Category: Cover Stories

A look at the scene built on the music of Ireland and beyond

One in five of all New Hampshire residents have Irish heritage, more than in any other state. Fittingly, there’s a robust Celtic music scene here. Irish Sessiuns — circles of players calling tunes, quaffing pints and finding a melodic flow — gather together regularly at pubs in Concord, Manchester, Greenland and elsewhere.

As St. Patrick’s Day nears, Irish songs are everywhere. Irish music has the highest profile of the Celtic Nations — Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Isle of Man, and Cornwall, in the southwest corner of England, as well as Brittany in northwest France and Galicia in northwest Spain.

The Granite State is home to many great Celtic musicians, and March 17 is their busiest day of the year. But the music is for every season. Regina Delaney, creator and leader of the New England Irish Harp Orchestra, pointed out that her ensemble gets especially busy on the last day of October.

“All the origins of everything that we do at Halloween are from Pagan Celtic rituals,” Delaney said recently from her home in Rochester. “We have so many great ghost songs and stories and things like that. So we do a bunch of Halloween shows.”

New Hampshire will prove its Irish bona fides with long St. Patrick’s Day queues soon enough, but it’s worth thinking of ways to keep the spirit going after.

Some leading purveyors shared their thoughts on Celtic music in New Hampshire. As befits a genre with a catalog of songs dating back hundreds of years, all the musicians made sure to mention the many performers who’d come before them and helped to light their paths.

One name that came up frequently was David Surette, who taught at Concord Community Music School for 30 years, spearheading the development of the folk program there. Surette succumbed to cancer in 2021. He was a gifted arranger of Celtic tunes, as demonstrated on albums like Back Roads and Trip to Kemper.

When Audrey Budington was 9 and taking violin lessons, Surette changed her musical path from classical to Celtic.

“I heard some different music that I’d never heard before coming from two studios down,” she said by Zoom recently. “I didn’t know at the time, but it was Celtic. I kind of peeked in and it was David Surette.”

Surette wasn’t a fiddler, but that didn’t deter her. “I was so enamored of the music that my mom contacted him and was like, ‘Hey, I know you don’t teach fiddle, but could you please at least give her an understanding of that style of music? She’s really into it.’ He started working with me. I learned a bunch of tunes.”

Budington teaches violin and fiddle at CCMS, as does folk department chair Liz Faiella. Liz performs in a duo with her brother Dan, also a teacher and guitarist specializing in Celtic music. “When I was in my early teens I studied a lot of that music with David Surette at the music school,” Dan said in a Zoom meeting with Liz.

Dan pointed out other Celtic greats who lived here.

“Tommy Makem was in New Hampshire for a bunch of years, and Winifred Horan from Solas [at Portsmouth’s Music Hall on March 12],” he said. “There are a lot of really cool people who wanted a lower-key environment, and they wound up in New Hampshire.”

Another musician mentioned by many was Paddy Keenan, who spent several years here before moving back to Ireland.

“He’s probably the most well-known Irish piper in the world; he lived in Loudon,” Jim Prendergast, a guitarist and Celtic music producer who hosts Irish Matinee on Sundays at Stone Church, said recently.

Uilleann piper Anthony Santoro, who leads the weekly sessiun at Salt hill Pub in Lebanon, remembers Keenan performing at the home of Charlie Clarke and his wife, Mary Lou Philbin-Clarke, who sold Irish music books, CDs, videos and cassettes at their Loudon store, Ossian USA.

“They were called the Loft Concerts,” Santoro said by phone. “Whoever was touring through the area would stay with them, and anybody in New Hampshire, or anywhere willing to travel that distance, could come and see whoever was there. There were great players, and Paddy was one of them.”

Santoro is now a partner in Ossian USA with Ruarri Serpa, who took over and runs the now web-based store from his home in Kennebunkport, Maine, but has Granite State roots. “I’ve been playing Irish Traditional Music since I was a kid in rural New Hampshire,” Serpa writes on Ossian’s website.

The thread continues with Roger Burridge, who was a fixture at Salt hill and led a sessiun at Manchester’s Shaskeen Pub before he passed away during Covid. Burridge was beloved throughout the state. “One of the finest fiddle players anywhere, not just New England,” Salt hill owner Josh Tuohy said in 2023.

Liz Faiella was studying at Dartmouth, with no plans for a music career, when she joined Burridge, Santoro and players like Roger Kahle and Randy Miller at Salt hill. “I just learned so much through that experience,” she recalled. “The sessiun scene is very often where you’re going to learn the most as an Irish musician.”

Any short list of New Hampshire’s top Celtic players includes Jordan Tirrell-Wysocki. The fiddler was making his mark here before he was a teenager. Liz Faiella calls him an inspiration. “There was this wonderful fiddle contest at Eagle Square in Concord, and Jordan was the big kid who was always winning,” she recalled.

“I began when I was 8, and by the time I was 10 or 11 I was calling myself an Irish or Celtic fiddler,” Tirrell-Wysocki, who’s also a CCMS faculty member, said in a recent Zoom call. “Of all the New England-style dance music that I was learning, it was the Celtic tunes in particular that I was most interested in.”

Jordan T-W, as he’s known, has played in jam bands and lent his fiddle sound to a range of studio recordings, including the blistering “Devil Went Down to Boston” with Adam Ezra Band a few years back. On St. Patrick’s Day his trio performs at Salt hill Pub in Newport in the morning and does an evening showcase at BNH Stage.

His view of the Celtic music world reaches across the pond to include Nova Scotia and fiddlers like Buddy & Natalie MacMaster and Ashley MacIsaac. “Those are technically the traditions,” he said. “It was heavily influenced by Scottish settlers, so that’s why there’s a lot of shared tunes and shared style.”

Mike Green leads Rebel Collective, a rock-leaning Celtic band in the vein of Dropkick Murphys or the Pogues that includes Audrey Budington on fiddle. His definition of the music is more spiritual.

“To me, it’s the songs and the stories of our people,” Green said, along with their struggles.

“The history books are written by the victors, but the songs, music and the arts are written by the suppressed and oppressed,” he continued. “Often when people were singing these songs to tell their truth and freedoms, the musicians, the harpers, and the bards were killed as an effective way to shut it down.”

An oral tradition kept these songs from vanishing.

“They weren’t written down,” he said. “We keep them alive and bring them to new audiences and new listeners. We get to play our role in the continuum of these stories of our people. For me, it has that deep connection to it, and that’s why I just love doing it.”

For Rebel Collective — Green, cofounder Brian Waldron, Ross Ketchum, Connor Veazey, Wayne Summerford and Budington — March 17 lasts all month. Their Rebel Call Stumble includes St. Patrick’s Day appearances at all three Salt hill Pubs, a stop at Manchester’s Shaskeen and a showcase at BNH Stage on March 20.

As they’ve done many times before, the band will play in the first pint at Salt hill Lebanon, and they’ll close out Shaskeen Pub’s annual bash. That gig grew out of a show by Derek Warfield and the Young Wolfe Tones in 2015 at the storied Manchester bar, which was co-founded by a member of the Chieftains.

Green cites Warfield as his biggest influence. When he learned of the show he cold-called Shaskeen owner Josh Ames to offer his band’s services.

“If you need an opener for Derek Warfield, it would be an honor of my life, we’ll do it for free,” he told him. “We took a chance, and we started playing there at least once a year.”

On the other hand, JD & the Stonemasons, a band that will share the stage with Rebel Collective in Concord on March 20, was born by taking a risk. The Newport trio went to check out their local pub, and brought their instruments, just in case — on a Friday night.

“We kind of knew what that meant,” the band’s flute, whistle, banjo and guitar player David Counts said in an interview that included JD Nadeau, who plays fiddle, mandolin and bass. “What are the odds they’re going to actually let a bunch of random people start playing on a Friday night? But to give them credit, they said yes.”

Pub owner Joe Tuohy was impressed enough to bring them back for an encore, and the group, which includes James Potvin on bodhran, harmonica player David Gainer and Hendrik Mahling on bouzouki and mandolin, is now a St. Patrick’s regular at Salt hill, playing all three pubs on the big day.

They’re careful to keep the three-bar circuit from becoming, in Nadeau’s words, the Salt hill Death March. “We’ve been relatively good about behaving ourselves with a drink; that’s the dragon in the cave,” he said. “You’ve definitely got to pace yourself, particularly if you’re going to play a late gig too.”

When it comes to sessiuns, almost everyone has a favorite. For Nadeau and Counts, it’s Waterhorse Tavern in Franklin.

“It’s a great way to learn new songs, and it’s a challenge, too,” Nadeau said. “You meet someone that’s really good and you’re like, ‘Oh, man, I want to play. I’ve got to pick up my guitar.’”

The Faiella siblings and Budington are part of an unofficial house band at Epsom microbrewery Blasty Bough, a tiny pub with a living room vibe. There’s also Pete Van Berkum on button concertina, bodhran player Chris Murphy, Charles Siletti on Irish flute and bouzouki player Anders Larson, who was taught by Dan Faiella.

Larson was playing folk music with his dad and brother when he enrolled at CCMS.

“From there, a few of my teachers introduced me to Irish music,” he said in a phone call the day after the Blasty Bough sessiun. Along with bouzouki, he plays concertina and guitar. “My newest addition is bass; that’s all another music world.”

Weekly Shaskeen sessiuns at age 12 were seminal for him.

“Chris Stevens, an accordion player up in Maine, would drive down,” he said. “One or two times, his buddy Owen Marshall would come down as well. Those two, along with Alden Robinson, were a band called The Press Gang. They are by far my biggest influence.”

Delaney travels to Somerville for sessiuns at the Burren and McCarthy’s, but also occasionally hits the Barley Pub in Concord’s Tuesday get-together, one of the longest-running in the state. “That was the second sessiun that I spent a lot of time at,” she said. “My first band that I was with, we all met there.”

Green hosts Sea Shanty Singalongs twice a month at Canterbury AleWorks and at the Forum Pub in Concord in the afternoon on the final Saturday of every month. Although Green allows the genre isn’t strictly Celtic, it’s an excuse to gather, and many of the selections come from the Irish canon.

“I actually added a song that’s sung in Irish, about the pirate queen, Grace O’Malley,” Green said, noting that he’s mainly focused on sharing these centuries-old songs. “The oldest one we do is from the 1600s … some crazy old sailor happened to live long enough to have it documented and pass it on down.”

Interestingly, a guitar is in many ways a secondary instrument in Celtic music. A good guitarist must know when to pick a lane and merge into the music at a sessiun.

“It’s a completely different approach to playing guitar than any other kind of music,” Jim Prendergast said. “That’s a really big deal.”

Even for a guy like Prendergast who spent years as a go-to guitarist in Nashville studios because he was such a flexible player, adjustment was hard. He had to completely re-learn his instrument for the special tunings and modal structures of Irish music, which is not made for a guitar strumming along.

“It doesn’t need any kind of chordal accompaniment from a piano or a guitar; you’re there to shine different kinds of light on the melody … almost like a theatrical role,” he said. However, “It’s really fun to have the kind of freedom it allows…. You can choose to play a lot, a few, or no chords.”

Almost all the musicians sharing their thoughts have Irish blood, from a little to a lot. Larson is the exception; he’s primarily German and Norwegian. However, all agree that Celtic lineage isn’t required to play the music from the Seven Nations (or six, or eight, or maybe even nine, the number is often disputed).

Jordan Tirrell-Wysocki believes it’s less about heritage and more about personality and attitude.

“Make yourself aware of why this music exists, what historical circumstances helped create it, and where all the powerful emotions … are coming from,” he said. “You become a much more authentic [and] effective performer of the music if you’re taking the time to connect to [its] historical time and place.”

Green sees an advantage in his bloodline.

“It can help draw you in, and you can learn a little bit more about your history and your ancestry and feel a deeper connection,” he said. “But anybody with a background of people that have been oppressed, or had to deal with that, can automatically tap into this kind of feeling.”

Celtic music is universal, Dan Faiella noted, and can be found in all sorts of unlikely locales.

“Italy, Japan, some places in Germany … Russia has some Irish music fans and people play there. I’ve heard from people who tour in those areas that they’ll go to a session and there’s all these people who’ve maybe never been to Ireland and have spent a lot of time studying the music, and the sessions are amazing.”

Finally, Liz Faiella encouraged even newcomers to consider attending a sessiun.

“Even if you’ve learned three tunes, you can join in and play along,” she said. “People who’ve been playing for years will enjoy the same songs that they learned right at the outset. It’s a great way to do something creative and also connect with other people through that.”

Attend an Irish sessiun

Salt hill Pub
2 W. Park St., Lebanon, 448-4532
Tuesdays at 6 p.m.

Waterhorse Irish Pub
361 Central St., Franklin, 671-7118
Fridays at 7 p.m.

Shaskeen Pub
909 Elm St., Manchester, 625-0246
Saturdays at 3 p.m.

The Barley House
132 N. Main St., Concord, 228-6363
Tuesdays at 6 p.m.

Blasty Bough Brewing Co.
3 Griffin Road, Epsom, 738-4717
Thursdays at 6 p.m.

Canterbury Aleworks
305 Baptist Hill Road, Canterbury, canterburyaleworks.com
Second Thursdays at 7 p.m. (Shanty Singalong)

Parish Hall at Community Congregational Church
4 Church Lane, Greenland, 436-8336
Fridays at 4 p.m.

Forum Pub
15 Village St., Concord, 565-3100
Last Saturday of the month at 4 p.m.(Shanty Singalong)

A look at this celebration of textures, flavors and tacos

New Hampshire diners like fish tacos so much they’ve been known to DIY them at the restaurant.

“Every year we have customers order ceviche,” Jose Rodriguez said, “but instead of having the tostadas they ask for tortillas on the side and they make tacos out of it. It’s definitely something we’re not too used to seeing, but it makes a nice little taco. You can’t go wrong with that, you know? It’s a hack. A taco hack.”

Rodriguez is the manager of Puerto Vallarta Mexican Grill in Manchester, and he observed that people in New Hampshire love seafood tacos — maybe more than people in Mexico.

“Fish tacos in general — and I mean, I don’t even like to say it — they’re not very popular around the area I’m from. My family is from an inland area. In Mexico they’re not a big popularity of ours. We go for more like the whole fish, fish plates. But here [in New England], honestly, everyone loves seafood. So everyone likes seafood; everyone likes tacos. Give it a mix in between both of them and you get kind of like what people are looking for.”

Rodriguez said for Puerto Vallarta and its sister restaurants, Nuevo Vallarta and Vallarta Tequila Bar, seafood tacos are a mainstay.

“Here we have grilled fish tacos and we have crispy fish tacos, which are breaded fish that we deep-fry. But we also have crispy shrimp tacos. Everyone likes the crispy fish, and with the shrimp dishes it’s the same thing. We have grilled shrimp tacos, but we had deep-fried shrimp with rice and a salad and everything, and people would start grabbing tortillas and making tacos out of them. So we started making tacos out of it. Everyone seems to like their breaded seafood deep fried.”

And that’s not counting the off-menu items like the ceviche tacos. Ceviche is a way of preparing seafood without heat. The fish or shrimp is cooked, but with acid. The seafood is marinated in something highly acidic, like lime juice, and it is cooked chemically, but cold, and it is served cold as well, which, Rodriguez said, can make for a delicious taco. Most tacos, he said, benefit from a squeeze of lime for some acid, and the ceviche is already acidic, so it really works well.

For most customers, however, the go-to seafood tacos are made with fish, Rodriguez said.

“We use tilapia for deep fried whole fish and everything like that,” he said, “but we use haddock for tacos.” Traditionally, fish tacos are served on a grilled flour tortilla, he said, “but we use corn. Your options are open, though. If you want to do flour, you can do flour. Some people have done hard shell. It really depends. We usually use the authentic corn tortilla; it’s a little more Mexican traditional. We give you all your toppings on the side, give you some rice, a mixture of cabbage and lettuce, pico de gallo, and some sauce, so you can customize your own tacos. We give you a homemade sauce as well with the fish, a chipotle cream sauce, to give it a little spice.”

Fish tacos are usually made with fresh white ocean fish. On the beach in Baja they would probably be made with a meaty fish like shark or swordfish, but according to Adam Podraza, Kitchen Manager at Makris Lobster & Steak House in Concord, here in New England it is more likely to be a cold-water Atlantic fish. Which one you use, he said, really depends on how you plan to cook it. Firm, “steaky” fish is better for a grilled fish taco, he said, but flaky fish tends to fall apart on a grill and is better battered and deep fried. The crispy batter holds the fish together, and gives it some crunch — as in fish and chips.

“Up here in the north,” Podraza said, “it’s very common to see haddock tacos. Cod works very well, too. As you go further south, you see more mahi-mahi, and I love mahi-mahi! It works well up here as well, but it’s more common to see haddock as a fish taco. It’s a flaky fish. It’s white with a very mild flavor. It’s a whole lot flakier than your mahi-mahi. Mahi-mahi is more of a steak fish, like a swordfish, which makes a great taco, but you do it as a different preparation. You’ll see a lot of winter fish tacos that are being fried, as opposed to something like the mahi-mahi, which might be grilled, or pan-seared, maybe blackened, something like that. A seasoned application versus being a mild, flaky fried fish.”

Podraza said East Coast American fish tacos are fundamentally different from Pacific Coast Mexican ones.

“In northern Mexico, they’re going to use whatever they’ve got,” he said. “If someone’s got a swordfish or whatever — whatever the catch of the day was.” And it would probably be flame grilled, which calls for a firmer fleshed fish, he said. “I don’t like grilling haddock. I don’t like grilling cod — they flake away too hard. Really, I go with the mahi-mahi and the haddock.” He said that for tacos it’s a good idea to stay away from strong-flavored, oily fish like mackerel. “You could do a striped bass,” he said. “Striped bass would be wonderful grilled. That would work out very nicely.”

“For me,” Podraza said, “my ideal [taco] would have something fried — you know, batter-fried. It’s going to give it some texture, plus it will take on a sauce well. Even today we’ve got a beautiful pineapple cilantro salsa at the restaurant that we’re using with our tuna. A grilled tuna taco would be fantastic too.” He said fresh tuna is more affordable than most people would assume. “Our tuna right now is $15.99 a pound — that’s cheaper than a steak.”

Given that it is ice-fishing season, Podraza noted that some fresh-water fish work in a taco, even if they aren’t traditional.

“You could use a toothy fish like a pike,” he said, “and bass would be wonderful. You’re looking for something that’s going to take on the flavors of your taco versus fighting against it.”

If you are comfortable with looking for signs and portents, the popularity of fish tacos might be an indicator of New Hampshire’s evolving tastes. Roger Soulard, owner of North Side Grille in Hudson, has been a little surprised to see fish tacos adopted as a mainstream dish.

“It’s funny,” Soulard said. “When we first opened 13 years ago fish tacos weren’t on the menu. I always give credit to one of our cooks. His name was Terry and he was probably our largest seafood lover. I just want something different to serve something that wasn’t like you’d get from a diner down the street or even just like other American fare. We needed something different. that we could make day in and day out. Terry wasn’t from California, but he was from out West — Arizona — and he was like, ‘Well, what do you think about fish tacos?’ And I was like, ‘What are you thinking?’ He came up with a recipe, and we tweaked it here and there, and it’s been here ever since. What I love about it is it’s all simple and fresh. It works. Our customers love it.”

At the time, though, Soulard was worried about whether his customers would actually order it. It was unusual for New Hampshire at the time, he said. “Sometimes we’ll have like a great idea but unfortunately sometimes our Hudson neighborhood just is not ready for it yet. I remember a lot of cool sandwiches and ideas that we had in the beginning. Avocado was like something that we could not sell to our customers, though, for instance. We were wasting so much avocado. I was like, ‘Alright, we’ve got to stop ordering avocado; they’re just not eating it.’ But then we gave it a break for like a year or two. And then we just reintroduced it as guacamole. Obviously the guac is a little bit more flavorful, but that’s how we introduced it to the crowd. But like when we first started out, yeah, like we were just throwing out so much avocado.”

But for whatever reason, North Side Grille’s fish tacos took off right away.

“It’s one of the few things that has not changed on our menu,” Soulard said. “It wasn’t always originally a classic, but we made it a classic. So that’s like one of my favorite things about it — it’s something that found its way onto our menu and stayed there. It’s easy to put something like a cheeseburger on a menu and it’s never going anywhere because it’s the American cheeseburger. But if you told me fish tacos 13 years ago, I wouldn’t be able to tell you that that really would be a thing. But now, 13 years later, I’m like, yeah, the fish tacos could never come off [our menu], because if they did come off, we’d still be making them regardless. People would come in and they’d be like, ‘We know fish tacos aren’t on the menu, but can we have them anyway?’”

Soulard’s fish tacos are made with grilled haddock.

“That’s kind of nice,” he said, “because it feels like a cleaner option, compared to the fried seafood that you usually find in our area. There’s just something about the grilled white flaky haddock that is lightly seasoned. The only thing that’s not the healthiest about it might be the aioli we serve on it. It’s pretty much mayonnaise, cilantro and fresh lime, that’s all whipped up, and that’s the basic topping. Our recipe is pretty simple. It has fresh diced tomato, light lettuce, light cabbage, and it’s topped with that cilantro aioli. That’s our classic fish taco that, like I said, it’s been on there for at least a decade. We have not changed it at all.”

Isabel Reyes, co-owner of Los Reyes Street Tacos & More in Derry, said that while fish and shrimp tacos are always popular at her restaurant there is an extra demand in late winter.

“I was raised in the U.S.,” she said. “I was 10 months old when we came here. But when we visit my parents’ home area, it’s not on the coast of Mexico, it’s more in the center, so people don’t do much fresh fish or shrimp. The only time we really eat it is during Lent. You know, Mexico is very Catholic-oriented. It’s not the only religion in Mexico, but obviously its influence is important. So [at this time of year] we utilize a lot of shrimp, fish and veggies into our Lent options. So if you look at our special Lent menu on Instagram, we did incorporate that. from our hometown. We call them Boom Fish Tacos. They were the idea of Jose Reyes; he’s the co-owner.”

“[The Boom Fish Tacos] aren’t technically on our regular menu, Reyes said. “It started as a Lent special last year, but then people loved it, so it’s kind of stayed since then. It’s two battered cod fish tacos on a flour tortilla. And it’s topped with the in-house cabbage slaw that we offer for our shrimp Baja tacos. And then it’s topped with cilantro. And then we wanted to add a little something of New Hampshire, so we added maple chipotle cream. And then it comes with a side of our house-made pico de gallo. So it’s a regular pico de gallo, but the Southwest part comes from roasted corn. And then it comes with the cilantro white rice.”

“Our Baja shrimp tacos are pretty similar,” Reyes said. “For the most part, we use the same ingredients that we already have in house. Those are on a corn tortilla with grilled shrimp. They have the same cabbage slaw. We do chipotle, but just regular chipotle, with some ancho chilies. The Baja tacos come in three and with no sides.” There are three of the shrimp tacos to an order, she said, because the corn tortillas are smaller than the flour ones. “The corn tortillas are 6 inches, and the flour are 8.”

“I think fish tacos are a type of comfort food,” Jason Berkman from Fish & Chix in Derry said. “They blend fish and some tropical ingredients that go together well. Typically there’s a little bit of spice, a little bit of vinegar, salt, and some creamy cheese that goes with it. I think that people gravitate toward them just because of the combination of flavor.”

Fish & Chix uses haddock for its fish tacos, which are battered and deep-fried.

“We actually use a soft corn tortilla,” Berkman said, “so they’re a little bit different from what you’d typically find. You’re either getting a hard corn shell, or a lot of people serve it on the soft flour tortilla. Ours is a yellow corn [tortilla], similar in softness to the flour but just a little bit different. Fish tacos almost always have cabbage; we use red pickled cabbage. It brings some acidity and brightness to the taco. We serve ours with chipotle mayonnaise, red pickled cabbage, pico de gallo, and cotija cheese. It’s crumbly, somewhat soft still, and salty.”

Berkman said the fish tacos have been a hit with customers across the board.

“The full spectrum of people order it,” he said, “younger and older. I think what happens a lot is people try them and they tell their friends and they come in.”

The fish tacos come two to an order, and Berkman is not a traditionalist when it comes to sides. “We serve ours with fries,” he said, “but you can substitute that with onion rings, potato salad, whatever. We make a really good chicken taco, too, but the fish is by far the No. 1 that people order.”

The fish taco panel

Puerto Vallarta Mexican Grill (865 Second St., Manchester, 935-9182, vallartamexicannh.com) is open from 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, until 10:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and until 9 p.m. on Sunday. Fish tacos (made with batter-fried haddock), grilled shrimp tacos, and ceviche are available as dinner plates for $22.

North Side Grille (323 Derry Road, Hudson, 886-3663, northsidegrillenh.com) is open 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday. Fish tacos (made with grilled Cajun haddock) are $17.

Los Reyes Street Tacos & More (127 Rockingham Road, Derry, 845-8327, losreyesstreettacos.com) is open Monday through Saturday from 4:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. (9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday). The eatery is also open for lunch from 11:30 to 2 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. “Boom Boom” tacos (made with batter-fried cod) are $15 on a special Lent menu. “Baja” tacos (made with grilled shrimp) are $13.95.

Fish & Chix (22 Manchester Road, Derry, 704-3410, fshnchx.com) is open seven days a week, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., and until 9 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Fish tacos (made with batter-fried haddock) are $13.

The fish market at Makris Lobster & Steak House (354 Sheep Davis Road, Concord, 225-7665, eatalobster.com) is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday through Monday, and until 8 p.m. on Sunday. The availability and price of fish depend on market conditions.

Your guide to summer 2026 day camps

Time to plan your kid’s best summer ever.

Some summer day camps start sign-ups early in the calendar year, or even earlier for return campers. Some summer camp details don’t come out until spring. But you can start planning — and in many cases, registering — for weeks of summer adventure now.

If you’re new to the day camp game, keep in mind that return campers often get early access to sign-ups, so taking a second-choice week or program for this summer can help you get your top picks next summer. (The very first week of camp and the week around July 4 are often easier gets at a popular camp.) Also, other campers’ plans can change, so ask about and sign up for wait lists when possible.

Here is a roundup of day camps in the greater Manchester, Concord and Nashua areas with full- or half-day program options. Information is based on websites and social media pages, unless otherwise stated, that have announced summer 2026 camp plans (even if it’s just a plan to have plans later in the spring). Some camps may have extended care options or teenage counselor-in-training options not mentioned here. All phone numbers listed here have the 603 area code unless otherwise noted. Some camps that ran in previous years but have not yet updated their 2026 information are included with a note to check back for updates (camp offerings may change for this year). See websites or call for costs, which can vary based on number of weeks in camp, siblings at the camp during a summer, memberships, etc.

Know of a camp we missed? Let us know at adiaz@hippopress.com and we’ll get it in an upcoming Kiddie Pool column.

GENERAL INTEREST

• Adventure Camp Concord Parks & Recreation, 225-8690, concordparksandrec.com Rec Adventure Camp (for kids in grades 3-5) and Adventure Camp (for grades 6-8) will run 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m., with weeklong sessions June 22-Aug. 14. The “base camp” will be the City Wide Community Center, with out-of-town trips Mondays through Thursdays, according to the Concord Parks & Recreation Spring 2026 Brochure.

• Adventure Camp Nashua Adult Learning Center, 40 Arlingston St., Nashua, nashuaalc.org/for-children/adventure-camp Camp for grades 1-6 runs 7 a.m.-6 p.m. and includes pool time, field trips, theme days, bicycling and roller blading, arts and crafts, STEM activities, sports, an afternoon snack and more, according to the website, where camp online registration is listed as “coming in March.”

• Adventure Teen Camp from Amherst Parks & Recreation, amherstnh.recdesk.com Open to rising 7th- to 9th-graders, the two-week camp is “focused on adventure, leadership and community involvement” July 13-24, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. with field trips and an overnight whitewater rafting trip.

• Amherst Parks & Recreation amherstnh.recdesk.com Camps include Lakeside Discovery Camp (grades 1-7), Outdoor Discovery Camp (grades 1-7), Mini Outdoor Discovery Camp (ages 4-5) and Counselor In Training Camps (for grades 8-9) with sessions from the week of June 22 through the week of Aug. 10.

• Boys & Girls Club of Central and Northern New Hampshire nhyouth.org/school-age/camp/ Summer camps serve different ages based on location. Most camps are open 7 a.m.-6 p.m., and most run 10 weeks. Locations offering summer camps include Bradley Street Clubhouse, Christa McAuliffe School, Penacook Elementary School and Boys & Girls Club at Penacook Community Center in Concord; Maple Street School in Hopkinton; Weare Middle School in Weare; First Baptist Church in New London; Pittsfield Elementary School in Pittsfield; Simonds Elementary School in Warner; Suncook Clubhouse in Allenstown; Epsom Central School in Epsom, and Andover Elementary School in Andover. See the website for more locations — including in the Kearsarge-Sunapee Region, Lakes Region, North Country, Suncook Region and Upper Valley — and details specific to each location.

• Boys & Girls Club of Greater Manchester — Union Street Clubhouse 555 Union St., Manchester, 625-5982, bgcgm.org/programs/summer_programs Camp programs at the Union Street location run 10 weeks beginning June 22 and include Kidz Kamp, grades K-1, and Tween & Teen Camp Summer Program Full Day, 8 a.m.-4 p.m., grades 6-12. Camps can run as long as 6:30 a.m.-6 p.m.

• Boys & Girls Club of Greater Nashua 1 Positive Place, Nashua, 883-0523, bgcn.com/summer-camp Last year the club ran weeklong sessions from late June through late August for ages K through 12th grade, with kids grouped in programs by age. Check with the website for updates on this year’s programming.

• Boys & Girls Club of Greater Salem 3 Geremonty Drive, Salem, 898-7709, salembgc.org/summercamp Weeklong camps for ages 4-15 (grouped into programs by age) June 16-Aug. 21, 8:45 a.m.-4:30 p.m., with extended care options. Camps offer pool time, weekly field trips and more, the website said.

• Boys & Girls Club of the Souhegan Valley 56 Mont Vernon St., Milford, svbgc.org, 672-1002. The Boys & Girls Club will hold summer camp open houses on Saturdays, March 7, April 25 and May 2, 8 a.m.-noon. The summer camp program of weeklong sessions (each with a theme) runs June 15-Aug. 21. The camp takes a variety of field trips and offers swimming and outdoor play. Camp runs 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. with dropoff as early as 7 a.m. and pickup as late as 6 p.m. Camp Souhegan is open to rising K through 10th-graders.

• Brentwood Recreation Day Camp run at the Brentwood Recreation Complex, 190 Route 125, Brentwood, brentwoodnh.gov The camp for rising 1st- through 8th-graders features weeklong sessions June 22-Aug. 14, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. with before and after care options. Non-resident registration opens March 2.

• Camp Carpenter 300 Blondin Road, Manchester, nhscouting.org/camp-carpenter This Scouting America camp offers programs for boys and girls in grades 1-5. Weeklong camps run through July and the first week of August with day and overnight camp options (including half-week overnight). Day camps run 8:15 a.m.-4 p.m. (after care available until 5 p.m.) and include waterfront programs, archery and BB guns and more.

• Camp Coolio run by New Boston Recreation, newboston.recdesk.com. Open to New Boston residents only for kids age 6 or entering first grade in the fall of 2026 and up, the camp has seven weeklong sessions, the week of June 29 through the week of Aug. 10 (no camp on July 3). Registration opens March 2 at noon.

• Camp Foster 36 Camp Allen Road, Bedford, 644-0102, operated by the Boys & Girls Club of Manchester, mbgcnh.org/programs/summer_programs This 10-week camp, with different themes each week and activities including swimming, arts & crafts, field games, sports, boating, canoeing and more, starts June 22 for campers entering grades 2-7. A bus takes campers from Union Street Clubhouse in Manchester to Camp Foster at 8:20 a.m. and returns at 4:15 p.m. Before (as early as 6:30 a.m.) and after (as late as 6 p.m.) care is available at the Clubhouse, including breakfast and dinner.

• Camp Kettleford 26 Camp Allen Road, Bedford, girlscoutsgwm.org/en/activities/camp-and-outdoors/kettleford.html This day camp of the Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains offers weeklong sessions for girls in grades K-8 and two-week programs for girls in grades 6-8. Buses are available from some locations in surrounding towns to Kettleford. Open house Saturday, May 16, 3-4:30 p.m. Sessions run June 29-Aug. 21, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Each session has a theme. The Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains also operates Camp Seawood, a day camp in Portsmouth, and Camp Farnsworth, the council’s overnight camp in Vermont.

• Camp Lincoln 67 Ball Road, Kingston, 642-3361, ymcacamplincoln.org, hosted by Southern District YMCA, sdymca.org Six sessions — a one-week session June 15-19 and five two-week sessions running June 22-Aug. 21 — offer a traditional day camp experience to campers grades K-9, grouped in programs by age. On-site specialty camps for grades 4-9 offer options for a specialty focus for part of the camp day, such as Woodworking, Mountain Biking or Dungeons & Dragons. Off-site specialty camps for grades 5-9 offer field trips and a camp for grades 6-9 focuses on outdoor activities. Counselor in Training sessions are available for 14-year-olds and by invitation for 15-year-olds.

• Camp Lovewell 2nd Nature Academy, 10 Groton Road, Nashua, 881-4815, camplovewell.com This outdoor adventure day camp offers nine weeklong sessions, June 22-Aug. 21 (no camp on July 3), 9 a.m.-4 p.m. with extended care available. Campers age 6-14 participate in outdoor camp activities including swimming (in pool and pond), archery, arts & crafts, kayaking, sports, field games, hiking and nature exploration, theater and more, the website said.

• Camp Naticook merrimackparksandrec.org Weeklong camp sessions at Wasserman Park in Merrimack run June 22-Aug. 21 for kids entering K through grade 5. A traditional day camp, Camp Naticook features sports, games, arts & crafts, nature exploration, swimming, boating and more.

• Camp Otter 66 Hooker Farm Road, Salem, camp.mvymca.org/camp-otter A day camp for ages 6-13 on Captain’s Pond with “weekly themes, a swimming area for both instructional and free swim time, boating, basketball/volleyball courts, a baseball/soccer field, an archery and air rifle range, arts & crafts, ropes courses and more. Daily transportation is provided throughout the Merrimack Valley and southern New Hampshire,” according to the website. The camp is operated by Merrimack Valley YMCA, based in Massachusetts (mvymca.org), and runs the weeks of June 22-Aug. 28, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

• Camp Ponemah Hampshire Hills Athletic Club, 50 Emerson Road, Milford, 673-7123, hampshirehills.com Weeklong camps June 15-Aug. 28, with dropoff 7:30-9 a.m. and pickup 3:30-4 p.m., extended care to 5 p.m. available most weeks (not Fridays). Swim lessons available as an add-on. Camp is for grades K-7. A Little Warriors program for ages 4-5 runs seven weeks (weeks of June 22-Aug. 10), dropoff 7:30-9 a.m. and pickup at 12:30 p.m. Troop T is for grades 8-9 with weekly sessions June 22-Aug. 14 and includes field trips, volunteer opportunities, hikes and more, the website said.

• Camp Trek Teen Adventure Camp merrimackparksandrec.org Weeklong camp sessions meet in Merrimack for grades 5-9 and run June 22-Aug. 21, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. daily with daily field trips that depart between 8:30 and 9 a.m. and return before 4 p.m. (extended care options available). Camp fees cover transportation fees and admissions to field trip locations, the website said.

• Camp Witzel bedfordnh.myrec.com Weeklong sessions run June 22-Aug. 7 (with a four-day week the week of June 29) for ages 6-13, running 9 a.m.-4 p.m. with before and after camp care options. Each week has a theme and Wednesdays feature field trips.

• Easterseals NH’s Camp Sno-Mo Hidden Valley Reservation, 260 Griswold Lane, Gilmanton Iron Works, 364-5818, eastersealsnh.org/camping “Camp Sno-Mo is Easterseals NH’s overnight camping and recreation program for children and adults with disabilities,” according to an email from Easterseals NH. The camp serves children and teens with disabilities ages 11 to 21 in sessions running Sunday to Friday, June 28 to Aug. 14, the email said. Camps for ages 22+ are offered in two sessions Aug. 16 to Aug. 28, the email said.

• Girls Inc. of New Hampshire 340 Varney St., Manchester, 623-1117; 27 Burke St., Nashua, 882-6256; girlsincnewhampshire.org Eight weeklong sessions of camp, June 22-Aug. 14, featuring field trips, weekly themes and more for girls ages 5+ at the Manchester and Nashua locations. Breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner are provided. Cost is $225, with sliding fee scales, financial assistance and scholarships available. There is also a Young Women’s Leadership Program for rising 7th- to 9th-graders.

• Granite State YMCA graniteymca.org/camps/day-camp The Granite State YMCA operates eight day camps and two overnight camps, Camp Foss for girls ages 7-15 (campfoss.org) and Camp Mi-Te-Na for boys ages 7-15 (campmitena.org). See the website for day camp offerings in Rochester and Greenland. Camps generally run weekly June 22-Aug. 21. Most camps run 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m., with before and after care options. Most camps have new camper orientation days, camp open houses in the spring and camp family nights including the Camper of Character celebrations.

YMCA Allard Center of Goffstown (116 Goffstown Back Road) features Camp Halfmoon (232-8699; ages 6-14, 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. There are several specialty camps with offerings, grouped by age, for ages 7 and up. Teen Trip camp (232-8610) during five select weeks includes daily field trips for kids age 12-16. Halfmoon also has Leader in Training (ages 13-14) and Counselor In Training (age 15-16) programs. Aftercare swim lessons are also available. The Allard Center also offers several ninja and gymnastics camps (232-8662), with offerings for kids as young as 4 and, for gymnastics, as old as 18 and as old as 14 for ninja. Tennis Academies (232-8612) are available for several weeks for kids ages 6-16. Adventure Clubs (232-8607) for ages 10-15 feature daily trips and activities.

Concord Day Camp (228-9622) Nine weeks of camp are available for ages 6-12 with a few specialty camps for ages 8-12 and a leader-in-training option for ages 13-14 and counselor-in-training option for ages 14-16. This is a day camp experience with themed weeks and field trips.

YMCA of Downtown Manchester (30 Mechanic St., 232-8656) The summer program at this location runs all nine weeks, 7 a.m.-5:30 p.m. (no extended care options; swimming lessons are available as an add-on) with themed weeks for ages 6-12. Specialty camps for ages 8-12 include Culinary Quest, Adventures in Art and a sports-themed camp. A Teen Trip camp runs during five of the weeks and features daily field trips for ages 12-16.

YMCA Day Camp of Hooksett (Hooksett Memorial School, 5 Memorial Drive, Hooksett, 623-3558) This traditional day camp runs for nine weeks (weeklong themed sessions June 22 through Aug. 21) for ages 6-10. Teen camps available for ages 11-13. Limited leader in training (ages 13-14) and counselor in training (14-16) camps are available.

Camp Pa-Gon-Ki (206 Rockingham Road, Londonderry, 437-9622) Camp runs 7 a.m.-5:30 p.m. with no extended care options for all nine weeks plus the precamp week. Pa-Gon-Ki is a traditional day camp with emphasis on the outdoors and is for ages 6-15, divided in age groups (swim lessons are available). The location also features several specialty camps with focus on arts, sports, STEAM, music and more as well as leader-in-training (ages 13-14) and counselor-in-training (14-16) camps.

Windham Explorers Camp (Windham Center School, 2 Lowell Road, 437-9622) This location offers weeklong camps (June 22-Aug. 14) STEAM camp for ages 6-13, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. with different themes each week.

• Hooksett’s Best Summer Camp 1271 Hooksett Road, Hooksett, 660-7472, hooksettsbest.com Camp for ages 4.9-12 years runs 6:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday and features classes in martial arts and dance, weekly field trips and pizza parties and more. See the website to inquire for information on enrolling.

• Hudson Parks & Recreation Summer Program hudsonnh.gov/recreation Check back for updates on 2026.

• IMAGINE CampsNew Morning Schools, 23 Back River Road, Bedford, 669-3591, newmorningschools.com Indoor and outdoor activities and clubs for kids ages 6-12. Camp is open 7 a.m.-6 p.m. weekdays with weekly and daily options and runs the weeks of June 15-Aug. 17 (with four-day weeks June 29 and July 7). There is a preschool camp for ages 3-6 who are independent bathroom users with full-day, half-day and extended care options.

• Krazy Kids 60 Sheep Davis Road, Pembroke, 228-PLAY, krazykids.com Weeklong sessions for kids in grades K-6, June 22-Aug. 21. The camp runs 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m., extended care available at 7:30 a.m. and through 5:30 p.m. Indoor and outdoor activities plus weekly field trips.

• Manchester Parks & Recreation Fun in the Sun manchesternh.gov/ Departments/Parks-and-Recreation/Programs-and-Activities The camp, slated to run July 6 through Aug. 14, will feature games, arts & crafts, swim lessons and more for Manchester residents, grades 1-8, according to the website, where you can check back for dates with registration typically opening up on April 1, according to the department.

• Manchester Police Athletic League 409 Beech St., Manchester, 626-0211, manchesterpoliceathleticleague.org MPAL is open to kids ages 5-18 who are attending school. Check back for updates on summer 2026.

• Meeting House Montessori School 28 Logging Hill Road, Bow, 224-0004, meetinghousemontessori.com Check back for details about 2026 summer camp.

• Melody Pines 510 Corning Road, Manchester, 669-9414, melodypines.com A classic summer day camp with swimming, paddle boarding, arts and crafts, sports, water games, wall ball, gaga, and more, Melody Pines fills up fast — as of Feb. 11, all weekly sessions were filled but waitlist for the week of June 15 was still available.

• My Gym Children’s Fitness Center 410 S. River Road, Bedford, 668-7196, mygym.com/bedford My Gym offers programming for kids under 1 and as old as 10. Call for updates on this summer.

• Nashua PAL Youth Safe Haven 52 Ash St., Nashua, 594-3733, nashuapal.com The Nashua PAL Youth Safe Haven Summer Program is open to all youth ages 7-18 in Greater Nashua. “During the summer school break, the Youth Safe Haven is open during each weekday afternoon. We stay busy with lots of sports, crafts, and other engaging opportunities. Also, PAL youth take a lot of field trips during the summer (and throughout the year). PAL Youth Safe Haven members have many opportunities to earn fun and mind-expanding field trips! Trips include places like Beaver Brook, shows, sports events, state and national parks, beaches, zoos, water/amusement parks, and more,” according to the website. Contact Nashua PAL for details on this coming summer.

• Nashua Parks & Recreation summer camp nashuanh.gov/534/Summer-Camps According to the City’s website, “The City of Nashua offers a wide range of engaging summer camps. With full-day and half-day options, sports, music, art, STEAM activities, and swim lessons, there’s something for everyone.” Summer camp registration opens March 2, when camp information and a flyer featuring camp offerings will be available, according to an email from the parks department.

• North End Montessori School 698 Beech St., Manchester, 621-9011, northendmontessori.com The School offers summer camp programs for ages 2-5 as well as a camp for elementary school students. This year the camp theme for ages 6-12 is “Animal Kingdom” with different themes during each of the 11 weeklong sessions (with 5-day, 3-day and 2-day options).

• 2026 PMVP Summer Camp pelhamweb.com Camp for Pelham residents only is for ages 6-13/14 (no rising high schoolers) and runs Monday-Friday, 9:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m., the weeks of July 6-Aug. 14, at Veterans Memorial Park.

• Sky Meadow Country Club 6 Mountain Laurels Drive, Nashua, 888-9000, skymeadow.com Sky Meadow will offer a camp for ages 4 to 10 for six weeks, June 22 through Aug. 7 (no camp the week of July 13), featuring golf two days a week, swimming daily, pickleball and more, according to an email from the club.

• Specialty Camps from Concord Parks & Recreation, 225-8690, concordparksandrec.com Look for specialty camps including dance, basketball and soccer in the department’s Summer Camp Guide, due in the second half of March, according to the Concord Parks & Recreation Spring 2026 Brochure.

• Stay & Play Camp Concord Parks & Recreation, 225-8690, concordparksandrec.com Open to kids in grades 1-5 with eight weeklong sessions, June 22-Aug. 14, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Stay & Play Camp features traditional camp activities at the City Wide Community Center, according to the Concord Parks & Recreation Spring 2026 Brochure.

• Strawbery Banke Museum 14 Hancock St. in Portsmouth, 433-1100, strawberybanke.org/camps Camps are offered for ages 6-8, 7-9, 9-11, 10-12 and 12 to 17, with camps running 9 a.m. to 3 p.m in weeklong sessions with themes related to different aspects of history, such as handmade crafts, architecture, food, storytelling and more, according to the website. Offerings vary by week.

• Summer Rec Camp from Hopkinton Recreation hopkintonnh.myrec.com Six weeklong sessions will be held the weeks of June 22-July 27, each week with a theme and a Wednesday field trip. Camps run 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. and are for ages 6-11.

• Summer Playground Program From Goffstown Parks and Recreation, goffstownnh.gov Held at Barnard Park, this eight-week program is open to Goffstown residents ages 7 (or completed first grade) through 13. Weeklong sessions June 22-Aug. 14 offer programming Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m.

• Summer Playground Program From Londonderry Parks and Recreation, londonderrynh.myrec.com Camp runs at South Elementary School from June 29 through Aug. 7 for ages 6-12 with full-day (9 a.m. to 3 p.m.) and morning- or afternoon-only options, according to a department flyer. The program is currently open to resident sign-up with non-resident registrations to open at a later date depending on availability, the flyer said.

• SummerQuest at World Academy, 138 Spit Brook Road, Nashua, 888-1982, worldacademynh.com. Camps are available, divided by age, for grades 1-4 and grades 5-8, featuring weekly themes and a variety of activities including outdoor games and activities, field trips, projects and more. There is also a specialty camp for grades 5-8 that runs in the mornings (with full day options). See the website for details.

• Teen/Tween Summer Program Boys & Girls Club of Greater Manchester, Union Street Clubhouse, 555 Union St., Manchester, 625-5031, bgcgm.org The club is open to members entering grades 6-12 all summer long, daily noon-6 p.m. This is a drop-in program with daily activities.

• Voyager Camp From Londonderry Parks and Recreation, londonderrynh.myrec.com Camp for ages 11-15 is a field-trip-based program with participants having the option to visit two or three locations each week. The program currently has a wait list but the department may open additional spots, according to a department email.

• YMCA of Greater Nashua nmymca.org The YMCA of Greater Nashua offers camps at Camp Sargent (141 Camp Sargent Road, Merrimack); Merrimack YMCA (6 Henry Clay Drive. Merrimack); Nashua YMCA (24 Stadium Drive, Nashua) and Westwood Park YMCA (90 Northwest Blvd., Nashua). Weeklong camps run June 22-Aug. 28.

Camp Sargent offers traditional day camp activities such as swimming, boating, arts & crafts, hiking, games, gaga ball and more, 8:30 a.m.-4:15 p.m. with before and after care options. A general Summer Fun camp is open to grades K-8, with specialty camps, grouped by ages for kids as young as kindergarten and as old as 9th grade and Leaders In Training programs for grades 9-12.

Merrimack YMCA Camp Camp runs 9 a.m.-4 p.m., with before and after camp options. Camp offerings include a recreational camp for grades 1-6 and Camp Create specialty camps with focus on the visual and performing arts for grades 1-6.

Nashua YMCA offers Little Investigators Camp for ages 3-5. This camp runs nine weeks, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. with no extended care options.

Westwood Park YMCA offers sports camps (see sports section)

ACADEMICS

• Academic & College Prep Programs The Derryfield School, 2108 River Road, Manchester, derryfield.org/about/summer-programs Offerings include “Jumpstart Your College Essay” for rising 12th-graders, 9 a.m.-noon the weeks of June 22, July 6 and July 27; and “SAT/ACT Prep” for rising 11th- and 12th-graders, Aug. 3-7, 9:15-11:45 a.m. for verbal and 12:15-2:45 p.m. for math.

• Academic Enrichment at University of New Hampshire Durham campus unh. edu/youthprograms Academic-focused camps include “Camp Pageturner” (weeklong sessions for grades 1-6, the week of June 22 through the week of July 27); “Writer’s Academy” (weeklong session June 22-26 and July 13-17, grouped by age for grades 5-12, 8:30 a.m.-2:15 p.m.; $325) and “Summer Literacy Support” (sessions starting June 22 for grades K-12), as well as other programs specifically for teens and high school students.

• Health Career Exploration Camp run by Southern New Hampshire Area Health Education Center (Southern NH AHEC), Lamprey Health Care, see snhahec.org or call 224-7360 “This summer, Southern NH Area Health Education Center is offering week long Health Career Exploration Camps for students entering grades 9-11, with locations in Manchester, Nashua, and the Seacoast during late July and August. Camps will include campus tours, hands on learning activities, a nursing simulation lab tour, and CPR certification,” according to an email from Lamprey Health Care. Go online for updates and to fill out a form to receive 2026 information.

• Nashua Community College 2026 Summer Camps Nashua Community College, 505 Amherst St., Nashua, nashuacc.edu Camps will run Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m.-noon, according to an email from the college. Camps scheduled so far include “Automotive — General Vehicle Maintenance and Information” for rising 6th-graders through rising high school seniors, running the weeks of July 6 and July 13, the email said. There is also a camp on tabletop role-playing games (see the Games section). “More camps are expected to be added to the schedule throughout the early spring. Please check online, nashuacc.edu/summer-camp, or contact Danielle Pinkerton at DPinkerton@ccsnh.edu to learn more or sign up,” the email said.

ART

• Art Around the World Camp from Amherst Parks & Recreation amherstnh.recdesk.com Camp runs the week of July 6-9, 8:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m., at Wilkins Elementary School for grades 1-5.

• The Canvas Roadshow/Hammer & Stain NH 25 S. River Road, Bedford, thecanvasroadshow.com, 913-9217 Five weeklong camps are offered, starting the week of July 6 with the final camp running week of Aug. 17. Three weeks feature Art & Yoga, recommended for ages 7-12 and running 9 a.m.-2 p.m. A teen camp the week of July 13 is recommended for ages 12-16 and runs 9 a.m.-noon, as does an art-only camp the final week for ages 7-14.

• Children’s Museum of New Hampshire 6 Washington St., Dover, childrens-museum.org, 742-2002 Camps run Tuesday-Thursday 8:30-11:30 a.m. and are divided by age. Mini camps for ages 4-5 are themed art (starting July 7), science art (July 14), gnomes & fairies (July 28) and animals (Aug. 4). Camps for ages 6-7 are Slimey Science (July 14), Ancient Greek (July 28) and Eco Builders STEAM (Aug. 4). 3D Print it camps run the week of Aug. 11 for ages 8-10 and the week of Aug. 18 for ages 10-12+.

• Creative Ventures Gallery 411 Nashua St., Milford, creativeventuresfineart.com, 672-2500 Two camps are currently listed: The Magic of Summer Camp for ages 8-12, Monday, Aug. 3, through Thursday, Aug. 6, 9 a.m.-noon; and Fantasy and Character Art Camp for ages 8-12, Monday, Aug. 10, through Thursday, Aug. 13, 9 a.m.-noon.

• Currier Museum of Art 150 Ash St., Manchester, currier.org The Currier will offer a three-day Art Ventures workshop to “invite young artists to explore exciting materials, learn new techniques and express their ideas in a supportive and playful studio environment,” according to an email from the Currier. The workshops will run July 15-17, July 22-24, Aug. 12-14 and Aug. 19-21, 9:30 a.m.-noon for ages 6-8 and ages 9-12 and 1:30-4 p.m. for ages 12-14, the email said. Registration will open March 20. Check currier.org for updates.

• Hollis Artspace 30 Ash St., Hollis; hollisartspace.com, 465-4300 According to the website, camps will be announced in early March and will be half-day camps.

• Hopkinton Recreation hopkintonnh.myrec.com Summer Art Camp for rising 1st- through 5th-graders will be held Aug. 3-7, 8:30 a.m.-noon and Aug. 3-6, 1-4:30 p.m., both at the Maple Street School in the art room.

• Kimball Jenkins 266 N. Main St., Concord, kimballjenkins.com, 225-3932 Camp registration will open March 2, according to the website. Kimball Jenkins will offer three two-week sessions, for ages 6-14, that run 9 a.m.-2:30 p.m. with extended before and after care options from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. On the final Fridays of the session, campers will have an art show to showcase their works, the website said. Themes are KPopolooza (July 6-17), Color Explosion (July 20-31) and Fantasy Fairytales and Mystical Creatures (Aug. 3-14).

• Paint pARTy 135 N. Broadway, Salem, 898-8800, paintpartynh.com Half-day (9 a.m.-noon) camps run Monday-Thursday with some weeks geared to grades 1-4 and others for grades 5-8. Camp weeks start July 6 through the week of Aug. 10. Kids will draw and “work with various mediums such as acrylic paints, pastels, watercolor and clay,” the website said.

• SEE Science Center 200 Bedford St., Manchester, 669-0400, see-sciencecenter.org SEE offers art-focused camps including “Silk Painting Chemistry” July 6-10 for ages 6-13; “Comics Arts Camp” July 13-17 for ages 8-15, and “Resin Art Camp” July 27-31 for ages 9-15. Camps are 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m.

• Studio 550 Community Art Center 550 Elm St., Manchester, 232-5597, 550arts.com Weeklong camps run from 2 or 2:30 to 5 p.m. and are Arts Explorer (ages 7+) and Teen/Tween Clay (ages 10+), with the Arts Explorer camps having different themes for each session. There are four teen sessions (starting June 22 with the last one the week of Aug. 10) and nine Arts Explorer sessions (the weeks of June 22-Aug. 17).

• Under the Moon Creative Art Studio The Mills, 155 Dow St., Manchester, 851-4996, underthemoonartstudio.com The summer camp geared toward ages 6-10 runs Aug. 3-7, 8:30-11:30 a.m.

• Windham Recreation windham.recdesk.comWindham Recreation offers Camp Art Outside in Griffin Park for kids entering grades 1-6, 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Aug. 3-6.

• You’re Fired 25 S. River Road, Bedford, 641-3473; 133 Loudon Road, No. 101, Concord, 226-3473; 264 N. Broadway, Salem, 894-5456; yourefirednh.com Camp Fired 2026 will take place at all three locations with eight weeklong sessions, running 8:30-11 a.m., geared toward ages 5-12, according to the website and an email from You’re Fired. Each week has a different theme.

AVIATION & SPACE

• Aviation Museum of NH27 Navigator Road, Londonderry, aviationmuseumofnh.org, 669-4820 Flights of Discovery Summer Camp features three two-week sessions (two for ages 10-13, one for ages 14-17) that run Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., and offer an in-depth look at aviation with hands-on activities, guest speakers, field trips and more. Camp sessions for ages 10-13 start June 22 and Aug. 3; session for ages 14-17 starts July 13.

• McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center 2 Institute Drive, Concord, 271-7827, starhop.com Three of the Center’s six weeklong STEM camps are focused on space or rockets: “Star Hunters” July 6-10, 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m., for ages 8-11; “Blast Off!” July 20-24, 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m., for ages 8-11, and “So You Want to Be An Astronaut” July 27-31, 8:30 a.m.-2 p.m., for ages 5-7.

• WinnAero’s Ace Academy Laconia Airport 65 Aviation Way, Gilford, winnaero.org/register Aviation- and aerospace-related camps are available for grades 3-12 July 6-10 and July 13-17 with half-day camps available for elementary schoolers and full-day camps for middle and high schoolers.

DANCE

• Allegro Dance Academy 100 Factory St., Suite F2, Nashua, 885-7989, linktr.ee/allegrodancenh The school will run camps and classes July 13-Aug. 13 and registration will open April 3, according to an email from the school.

• Bedford Dance Center 172 Route 101, Bedford, 472-5141, bedforddancecenter.com Offerings include weekly classes, July 13-24, in the afternoons on a variety of subjects for dancers age 6+.

• Bedford Youth Performing Company155 Route 101, Bedford, 472-3894, bypc.org BYPC’s dance and movement camps include a Dance Boot Camp for ages 12+ (June 15-19), Acro Camp for ages 8-12 (July 27-31) and themed preschool camps for ages 3-6. The school also offers dance classes throughout the summer as well as classes and camps in music and theater.

• Broadway Bound Performing Arts Center 501 DW Highway, Merrimack, 429-8844, broadwayboundpac.com Offerings include classes and workshops in a variety of subjects and for different age groups. Camps include Musical Theatre Camp June 29-July 17, 9 a.m.-3 p.m., for ages 6-18; Kids Dance Camp July 27-31, 9 a.m.-3 p.m., ages 4-13, and Intensive Dance Camp, Aug. 4-8, 9 a.m.-2 p.m., for ages 13-18.

• Concord Dance Academy 26 Commercial St., Concord, 226-0200, concorddanceacademy.com Dance Camp runs July 27-31, with full-day and half-day options and before and after care. The camp is available as a mini camp for ages 3-5, a recreational camp for ages 4-12 and an intensive camp for ages 8-13. There are also Summer Intensive programs, with two multi-week sessions offering weekly classes for ages 5-18 in a variety of subjects.

• Creative Dance Workshop of Bow 1355 Route 3A, Bow, 225-7711, nhdances.com Offerings include weeklong camps 9 a.m.-3 p.m., for ages 5-12, the week of June 22 and then the week of July 13 through the week of Aug. 10.

• The Dance Company 130 Route 101A, Amherst, 864-8374, www.thedancecompanyonline.com Offerings include dance parties; weekly classes and clinics for ages walking through 18, and camps such as Camp Theatre Kids, June 22-25, 9 a.m.-noon, ages 4-7; Camp Acro, July 7-9, 10 a.m-1 p.m., ages 7-11; Camp Dance, July 7-13, 9 a.m.-3 p.m., ages 5-10; Camp Theatre, July 20-24, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., grades 2-12, and Level Up, Aug. 10-14, ages 6-10 (9-11:30 a.m.) and ages 11+ (noon-5:30 p.m.).

• Dance Visions Network 699 Mast Road, Manchester, 626-7654, dancevisionsnetwork.com Summer offerings include Technique classes for ages 7+ in July and August; a mini camp July 14-16 for ages 3-6 (9 a.m.-noon); 3-Day Camp July 21-23 for ages 7-15 (9 a.m.-3 p.m.), and a Summer Dance Intensive Aug. 3-7 for ages 9+, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

• Dimensions in Dance 84 Myrtle St., Manchester, 668-4196, dimensionsindance.com Summer programming includes a fairy tale camp for ages 3-6 (July 20-24, 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m.); Level 1 Dance Camp for grades 1-2 (July 20-24, 9 a.m.-2:30 p.m.); Level 2 Dance Camp for grades 2-3 (July 20-24, 9 a.m.-2:30 p.m.); Level 3 & 4 Junior Intensive for grades 3-7 (July 27-31, 9 a.m.-2:30 p.m.) and a summer dance intensive for grade 7 through college (July 27-31, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., and Aug. 3-7, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.).

• Happy Feet Dance School 25 Indian Rock Road, Windham, 434-4437, happyfeetdanceschool.biz The school will offer weekly dance classes, themed dance party days and a princess camp July 14-16, 10-11:30 a.m.

• Kathy Blake Dance Studios 3 Northern Blvd., Amherst, 673-3978, kathyblakedancestudios.com The studio will offer six-week classes for all ages (3-adult) as well as themed dance camps for ages 3-10 (different age groupings on different weeks) each week with a different theme (the weeks of July 13 through Aug. 3) and a dance intensive for ages 7-18, Aug. 10-14.

• Londonderry Dance Academy 21 Buttrick Road, Londonderry, 432-0032; londonderrydance.com “TheAcademy offers a ‘Back to the Barre Summer Dance Intensive’ Aug. 17-21, 8:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. for ages 7+. The curriculum includes a variety of dance genres, with an in-studio presentation at the end of the week. … There is also a Creative Kidz Camp for ages 3 to 6.5 in two weeklong sessions — June 22-26 and Aug. 17-21 — 9 to 11:30 a.m. which features art, dance, music and dance theater,” according to an email from the academy.

• Melissa Hoffman Dance Center 210 Robinson Road, Hudson, 886-7909, mhdcdance.com Camps run July 6-10, 9 a.m.-noon (ages 5-8); July 13-17, 9 a.m.-noon (ages 5-8); July 20-24, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. (ages 8-12) and July 27-31, 9 a.m.-noon (ages 5-8), according to the Center’s Facebook page.

• Miss Kelsey’s Dance Studio 2626 Brown Ave., Manchester, 606-2820, mkdance.com The studio will have one- to three-day camps and workshop days for ages 3-18 running June 23 through July 31, according to an email from the studio. See app.gostudiopro.com/online/index.php?account_id=3136 to register.

• Nancy Chippendale’s Dance Studios 49 Range Road, Building No. 2, Suite A, Windham, 458-7730, chippswindham.com Last year the school offered summer dance camps for preschool through 1st grade and grades 2-5. Check back for updates on 2026.

• New England School of Dance 679 Mast Road, Manchester, 935-7326 newenglandschoolofdance.com The school offers classes for ages 3-6, 7-11 and 12+ as well as “Focus Workshops” on specific styles of dance. Mini camps for ages 3-6 run July 16 and Aug. 6, 9 a.m.-noon. A summer intensive will run July 27-30, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. (ages 7-11) and 9 a.m.-3 p.m. (12+).

• New Hampshire Academie of Dance 1 Action Blvd., No. 4, Londonderry, 432-4041, nhadance.com The school will offer weekly classes July 14 to Aug. 13 for students as young as 8 months through classes for adults. The school will also feature camps for ages 3 to 5 July 20-23, 9 a.m. to noon; ages 3 to 6, Aug. 10-13, 9 a.m. to noon; ages 6 to 10, Aug. 3-7, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with an end of week showcase, and a performing arts camp for ages 6 to 12, June 22-26, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with an end of week performance, according to a brochure posted to the school’s Facebook page.

• N-Step Dance Center 1134 Hooksett Road, Hooksett, 641-6787, nstepdance.com The school offers summer classes and intensives as well as weeklong musical theater camps with different themes each week, the weeks of July 6, July 20 and July 27.

• Southern New Hampshire Dance Theater 19 Harvey Road, Bedford, 263-3803, snhdt.org Camp offerings include four sessions of two-hour Princess Camp for ages 3-6; Young Dancer Workshop for ages 6-8 and ages 9-12 (July 13-17, 9:30 a.m.-12:15 p.m.), and a Summer Intensive for ages 10-19 (July 27-Aug. 14). The school also offers open summer classes; see the website for details.

• Turning Pointe Center of Dance 371 Pembroke St., Pembroke, 485-8710, turningpointecenterofdance.com Last year the school offered summer classes as well as a half-day camp for ages 5-7 (morning) and ages 9-11 (afternoon). Check back for this year’s offerings.

• Unbound Dance Academy 237 Londonderry Turnpike, Hooksett, 777-0050, unbounddanceacademy.com Camp offerings include “Musical Theatre Camp Experience: Mary Poppins” July 6-10, ages 8-17, 9 a.m.-2 p.m.; Princess Camp, July 13-17, 9 a.m.-2 p.m., ages 4-7; Advanced Acro Camp, July 13-15, 5-6:30 p.m.; Beginner/Intermediate Acro Camp: Acro & Conditioning, July 20-21, 5-6 p.m.; Pom Dance Prep Intensive, July 22, 5-6:30 p.m., ages 10+; Cheer Prep Intensive, July 29-30, 4-6:30 p.m., ages 8+; Sparkle & Petite Dance Intensive, July 27-28, 10-11:30 a.m., ages 5-9, and Level Up! Dance Intensive, Aug. 3-5, 9 a.m.-noon, ages 10+.

GAMES

• Chess Wizards bedfordnh.myrec.com Bedford Parks & Recreation offers a chess camp with full-day (9 a.m.-3 p.m.) and half-day (9 a.m.-noon or noon-3 p.m.) options June 29-July 2 and July 6-10, geared to ages 5-12

• Chess Wizards A camp in New Boston runs the week of Aug. 17-21 with full-day (9 a.m.-3 p.m.) and half-day (9 a.m.-noon or noon-3 p.m.) options, according to chesswizards.com. The camp is open to grades K-6 and registration opens March 2 for New Boston residents and March 16 for non-residents, according to an email from New Boston Recreation. See newboston.recdesk.com.

• “DND” Tabletop Role-Playing-Games at Nashua Community College, 505 Amherst St., Nashua, nashuacc.edu Camp runs the week of July 20, Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m.-noon, for rising 6th-graders through rising high school seniors. “Flex your creative writing and storytelling skills! Learn world-building, character development, and how to run an engaging campaign,” according to an email. See nashuacc.edu/summer-camp or contact Danielle Pinkerton at DPinkerton@ccsnh.edu to learn more.

• Summer Chess Champs Camp hopkintonnh.myrec.com Chess Wizards will hold a camp for ages 5-12 for full-day (9 a.m.-3 p.m.) or half-day (9 a.m.-noon or noon-3 p.m.) Aug. 10-14 at the Hopkinton Library.

GYMNASTICS

• A2 Gym & Cheer 16B Garabedian Drive, Salem, 328-8130, a2gc.com “Registration will open on our portal April 15th,” according to an email from the school.

• Gymnastics Village 13 Caldwell Drive, Amherst, 889-8092, gymnasticsvillage.com Last year the school offered full-day and half-day Gymnastic Camp and Ninjaz Cam for ages 6-14, with half days available for ages 4-5. Check back for updates for 2026.

• Gym-Ken Gymnastics 184 Rockingham Road, Windham, 434-9060; gymkengymnastics.com Last year the studio offered classes for walkers through preschoolers as well as tumbling and parkour classes and a day camp. Check back for updates for 2026.

• Impact Gymnastics 301 River Road, Bow, 219-0343, impact-gymnastics.com Full-day weeklong camp for ages 5-13 runs 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. (early and late care options available) with different activities scheduled for each day and different themes each week.

• Noha’s Gymnastics Academy 200 Perimeter Road, Manchester, 518-7660; 30 Pond St., Nashua, 880-4927; ngacademy.us Full- and half-day (morning or afternoon) weeklong camps offered in both locations, June 8 -Aug. 21. Each week has a different theme.

• Sky High Gymnastics 185 Elm St., No. 2, Milford, 554-1097, skyhighgym.com Full- and half-day camps offered June 15-Aug. 28, with weekly sessions each with a different theme, and drop-off that starts as early as 7:30 a.m. and ends by 5 p.m. The camp, for ages 4.5-12, includes indoor and outdoor play, crafts, daily gymnastics class and more.

• Southern New Hampshire Gymnastics Academy 4 Orchard View Drive, No. 11, Londonderry, 404-6181, snhga.com Last year the school offered weeklong camps with full- and half-day options for ages 4 and up. Check online for updates.

• Tumble Town Gymnastics 444 E. Industrial Park Drive, No. 10, Manchester, 641-9591, tumbletownnh.com Weeklong camps are the week of July 6 through the week of Aug. 10.

MARTIAL ARTS & NINJA

• ATA Martial Arts of Merrimack 707 Milford Road, Unit 2C, Merrimack, 881-5435, atabbanh.com Call for updates on 2026 summer camps.

• Bedford Martial Arts Academy 292 Route 101, Bedford, 626-9696, bedfordmartialartsacademy.com Camp features field trips, dodgeball, obstacle courses, indoor and outdoor activities, playground and pool activities and more, according to the website. Contact the school for details.

• Empowering Lives Martial Arts 542 Mast Road, No. 15, Goffstown, 978-414-KICK, martialartsnewhampshire.com Last year the school offered weeklong summer camp. Call for details about 2026.

• Granite State American Kenpo Karate 290 Derry Road, No. 5, Hudson, 598-5400, gsakenpo.com Camp offers indoor and outdoor games, arts & crafts, field trips, park visits, outdoor play and more, according to the website. Contact the studio for details.

• Inner Dragon Martial Arts 77 Derry Road, Hudson, 864-8756, innerdragonma.com Last year’s camp ran 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. and featured games, weekly field trips, weekly library trips, reading challenges and more according to the school, which said the program offers weekly, five-week and full-summer options. Check back for 2026 availability.

• USA Ninja Challenge Manchester 444 E. Industrial Drive, Manchester, 935-7100, ninjamanchesternh.com Camps are weekly, 9 a.m.-noon, for ages 6-12. Call or go online for 2026 details.

• USA Ninja Challenge Concord 14 Chenell Drive, Concord, 228-9936, ninjaconcordnh.com The Concord USA Ninja Challenge offers camps 9 a.m.-noon for weeklong camps grouped by age and skill. Camps are for Advanced (July 20-24), ages 6-9 (July 6-10, July 27-31 and Aug. 17-21) and ages 9-14 (July 13-17 and Aug. 3-7).

• USA Ninja Challenge at Gymnastics Village, 13 Caldwell Drive, Amherst, 889-8092, gymnasticsvillage.com Ninja camp is available for ages 6-14 with a full-day or half-day or daily option for weeklong camps held the weeks of June 22 through Aug. 17.

• USA Ninja Challenge Hudson 17 Friars Drive, Unit 18, Hudson, 417-6820, ninjahudson.com Week-long camps or by the day, 9 a.m.-noon, for ages 6-12, the weeks of June 22, July 6, July 20, Aug. 3 and Aug. 17.

MEDIA & FILM CAMP

• ConcordTV Video camps 170 Warren St., Concord, yourconcordtv.org Previous years’ camps offered beginner and advanced sessions to teach video creation and editing skills geared to ages 11-15. Check back for 2026 camp info.

• Film & Audio Camp at Let’s Play Music in Derry (145 Hampstead Road, 425-7575), Manchester (2626 Brown Ave., 218-3089) and Hudson (136 Lowell Road, 882-8940) letsplaymusic.com/summer-camps Geared to ages 10-18, Film & Audio Camp will run Mondays through Thursdays, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Sign up online for site- and date-specific information.

• 2026 LACTV Media Camp at Londonderry Access Center TV, 281 Mammoth Road, Londonderry, 432-1147; find them on Facebook Media Camp (where kids learn to create short-form videos and longer TV and get experience working in professional TV and podcast studios) will run July 6-17, 10 a.m.-2:30 p.m. for grades 5-8. Call or email Erin at erowe@londonderrynh.org to register.

• SEE Science Center 200 Bedford St., Manchester, 669-0400, see-sciencecenter.org “Animation with Lego Camp” is open to ages 8-12 and teaches campers to make stop-motion animation with Lego with groups creating a three-or-so-minute short film, according to the website. The camp runs Aug. 10-14 or Aug. 17-21, 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m.

• Triple Threat Film Camp at Londonderry Dance Academy, 21 Buttrick Road, Londonderry, 432-0032, triplethreattheatercamp.com “Geared to ages 8-16, this camp will teach students how to write, direct, shoot and edit a short film. Students will also act in a short film directed by an industry professional. The camp will run June 22-July 2, 8:45 a.m. to 3 p.m.” according to an email from the academy.

MUSIC

• Bedford Youth Performing Company155 Route 101, Bedford, 472-3894, bypc.org BYPC’s summer music offerings include Rock Band Camp with sessions for grades 4-6 (the weeks of June 22 and July 20) and grades 7+ (weeks of July 6 and Aug. 3) and a Recording camp for grades 7+ (Aug. 10). All camps are 3-8 p.m., except for the July 20 camp, which runs 9 a.m.-2 p.m. The school also offers Kindermusik drop-in classes, private lessons, dance camps and preschool offerings.

• Concord Community Music School 23 Wall St., Concord, 228-1196, ccmusicschool.org Offerings include Music & Movement, Tuesday mornings June 2-July 14 (ages 5 months to 6 years); Piano Dynamos Camp, June 22-26 (ages 9-15); Summer String Camp, June 22-26, (ages 8-15); Summer Jam Camps, July 6-10 and July 13-17 (grades 5-12); Creative Arts Camp, July 20-24 and July 27-31 (grades 1-6); Spotlights Theater Arts Camp, Aug. 3-7 (grades 1-6); Instant Folk Ensemble Workshop, July 30, 5:30-7:30 (teens-adult); Intro to Suzuki Violin, Mondays, July 6-Aug. 24, 4-4:30 p.m. or 5-5:30 p.m., and Summer String Orchestra, Mondays, 6 to 7 p.m., June 29-Aug. 3 (ages 9-16), as well as private lessons. Most weeklong camps run 8:45 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

• Let’s Play Music locations in Derry (145 Hampstead Road, 425-7575), Manchester (2626 Brown Ave., 218-3089) and Hudson (136 Lowell Road, 882-8940) letsplaymusic.com/summer-camps Summer camp offerings include Vocal Virtuoso Camps (ages 8-13), Intro To Music & Arts Camp (ages 7-12), Ready to Rock Camp (ages 7-12) and Rock Band Camp (ages 10-16). These camps run Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Ready to Rock Camp for ages 4-6 runs Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.

• Manchester Community Music School 2291 Elm St., Manchester, 644-4548, mcmusicschool.org Offerings include Guitar Camp, June 22-26, 10 a.m. to noon (ages 8-12); Music Exploration Camp, July 13-17 and Aug. 17-21, 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. (ages 6-9); String Camp, July 20-24, 9 a.m. to noon (ages 5-10), and Mic Drop Camp, Aug. 3-6, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. (ages 9-12), as well as private lessons and summer ensembles.

• Nashua Community Music School 2 Lock St., Nashua, 881-7030, nashuacms.org Camp offerings include half-day camps (9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.) for ages 4-7 (Broadway Babies, July 6-10; Instrument Adventures Jr., July 13-17, and Pop Star Jr., July 20-24) and full-day camps (9 a.m. to 3 p.m.) for ages 8 to 12 (Broadway Week, July 6-10; Instrument Adventures, July 13-17, and Pop Star 2026, July 20-24).

• School of Rock Nashua 225 DW Highway, Nashua, 600-7625, schoolofrock.com/locations/nashua/music-camps Camp offerings include Rock 101 Camp, July 6-10 and Aug. 3-7; Best of the ’90s Camp, July 13-17 and Aug.10-14; ’80s Rock Camp, July 20-24 and Aug. 17-21; and Classic Rock Rewind Camp, July 27-31 and Aug. 24-28. Camps are for ages 7-18 and run 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

• University of New Hampshire Summer Youth Music School Paul Creative Arts Center, 30 Academic Way, Durham unh.edu/youthprograms UNH offers instruction that concentrates on an instrument or voice part with a program that concludes with a concert. The school offers Junior (for kids who have just completed grades 6-8; July 18-22) and Senior (kids who have just completed grades 9-12; July 25-Aug. 2) sessions as well as a Chamber Intensive option. Junior and Senior sessions have overnight and commuter (8:15 a.m.-4:15 p.m.) options.

• Upbeat New Hampshire Summer Festival upbeatnewhampshire.org Summer Strings camp will run June 22-26 (or the first full week of summer vacation) 9 a.m.-noon at Nashua High School North Music Wing, 8 Titan Way, for musicians in grades 3-12, according to a camp email. The camp includes daily semi-private lessons, orchestra rehearsal, music theory and more, the email said. Register by emailing upbeatnewhampshire@gmail.com or going to upbeatnewhampshire.org/registration, the email said.

NATURE & THE OUTDOORS

• Beaver Brook Nature Camps Beaver Brook Association 117 Ridge Road, Hollis, 465-7787, beaverbrook.org Camp registration opens March 2 for members, March 4 for nonmembers. Seven sessions are offered the weeks of June 22 through Aug. 10 (no camp the week of June 29). Camp runs 9 a.m.-3 p.m. for ages 5-14 and features hiking, exploring, outdoor games, ponding, nature crafts, smores over a campfire and more, the website said.

• Gage Farm Schoolhouse 215 Wallace Road, Goffstown, 488-1599, gagefarmschoolhouse.com Nine weeklong sessions run the week of June 22 through the week of Aug. 24 (no camp the week of June 29) for kids ages 4-12 from 8:05 a.m. to 2 p.m., with extended hours options. Each week has a different theme, with outdoors, arts and science elements and more.

• Joppa Hill Educational Farm 174 Joppa Hill Road, Bedford, 472-4724, theeducationalfarm.org Camp opportunities are offered for ages 5-8 and 9-12, with campers hiking, participating in farm chores and more. Most camps are Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-3 p.m., with an aftercare option. Camps run the week of June 22 through the week of Aug. 10.

• NH Audubon nhaudubon.org The NH Audubon offers nature day camps at the Massabesic Center in Auburn and the McLane Center in Concord June 29 through Aug. 21 for campers in K through 6th grade, grouped by age and running 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Camps involve a variety of activities including crafts, hikes, live animal presentations and more, depending on age, and each week has a specific theme. Leaders in Training programs for grades 8-10 run 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

• Upreach Therapeutic Equestrian Center 153 Paige Hill Road, Goffstown, 497-2343, upreachtec.org “Fun on the Farm” camp is offered for ages 8+ June 22-26, 9 a.m.-noon. Students learn the basics of horse care and anatomy and take part in horse-related activities.

SCIENCE & STEM

• Brainwave STEAM Camps 2nd Nature Academy, 10 Groton Road, Nashua, 881-4815, 2ndnatureacademy.com/brainwave Nine weeklong sessions of camps run the weeks of June 22 through Aug. 17, 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. with extended care options. Campers ages 6-14 are grouped by age into camps with different themes each week — for example, July 20-24 camps include “Animate It! Create Stop Motion Shorts” for ages 8-10 and “Magical Mythical Cardboard Quest, 3D Cardboard Crafting” for ages 10-14.

• Camp Invention STEM Science Camp hopkintonnh.myrec.com Hopkinton Recreation will host Camp Invention featuring a weeklong camp Aug. 3-7, 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m., for rising first- through fifth-graders at Maple Street School. A second week may be available, according to the website, where you can check for updates.

• iDTech Camps at Southern New Hampshire University, 2500 N. River Road, Manchester, idtech.com/locations Weeklong camps (some with overnight options) are available for ages 7-17 on STEM subjects including video game design, BattleBots, Minecraft, Roblox, CrunchLabs and more. Weekly camps are offered the week of July 6 through the week of Aug. 3. Age groupings and weeks vary by camp subject.

• Inspirit AI at The Derryfield School, 2108 River Road, Manchester, derryfield.org/about/summer-programs According to manchesterinspiritai.paperform.co, “students will learn the fundamentals of AI in Python, and complete a mentor-led socially impactful AI project. No programming or computer science experience is required and advanced cohorts are available.” The program takes place at the Derryfield School, July 13-24, 9 a.m.-noon. See the Inspirit AI website for details.

• LetGo Your Mind STEM Programs letgoyourmind.com STEM Programs featuring Lego for kids ages 4 or 5 to 13, grouped by age, are available in several New Hampshire towns including Amherst, Bedford, Concord, Londonderry, Manchester, Nashua, New London, Pelham, Salem and Windham, according to the website, where you can find dates, locations and ages for each session.

• Manchester Community College STEM Summer Camps 1066 Front St., Manchester, mccnh.edu/summer-camps Camps for rising 6th- through 8th-graders include SparkForce Summer Camp (described as “Nuts,Bolts & Thingamajigs camps….This will include 3D printing, Laser Engraving/Cutting, CNC machining, and more”) July 13-17, and Robotics Camp July 20-23. Camps run 8:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.

• McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center 2 Institute Drive, Concord, 271-7827, starhop.com The Center offers six weeklong STEM camps with three focused on terrestrial subjects: “Create, Code and Conquer” June 29-July 2, 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m., for ages 12-14; “Discover the Dinosaurs” July 13-17, 8:30 a.m.-2 p.m., for ages 5-7, and “Earth Explorers” Aug. 3-7, 8:30 a.m.-2 p.m., for ages 8-11.

• Play-Well TEKnologies Lego Camp via New Boston Recreation, newboston.reckdesk.com The camp runs Aug. 24-28, 9 a.m.-noon for ages 5-7 and 1-4 p.m. for ages 8-12. Registration opens March 2 for New Boston residents and March 16 for nonresidents, according to New Boston Recreation.

• SEE Science Center 200 Bedford St., Manchester, 669-0400, see-sciencecenter.org Camps with a science and STEM focus include “Camp Summer Science” July 13-17 or July 20-24 for ages 7-13; “SciArt Camps” July 20-24 for ages 7-15; “BioTrekker Camp” July 27-31 for ages 11-14; “FIRST PLACE Invention Challenge” July 27-31 or Aug. 3-7 for ages 9-14; “Energy Innovators Camp” Aug. 3-7 for ages 10-14; “City Planning with Lego Camp” Aug. 3-7 for ages 8-12, and “iSpy Camp” Aug. 10-14 or Aug. 12-21 for ages 8-13. Camps are 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m.

• Southern New Hampshire Education Center 1E Commons Drive, No. 28, Londonderry, 818-8613, snhec.org Camps offered for K-6th grade include “Hogwarts STEAM Express” July 6-10, 8:30-3:30 p.m. (a morning-only option is available); “Camp Invention: Spark” July 13-17, 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m., and LetGo Your Mind July 20-24 and July 27-31, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

• STEM Launch Lab at Boys & Girls Club of Greater Manchester — Union Street Clubhouse 555 Union St., Manchester, 625-5982, bgcgm.org/programs/summer_programs According to the Boys & Girls Club website: “The Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Manchester is excited to partner with Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) on a … 5-week summer experience designed for youth entering grades 5-8. Participants will split their days between the Union Street Clubhouse and SNHU’s campus, giving them a unique blend of Club-based learning and real-world university experiences. Each week focuses on a different STEM theme, led by SNHU staff members working in the field, including engineering, aeronautics, robotics, coding, design thinking, and hands-on innovation.” The camp runs five weeks starting July 6, 8 a.m.-4 p.m.

• University of New Hampshire STEM camps at the UNH Durham campus, unh.edu/youthprograms Science, Tech, Engineering & Math programs slated for this year include computer classes, marine science and more. See the website for updates. A Tech Camp is also slated for the UNH Manchester campus Aug. 3-7 and Aug. 10-14 for grades 5-12.

SPORTS

• Brazilian Soccer Camp — Epping programs.brazilianunited.com/buc/buc-summer-camp/epping-parks-recreation-department A camp is offered Aug. 17-21 with full-day (9 a.m.-3 p.m. for ages 8-14) and half-day (9 a.m.-noon for ages 7-14) options plus a Future Stars camp for ages 4-6 from 3 to 4 p.m.

• Brazilian Soccer Camp — Litchfield programs.brazilianunited.com/buc/buc-summer-camp/litchfield-parks-recreation A camp is offered July 27-31 in Litchfield Park at Sawmill with full-day (9 a.m.-3 p.m. for ages 8-14) and half-day (9 a.m.-noon for ages 7-14) options plus a Future Stars camp for ages 4-6 from 3 to 4 p.m.

• Brazilian Soccer World Cup Camp from the ACTIVE Brazilian United Soccer Academy, offered via New Boston Recreation, newboston.recdesk.com The camp will be offered the week of June 22-26 and the week of Aug. 17-21, with groupings for ages 8-14 (9 a.m.-3 p.m.), 7-14 (9 a.m.-noon) and 4-6 (3-4 p.m.). Registration opens March 2 at noon.

• Brazilian United Soccer Camp from Amherst Parks and Rec, amherstnh.recdesk.com. Camp will run June 22-26 for ages 4-14 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Wilkins Elementary Upper Fields. See the recreation department’s website for a link to register.

• The British Are Coming Summer Soccer Camp mnsl.org/soccer-camp-in-manchester This camp run by Manchester North Soccer League has in the past offered full- and half-day options. Check back for updates for this summer.

• British Soccer Camp hopkintonnh.myrec.com The camp will run Aug. 17-21 in Houston Park with a Tiny Tykes program for ages 2-5 from 8 to 8:45 a.m.; half-day program for ages 5-14 from 9 a.m. to noon and a full-day program for ages 6-14 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

• Capital City Sports & Fitness Youth Summer Sports Camp Capital City Sports & Fitness, 10 Garvins Falls Road, Concord, 224-7787, capitalcitysportsandfitness.com The camp for ages 5-11 offers weeklong sessions June 22-Aug. 14. Camps include swimming, a variety of sports (basketball, volleyball, football, soccer, futsal, dodgeball, kickball and pickleball), obstacle courses, arts & crafts, board games and more.

• Caramba Soccer Skills camp at Broken Ground Elementary School in Concord; 496-3579, soccerskillscamp.org Full-day and half-day (9 a.m.-noon) options are available for kids in grades 1-9 July 20-24.

• Challenger Soccer Camp pelhamweb.com/314/Challenger-Soccer-Camp Offered through Pelham Parks & Recreation, the camp will run June 22-26 for ages 2-14 with a Tiny Tykes program for ages 2-5 from 8 to 8:45 a.m.; half-day program for ages 6-12 from 9 a.m. to noon and a full-day program for ages 6-14 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Camp is held in George M. Muldoon Park, 27 Muldoon Parkway in Pelham.

• Concord Crew concordcrew.org Learn-to-row sessions will be held June 22-July 9 and July 13-30, Monday-Thursday 4:30-6:30 p.m., open to kids in grades 7-12. Concord Crew also offers semi-private lessons, rowing skills and programs for college and competitive rowers; see the website for details.

• Conway Arena 5 Stadium Drive in Nashua, 595-2400, conwayarena.com Camp offerings include Conway Arena Rec Camp July 13-17, 8:30 to 3 p.m.; Pro Ambitions Camp (hockey) July 27-30, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Hockey Academy, Aug. 3-6; Girls Hockey Rec Camp, Aug. 10-14, 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and Nashua City Parks & Recreation Camp, Aug. 17-21, 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., according to the website, where you can find details and links to enrollment.

• Derryfield Athletic Camps The Derryfield School, 2108 River Road, Manchester, derryfield.org/about/ summer-programs Offerings include field hockey, basketball, Rafa Nadal Academy Camp (tennis), Magic Touch Soccer Academy and speed and conditioning. See the website for 2026 details.

• Executive Health & Sports Center 1 Highlander Way, Manchester, 668-4753, ehsc.com/summer-camps Camps, described as offering “fitness and fun,” run the week of June 15 through the week of Aug. 3, with a 7:30-9 a.m. drop-off time and a 3:30-5:30 p.m. pick-up time, geared toward kids in grades K-5, with camps grouped by age.

• Fisher Cats Baseball & Softball Camps Northeast Delta Dental Stadium, 1 Line Drive, Manchester, 641-2005, milb.com/new-hampshire In previous years, the Fisher Cats have held baseball and softball camps for ages 6-15, in weeklong sessions during the mornings, with campers receiving a ticket to the Fisher Cats game that occurs in the evening of the final day. Check back for updates on 2026.

• Foster’s Golf Camp Dropoff and pickup location is Derryfield Park, 581 Bridge St., Manchester; 622-1553, fostersgolfcamp.com Campers ages 7-16 travel to three different par-3 courses each week to participate in practice clinics, time on the driving range and nine holes of gold played with instruction, according to the website. Weeklong sessions run 9 a.m.-4 p.m., the week of June 15 through the week of Aug. 24.

• 4 Leaf Lacrosse NH Summer Day Camp 4leaflax.org Last year the weeklong camp was held at Ouellette Stadium at Southern New Hampshire University in north Manchester and open to grades K-10.

• Future Gen Sports Flag Football fgsflag.com Camps are offered in New Hampshire and Massachusetts including in Brentwood, Aug. 3-6, 9 a.m.-noon, for grades K-8.

• Hampshire United Soccer Club Summer Soccer Camp hampshireunitedsc.com Camp will run Aug. 3-7, for birth year 2012-2021 at Bean Fields in Amherst, according to an email from the club.

• International Mountain Climbing School 2733 White Mountain Highway, North Conway, 356-7064 climbimcs.com Day camps are offered to kids ages 8 to 17 (in groups of 8 to 12 and 13 to 17) with three-day sessions offered for alternating age groups starting June 29-July 1. See the website for all the session dates. Camps run 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

• Jack Perri Basketball Camps jackperribasketballcamp.com Co-ed weeklong basketball camps for kids in grades 3-10 held at Southern New Hampshire University and run by Jack Perri, head coach of the SNHU men’s basketball team. The program also runs a high school showcase for grades 9-11 (check the website for updates). Sessions are June 29-July 2 and July 27-31. Before and after camp supervision is available for additional fees.

• JT Soccer Training info.abcsportscamps.com/jtsoccerCamps including full- and half-day options at Southern New Hampshire University for ages 5-14 July 6-10; a Raymond-based pre-season camp for ages 7-14 July 27-31, 5:30-7:30 p.m.; a Hooksett-based half-day camp for ages 3-14, July 27-31; SNHU Striker School for ages 10-15, Aug. 3-7, 4-6 p.m., and a SNHU Goalkeeper School for ages 10-15, Aug. 3-7, 4-6 p.m.

• Longfellow New Hampshire Tennis & Swim Club 140 Lock St., Nashua, 883-0153, longfellownh.com Hammel Tennis Camp offers weeklong tennis camps for ages 6-12 as well as middle school and high school age students with full- and half-day options as well as options to just do some days of the week. See the website for updated 2026 information and for descriptions of the skill level grouping.

• NH Climbing & Fitness 10 Langdon Ave., Concord, 715-9171, nhclimbinggym.com/camps Four summer camp offerings serve ages 5 to 17 (ages vary for each camp) and will run 9 weeks, June 22-Aug. 21. Camp offerings include Indoor Camp, Outdoor Skills Camp, Adventure Camp and Advanced Climbing Camp, according to an email from NH Climbing and Fitness. See the website for details.

• NH Hoop Skills nhhoopskills.com Day camps for girls in grades 2-10 led by Karen Pinkos, head coach of the Southern New Hampshire University Women’s Basketball team, are offered in two sessions: June 22-25 and July 13-16, with camps running 9 a.m.-3 p.m. The camp takes place at the Stan Spiro Field House on the SNHU campus in Manchester. An Elite Clinic for girls in grades 9-12 is also available; see the website for updates.

• NH Spartans nhspartans.com The NH Spartans have basketball camps at Pick Up USA in Manchester July 13-16 and Aug. 3-6, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. The Spartans also have camps at the Sports Barn in Hampton, including a girls-only camp and a 3v3 competition camp.

• NH Tomahawks nhtomahawks.com The Tomahawks have summer offerings for boys and girls ages 5-17, for all positions including goalies. Camps, divided by age and ability, run 9 a.m.-noon at Joppa Fields in Bedford June 22-25, June 29-July 2 and July 20-23. The Tomahawks also have summer leagues and other training opportunities.

• Nike Basketball Camps 800-645-3226, ussportscamps.com/basketball/nik A Nike Basketball Camp will be held at Saint Anselm College the week of June 22 and the weeks of July 6 to July 27, with half-day options for ages 7-9 and full days for 7-16. Nike Basketball Camp at St. Christopher Academy will run the weeks of June 29 and Aug. 10, with full-day (ages 7-15) and half-day (ages 7-15) options. A camp is also offered in Hampton.

• Paul Hogan Basketball Camp hogancamps.com Paul Hogan Basketball Camps offer “day and overnight camps focused on developing your game and skills. Overnight camps at NHTI (grades 5-12) and co-ed day camps in multiple NH towns (grades 1-8),” according to an email from the camp. Camps held at NHTI in Concord include Point Guard & Post Player Basketball Camp for grades 5-12 June 27-29 for girls and June 30-July 2 for boys, with extended care and a post-camp shooting session offering. Rip City Basketball Camps for grades 4-10 will run June 22-25, July 13-16 and July 20-23, 8:45 a.m.-3 p.m. Specialty Basketball Camp will be held Sunday, July 26-Thursday, July 30, for grades 5-12 (see website for times each day). Shooters Gold Camp will be held at multiple locations around the state including Bow Middle School July 6-9 (grades 1-4, 8-10 a.m.; grades 5-8, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.).

• Planet Tennis USA camps planettennisusa.usCheck back for 2026 tennis programs for ages 8-16.

• Redline Bedford 21 Commerce Park North, Bedford, redlineathletics.com/location/bedford Redline is planning to offer a variety of summer camps and skill clinics for athletes of all levels, according to an email from the training facility. Check the website for updates and on Instagram at @redlinebedford, the email said.

• Seacoast United Soccer Club seacoastunited.com The club offers camps with full- and half-day options for ages 6-14 as well as sessions for ages 3-5 at locations in New Hampshire including Bedford, Concord, Epping, Hampton and Portsmouth as well as in Maine and Massachusetts. In addition to general skills camps, Seacoast offers Advanced Training Camps (some of which are only for club members) and Goal Keeper programs.

• University of New Hampshire summer sports camps unh.edu/youthprograms UNH hosts camps (both day and overnight) related to basketball (a boys and a girls camp), field hockey, football, gymnastics camp, girls ice hockey, Wildcat Hockey School, girls soccer, track and field, volleyball camp, boys soccer and girls lacrosse. See the website for details and availability.

• Weare Athletic Club and Challenger Sports challengersports.com A soccer camp will run July 6-10 at Weare Middle School for ages 3-14 — 8-8:45 a.m. for ages 3-5; 9 a.m.-noon for ages 6-14, and 9 a.m.-3 p.m. for ages 7-14, according to the Challenger Sports website. Challenger Sports will also hold a pre-season Aug. 3-7 with similar hours and age divisions, the website said.

• Westwood Park Sports Camps Westwood Park YMCA, 90 Northwest Blvd., Nashua, nmymca.org Sports camps for kids in grades 1-12 run weekly June 22-Aug. 21, with many camps running 9 a.m.-4 p.m., with before and after care options. Camps, which are divided by age and vary according to age, specialize in sports including basketball, flag football camp, Girls on the Go, Ninjazone, pickleball, soccer, performance training, sports sampler and volleyball. See the brochure online for dates and times for specific camps.

• Windham Recreation windham.recdesk.comWindham Recreation offers sports camps in the summer including Intro to Flag Football (July 20-22, 4-6 p.m.) for ages 7-12; Beginner Golf for ages 5-9 (July 13-15 and July 27-29, 4-6 p.m.), Camp On The Move for grades 1-6 (June 22-25, 8:30-11:30 a.m.), Camp Mini Hawk for a variety of sports for ages 4.5-6 (June 15-18, 9-11 a.m.) and Camp Multi Sport Tots ages 3-4.5 (June 15-18, 11:15-noon), according to the website.

• Windham Soccer Association and Challenger Sports challengersports.com Soccer camp will run July 20-24 at Griffin Park in Windham for ages 2-14 — 8-8:45 a.m. for ages 2-5, and for ages 6-14 either 9 a.m.-noon or 9 a.m.-3 p.m., according to the Challenger Sports website.

THEATER

Several of the dance studios also have theater and musical theater as part of their summer offerings. See the Dance section for more.

• Andy’s Playhouse 582 Isaac Frye Highway, Wilton, 654-2613, andyssummerplayhouse.org For a one-time registration fee students can participate in Andy’s programming, which includes a series of mainstage productions that feature multi-day rehearsals followed by performances; studio series workshops, which will also culminate in a performance, and more. Some programs are age-specific. See the website for dates and details.

• Bedford Youth Performing Company155 Route 101, Bedford, 472-3894, bypc.org BYPC’s summer theater camps include Taste of Broadway for grades 1-8 (June 15-19); Finding Nemo Kids Musical Theatre Production Campfor grades 1-4 (June 22-26); Annie Jr. Musical Theatre Production camp for grades 5-10 (June 22-26); Madagascar Kids Theatre Production camp for grades 1-4 (Aug. 3-7); Aladdin Jr. Theatre Production Camp for grades 5-10 (Aug. 3-7) and Triple Threat Camp (Aug. 10-14) Camps run 9 a.m.-4 p.m. The school also has preschool camps as well as music and dance offerings.

• The Children’s Theatre Project Summer Vacation Theatre Camp from Community Players of Concord 435 Josiah Bartlett Road, Concord, communityplayersofconcord Camp will run Aug. 3-7 for young actors ages 8 to 13 with the five days spent learning how to sing, dance and act in a musical which will be performed on Friday evening at the Concord City Auditorium, according to an email from the Players. Information about the camp will be posted on the website in the coming months, the email said.

• Derryfield Repertory Theatre The Derryfield School, 2108 River Road, Manchester, derryfield.org/about/summer-programs Two sessions run July 6-17 (rising 4th- through 12th-graders) and July 20-31 (rising 4th- through 8th-graders), 9 a.m.-3 p.m., which include a full lunch in the registration price. Workshops during the camps include improvisation, acting, singing, scriptwriting and dancing with groups assigned by age, the website said.

• Kids Coop Theatre 232 N. Broadway, Salem, kctnh.org Two camp sessions — June 22-26 and July 27-31 — are available both for ages 7-12, running daily 9 a.m.-3 p.m. at Derry Opera House, according to Kids Coop’s Facebook page. The sessions culminate in a Friday afternoon performance, the post said.

• Majestic Academy of Dramatic Arts 880 Page St., Manchester, 669-7469, majestictheatre.net Majestic offers half-day camps (9 a.m.-12:30 p.m.) for ages 5-7 June 22-27 and July 13-18 as well as full-day camps (9 a.m.-5 p.m.) for ages 8-14 July 6-11, July 20-25 and July 27-Aug. 1. Each camp has a different theme and ends with a showcase on the Saturday following the camp week.

• Merrimack Summer Stage Theater Program merrimackparksandrec.org The camp runs July 27-31, 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m., at Wasserman Park Theater culminating in a production of Finding Nemo Jr. Camp is open to ages 8-15.

• New London Barn Playhouse 84 Main St., New London, 526-6710, nlbarn.org/summer-camps Eight weeklong sessions run the week of June 22 through the week of Aug. 10, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., divided into Barnie Buddies (ages 6-8) and Main Street Players (ages 9-11) with different themes each week culminating in a showcase at the end of the week.

• Palace Youth Theatre Palace Theatre, 80 Hanover St., Manchester, palacetheatre.org/pyt Weeklong summer camps for ages 5-8 run daily 9 a.m.-1 p.m. the week of June 22 through the week of Aug. 10, with each week having a different theme and ending with a showcase. One- and two-week sessions for grades 2-12 run 9 a.m.-4 p.m. and feature one or two performances of a production at the end of the session. Productions for this age group are Diary of a Wimpy Kid The Musical (June 22-July 3); The Music Man Kids (July 6-10); The SpongeBob Musical Youth Edition (July 13-24); Miss Nelson Is Missing The Musical (July 27-31); Madagascar A Musical Adventure Jr. (Aug. 3-14) and Shrek The Musical Kids (Aug. 17-21).

• Peacock Players 14 Court St., Nashua, 886-7000, peacockplayers.org Weeklong camps for rising kindergarteners through ninth-graders (grouped by age) will run the week of July 13 through Aug. 10. Each week has a different theme and ends with a show. Camp runs 9 a.m. (drop-off starts at 8:45 a.m.) to 5 p.m. (pick-up is 4-5 p.m.).

• Triple Threat Theater Camp Londonderry Dance Academy, 21 Buttrick Road, Londonderry; 432-0032, triplethreattheatercamp.com “The Triple Threat Theatre Camp for ages 6 to 17 runs July 6-24, 8:45 a.m. to 4 p.m. … A Junior Program for ages 5.5 to 9 has weeklong sessions the weeks of July 6, July 13 and July 20, 8:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. … Triple Threat offers the Broadway Edge. TTTC brings industry professionals with extensive Broadway careers to focus on the core curriculum of acting, dance and voice. The program culminates with an on stage performance,” according to an academy email.

• University of New Hampshire Theatre & Dance Stars unh.edu/youthprograms Theater camps are offered for grades 3-5 (July 6-10), grade 1-3 (July 13-17), grades 6-9 (July 13-17) and grades 5-12 (July 20-24). Camps run 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m., except the grade 1-3 camp, which runs 8:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.

• Winnipesaukee Playhouse Theatre Camp 33 Footlight Circle, Meredith, 279- 0333,winnipesaukeeplayhouse.org Weeklong camp sessions are available for ages 5-11 the week of July 6 through the week of Aug. 10 on a variety of themes, running 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Camp for ages 12-14 runs daily for two weeks, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., July 6-Aug. 14, with different themes each week. An optional meal plan is available.

SEE Science Center Celebrates 40 years of hands-on exploration

The fun at Manchester’s SEE Science Center is multigenerational. A 30-year-old marketing professional who now lives in East Boston recently visited and remembered taking the bus to SEE as a middle schooler from Claremont. She marveled at many new additions and recalled older ones.

Becky Mayhew is SEE’s Finance Director and its longest-serving employee — she joined 35 years ago. On any given day, someone will tell her about coming as a kid on a field trip.

“They’ll say, ‘I’m bringing my kids now,’” Mayhew recalled. “Kids that came to us as campers … come back as teachers and bring their classes.”

Humble beginnings

In April 1984, Douglas Heuser, SEE’s Executive Director until he stepped down in 2016, wrote and received a starter grant of $40,000 from New Hampshire’s Department of Health and Human Services to create a science discovery center, using space in an old mill building donated by inventor and entrepreneur Dean Kamen.

It opened in April 1986. Though it then had a big name, Science Enrichment Encounters, there were very tight quarters for the two-person staff. Tours of the Manchester Mill District museum were by appointment during weekdays, with the public visiting only on weekends.

A dozen years later it shrunk its name but moved to a larger space on the third floor of 200 Bedford St.’s mill building.

“We probably could have fit three of our old offices into one of our new ones,” Mayhew recalled recently.

Despite having gone from 4,500 to 15,000 square feet, growth didn’t stop. SEE expanded to a lower floor and doubled in size. Plans began for the Lego Millyard Project, a Guinness World Records-recognized replica of the Mill District at the turn of the 20th century that opened in 2006.

The structure won a historic preservation award, SEE’s Executive Director Shana Hawrylchak noted during a recent tour of the facility. Several important buildings that were part of the landscape of the time no longer existed, so they were created using old photos and postcards provided by the downstairs Millyard Museum.

Specifically, according to a 2008 article in the Lego fanzine BrickJournal, the Manchester Train Station had a lot of pictures and postcards available, but there was just a single drawing of the Franklin Street Church, “so several ‘artistic liberties’ were taken to create the final product.”

“It’s all Lego, three million bricks, and seven to eight thousand minifigures, and all the buildings are from 1900 to 1910,” Hawrylchak said — except for a suspension bridge from the 1930s. It’s there because “it was such an interesting engineering challenge, and as a science museum we had to respond to it.”

SEE Deputy Director Pete Gustafson remembers the day trucks arrived.

“I went down with a pallet jack and loaded off 15 pallets of bricks,” he said. “There’s the idea phase of ‘We’re going to build a Millyard of Lego’ and it sounds like a great idea, but when 15 pallets of Legos get here, you know it’s happening.”

It took two years to complete everything, and it transformed SEE’s profile in the process.

“It really put us on the map, because it had that unique flavor, an item that no other museum has,” Gustafson said. “There are other Lego installations, but this is the Amoskeag Millyard, right? It’s unique to Manchester.”

This year SEE Science Center celebrates its 40th anniversary, while its plastic mini-city marks 20years. Both milestones will be observed in a variety of ways. For the week of SEE’s official birthdate, April 1, entry charge drops to the same price as it was in the 1980s. It’s both a gift to patrons and a way to shine a light on Museums for All, a national effort offering $3 admission to EBT, WIC and SNAP card holding families. SEE was the first museum in New Hampshire to participate in it.

“We’re trying to bring awareness to that program while celebrating the year,” Hawrylchak said.

Though not due for completion until year’s end, the efforts of SEE’s first-ever capital campaign, Science For All, are already on display. Launched in 2023, the campaign’s goals included innovating exhibits, along with improving accessibility and inclusion.

The Millyard Design Zone was launched to make the giant model interactive.

“It’s one of the biggest things we have on display, but you can’t touch it, and we’re a hands-on museum,” Hawrylchak said. “We’re taking a bunch of those hands-on elements and connecting them to how cities evolve through time.”

Budding city planners are offered a variety of tools for designing a city, she continued, pointing to one of the kiosks that have already been installed. Its goal is to determine what problems are faced at certain points in time by a city that need to be re-solved as it changes.

“Kids make cost-benefit analysis decisions about what to include in their city and what’s important to them, with three different challenge levels,” she said. “You can build a city with a blank slate, or with a green space preserve that you have to build around, or we’ve got our historic Millyard that you have to incorporate.”

Another exhibit focuses on adaptive reuse of buildings, such as converting an old mill into a restaurant, office or science center. It benefited from input provided by visitors who were offered a chance to test it out, which is done frequently as part of SEE’s development process.

There’s an interior design component, and a few caregivers and grandparents described difficulty seeing into the rooms. Automatic lighting was added to make it friendlier. “That was a very interesting change we had not thought of when we were doing the initial design,” Hawrylchak said.

Events at SEE Science Center
Sunday, March 8: Ralph Baer Celebration Day. Baer was a Manchester resident and electronics pioneer whose “brown box” controller became the original prototype for the first video game, Pong. Though his engineering career began in New York, Baer moved in 1955 to Manchester, where he lived and worked for the remainder of his life. His awards and honors include the United States National Medal of Technology, and his workshop is on display at the Smithsonian.
Tuesday, March 10: Science on Tap, at Bo’s Lounge (Stark Brewing Co., 500 Commercial St., Manchester), a discussion on game design. “Whether they are played with dice and cards on a board or with our hands and fingers with game controllers and screens, every game begins as an idea before it goes public. Learn how apps and games become reality and how some games last and others fade away.”
Saturday, March 14: Pi Day, celebrating the world’s most famous irrational number, π, 3.14159…. A video on SEE’s website, starring their intern Travis, shows an experiment that demonstrates how to discover it for yourself. The link is tinyurl.com/4wefyrub.
Wednesday, March 25, and Thursday, March 26: The 25th Annual Champagne Putt, an 18-hole minigolf tournament to benefit SEE. A winning team will be crowned both nights, with an overall tournament champion announced March 26. The event runs from 5 to 8 p.m. each night and includes food, drinks, the tournament and contests. There is also a raffle, and the event is 21+. For details, go to see-sciencecenter.org/champagne-putt.
Saturday, March 28: Rube Goldberg Machine Regional competition, a renowned STEM event that challenges students to innovate, collaborate, and bring engineering concepts to life. The event at SEE is a stepping stone to the prestigious Rube Goldberg Machine Contest World Championship, and the lowest-cost STEM contest in the nation. For details, go to see-sciencecenter.org/rubeg-contest.
Sunday, March 29, through Saturday, April 4: Science for All Week. SEE Science Center will be charging the Museums For All admission price of $3 for all visitors, no card required.
Wednesday, April 1: SEE’s official 40th birthday
Sunday, April 5: SEE closed
Monday, April 20: Park to Park Community clean-up. SEE photo contest starts on social channels.
Mondays, April 20 and April 27: special Monday hours 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. during school vacations, with Earth Day pop-up activities.

Something for everyone

There are a myriad of exhibits beckoning beyond the SEE Science Center’s first-floor entrance. Every activity has an explanation of the science behind it and offers visitors ways to make hypotheses or connect it to their lives. Topics covered include force, light, sound, electricity, momentum and simple machines (like pulleys).

Everything is arranged to allow visitors, especially youngsters, to wander and land on what interests them. A lot of research has been done on display placement, but SEE’s Executive Director describes this philosophy through her own experience.

“I’m in this field because when I was younger my parents took me to the New York State Museum and I saw the mummies,” she said. “I was so excited that I spent the next however many years … studying archaeology and anthropology, and it ended up getting me a scholarship to college. But it started from that visit.”

Steering children to specific stops is discouraged.

“It can be so easy to make learning a chore, but where you really get that change and impact is when you as a learner get to decide … that’s when you become invested,” she said. “It doesn’t matter exactly what you’re learning, just that you care about it, that brings you through.”

While children are a big reason it exists, SEE’s target demographic is “age 2 to 92,” she continued, and many recent improvements reflect this. For example, more seating for older adults who can tire faster than children was added. The goal was to design the space so a whole family can experience it.

“You go to a lot of public venues, say an amusement park, and a bunch of people from the family might have to sit to the side while the rest are experiencing it, and we really don’t want that here,” she said. “We want to make sure you’re experiencing it together, because that’s where some of the interesting learning happens.”

Observing how family groups interact is also important, Hawrylchak continued. “Where do we get the most positive behaviors? Let’s say there’s an exhibit that requires a little bit more contemplation. We’re going to be shifting that around so that we can create that sort of pocket environment for that experience to occur.”

Some of SEE’s most memorable moments happen in the lab, such as the Slimy Science program, where kids make their own Silly Putty. “That’s been running for 27 years. We did a calculation a couple of years ago, and it was about 85,000 batches of putty.”

Recently the STEM Lab was overhauled.

“This one is particularly important to us because a lot of the kids on school field trips have never been in a lab environment,” Hawrylchak said. “Most of the schools don’t have specialized science rooms, so this really gets them to be able to embody being a scientist.” Improvements include full wash stations, a new floor and accessibility upgrades to accommodate different abilities and younger kids. “We had high school-sized tables, and it was really tricky with kindergartners in here doing reactions,” she said. “We’re so happy about the floor; you have no idea how much we clean off.”

A family affair

Becky Mayhew, Peter Gustafson and Design Coordinator Adele Maurier all have worked multiple decades for SEE, part of a close-knit team of nine full-timers. Everyone does a little bit of everything, like when Hawrylchak climbed into the Lego Millyard to fix a bent tower spire recently.

There’s a sense of mission that’s rare and wonderful.

“I don’t want to use the cliché of, ‘oh, we’re a family,’ Mayhew said. “But, you know, everybody is. When you’re a small staff and you have a small, small budget, everybody has to pitch in, from the top to the bottom. I like that.”

Gustafson brought an education background but was also a working musician when he joined in February 1997. He wanted a job that accommodated that.

“Going straight to a regular classroom wasn’t appealing to me at the time,” he said. “So what brought me here was a non-traditional classroom opportunity to educate.”

In his time there he’s built and fixed exhibits, written grants, worked with SEE’s marketing team, and lately manages special events. Last year the New England Museum Association honored him with its Excellence Award. Gustafson responded modestly and pointed the spotlight on his team.

“No one’s excellent alone, we’re excellent with each other, so while it is nice to get that honor, I think it’s a statement about our institution, our organization,” he said. A quote on NEMA’s website read, “I didn’t plan to be an Exhibit Fabricator or Development Director, but the organization needed it, so I learned how to do it.”

Mayhew graduated from Saint Anselm College hoping to be a teacher but ended up working in an office.

“It was hard to find a teaching job,” she said. “But … just sitting at a computer all day doing data entry, it was just horrible. I just kept my eyes open, and I saw this job at the SEE Science Center.” She came on part-time and fit in immediately.

“I got pretty handy with duct tape, a paper clip and hammering wood, doing all these things,” she said. “We’d do the painting of the floor, all that kind of stuff. So it was really a different job every day, always different and exciting.”

She became Finance Director after SEE had split from its parent organization, Southern New Hampshire Services, and Hawrylchak came on board.

“She noticed how organized I was,” Mayhew said. For some time, she’d been doing POs, deposits and similar tasks.

The change came at the right time. “I was getting a little burnt out on 30 years of doing programs,” she said. “So it was a way for me to stay here, help grow the institution, and still get to dabble in a little education every once in a while. But, you know, my focus gets to be a little bit different.”

Her dedication is exemplified by the fact that both of her daughters came to work at SEE. Her oldest, Jordan, spent almost seven years there, with responsibilities including demonstrating SEE’s Van de Graaff generator and Air Vortex Cannon.

When they were in grade school in Merrimack, both girls went to SEE’s summer camps, but they hadn’t been on any field trips — until mom stepped in.

“There was no way my daughters were not coming here,” she said. “So I called them up, and for my older daughter, I was like, ‘hey, I will foot the bill for your class.’”

The school loved it. “It became a regular thing. There are two other elementary schools in Merrimack; now those two elementaries come. The first-graders have been coming from Merrimack since my older daughter was in first grade. She’s 24 now, about to get married.”

Summer and fall activities at SEE
Friday, June 19: SEE Golf Tournament fundraiser.
Saturday, June 20 – Friday, June 26: Kickoff to Summer featuring Lego activities and Celebrating the Lego Millyard Model. Also, the Lego Collection drive starts.
Monday, July 13: First day of summer camps.
Friday, Aug. 14: Final day of summer camps.
Tuesday, Sept. 15 – Thursday, Oct. 15: SEE celebrates scientists of Latin American descent.
Friday, Oct. 16: Community Discovery Night.
Monday, Oct. 19: Trick or Trash neighborhood cleanup.
Wednesday, Nov. 11: 21+ fundraiser at SEE the Tinker Games, and completion of the Millyard Design Zone exhibit gallery and capital campaign improvements.

Looking to the future

One focus of late has been development of programs and experiences for middle-schoolers. “That’s when these kids start to select out of science and start to do other things,” Gustafson said. “So that’s been a new and exciting challenge for us, engaging that audience.”

To that end, SEE is working with ARMI, the Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute. “We’ve developed some programs under their guidance that highlight regenerative medicine, from the basics of cells to how our body heals to how science and technology can be applied to bioengineering.”

Though the 40th anniversary won’t officially occur until April 1, SEE is already looking ahead to its 50th year. A strategic plan is underway to address the next phase and whether that means a move beyond its longtime home in the Mill District.

“I think one of our big things is, what is a permanent home for SEE?” Hawrylchak said. “We are very lucky to have this longstanding partnership with [Dean Kamen’s] FIRST, who’s been just amazing to us. But at some point we probably need a space that’s permanent for the Science Center.”

How that might be realized is under discussion. “We’re still in those early phases,” she said. “It might entail us staying here, but we’re having those conversations to say, you know, when we get to our 50th we want to make sure that we’re a permanent fixture for this community.”

Featured photo: See Science Center dinosaur. Courtesy photo.

The joy of hot chocolate

According to Catarina Mahoney, co-owner of Brookford Farm, it’s important to drink hot chocolate in cold weather, which is why she only serves it once a year, at Christmas with the Cows, the farm’s holiday celebration.

“We make it here,” she said. “We developed the recipe ourselves. I use really good cocoa — organic, fair-trade and a full-fat bean. It’s really important for me that the flavor is very strong, so that it really tastes like something.”

For the chocolate-lover

Rachel Mack, co-owner at Loon Chocolate in Manchester, said the best hot chocolate takes you back to basics.

“I love all ways that you can consume chocolate,” Mack said. “And as long as humans have been consuming chocolate, we’ve been drinking it. It started in a little different form than what we consider hot chocolate today, but I like hot cocoa that’s part of that same lineage. Delicious. We have had a cold, cold, cold New Hampshire winter this year. So I think maybe we all need just a little bit of extra hot chocolate for this winter.”

“We do hot chocolate two ways at Loon Chocolate,” she said. “We have a powdered hot chocolate mix, which is easy to make, easy to grab, and to have in your cupboard for when you have those unexpected snowstorms.”

“The mix only has cocoa powder, organic cane sugar and sea salt,” Mack said. “There’s no milk powder added at all. What’s awesome about that is you can add it to whatever kind of milk you want or a dairy-free alternative. So, I know I personally am leaning away from milk right now, so I like having the option for a dairy-free alternative. The other thing you can do, that I think is delicious — it’s a little more of a treat — is to actually turn one of our chocolate bars into a cup of hot cocoa. You can sit down and concentrate and you’re just enjoying that chocolate. I usually take about two-thirds of one of our chocolate bars — that would be one and three quarter ounces, maybe, maybe a little less. And you can use milk chocolate or you can use dark chocolate. I personally really love our Puerto Rico bar to make hot chocolate. It’s a 65 percent dark chocolate. [The intensity of dark chocolate is often measured by the percentage of cocoa solids it has.] So the Puerto Rico bar is a little bit sweet, has a really fudgy flavor, and so when you’re mixing that with whatever kind of milk you want it just has a decadent, creamy deliciousness; it is very chocolate-forward. But I can’t say that I don’t enjoy a little, little extra whipped cream now and then.”

Mack said a good cup of hot chocolate can benefit from the addition of a little spice.

“I add cinnamon quite often,” she said. “It doesn’t take much to really enhance the flavor. And, you know, cayenne makes a delicious chocolate. For as long as people have been drinking chocolate they’ve also been adding spice to their chocolates. It’s classic flavor, and if you are the kind of person who likes your food to bite back a little bit, I think cayenne is delicious.”

Consider the cacao

Maggie Prittie is a chocolate expert.

“I’m a chocolatier, a chocolate maker and a chocolate educator,” she said. When she eats or drinks chocolate she thinks about its history.

“Chocolate started roughly about 5,000 years ago. It was first consumed in a drinking form for the elite. The Spanish came to Central America and they brought it back to Spain and they began chocolate drinking — cacao cafes, which came way before coffee houses. It went from Spain and then to Germany. So it started spreading throughout Europe — but always for the elite.”

So good hot chocolate should be something you would feel good about serving to royalty.

“And that starts with a good chocolate,” Prittie said. “And that starts with the basic products, which is your cacao beans. How are they grown? How are they fermented? How are they dried? Were they properly taken care of? There’s a lot that goes into the proper production of chocolates that many people don’t know about or understand. Personally, I would look at the origin of the cacao and the additives. Be aware of your additives. You want to make sure that you do have some fat in there, which would be your cacao butter.”

European-style

Greg Chenevert is the head chocolatier at Beccari Chocolates in Hudson. He said the flavor of hot chocolate helps people step away from their stress.

“When people come into our shop,” he said, “I insist they sample something. Try whatever you like. Go crazy. It’s fine. We have something we call ‘the chocolate pause.’ When you have Beccari chocolate, the rest of the world fades away for a moment. Whatever’s going on, you have that moment where you’re just focused on the chocolate. And it’s wonderful.”

“A year ago, I got tired of drinking hot cocoa in America. And I’ve traveled to Europe, had European hot chocolate, loved it and decided to come up with a formula, a recipe for that hot chocolate and sell it here. So I spent the time, did the work, and now I’ve got a thick, creamy, European-style hot chocolate. It’s not so sweet. The way that I make it here, it has a touch of sugar in it. I mean a touch — like a teaspoon per quart — because I make it with sweetened condensed milk. I came up with the European, delicious flavor and people liked it. Generally, their statement is that it’s like drinking a chocolate bar. They try it and their eyebrows go right up and wow! And everybody, but everybody does this. We actually turn it into a frozen hot chocolate in the summer, so you can have it year ’round. People love that as well. They were surprised by the concept of frozen hot chocolate.”

Flights of fancy

Many of us have had coffee flights, or beer or wine flights — small samples of different varieties of the food or drink in question, served side by side to allow us to compare and contrast them. At The Spot Eatery in Hooksett there is a hot chocolate flight.

“It’s four different kinds, 4-ounce servings,” said Sarah Lucas, co-owner of The Spot. “We have flight flavors that we’ve set up, but then also you can make your own and just go wild with it.”

The Spot’s flavors of hot chocolate are themed around different places, Lucas said.

“Right now we have a couple of … flights,” she said. “We were inspired by local ski mountains. We have an M&M flavor for Pats Peak. We have a caramel one for Cannon Mountain. We do s’mores; we do mint. Right now, because of the Super Bowl, we’ll have a Drake Maye flavor that I believe is going to be a chocolate chip cookie flavor, but then we’ll do more places. We’re planning a New England version, and a Seattle, which I believe is going to be another coffee-related one, so we’ll have a shot of espresso in the hot chocolate as well.”

Lucas and her staff use milk for their hot chocolate, she said, and semi-sweet chocolate instead of cocoa powder. “And then we also do a couple of white chocolate-based ones as well,” she said.

The hot chocolate bar

For Chris Guerrette, owner of Lickee’s & Chewy’s Candies and Creamery in Dover, four types of hot chocolate sounds good but is just a starting point.

“We do have this crazy thing we do,” he said, “maybe twice a year, with unlimited toppings — a Hot Chocolate Bar. We have, I don’t know, about a dozen or 16 or so toppings available. Customers come in, they get a big giant cup. We fill it halfway with hot chocolate, a whole bunch of marshmallows, whipped cream, and then every topping you could think of under the sun, just like a sundae, you could have as many of them as you want. It’s a little crazy.”

Guerrette said the hot chocolate at Lickee’s and Chewy’s has a dairy base.

“It’s heavy cream. It’s whole milk, a special dark chocolate mix, and we add gourmet chocolate to it as well. So it’s a nice, really flavorful hot chocolate without it sort of being almost over the top where it’s almost too thick or too strong in any certain direction. And we make about 15 different flavors, with Torani syrups, as well as things that we have in the shop like hot Nutella. So we’ll add actual Nutella and then blend that together and then top it with various toppings. The most popular of our toppings is where we take a big old scoop of our house-made marshmallow cream and we put it on top of the hot chocolate and toast it with a torch …. [Y]ou end up actually having to eat that marshmallow with a spoon.”

Cocoa powder vs. hot chocolate powder
Cocoa powder is the dried and ground-up solids of a cocoa bean. It hasn’t been sweetened or played with in any way. It’s nothing but chocolate flavor. As is often the case, you get what you pay for. The higher the quality of the cocoa, the more it will cost.
Hot chocolate powder is a mixture of cocoa powder, sweetener, usually powdered milk, and sometimes dehydrated marshmallows. The two powders are not interchangeable.

Marshmallow topper

Krista Mellina, owner of the Twisted Mallow Co., sells a hot chocolate mix that includes her specialty marshmallows.

“There’s no dairy in it,” she said, “but it’s still very rich and has hints of vanilla from some of the sugar that I put into it — vanilla sugar. But that’s not the focus of my company. It’s been a nice pairing with some mini marshmallows that I’ve made. I’ll cut them up and bag them and attach them to the little bag of hot chocolate. The favorites are vanilla, of course, and peppermint and cinnamon and a raspberry chocolate. Those seem to be the ones that people gravitate toward. I was offering people the vanilla, but they could have a choice. They could pick whatever marshmallow flavor they wanted with their hot chocolate mix as they were buying it.”

Mellina said it’s a bit of a mystery how hot chocolate and marshmallows got together to begin with.

“I think it might have started with Fluff,” she said. “Like parents would put Fluff in their kids’ hot chocolate and then the marshmallows kind of became a thing. Kids love the Fluff. It’s foamy and it adds a little bit of different flavor. Sometimes I feel like my mom did it because when you’re taking your first sips, it’s so hot, it would kind of buffer the hot.”

Regardless, Mellina said, “There’s not enough hot chocolate in our lives. You can always have more.”

The cocoa bomb

When it comes to rich hot chocolate at home, Jaime Metzger, the manager of Granite State Candy in Manchester, said what you’re looking for is called a “cocoa bomb.”

“It is a chocolate shell and it is filled with hot cocoa mix,” Metzger said. “You can fill it with cocoa and marshmallows, you could do peppermint, you could do caramel, you could do anything. The whole fun thing is putting it in and then pouring hot milk or hot water over it and letting it open up. And then you stir it up. Six or seven years ago I saw people making cocoa bombs and said, ‘Hey, we should do that. Why aren’t we doing it?’ So we started doing it in the first year and we couldn’t keep up with demand. We kept getting orders after orders after orders, and finally we had to tell people no, no more. But it’s cool because it’s our chocolate and … you can do it with water, you can do it with milk, you can do cream, you can do any of them.”

Metzger’s personal favorite is a salted toffee version.

“Because,” she said, “you know, salt makes everything better. It just takes it to a whole new level. The shell is half dark chocolate, half milk chocolate, with hot cocoa mix and toffee pieces inside, and then toffee pieces on the outside with a sprinkle of salt.”

Hot, hot chocolate at home

As chocolate expert Maggie Prittie said, Central Americans have been growing and developing cocoa for 5,000 years or more. The Aztecs used cocoa beans as currency and credited chocolate with mystical abilities and increased fertility. There is a legend that the Aztec Emperor Montezuma II drank 50 goblets of it a day. The Aztecs drank it unsweetened and heavily spiced, in a water base.

Here is a recipe, by me, that takes inspiration from cocoa’s origins.

Aztec-inspired hot chocolate

On advice from Catarina Mahoney of Brookford Farm and the staff at Loon Chocolate, this take on hot chocolate has a water base and is dairy-free. Because modern palates are accustomed to chocolate that ranges from semi-sweet to very sweet, this recipe is sweetened with hot honey. It can be adjusted for spice-phobes or vegans. It is very rich and deeply satisfying, with a subtle kick of musky spiciness from the hot honey.

• 1/3 cup (52 g) semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 4 cups (900 g) water – Milk works well, as does rice milk.
• ¼ cup (20 g) unsweetened cocoa powder. (This is not the same as powdered hot chocolate mix.)
• 1/2 cup (168 g) hot honey – This is honey that has been infused with chilies. You can find it in most supermarkets. If you are deeply suspicious of spiciness, you can use regular wildflower honey. If you don’t eat honey, you can substitute half a cup of brown sugar, with a quarter teaspoon of cayenne pepper.
• Pinch of salt
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla

In a large saucepan, combine the chocolate chips, cocoa, salt, and hot honey, with about a cup of water, or whatever you are using as a base. Whisk it over medium heat until it is thoroughly incorporated. You’ll know when you’ve hit that point when you can’t get any melted chocolate to stick to your whisk.

Whisk in the rest of the water, and heat the mixture to a low simmer. Remove it from the heat, and whisk in the vanilla.

Makes just over a quart (32 fluid ounces) of hot chocolate, or approximately five servings.

The hot cocoa panel

• Catarina Mahoney is co-owner of Brookford Farm (250 West Road, Canterbury, 742-4084, brookfordfarm.com)
• Rachel Mack is co-owner at Loon Chocolate (195 McGregor St., No. 121, Manchester, 932-8887, loonchocolate.com)
• Maggie Prittie is a chocolatier and chocolate educator (worldwidechocolate.com/community/prittie-chocolat)
• Sarah Lucas is co-owner of The Spot Eatery (1461 Hooksett Road, Hooksett, 664-4249, thespoteatery.com)
• Chris Guerrette is the owner of Lickee’s and Chewy’s Candies and Creamery (53 Washington St., Dover, 343-1799, lickeesnchewys.com)
• Krista Mellina is the owner of Twisted Mallow (533-8455, twistedmallowcompany.com)
• Greg Chenevert is the head chocolatier at Beccari Chocolates (203 Central St., Hudson, 577-8817, beccarichocolates.com)
• Jaime Metzger is the manager of Granite State Candy Shoppe (832 Elm St., Manchester, 218-3885, granitestatecandyshoppe.com)

Featured photo: Lickee’s and Chewy’s Hot Chocolate Bar. Courtesy photo.

Experts weigh in on this fully loaded party-ready snack

Nachos might be the most social food; they are meant to be shared.

Jon Carnevale, the owner of Shorty’s Mexican Roadhouse in Manchester and Nashua, agreed. “I think that’s the great thing about nachos,” he said. “I think it certainly really lends itself to just being social and going out with friends and enjoying yourselves, enjoying company. It’s something that, like our nachos here, they’re huge. So they can feed one, two, three people to an order, depending on the appetite. … [Nachos] have something primal about them — eating them with your hands. …There’s a connection there that doesn’t exist for some other dishes.”

According to Andy Sanborn, owner of Draft Sports Bar in Concord, it’s possible that nachos have become the No. 1 bar food. “We have some great nachos and it raises the question … are nachos overtaking chicken wings and tenders as the go-to snack for America,” Sanborn speculated, “and we think it could be. We have some awesome, awesome wings here that I’m very proud of. But it could be nachos over wings. They’re that popular.”

“Nachos are just like an easy grab-and-share item. I think that that’s what’s appealing to people,” said Elissa Drift, owner of Local Street Eats in Nashua. “Nachos are endless; you can put whatever you want on them and just really customize them to make them unique or different, colorful, and flavorful. And I think that is what the big appeal is. I’m a sucker for a nacho. I love a good cheesy nacho. But I just think it’s honestly just that a fun little grab and bite and you can put a little bit more on, a little bit less on, and it’s … just the versatility that it has to offer.”

For Jaime Metzger, manager of Granite State Candy in Manchester, it’s that versatility that makes nachos great.

“There are just endless options,” Metzger said. “You know, you have a chip and then you just, you have, there’s so many ways to, there’s so many ways to nacho. You can do sweet, you can do savory, you can add whatever toppings you want. It’s a group thing, but it can be individual — no judgments. Nachos aren’t judgy.”

The Chips

Nacho professionals agree that good nachos have to start with a base of good chips.

“We make our own chips with our own spices on them,” Andy Sanborn said. “I think that’s important. It keeps them fresh. It keeps them new. It gives them an individual taste.”

The tortilla chips at Shorty’s are made in-house, too. “Yeah, you’ve got to cook those every day,” said owner Jon Carnevale. “Those are done in-house again, seasoned by us.” While Carnevale and his staff don’t make tortillas from scratch, he emphasized that they make chips from them every day.

This focus on freshly made chips can extend beyond tortilla chips. Jeff DiAntonio, chef at The Peddler’s Daughter in Nashua, makes fresh potato chips for the base of his Irish nachos. “We cut our own chips,” he said. “We use 90-count russet Idaho potatoes, and then we fry those off to order.”

Other nacho-makers are less invested in making chips in-house but have high standards for the qualities of the chips they use.

“I get these really excellent corn chips from my vendor,” said Stanley Tremblay, owner, chef and head brewer of Liquid Therapy in Nashua. “They’re nice and thick with just enough salt to be tasty, with a good crunch, and they’re fairly thick so they withstand the toppings without getting soggy. So it’s really a primo chip that I love. It’s a real nice, crunchy, good yellow corn.”

The Cheese

Sharing equal billing as the most important element of an order of nachos is the cheese.

Jon Carnevale said the best cheese for nachos requires extra effort.

“You absolutely have to grate your own cheese,” Carnevale said. “You don’t want to use pre-bagged cheese that you’d find in the supermarkets, because it’s dry. It doesn’t have the moisture content that it would if you grated your own. That’s one of the big points. You don’t get the cheese pull, you don’t get that kind of luxurious cheesiness that you get if you grate your own.” The stretchy, melty cheese feels better in a person’s mouth, he said, and gives a plate of nachos important visual appeal.

“We use cotija cheese,” said Camaron Carter, co-owner of Sunstone Brewing in Londonderry. Cotija, pronounced “co-tee-hah,” is a dry, crumbly, Mexican cheese, a little like feta. “It just adds a little bit more saltiness to it. We like nachos that are more of the dip version of a nacho instead of your classic melted cheese on top. With melted cheese, you peel it off and you end up with that nucleus in the middle that everyone’s fighting over. This way, we kind of like this version of a nacho where it’s a lot easier to eat, easier to share.”

Andy Sanborn likes to have cheese options. “We use a tri-blend mix of cheese,” he said. ”But within our restaurant, we have something like seven different cheeses. So our ability to utilize different cheeses to hit differently on the taste palette is important.”

“We use a blend, a 50-50 blend of cheddar and jack,” said Jeffrey Spencer, a prep leader and shift supervisor at Margaritas Mexican Restaurant in Manchester. The cheddar gives the nachos a deeper cheesy flavor, he said, and the jack gives them a gooey, melty quality. “We have it shredded for us. It’s a specific brand that’s made for us specifically. They send us the blend; it has a box labeled Margaritas, mixed cheese.” This provides a consistency to the cheese; it is reliably the same every time.

The Build

We’ve all been disappointed at one time or another by finishing off delicious toppings only to be left with half an order of dry, broken chips. All our nacho experts agreed on the importance of making certain that all the chips are paired with toppings.

“We start with a skillet,” said Jeffrey Spencer, “and we put beans down on the skillet. Then we put a layer of chips and then we cover them with queso sauce. Then we do another layer of chips, add the protein, and then our mix of cheeses on top. And then when it comes out of the oven, it gets pico [pico de gallo, a fresh salsa], pickled jalapeños, guacamole and sour cream to add some brightness to set off all the stodge. We make our own queso. It’s not like from a can.”

“A key point is that you’ve got to do two layers,” advised Jon Carnevale. “You have to have one layer of cheese, more than whatever toppings you’re looking to add. You’ve got to have the right chip-to-cheese ratio. That’s very important, so you don’t have a little cheese on top and then a bunch of dry chips on the bottom. We do it in two layers here and we have a method that we stick to to make sure we preserve that ratio.”

Jeff DiAntonio is also a proponent of equal chip coverage, also in layers. “We [cook nachos] on a sheet pan in the oven,” he said. “We have a nice layer of chips and a little bit of cheese, and then a little bit more chips, cheese, and then the toppings go on top of that.”

For Stanley Tremblay at Liquid Therapy, though, the whole concept of layers of nachos seems fraught with danger. “Ours are cooked in the oven,” he said, “not under a broiler. The most important thing though is that everything is all on one layer, so you never get a bad chip.’

Andy Sanborn said that contrary to popular opinion putting together a really good plate of nachos can actually be fairly labor-intensive.

“I think you have to put in the work to make great nachos,” he said. “Look, you know, someone can just throw some tortilla chips out of a bag onto a pizza tin and throw some cheese on it, throw it in the oven and add some tomatoes, jalapeños and onions and call it a day. There are plenty of people that do that, and it works for them. We make everything from scratch at our restaurant; we want to make [our nachos] memorable.”

CLASSIC INGREDIENTS

Most people have a baseline image of nachos: tortilla chips, cheese and some fresh ingredients.

“The biggest thing for nachos is that you have to make a lot of them,” said Jon Carnevale. “That’s the key. And that’s what we do here at Shorty’s. I think sour cream has to be in there. Pickled jalapeños will go on them. Because you have all the richness from the cheese and all those other ingredients, you have the pickled jalapeños to kind of keep it in focus. It’s a good balance to that richness. It adds a little heat too. But it should be a little sprinkle. It’s not to overpower the plate, but just a little accent. We add a scoop of guac on each order of our nachos; that adds something. If you’re looking for meat, I’d pick good old-fashioned gringo ground beef, or even our chili. We make our Jailhouse chili in-house every day. And that on nachos is fantastic, especially this time of year.”

INNOVATIONS

What if you want to be a little more adventurous and experimental with your nachos? Nachos provide a great canvas to showcase special ingredients.

Short rib nachos

According to Michael Martin, chef at Miller’s Tavern in Manchester, highlighting a special ingredient on an order of nachos means the ingredient has to be of the highest quality. “We make our short ribs from scratch,” he said. “We have a house recipe that we use. Our short rib is slow-roasted for four hours so it’s tender and full of flavor. It’s so good. To top it off you can get it with our … barbecue sauce. We make nachos with pork or with the short rib. Most people go with the short rib. And then we top that with melted cheddar cheese, our house-made pico de gallo, along with our house-made barbecue sauce. You can add sour cream or diced jalapeños.”

Irish nachos

One increasingly popular form of nachos substitutes potato chips for tortilla chips. Jeff DiAntonio at the Peddler’s Daughter said potato chips support an even larger number of directions to take nachos in.

“These are something different. It’s not your typical corn tortilla. … The potatoes are a different spin on the ordinary nacho you get. We fry the chips to order, and we’ll top them with cheddar jack cheese, onion, tomato, sour cream and scallion for a basic one. But then we also have options to add barbecue pork, grilled chicken and bacon to them,” he said.

Street corn nachos

The nachos at Sunstone Brewing take their inspiration from Mexican street corn, which as its name suggests, is sold on the streets of Mexico, roasted and topped with lime juice, crema, and salty cheese.

“The base [of our street corn nachos] is a cream and cream cheese based street corn dip,” said Camaron Carter, “with corn, peppers and jalapeños. Obviously there’s the corn, which is fire roasted. And then you have some green and red peppers in there as well. Then on top you have the grilled chicken with some pickled jalapeños on top, some cotija cheese. And then chopped green onions to finish it. It was on our very first menu when we opened and people have loved it so much that it’s been there ever since.”

“I think our classic Sunstone Golden Ale goes perfectly with nachos,” Carter said. “It’s nice and light and not too hoppy. It has a breadiness to it that kind of helps deal with all the saltiness of the chips and all of that. I think it’s kind of perfect, especially if you’re watching a football game or any sports and having some nachos and some beers. You kind of want something light like that, that won’t overtake some of the flavors that you get from the nachos.”

Korean nachos

One very adventurous variation on traditional nachos is Liquid Therapy’s Korean-inspired Seoul-ful nachos.

“It’s a nice easy base of 100 percent corn chips,” Stanley Tremblay said, “with some cheddar jack on top. And then I have my shredded pork and my shredded chicken that I make in-house. That goes over the top. Then I’ll add some red onion, some mushrooms and some peppers. I add a little more cheese on top and a gochujang drizzle. If you’ve ever had Korean barbecue — it’s sweet, it’s tangy, it’s got a little heat. It’s got everything you want to have in something that’s super delicious and stick-to-your-ribs and comfort food.

“I also created an Asian-style pickle, with rice wine vinegar, a little apple cider vinegar, some ginger, some soy sauce, some heat from red pepper flakes, some garlic, and I fine-chopped some radishes, carrots and napa cabbage, with more red onion and garlic. I do a quick pickle to kind of create this kind of kimchi-meets-pickle salsa. A little cup of that goes out so people can put that on at their leisure on top of the nacho to get that, you know, little bit of continued Asian feel and warmth and deliciousness,” Tremblay said.

“My vendor had this awesome gochujang sauce that I was able to plug and play with, and it all just kind of came together. I even made chili out of it as well. I did a chicken pork chili with some peppers and onions and beans and then put a little gochujang with that pickle medley as well and people ate it up. So I think this year it really seems like that spicy-sweet setup is getting traction in the restaurant industry. I’ve noticed that a lot with my, you know, my Buffalo and I’ve got some other things that I made with a ghost pepper aioli with some honey and some other stuff. It has this full mouth feel, full tongue effect, bringing in all those different senses,” Tremblay said.

Carnitas and Buffalo chicken nachos

“For our Buff [Buffalo] chicken nachos,” Andy Sanborn said, “we fry chicken tenders that we dice, then we wet batter them again with our own wet batter. We fry the chicken off and then we have our own Buffalo sauce that we toss the chicken tenders in before we put them on the nachos. So you’re getting good, fresh, uniquely battered and uniquely Buffalo-y Buffalo sauce chicken on top.”

“For our carnitas nachos, we make pork carnitas [shredded roast pork] the old-fashioned way,” he said, “and then we have a southwestern cowboy queso dip that we include with the cheese. It actually kind of goes on top of the cheese near the end to give it yet another flavor profile, so it’s not just tortilla chips, cheese, tomatoes, onions and jalapeños. It’s more involved than that as something to eat.”

“We actually do our own smoking here,” Sanborn noted. “We smoke the pork off first. When we make our carnitas, it’s pork that’s smoked in-house. It’s dry rubbed in-house with our own special sauce and with our own special spices, which is secret. And then we smoke it until it’s finger soft. People talk about ribs falling off the bone, but you want your pork shoulder to break up easily because it’s easy for people to chew on. We kind of pride ourselves in our taste palate on our smoked pork.”

Ice cream nachos

Nachos are flexible enough to support sweet versions as well as savory ones.

Jaime Metzger invented ice cream-based nachos for Granite State Candy.

“Ice cream nachos are a lot of fun, actually,” she said. “Basically, it’s pieces of waffle cone in the shape of round nacho chips. You can pick two different ice creams or two of the same ice creams. And you get your choice of two sauces. Again, you could do the same sauces or you could do different ones. Hot fudge, caramel, peanut butter, marshmallow, strawberry, the list goes on. And then you get to pick two toppings. So you can pick a candy topping, you can do sprinkles, you can do whipped cream, you can do any of those. And then there you are.”

“My only complaint,” Metzger said, “is, we have hard ice cream — versus soft serve — so sometimes the chips break when you try to dip them in the ice cream and that bothers me. We give spoons with it, though, so you could take the spoon and use it to load the chips.” Ice cream nachos are really good to order on a date, she said. “I’ve definitely seen couples get it. Like he picks and then she picks and they do their thing, because it’s two of everything. For an additional fee you can get an extra bag of the waffle chips if you don’t think there’s enough that comes with it. You can buy another bag of waffle chips. Any additional toppings or anything are available upon request, for an additional cost. I mean, you can go crazy and put tons and tons of things.”

Where to find these nachos

Traditional nachos:
Shorty’s Mexican Roadhouse 1050 Bicentennial Drive, Manchester, 625-1730, shortysmex.com, Nachos – starting at $12.99
Margaritas Mexican Restaurant Manchester 1037 Elm St., Manchester, 647-7717, margs.com, Loaded Skillet Nachos – $16.99

Short rib nachos:
The Miller’s Tavern 1087 Elm St, Manchester, 854-8442, themillerstavern.com, $18.95

Irish nachos:
Peddler’s Daughter 48 Main St., Nashua, 821-7535, thepeddlersdaughter.com, starting at $13

Korean nachos:
Liquid Therapy Brewery and Grill 14 Court St., Nashua, 402-9391, liquidtherapynh.com, Seoul-ful Nachos, $16

Carnitas and Buffalo chicken nachos:
The Draft Sports Bar and Grill Concord Casino, 67 S. Main St., Concord, 227-1175, draftsportsbar.com

Ice cream nachos:
Granite State Candy Shoppe 832 Elm St., Manchester, 218-3885, granitestatecandyshoppe.com, $8.95

Featured photo: Korean Nachos at Liquid Therapy. Courtesy photo.