Category: Family Fun

Family fun for the weekend

Festivals and expos

• Gather up the troop and head over to Bedford for the Girl Scout expo on Sunday, Oct. 16, at 10 a.m. at the New Hampshire Sportsplex (68 Technology Drive). Registration for the event closes on Oct. 13. The expo will have events including giveaways for the girls, live performances, hands-on exhibits and more. The program is appropriate for girls in kindergarten through grade 12 and adults, and they do not need to be members of the Girl Scouts to participate. Tickets for everyone cost $5 and can be purchased at mygs.girlscouts.org.

• The fourth annual Hudson Harvest Festival is happening on Saturday, Oct. 15, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Dr. H.O. Smith Elementary School (33 School St., Hudson). In addition to a costume parade for all ages with prizes to be awarded, the festival will feature games, music, vendors, craft tables and a pumpkin carving contest. See “New England Vendor Events” on Facebook for details.

• The Town of Windham is planning a harvest fest at Griffin Park (111 Range Road, Windham) on Saturday, Oct. 15, from noon to 4 p.m., featuring food trucks, family-friendly activities and more. At 3 p.m., kids can go trick-or-treating around the park. Visit windhamnh.gov for more information.

• One Church Manchester (1308 Wellington Road) will hold a fall festival on Saturday, Oct. 15, from 3 to 6 p.m., with food, games and pumpkin decorating. Volunteers can come and decorate the outpost on Friday, Oct. 14, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The event is free to attend. Visit church.one/events/fallfestivalmanch for more information.

• The Londonderry Fall Fest is going to be on Saturday, Oct. 15, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the Londonderry Town Common (Mammoth Road). There will be more than 50 local vendors on hand to showcase their products, as well as various options from food trucks offering different tasty treats. Admission is free. See the Eventbrite page for more details.

Museum fun

• “My Year of Toys: An Art Journal,” theart exhibit at the Children’sMuseum of New Hampshire’s Gallery 6 (6 Washington St. in Dover), will run through Sunday, Oct. 16. The exhibit displays works by author and illustrator Sandy Steen Bartholomew, who created a drawing of one toy from her large toy collection every day for a year. Gallery 6 is free; paid museum admission (which is $12.50 per person age 1 and up; $10.50 for seniors) is not required for entrance to the gallery only. Museum hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m., and Sunday from 9 a.m. to noon. See childrens-museum.org.

Outdoor activities

• A brand new all persons trail is opening at the NH Audubon McClane Center in Concord (84 Silk Farm Road, 224-9909) on Saturday, Oct. 15. The grand opening ceremony will start at 9 a.m. and will be followed by a “birding for all” session. The trail, designed to help people with mobility challenges, was completed in September; it follows the nature trail and goes through the pollinator meadow. For more information on the trail, or to reserve a spot for the grand opening and birding outing, visit nhaudubon.org/event/all-persons-trail-grand-opening-october-15.

• The Nashua Duck Derby is going to take over Renaissance Park (23 Water St.) on Saturday, Oct. 15. In addition to the 10,000 duck drop goal, there will be a beer tent, food trucks, a scavenger hunt, games and kids’ activities. Live music by the Joe Mack Band will start at 11:30 a.m. and the duck drop will be at 2 p.m. Admission is free; to participate in the duck drop event, one duck costs $5, six cost $25, a dozen is $50, and 25 is $100. The first, second and third place ducks will win cash prizes of up to $2,500. Visit duckrace.com/Nashua for more information and to purchase ducks.

Family fun for the weekend

Arts and crafts

• The Bookery (844 Elm St. in Manchester) will hold a storytime and craft on Saturday, Oct. 8, beginning at 11:30 a.m. featuring the book A Spoonful of Frogs and a fun science experiment about frogs. The event is free, but registration is encouraged. Visit bookerymht.com to reserve tickets.

• Twiggs Gallery (254 King St. in Boscawen) is holding a free make and take craft session on Saturday, Oct. 8, from 1 to 3 p.m. Drop by and make a fall hedgehog out of autumn leaves, according to a press release. The gallery is providing everything needed to make this craft. Visit TwiggsGallery.WordPress.com.

Festival fun

• The annual Charmingfare Farm (774 High St. in Candia) Pumpkin Festival continues this Saturday, Oct. 8, through Monday, Oct. 10, with time slots starting at 10 a.m. Ride down to the pumpkin patch on either a tractor train or a horse-drawn wagon, or pick up the decorative squash at the market stand. In addition to the pumpkin picking, there will be pony rides, a cow milking contest, pumpkin art and animal visits. Ticket costs start at $22. Visit visitthefarm.com.

• The seventh annual scarecrow festival is back this year at the Concord Free Public Library (129 Main St.) starting on Tuesday, Oct. 11, and running through Halloween. There will be scarecrows made by a number of local organizations, including Appleton Design Group, Concord-Carlisle Community Chest, Concord Family Network, Concord Rec, Joy Street life + home and West Concord Green Thumbs. The festival runs all day long and there is no registration required. Visit concordlibrary.assabetinteractive.com for more details about the festival.

• The Pembroke Town Library (313 Pembroke St.) is holding a fall festival on Wednesday, Oct. 12, starting at 4 p.m. This is the inaugural fall festival for the library and activities include trick-or-treating around the library, apple cider and doughnuts, a screening of the movie Halloweentown (1998) and a pumpkin light up viewing. The event is free to attend and registration is not required. Visit pembroke-nh.com/pembroke-town-library for more information.

Showtime

The Palace Youth Theatre is putting on a production of Freaky Friday at the Palace Theatre (80 Hanover St. in Manchester; palacetheatre.org) on Tuesday, Oct. 11, and Wednesday, Oct. 12, at 7 p.m. The show is about what happens when an organized mother and a rebellious daughter switch bodies and spend a day in each other’s shoes. Ticket prices start at $12.

Save the date

• The Girl Scout expo will be held on Sunday, Oct. 16, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the NH Sportsplex in Bedford. Purchase tickets, which are $5, online in advance at bit.ly/GirlExpo2022 or at the door. The expo will have events including giveaways for the girls, live performances, hands-on exhibits and more. The program is appropriate for girls in grades kindergarten through grade 12 and adults, and they do not need to be members of the Girl Scouts to participate.

Family fun for the weekend

Festivals galore

• Charmingfare Farm (774 High St., Candia) is holding a multi-day pumpkin festival featuring pumpkin picking, tractor train rides, horse-drawn wagons, pumpkin art, live music and more. Visit their website to pick a date and time to attend. Available dates are Saturday, Oct. 1, and Sunday, Oct. 2, and Saturday, Oct. 8, through Monday, Oct. 10. Tickets are $22 per person and must be purchased in advance online (free for kids ages 23 months and under). Go to visitthefarm.com to purchase tickets and for more information.

• Join DeMerritt Hill Farm (20 Orchard Way, Lee) for Pumpkinfest on Saturday, Oct. 1, and Sunday, Oct. 2, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. There will be pumpkin rock painting and naming contests for the chance to win prizes, as well as face-painting and pre-picked pumpkins available for purchase. Visit demerritthillfarm.com for more details.

• There will be a harvest fest on the lawn of the Taylor Library (49 E. Derry Road, Derry) on Sunday, Oct. 2, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., featuring games, crafts, snacks, music, balloon twisters and a special visit from the Derry Fire Department. Visit taylorlibrary.org for more information.

• The educational farm at Joppa Hill (174 Joppa Hill Road, Bedford) is hosting a Fall Fest on Sunday, Oct. 2, from noon to 4 p.m. The fair will have tractor rides, a pumpkin patch, crafts, a petting farm, live music, tasty treats and more. No registration is needed. Visit theeducationalfarm.org

• The last days of Toddlerfest are this week, with the final day being Sunday, Oct. 2, at the Children’s Museum of New Hampshire (6 Washington St., Dover). The annual celebration offers guests up to age 5 experiences with music and movement, science, art and storytelling. The festival is included in the price for tickets for general admission. Visit childrens-museum.org to purchase tickets and for more information.

Explore science

• SEE Science Center (200 Bedford St., Manchester) is inviting kids and families to make their own Simon Says game on Saturday, Oct. 1, to celebrate the 100th birthday of Ralph Baer, the game’s creator. Participants will need to bring a laptop capable of downloading Arduino IDE software to be able to participate. The program runs from 1 to 3 p.m. and costs $5 plus regular admission. The project is recommended for kids ages 12 and older. Visit see-sciencecenter.org for more information.

Farm fun

• NOFA-NH and Brookford Farms are celebrating their respective 50- and 10-year anniversaries with a pizza party, live music, and farm tour at 250 West Road, Canterbury, on Saturday, Oct. 1, from 1 to 4 p.m. In addition to everything listed above, there will also be a hay maze, apple cider pressing, encounters with wildlife, and more. Visit nofanh.org.

Showtime

• The run of The Little Mermaidat the Palace Theatre (80 Hanover St., Manchester) is ending with its final performance on Sunday, Oct. 2, at 2 p.m. The show follows the adventures of the little mermaid, Ariel, who falls in love with a human she rescues. Tickets start at $25 and can be bought at palacetheatre.org.

Sports fans

Got kids who love sports? They might be keen to watch older kids play the sports they are just starting to enjoy. Hippo’s sports writer, Dave Long, suggests a few upcoming games your kids might want to check out:

• Boys Soccer – Concord at Nashua South, today, Thursday. Sept. 29, at 4 p.m. These two are bunched at the top of the Division 1 standings with several others. So October will be wild as very good teams battle all month for who’ll be seeded where come tournament time. And kicking off the race will be the Crimson on the road vs. the Titans at Nashua’s Stellos Stadium (7 Stadium Drive).

• Football – Campbell at Trinity, Friday, Sept. 30, at 7 p.m. An earlyseason battle of teams that come into tomorrow’s clash at Trinity High School (581 Bridge St. in Manchester). The winner takes the lead to be the top seed in the Division 3 tournament.

• Girls Soccer – Derryfield at Trinity, Sunday, Oct. 2, at 4 p.m. A Manchester city battle at Trinity. With the Pioneers being relatively new to D-3, it’s not quite a rivalry game. But with them now meeting twice a year, it’s probably not far off. The next edition comes Oct. 21 on the synthetic at D-field that looks to be twice regulation size when you drive up to it on North River Road.

Family fun for the weekend

Festival fun

• Presentation of Mary Academy (182 Lowell Road, Hudson) is hosting its annual fall fun fest on Saturday, Sept. 24, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The festival will have events such as ax throwing and a touch-a-truck. There will also be food trucks, face-painting, craft vendors, a bake sale and raffles. Visit pmaschool.org for more information.

• The Town of Chester is closing its year-long series of 300th anniversary celebrations with a Tricentennial Grand Finale festival on Saturday, Sept. 24, beginning at noon at 4 Murphy Drive in Chester. There will be live music and food vendors. The highlight of the day will be a “mega” parade that kicks off at 2 p.m. on Chester Street. The night will close out with a fireworks display at 8 p.m. Visit chesternh300.org for more information.

Movie time

• The three locations of Chunky’s (707 Huse Road, Manchester; 151 Coliseum Ave., Nashua; 150 Bridge St., Pelham) will have a little lunch date featuring the 2015 movie Home (PG) on Friday, Sept. 23. Home follows Tip, a young girl trying to find her mother after Earth is taken over by the alien race called the Boov. She meets and befriends a runaway Boov named Oh and together they escape the Boov, and search for Tip’s mom. The movie starts at 3:45 p.m. and tickets cost $5. Visit chunkys.com for more information and to purchase tickets.

Outdoor adventures

• Explore the outdoors in a book with author Susie Spikol as she talks about her newest book, The Animal Adventurer’s Guide: How to Prowl For an Owl, Make Snail Slime, and Catch a Frog Bare-Handed, at Gibson’s Bookstore (45 S. Main St., Concord) on Saturday Sept. 24, at 11 a.m. The book is filled with crafts, activities and adventures children can go on in their backyard. Spikol is bringing a craft for attendees to participate in at the event. The event is free to attend and more information about it can be found at gibsonsbookstore.com.

• The annual Fairy House Tours are back this year on Saturday, Sept. 24, and Sunday, Sept. 25, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., rain or shine. There will be hundreds of little fairy houses on the grounds of the Strawbery Banke Museum, Governor John Langdon House, Prescott Park Arts Festival and the Gundalow waterfront. There will also be fairy inspired dances by the Southern New Hampshire Dance Theater, performed at the Prescott Park Arts Festival’s main stage in the gardens of the Governor John Langdon House and The Players’ Ring. Tickets cost $12 for an adult, $8 for a senior, $6 for a child, or $30 for a family of four. To purchase tickets or for more information, visit friendsofthesouthend.betterworld.org.

• Get ready to search high and low at the 5th Annual Great MassabeSEEK Scavenger Hunt on Sunday, Sept. 25, at the New Hampshire Audubon Massabesic Center (26 Audubon Way, Auburn). The event will run from 1 to 4 p.m. and there will be several activities throughout the day, including a s’mores bonfire, yard games, a live animal exhibit, a craft room and more. Tickets for people ages 12 and older are $25, for ages 3 to 11 they are $15, and children younger than 3 are free. To register or for more information, visit nhaudubon.org

• The Bow Mills United Methodist Church (505 South St., Bow) is hosting its 17th Annual Pumpkin Patch starting on Monday, Sept. 26. The pumpkin patch currently has more than 1,000 pumpkins in it. The patch is open weekdays from 2 to 6 p.m., Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. The pumpkin patch will remain open until Oct. 31. For more information, visit bowmillsumc.org.