatives can collaborate and showcase their unique perspectives,” according to a Positive Street Arts post about the event. General admission tickets cost $45. See positivestreetart.org; find Positive Street Arts on Facebook for a link to purchase tickets.

• The Greeley Park Art Show (100 Concord St., Nashua) returns on Saturday, Aug. 16, and Sunday, Aug. 17, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days. The annual outdoor juried art show hosted by Nashua Area Artists Association features a variety of artwork for sale. Visit nashuaarts.org/greeleyparkartshow.

• The League of New Hampshire Craftsmen will hold the 91st Annual Craftsmen’s Fair at Mount Sunapee Resort (1398 Route 103, Newbury) Saturday, Aug. 2, through Sunday, Aug. 10. It will feature the juried work of hundreds of members with sales booths, educational workshops, demonstrations and exhibitions. See nhcrafts.org/annual-craftsmens-fair.

• Arts Build Community will hold its Community Canvas Mural Festival Thursday, Aug. 7, through Sunday, Aug. 17, in downtown Manchester, according to a press release. Participating artists and installation sites will be announced in July, the release said. The event will include 10 large-scale murals as well as artist talks, youth paint days, storytelling events, mural tours and a block party, the release said. See artsbuildcommunity.com.

Summer theater
Find information about summer theater in our May 15 issue. Go to hippopress.com and look for the issue in our digital library. The guide to summer theater starts on page 10.

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Spectator Sports

• The games continue for the New Hampshire Fisher Cats at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium in downtown Manchester. The team began a stretch of games against the Somerset Patriots this week, with games Thursday, May 22, at 6:35 p.m. (when the Cats play as Gatos Feroces de New Hampshire); Friday, May 23, at 6:35 p.m.; Saturday, May 24, at 4:05 p.m. and Sunday, May 25, at 1:35 p.m. The next stretch of games starts Tuesday, June 3, against the Altoona Curve. Regular season games continue, with the final home game on Sunday, Sept. 14. See milb.com/new-hampshire for the game schedule, tickets and promotions.

• The Nashua Silver Knights, members of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League, will host their home opener at Holman Stadium (67 Amherst St., Nashua) on Wednesday, May 28, against the Worcester Bravehearts at 10:30 a.m. followed by a game Friday, May 30, at 6 p.m. against the Vermont Lake Monsters with after-game fireworks. Their last home game of the regular season will be on Friday, Aug. 9, at 6 p.m. against Vermont. See nashuasilverknights.com.

• The next home bout for NH Roller Derby at JFK Memorial Coliseum (303 Beech St. in Manchester) is Saturday, May 31, at 4 p.m. when the NH Roller Derby All-Stars take on Maine Roller Derby’s Old Port Brigade; at 6 p.m., the NH Roller Derby Cherry Bombs take on Mass Attack Roller Derby’s Bloody Bordens. Doors open at 3:30 p.m.; tickets are sold at the door: $15 for adults, $5 for veterans and NHRD vets, kids 12 and under get in for free. Future home bouts are Saturday, June 21, and Saturday, July 19. See nhrollerderby.com for updates.

• Join Special Olympics New Hampshire for its 2025 State Summer Games, the organization’s largest competition of the year for its athletes, on Friday, June 6, and Saturday, June 7, at the University of New Hampshire (105 Main St., Durham). The games include competition in athletics, bocce, equestrian, powerlifting, unified sprint triathlons and swimming. Visit sonh.org.

Granite State Roller Derby has home bouts scheduled for Saturday, June 7, and Saturday, June 28, both at 6 p.m. and held at the Everett Arena (15 Loudon Road in Concord). See granitestaterollerderby.org.

• The 2025 New Hampshire Soap Box Derby Local Championship will be held on Sunday, June 8, at 120 Broadway in Dover — check-ins begin at 7:45 a.m., with side-by-side competitions starting at 10 a.m. Spectators can cheer on the races for free. See nh.soapboxderby.org.

• The 102nd annual Loudon Classic Middleweight Grand Prix, a 1.6-mile road race, will take place at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (1122 Route 106, Louon) on Saturday, June 14, as part of Laconia Motorcycle Week. See nhms.com.

• High school football players from across the state will participate in the 13th annual NH East-West High School All-Star Football Game, benefiting Dartmouth Health Children’s and the Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, scheduled for Friday, June 27, at 6 p.m. at Grappone Stadium at Saint Anselm College (100 Saint Anselm Drive, Manchester). General admission tickets are $15 in advance, $20 on the day. Kids 5 and under get in for free. See chadkids.org.

• New Hampshire Muscle Cars club will be hosting its Summer Sizzler car show on Saturday, Aug. 23, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Star Speed way (176 Exeter Road in Epping). It will include burnout competitions as well as slalom competitions. See nhmusclecars.com.

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Nature Events

• The Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire and the New Hampshire Audubon are offering a Black Birders Week 2025 Tour on Saturday, May 31, from 9 to 11 a.m. in Portsmouth. The tour will start at the Black Heritage Trail’s office and head through gardens ending at the water, according to nhaudubon.org, where you can register for a spot. Registration costs $20.

• Sunday, June 1, is World Ocean Day and the Seacoast Science Center at Odiorne Point State Park in Rye is celebrating from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. with touch tanks, tide pool tours, activity stations, an inflatable whale, a beach clean-up and more, according to seacoastsciencecenter.org, where you can purchase tickets for the event.

• New Hampshire Audubon’s Massabesic Center (26 Audubon Way in Auburn; nhaudubon.org) will hold free Massabesic Garden Tours throughout the summer: Tuesday, June 3, at 5:30 to 7 p.m.; Saturday, June 14, 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.; Saturday, Aug. 16, 10 to 11:30 a.m., and Tuesday, Aug. 26, 5:30 to 7 p.m. RSVP online.

Summer reads
Meet your favorite authors at author readings and other events this summer. Find listings of author events, book sales and more literary fun this week and every week in the Books section.

• Saturday, June 7, is New Hampshire Fish and Game’s summer Free Fishing Day, when state residents and nonresidents are allowed to fish any inland water or saltwater in New Hampshire without a fishing license. Visit wildlife.state.nh.us.

• Southeast Land Trust of New Hampshire will celebrate National Trails Day by maintaining the trails at Stonehouse Forest in Barrington on Saturday, June 7, from 9 a.m. to noon. Register to participate at seltnh.org.

• The New Hampshire Audubon will hold its annual Native Plant and Craft Sale on Saturday, June 7, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the McLean Center (84 Silk Farm Road in Concord). The event will also include the sale of fresh flower bouquets, a fair featuring more than 15 local artisans, the pizza-serving Greenhouse Food Truck, music from Junk Drawer, guided tours of the gardens, animal ambassadors and more. See nhaudubon.org.

• If you enjoy watching the peregrine falcons and their chicks at the Brady Sullivan Tower in downtown Manchester (you can view them in three different live streams via nhaudubon.org/education/birds-and-birding/peregrine-cam) you can learn more about them at a falcon fan meet and greet (for humans) and supply- and fund-raiser for Wings of the Dawn Rescue & Rehab on Saturday, June 21, at 10 a.m. at the Brady Sullivan Tower, according to the daily log. Keep an eye on the cams for falcon updates and to see the daily log.

• The New Hampshire Audubon Nature Challenge will run Sunday, June 22, through Saturday, June 28, when participants can help to “document the birds, mammals, insects, reptiles, amphibians, flowers, trees, mosses, mushrooms, and everything that either stops at our sanctuaries or calls [the NH Audubon’s wildlife sanctuaries] home!” according to nhaudubon.org, where you can see the list of sanctuaries and get more information about how to participate.

• New Hampshire Audubon’s Massabesic Center (26 Audubon Way in Auburn; nhaudubon.org) will hold an Art Walk in the Garden event on Saturday, July 12, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. with a guided tour with the garden team from 1 to 2:30 p.m. (register online for the tour). The event will showcase the newly installed All Persons Trail in the Center’s gardens and sanctuary fields, according to the website. Original, local artworks will be placed through the gardens, with some piece available for purchase, the website said. Greenhouse Pizza Truck will be on site selling lunch and there will be an indoor art exhibit as well, the website said. Register on the site by July 5 for free transportation to the center from Veterans Park in Manchester.

• At the Harris Conservation Center for Conservation Education in Hancock, the SuperSanctuary Butterfly Club will hold a Butterfly Count on Saturday, July 19, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Register to help with the survey, whose information will be submitted to the North American Butterfly Association and the New Hampshire Butterfly Monitoring Network. See harriscenter.org.

• The New Hampshire Audubon’s McLane Center (84 Silk Farm Road in Concord; nhaudubon.org) will serve as the home base for the NH Butterfly Monitoring Network Capital Region Butterfly Count on Saturday, July 26, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Participants can register online to receive more information about the locations in the Concord area that will be part of the count, according to the website.

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Music Festivals

• The New Hampshire Gay Men’s Chorus spring concert series “Celebrations” will be performed at four locations: the Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church (22 Fox Run Road in Newington) on Saturday, May 31, at 7 p.m.; The Rex Theatre (23 Amherst St. in Manchester) on Sunday, June 1, at 3 p.m.; First Baptist Church of Nashua (121 Manchester St. in Nashua) on Saturday, June 7, at 7 p.m., and the BNH Stage (16 S. Main St. in Concord) on Sunday, June 8, at 3 p.m. See nhgmc.com/tickets for links to tickets at each venue.

• The Northlands Music and Arts Festival will offer three days of music this year — Friday, June 13, and Sunday, June 15, at the Cheshire Fairground in Swanzey, plus music on Thursday as fans show up at the campground. Headliners include The String Cheese Incident on Friday; Cory Wong and Moe. on Saturday, and Umphrey’s McGee and Lotus on Sunday. Food vendors will be at both the concert and the campground as will arts and craft vendors. The weekend will also feature kids’ activities, wellness activities and more. See northlandslive.com for festival, camping and parking passes as well as for the complete music lineup.

• The “Country by the Coast” Country Music Festival takes place Tuesday, July 8, through Thursday, July 10, with music and line-dancing (with Nashville Line Dance at 6 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday and 5 p.m. on Thursday) each evening. The music line-up includes Red Solo Cup (Toby Keith tribute) on July 8 at 7 p.m.; Stefanie Jasmine Band on July 9 at 7 p.m., and David J. followed by Niko Moon on July 10 starting at 7 p.m., according to hamptonbeach.org. All shows are free.

Brews & Blues ’25 will feature music from noon to 7 p.m. on Saturday, July 19, including Clandestine Funk, Johnny A. & James Montgomery Band at Anheuser-Busch, (221 DW Highway, Merrimack, 595-1202, budweisertours.com). Tickets to this 21+ event cost $35.

Summer of concerts
Michael Witthaus is cooking up a big guide to summer concerts. Look for that issue in June.

Hillfest 2025, billed as “New England’s Christian Music Festival,” will take place Saturday, July 19, from 1 to 10:30 p.m. at The Lord’s Valley, 100 Locke Road in New Ipswich. The line-up includes Jeremy Camp, We Are Messengers, Ben Fuller, Terrian, Leanna Crawford and Megan Woods. See hillfestevents.com.

Pizzastock 9, a family community music event featuring 13 music acts on two stages as well as information on mental health, physical health and suicide prevention, will take place on Saturday, July 26, from noon to 6 p.m. at Pinkerton Academy in Derry next to the football field, according to a post on the Jason R. Flood Memorial Facebook page. The event will also feature kid activities, a teen/young adult “tailgate” game area, food trucks and of course pizza from Kendall Pond Pizza, the post said. Entrance to the event is free. See pizzastock.org or find them on Facebook.

• The Granite State Blues Festival will take place Saturday, Aug. 2, in Veterans Memorial Park on Elm Street in downtown Manchester from noon to 6 p.m. See granitestateblues.org for details.

• The Outlaw Music Festival will come to the Bank NH Pavillion in Gilford on Sunday, Aug. 3, at 3:45 p.m. featuring Willie Nelson & Family, Bob Dylan, Wilco, Lucinda Williams and Waylon Payne. Other Brother Darryl plays on the Hazy Little Stage at 3 p.m. See banknhpavilion.com.

• The New Hampshire Irish Festival is slated for Saturday, Aug. 23, at 5 p.m. at the Palace Theatre (80 Hanover St. in Manchester; palacetheatre.org). The line-up on stage is scheduled to include The Spain Brothers, Ronan Tynan, Screaming Orphans, Mick McAuley and Eileen Ivers, according to the website, where tickets starting at $43 are on sale now.

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Food Events

• The Friends of the Library of Windham will hold their 40th annual Strawberry Festival and Book Fair on Saturday, May 31, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Windham High School (64 London Bridge Road, Windham). The festival will feature homemade strawberry shortcake, live music, raffles, local vendors and games. The Book Fair will start with a preview day for Friends members, teachers and seniors at Nesmith Library on Wednesday, May 28, and then open to the public Thursday, May 29, from 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m and Friday, May 30, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. On Saturday the book fair will move to the high school from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with a $5 bag of books special from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Visit flowwindham.org.

• Tickets are on sale now for the Palace Theatre’s Kitchen Tour on Sunday, June 1. The tour will run from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and feature a self-guided tour at kitchens in Amherst, Bedford, Hollis and Manchester, with a lunch offered at Baron’s Major Brands in Manchester. Tickets cost $55 in advance, $65 on the day. See palacetheatre.org.

Herb & Garden Day, presented by the New Hampshire Herbal Network, returns to the Mount Kearsarge Indian Museum (18 Highlawn Road, Warner) on Saturday, June 7, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The event features workshops tailored to all skill levels, along with plant walks, an herbal market and plant sale, food vendors and more. Admission is $35 in advance. Visit nhherbalnetwork.org/herbday.

• The Rhubarb Festival at Sawyer Memorial Park (148 Route 202 in Bennington) will take place Saturday, June 7, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The day will feature rhubarb eats as well as food trucks, a craft fair, vendors, children’s activities, a petting zoo, a story walk, music, plants and more, according to townofbennington.com/rhubarb-festival.

• The 97.5 WOKQ Chowder Festival Summer Kick-Off takes place Saturday, June 7, 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Prescott Park in Portsmouth. Tickets cost $20 per person. See prescottpark.org/event/97-5-wokq-chowder-festival-2025.

The New Hampshire Bacon & Beer Festival will take place Saturday, June 7, 1:30 to 5 p.m. at Anheuser-Busch (221 DW Highway, Merrimack, 595-1202, budweisertours.com). This 21+ event will feature 60+ brewers as well as barbecue and bacon vendors as well as live music by The Slakas, according to nhbaconbeer.com. Attendees will get beer and bacon samples and can purchase additional items, the website said. General admission tickets cost $70.90 in advance.

• The St. Nicholas Greek Festival will return on Friday, June 20, and Saturday, June 21, from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. both days, at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church (40 Andrew Jarvis Drive, Portsmouth, 436-2733). This year’s Greek Festival will feature fresh lamb, moussaka, spanakopita (spinach pie), gyros and Greek pastry. Visit stnicholasgreekfestival.com.

• The Hollis Strawberry Festival, presented by the Hollis Woman’s Club, will bring strawberry shortcake and other strawberry treats to the Town Common (7 Monument Square, Hollis) on Sunday, June 22, from 2 to 4 p.m. Visit holliswomansclub.org.

• The NH Beer Trail Basecamp Festival on Saturday, June 28, from 1 to 4 p.m. at Tuckerman Brewing in Conway is a new event from the New Hampshire Brewers Association and a kickoff to the relaunched NH Beer Trail Guidebook, according to nhbrewers.org. The event will feature nearly 40 New Hampshire craft breweries, live music, food trucks, local vendors and more, according to the website, where you can buy general admission tickets for $50 each, VIP tickets (with a noon admission time) for $75 and designated driver tickets for $20 each.

Farm-a-Q, a celebration of local farmers, chefs and brewers,returns to Tuckaway Farm (36 Captain Smith Emerson Road, Lee) on Sunday, June 29, from noon to 5 p.m. Tickets start at $20. The event is billed as family-friendly and supports the Heritage Harvest Project, whose mission is to promote regional heritage foods and agricultural diversity among farmers, chefs and local communities. See “Farm-a-Q” on Eventbrite to purchase tickets.

• The Spicy Shark presents the New England Hot Sauce Fest, returning to Smuttynose Brewing Co. (105 Towle Farm Road, Hampton) on Saturday, July 26, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The event features local hot sauce companies selling and offering samples of their spicy products, as well as with bounce houses, food trucks and more. General admission tickets are $15 in advance; VIP tickets are $20 in advance and give you a 10 a.m. admission time. Proceeds will benefit the Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation and the Seacoast Science Center, according to newenglandhotsaucefest.com.

Southern New Hampshire Food Truck Festival will take place on Saturday, Aug. 2, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, Aug. 3, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the Hampshire Dome (34 Emerson Road in Milford). Tickets cost $8 each or two for $15; kids age 14 and under get in free. The fest will feature live music, craft beer and cocktails, more than 50 vendors, a whoopie pie eating contest and a kids’ zone, according to a post at facebook.com/GreatNEFoodTruckFest.

• The Mahrajan Middle Eastern Food Festival (bestfestnh.com) will take place Friday, Aug. 15, to Sunday, Aug. 17, at Our Lady of the Cedars Church (140 Mitchell St., Manchester, 623-8944, olocnh.org). Lebanese foods such as shawarma, falafel, lamb, grilled chicken and many types of pastries will be served. The fest will be open from 5 to 10 p.m. on Friday, noon to 10 p.m. on Saturday and 1 to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

• Assumption Greek Orthodox Church (111 Island Pond Road, Manchester, 623- 2045, assumptionnh.org) will hold its 2025 Greekfest on Saturday, Aug. 23, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sunday, Aug. 24, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Visit the Church’s website for more information closer to the event.

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Another Simple Favor (R)

Mom-frienemies played by Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively reunite in Another Simple Favor, a sequel to the 2018 movie that lives in a more darkly fantastical world.

Stephanie (Kendrick), mommy vlogger, true crime lady and author, is shocked to see Emily (Blake Lively), the mysterious mom who faked her own death (among other crimes) in the first movie, return after years in prison. When Emily asks Stephanie to be her maid of honor for her upcoming wedding in Capri, Stephanie is pretty sure chic Emily is just taking her to a foreign country to make it easier to get away with revenge-murdering her. But Emily pleads/threatens a lawsuit and Stephanie’s book agent (Alex Newell) says this is excellent sequel material, so Stephanie agrees to go.

Emily’s Italian wedding is as fashion-forward and drama-filled as expected: fiance Danté (Michele Morrone) is the sexy and wealthy scion of a mob family whose rivals he is trying to make peace with at his wedding; Dante’s mother (Elena Sofia Ricci) hates Emily and brings in Emily’s unhinged mother (Elizabeth Perkins) and Emily’s odd aunt Linda (Allison Janney) to needle her; Emily’s ex-husband (Henry Golding) deals with court orders to bring her son Nicky (Ian Ho) to the wedding by staying very drunk, and Stephanie is pretty sure every drink Emily hands her is potentially poisoned. And all of that is before the first person is murdered at this multi-murder affair.

Like the massive sun hat or feather boa robe that Lively’s character sports in this movie, Another Simple Favor isn’t subtle. This is a movie with telenovela-worthy plot points and dramatic ridiculousness but just enough pleasant tartness in the friendship/enemyship of Emily and Stephanie to make the whole thing feel frothy and fun without tipping over into too-much-ness territory. Kendrick does allow us to believe that her character has grown in the ensuing years and Lively is, as always, perfect for this grown-up Gossip Girl-ness. B Streaming on Prime Video.

Drop (PG-13)

A woman on a first date — a first date after years of an abusive marriage and the aftermath as a single mom — finds herself terrorized by an anonymous person via her phone’s AirDrop-like feature in Drop, a well-paced, tense horror-suspense movie.

In the movie’s opening scene, we see Violet (Meghann Fahy) crawl to get away from her violent husband. Years later, she is a therapist, is raising her son Toby (Jacob Robinson) and is preparing for a first date with Henry (Brandon Sklenar). Her sister Jen (Violett Beane) comes over to watch Toby and to suggest Violet change out of her office-blouse attire and into something zazzier for the date. Violet arrives at the fancy restaurant on the top floor of a skyscraper and has interactions with assorted people as she waits for Henry at the bar. Around the time he arrives, she starts to receive “dropped” notifications (but not “AirDropped”; this movie gives its feature a non-Apple-tech name). She ignores a few and then she and Henry break the ice by trying to figure out who in the restaurant may be sending them. But the increasingly insistent messages tell her to check her home security cams, where she sees a masked figure menace her family. The messages tell her not to involve Henry or anyone else and to follow its directions to keep her family members alive.

Drop does a good job of showing us Violet’s state of fear and aloneness, one that recalls the way she felt in her previous abusive relationship. It also gives us a relatively realistic, non-superhero woman trying to figure out how to save her kid and all the others the messenger threatens with the limited resources she has. Drop is tense and well-paced. B Available for rent or purchase.

Nonnas (PG)

Vince Vaughn dials down the Vince-Vaughn-ness to play Joe Scaravella, a man who opens a restaurant dedicated to preserving the art of grandma cuisine, in Nonnas, a Netflix movie based on a real guy and his real grandma-centric restaurant in Staten Island.

After the death of his mother, Joe (Vaughn) decides to take the insurance money and use it to open Enoteca Maria, a restaurant that will attempt to recreate the food and the vibes of his mom’s and grandma’s Italian cooking. He hires as his cooks grandmas and women of grandma age — pastry and dessert maker Gia (Susan Sarandon), former nun Teresa (Talia Shire) and two grandmas with differing opinions about from whence hails the best Italian cuisine, the Sicilian Roberta (Lorraine Bracco) and the Bolognese Antonella (Brenda Vaccaro). Making the restaurant happen requires the assistance of childhood friend Bruno (Joe Manganiello) and Bruno’s wife Stella (Drea de Matteo). Desperate to keep this part of his mother’s memory alive, Joe pours all his time and money into trying to get the restaurant to work — though he does have a little energy left over to try to rekindle a relationship with decades-ago prom date Olivia (Linda Cardellini).

But the rom is pretty light in this movie that is mostly about the comedy of being a guy with no experience opening a restaurant with very opinionated Italian-American ladies. The titular nonnas and the food they make is the real focus here and the movie does a serviceable job of giving the ladies (and loads of hunger-inducing dishes) a chance to shine. C+ Streaming on Netflix.

A Working Man (R)

Jason Statham is a working man in A Working Man, a movie that is basically “what if Taken but The Beekeeper.”

This movie isn’t quite as good as either of those, but it’s pretty solid for when you want some smooth brain Jason Statham nonsense where he is basically playing, straight-faced, his “this arm has been ripped out completely and reattached with this arm” character from Spy. Levon Cade (Statham) is a construction worker but he was a super skilled commando guy in the British military. His employers — Joe Garcia (Michael Peña) and wife Carla (Noemi Gonzalez) — and workers alike admire and trust him and, a girl-dad himself, Levon promises college-age Garcia daughter Jenny (Arianna Rivas) that he’ll always have her back. So naturally, during a night out with friends, Jenny goes missing. Joe begs Levon to find Jenny. With some burrowed weaponry and information help from Army buddies, Levon sets out to find her.

Ultimately the bad guys Levon must fight, moving up the echelons in the Bad Guy corporate structure, are Russian mafia types. Well, “Russian” in the sense that maybe the movie doesn’t know the difference between “Russians” and “vampires.” If you told me that actually all the bad guys, particularly the head don with a silver skull on the top of his cane, were vampires, it would track and still work — like it’s always night? And the menace is very theatrical? Jenny also proves herself to be no slouch in the kidnapping victim department — always with a plan to outwit her captors and a sassy comeback when she can’t.

This movie is fine and fun — not as “yippee!” stupid fun as Statham’s The Beekeeper but still dumb, still a good time, still full of violence that straddles the line between “ha!” and “that’s not really how physics works.” B Available for rent and purchase.

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