Author: John Fladd

Concord’s First Fridays kick off another season

Beginning Friday, May 1, Main Street in Concord will host a celebration on the first Friday of every month until November.

“Except July,” Berit Brown said. “We’re skipping July, because the first Friday falls right on the Fourth of July, and that would be a little too intense.”

Brown is the events and marketing manager for InTown Concord, the nonprofit organization that sponsors First Friday events as well as other celebrations, like Concord’s Winter Festival, Market Days, Halloween Howl and a holiday celebration in December called Midnight Merriment. First Fridays feature live entertainment and special activities, and downtown businesses stay open until 8 p.m. Art galleries open late with special viewings, wine and cheese, and so on. And, of course, there are food trucks.

Brown said food trucks are a natural fit for First Fridays.

“It’s a good way for somebody to kind of try out their food truck idea,” she said. “They can test out menu items and see what people respond to the best and do it on a much lower budget than opening a brick and mortar restaurant. For a lot of the food trucks that we work with, [First Fridays] are their first forays into selling their food. A lot of their stories are pretty similar. They tell us that family members and friends have always said that they’re good cooks and then they end up opening a food truck. For a lot of them First Fridays in Concord are their first ever food truck experience.”

The food trucks offer the public a variety of types of food to choose from on any given First Friday, Brown said.

“It’s definitely a nice vibe while you’re waiting for your food. You’re able to listen to live music on City Plaza. We’ve actually expanded the number of food trucks,” she said. “Last year we were doing two per event, and this time our goal is to have three to four per First Friday. We’ve definitely opened it up a little bit more and we’ve also tried to find a balance between sweet and savory foods. So you can get a cupcake or a brownie, and you can also get a hot dog or a hamburger.”

“We have a new vendor this year who’s coming in November and they are a gluten-free food truck,” she said. “We have Teenie Wienies, who serve sausage sandwiches. I love their food. They’re fantastic. They have the largest sausage sandwiches you’ve ever seen. This year they’re actually coming to the October First Friday, so they’ll be serving Oktoberfest-inspired sandwiches. I think some of the first events that they ever did were at our First Fridays and they kind of were able to troubleshoot and see how much sausage they needed to bring to different events. And now they’re permanently stationed at one of the breweries around town.” See page 22 for a look at the music planned for First Fridays.

First Friday
The first First Friday of 2026 will take place along Main Street in Concord on Friday, May 1, from 4 to 8 p.m. The theme will be “Petals and Pedals.” The food trucks will be Carly’s Kitchen (a mobile bakery), New Hampshah’s Mini Donuts, and Stacy’s Grill, which will serve hamburgers, hot dogs and other grilled favorites. Visit firstfridayconcord.com/may.

Featured photo: Photo courtesy of Teenie Wienies food truck.

The Vegan Chef Challenge returns to Manchester

During the month of May a number of Manchester restaurants will compete in the 2026 Vegan Chef Challenge. Each restaurant will feature one or more vegan dishes on its menu. These might be existing dishes or new experimental dishes developed for the competition. Customers will vote on which dishes stand out the most. Similar competitions take place in cities across the country.

Joan O’Brien is the president of the New Hampshire Animal Rights League, the group organizing Manchester’s Vegan Chef Challenge. She said last year’s Challenge, the first in Manchester, was an eye-opener for the city’s restaurant community.

“Last year was the inaugural challenge,” she said. “It was very successful. It was fun. It brought in a new customer base for the participating restaurants.” Even now, a year later, several of last year’s participating restaurants still have last year’s vegan dishes on their menus, she said. “That was the goal, to bring more vegan options to Manchester and show people that the food can be delicious, and the fact that they kept some of these dishes on their menus is proof of that, that there’s actually a demand for it. It’s been really, really good feedback.”

“[The Vegan Chef Challenge] is an event that was created by a national organization called Vegan Outreach,” O’Brien said, “and their goal is to raise awareness around vegan lifestyle. They host these challenges in cities across the country, including Manchester. The overall winner, the best overall in Manchester was Stashbox. They had a miso-glazed avocado dish, and their cashew cream gnocchi was outstanding. I’ve been looking through some of the things that diners said last year, and people said things like, ‘Delicious!’ and ‘We wouldn’t know it was vegan. I’m not someone who eats vegan. This is the best gnocchi I’ve ever had.’ — comments like that.”

The 2025 Vegan Chef Challenge in Manchester was a bit of a revelation for the city’s restaurant community, O’Brien said — first, that there is a demand for plant-based dishes, even in a traditionally food-conservative state like New Hampshire.

“I can’t confirm it yet,” O’Brien said, but I know that Manchester is attracting more young people, more young professionals, and those people are usually looking for healthier food, and more inventive, creative food.” The success of last year’s challenge is an indication of a change in Manchester’s food culture, O’Brien said, showing that Manchester can participate on a level with much bigger, more cosmopolitan cities in other parts of the country.

Another lesson O’Brien has taken from the success of last year’s Challenge is that a non-confrontational exposure to vegan cuisine is a gentle and persuasive way to change people’s conception of vegan food.

“I think that the whole [vegan] movement is realizing, is learning that most of us were not born vegan,” she said. “So you have to be welcoming and not judge people. And sometimes what happens is when people realize that they can still get delicious, satisfying food that happens to be meat-free, then they’re open to considering the other benefits of a vegan lifestyle. People have a lot of things in their lives that they’re trying to get done, and to think that, ‘Ugh! Now I have to change my whole diet!’ is daunting.”

“May will be a big month for going out to eat, for Mother’s Day and graduations,” O’Brien said. “So we do hope that those people who are going out will visit the participating restaurants, try some of these vegan offerings and see that we have some new players, some very talented chefs.”

2026 Vegan Chef Challenge
Manchester’s Vegan Chef Challenge will take place throughout May. For a list of participating restaurants, visit veganchefchallenge.org/manchester.

Featured photo: Jeremy Hart, co-owner of Stashbox, last year’s overall winner of the Vegan Chef Challenge, with his trophy, the coveted Golden Spatula.

Arts Alley hosts a celebration of agave

The tequila-themed event, called Agave in the Alley, will take place from 6 to 9 p.m. in downtown Concord.

“We’re very excited about our event on Friday,” Jen Abou Raad said. “We’re hosting a pre-Cinco de Mayo party on Friday, in our courtyard.” Abou Raad is the Director of Sales & Programming for Arts Alley, an event space on Main Street in Concord.

“We’ll have 20+ tequila vendors there who will be handing out samples,” Abou Raad said. “[Attendees will] get a memorable collective glass to use for the sampling. Tickets include three tacos as well, that people will be able to redeem out of the diner space. We’ll have a fun DJ who will spin Latin-style music. There will be a photo booth set up, which is going to be awesome, and we have some giveaways and swag and all the fun stuff.”

Abou Raad said the courtyard space at Arts Alley, which opened last August, was designed to host events like Agave in the Alley.

“[The designers of the space] wanted it to be a multi-purposeful space,” she said. “The goal was to create a space for people to come and gather and just hang out and enjoy their time together out in the summertime in the open air. The vision was to be a community-focused spot. We find the space works really well for a variety of different events. We’ve had some dance parties out there. We have people rent the space for birthday parties. Now that the weather’s been nicer again, we can put it to more use. It’s very multi-purposeful and it’s just a really relaxed chill vibe down there. The courtyard’s like a little oasis back there that people don’t even realize is there.”

This will be one of the first vendor-centered events that Arts Alley has held there. Abou Raad said Friday’s event will give tequila fans a chance to compare and contrast different brands and labels of tequila and mezcal in a way that might be difficult to do under other circumstances. “We have a nice mix [of tequila companies],” she said. “Obviously, everyone’s heard of Patron, but we also have smaller brands like Chica Chida, which is really popping up right now, G4, Ocho, Tapatio, Lost Lore, Casa Azul, Ghost, and a bunch more. We have a really nice variety, with brands you’ve heard of, but also brands you haven’t heard of, which we want to show off. Different vendors across the state will be able to represent their brands that they’ve worked so hard on.”

For extremely serious tequila fans there will be a VIP package available, Abou Raad said. “It gets you early entry into the event. You get some premium samples from the vendors. The vendors will also be giving out a swag bag for the VIP ticket holders. And then regular GA holders, it’s from 7 to 9 [p.m.]. And they still, of course, get to come and do the sampling, but without a swag bag. And premium samples are for the VIPs. These are just a little bit of a higher end, maybe a tequila that they haven’t even put on the shelves yet. Something a little special.”

Arts Alley has reserved a block of hotel rooms at the Comfort Inn, Abou Raad said.

“On our website, there is a link, if anyone did want to secure a room and kind of make it a fun night in downtown Concord. We offer a discounted rate, so there is that option as well. We want to make sure people can enjoy their time and do it responsibly too.”

Agave in the Alley
When: Friday, May 1, from 7 to 9 p.m. (VIP ticket-holders can enter at 6 p.m.)
Where: Arts Alley, 20 S. Main St., Concord, 406-5666, artsalleyconcordnh.com
Tickets are available through the Arts Alley website at artsalleyconcordnh.com/event/agave-in-the-alley. General admission tickets are $50. VIP tickets are $90. Tickets at the door will be $20.

Featured photo: Courtyard. Courtesy photo.