Category: Featured Content

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (PG-13)

Winona Ryder brings Lydia Deetz back to the infamous ghost house in Connecticut in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, a Tim Burton-directed sequel to his 1988 movie.

Lydia (Ryder) is now grown up and trading on her teenhood in the ghost house by working as a talk show host/psychic medium who visits other haunted houses to commune with their ghosts. Across town (New York City I think), her stepmother Delia (Catherine O’Hara) has transitioned from sculpture to video and performance art. At a fancy girls’ school, Lydia’s daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega) is enduring taunts due to her mother’s ghosty fame. The three Deetzes come together when Delia learns that her husband, Charles, has died (from a decapitation, which is helpful for reasons you’re free to Google). They return to the family’s legendarily haunted country house to bury Charles and clear out and sell the house.

Delia’s artsy-chic funeral is interrupted by Lydia’s sorta-boyfriend/sleazy manager Rory (Justin Theroux, doing an excellent job at being very slappable) proposing to marry Lydia two days hence, on Halloween. Astrid and Delia do not like Rory, Lydia even seems to not like Rory. But he bullies her into saying yes. And perhaps she’s vulnerable from the loss of her father, from the death of Astrid’s father and the subsequent difficult relationship between mother and daughter, and from the disturbing Beetlejuice sightings she’s been having lately. Meanwhile, Astrid storms off and meet-cutes Jeremy (Arthur Conti), a local boy reading Dostoevsky.

And then meanwhile meanwhile: Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton) is working a desk job in the afterlife. His ex-wife Delores (Monica Bellucci), who had been boxed away in multiple pieces, reconstitutes herself with help from a staple gun and goes around sucking the souls out of the dead, making them, uh, deader. Wolf Jackson (Willem Dafoe), an action star in life, has become some kind of detective in the afterlife and is trying to find Delores. And a headless Charles Deetz wanders around, trying to get to the great beyond.

“More things!” feels like the approach in this movie. Astrid’s dad was a constantly-on-the-go activist! Astrid is also socially conscious maybe! Lydia’s crappy boyfriend won’t let her take medicine! Deliah has to postpone her art show! Astrid wants to travel! Lydia has no confidence for no particular reason! I feel like we could have gotten to the Beetlejuice factory faster and with more impact if we had sliced some of these characters (Delores, Wolf Jackson) away and given the remaining characters, Astrid in particular, more depth and personality. Astrid pretty much begins and ends at “surly teen.”

The movie’s climax features a musical scene that feels like it was created by somebody who was told about the “Day-O” scene in the 1988 movie and then made their own aggressively “look at how wacky this is” version with a different song. I found it flat and sparkless in a way that very much mirrored the movie overall. We’re getting a kind of second-hand, recreation-of-the-original version of the Beetlejuice story, not one that feels like a new adventure with familiar characters. Actually, Lydia in particular doesn’t even feel like the same character. In 1988, Lydia was a proto-Daria gothy teen with opinions and spunkiness; here, she’s kind of a mushy drip.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice has moments of visual cleverness but the weirdness, silliness and fun of the Beetlejuice universe feels muted. C+

Rated PG-13 for violent content, macabre and bloody images, strong language, some suggestive material and brief drug use, according to the MPA on filmratings.com. Directed by Tim Burton with a screenplay by Alfred Gough & Miles Millar, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is an hour and 45 minutes long and distributed by Warner Bros.

Featured photo: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.

Fall gardening chores

Never make mulch volcanoes

By Henry Homeyer
listings@hippopress.com

Despite some hot sunny days, fall is fast approaching and it’s time to start thinking about cleaning up the garden and putting it to bed. No, I am not suggesting you cut back all your perennials or pull all your vegetable plants. But October, the time most gardeners put the garden to bed, may be cold and rainy. We even got 5 inches of wet snow one October. So get started!

Let’s look at the most neglected area: the vegetable garden. By October many gardeners are sick of weeding, so they pick their peppers, pull the carrots and quit. I recommend cleaning up each bed as soon as all the food has been harvested. So far I have pulled my garlic and dug my potatoes. Each time I took half an hour or so to weed the bed, cover it with old newspapers (four to six pages) and then covered that with 4 to 6 inches of straw. That way, next spring, weeds and grasses won’t take over beds while the soil is still too cold and wet for planting vegetables.

The leaves and stems of any vegetable that showed signs of blight should be treated with care: Instead of putting the diseased plants in the regular compost pile, put them in a separate pile, one that will not be used to produce compost. Spores are the “seeds” of disease and can survive most composting. Squash family plants often have fungal diseases, as do tomatoes and potatoes.

Your flower beds need weeding, too. If you don’t use an edging tool to create an impenetrable canyon around your flower beds, it is important to pull creeping grasses and vines like ‘Creeping Charlie’ that have probably been sneaking in all summer. Use a good weeding tool to go down deep when you weed. I like the CobraHead weeder best. (www.cobrahead.com). It is a curved single-tine cultivator that can get below weeds so you can pull from below as you tug on the tops. It can tease out long roots of things like goutweed.

Once Jack Frost visits, you can cut back any annuals to the ground. If you pull them, you leave a bare spot for wind-borne weed seeds to settle in and wait for spring. And on slopes, leaving loose soil exposed is likely to allow hard rains to wash away some of your good soil. You can pull the roots of those annuals when you plant more next summer.

I use three methods for minimizing weeding each year in my perennial beds. The best is to just fill every square foot of each bed with plants you love. Groundcovers like barren strawberry or foam flower will spread and fill in around the peonies and coneflowers – even if they are shaded by them. With time, most perennials create bigger clumps until weeds are shaded out and new airborne seeds don’t easily find a place to thrive.

The next alternative is to mulch those bare spots around existing plants with chopped autumn leaves. Chopped leaves break down more quickly than chopped branches or bark mulch. They provide organic matter to feed the soil organisms, enriching the soil. They also provide a soft landing and good places to hide for caterpillars that are ready to make their cocoons that become butterflies and moths. This fall think about running your lawnmower over the leaves on the lawn and either using a bagger, or raking them up. You can spread them this fall, or save in a pile to use in the spring.

Since I rarely have enough leaves, the third alternative for keeping down weeds is to buy finely ground bark mulch in bulk. For big gardens like ours it would be expensive to buy mulch in bags, but for around $50 a scoop of a front end loader, I can get a pickup truck load from my local sawmill or garden center.

I recommend buying a natural-colored bark mulch. The orange or black mulch has been dyed with chemicals, and I don’t want them in my garden. Hemlock and cedar are probably the longest-lasting bark mulches but hardwood mulch may be better for your plants and the soil. Never apply more than a couple of inches of bark mulch on your beds — otherwise moisture from short rains will not seep through to water your plants. And NEVER make “mulch volcanoes” around your trees — they will rot the bark and eventually kill the trees.

When your perennials look bedraggled it’s time to cut them back. But I leave flower stalks with seeds that birds can eat in winter. These include purple coneflower, black-eyed susans, Joe Pye weed, sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ and anything else that would feed the birds.

You can cut back your perennials with your hand pruners, but I find it slow and tedious. I prefer to use a harvest sickle or even a serrated steak knife. These allow me to grab a handful of stems and slice right through them all. You can use a string trimmer to work even faster, or even a lawn mower, I suppose.

By the way, if you haven’t cut the tops off your Brussels sprouts yet, do so today. This will keep the plants from getting taller, and they will instead produce big, fat “sprouts.” I did it much earlier than usual this year, and I am already getting nice big sprouts. Kale is very frost hardy, so I will leave mine alone, just harvesting what I need for smoothies or soups. It can last until Christmas in the garden.

So enjoy the warm and sunny days of September to get a jump-start on your fall cleanup. And read a good book by the woodstove on those cold, gray, drizzly days of October.

You can reach Henry at henry.homeyer@comcast.net.

Featured image: Photo by Henry Homeyer.

New Twist

Palace reimagines Oliver!

By Michael Witthaus
mwitthaus@hippopress.com

Musical theater season opened at the Palace Theatre on Sept. 6 with a timeless Tony winner, Oliver! With an ensemble cast significantly drawn from the Palace’s youth program, it was also a continuation of a summer effort that included “Jr.” productions of Willy Wonka, Little Mermaid and Moana at the downtown venue.

The Palace’s annual slate of musicals — this year’s include Jersey Boys, Piano Men, Escape to Margaritaville, Jesus Christ Superstar and A Chorus Line — is a shining example of quality professional theater, and the city of Manchester deserves to be proud. The first production continues their winning streak.

The story of an orphan’s travails in Victorian London was given a makeover by director Carl Rajotte, a steampunk motif with shiny colorful costumes designed by Jessica Moryl. Some of the inspired touches included a coat worn by villain Bill Sikes (Jacob Medich) festooned with cogs and gears, along with a top hat wrapped in goggles.

Avery Allaire is brilliant in the title role, quite a feat for the young actress, who was present in nearly every scene. Her heart-rending performance of “Where Is Love” was a show highlight, setting the tone for the rest of the evening. Another young actor delivering a star turn was Chris Montesanto, most recently seen in The Prom, as The Artful Dodger.

Oliver! has some difficult moments, touching topics like human trafficking and domestic violence, but its book is packed with enough joyous songs like “Consider Yourself” and “It’s a Fine Life” to rise above it. There are enough moments of peril for its various characters for the audience to know the source material comes from Dickens.

The undeniable star of the show is Palace veteran Jay Falzone in the role of Fagin, the irascible ringmaster of the young pickpocket gang that Oliver is recruited into after being discharged from an orphanage and sold to an undertaker he later escapes from. Falzone balances Fagin’s avarice with his love for the kids in his sway, delivering plenty of laughs along the way.

The love/hate relationship between Mr. Bumble (Cody Taylor) and Mrs. Corney (Jill Pennington), who run the orphanage, provides ongoing hilarity. Longtime Palace alum Michelle Rajotte also shines as Nancy, navigating her brutal relationship with Sykes and delivering one of the show’s best vocal performances, “As Long As He Needs Me.”

Most impressive are the young actors in the cast, who handled challenging choreography assignments flawlessly and performed as a chorus with the skill of professionals. Also remarkable are on-stage musicians who augment the orchestra with violins and horns played with both precision and attitude.

Director Rajotte said after the opening night performance that a new group of kids will be on stage each weekend, through the show’s closing Sept. 29, noting that all of the PYT actors began rehearsing in mid-August. “On Wednesday, we do their costume fittings and get them up on stage to rehearse again,” he said.

Rajotte chose the steampunk costume and staging direction after re-reading Dickens’ Oliver Twist.

“Everyone should read a Dickens novel,” he said. “I found myself wondering what an 11-year-old would think reading this. That pushed me to sci-fi, and that’s what steampunk is about in the Victorian age. I thought that a child’s imagination would go that way if they were reading it chapter by chapter. That’s when we went full throttle.”

Oliver! is special, Rajotte continued. Like Phil Collins, the Monkees’ Davy Jones and Peter Noone of Herman’s Hermits, each of whom played the Artful Dodger in their teens, he experienced it as a springboard. “It was my first professional show as a kid as a performer,” he said. “I was the understudy for Oliver and Dodger, and I was a pickpocket. I just love it so much. This is my fifth time; I’ve directed it three times.”

Oliver!
When: Through Sept. 29. Fridays at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays at 2 & 7:30 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m.
Where: Palace Theatre, 80 Hanover St., Manchester
Tickets: $45 and up at palacetheatre.org

Featured image: Photo by Michael Witthaus.

News & Notes 24/09/12

Fox Forest field day

According to a press release, the New Hampshire Division of Forests and Lands will host its field day at the Caroline A. Fox Research and Demonstration Forest in Hillsborough on Saturday, Sept. 21, starting at 9 a.m.

In a statement, Inge Seaboyer, a program forester at the Division of Forests and Lands, said that “while we’re surrounded by New Hampshire’s forestland every day, not everyone knows about the complexities of our forests and the myriad of ways they’re used. Fox Forest Field Day is a really fun way for folks to come together and learn more about how our forests work and the work that comes from them.”

Activities and demonstrations at the free event include a tour led by Seaboyer from 9 to 10 a.m. of an active timber harvest taking place on site (sturdy walking shoes are recommended). From 10 to 11 a.m. Urban Forester A.J. Dupere will mill Norway spruce harvested from Fox Forest into boards using a portable sawmill, and from 11 a.m. to noon Diane DeLuca from NH Audubon will discuss pollinator gardens and their effect on forests and other landscapes.

From 1 to 2 p.m. the milling of Norway spruce continues, and throughout the day artist Jim Hallene of Goffstown will be demonstrating woodturning and the Baldwin Center building will be open to the public from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. for an exhibit of works by New Hampshire artists.

The event will take place rain or shine. For more information email foxforest@dncr.nh.gov or call 464-3453.

Spiny water flea

According to a New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) press release, the spiny water flea, an invasive microscopic animal, has increased in number across Lake Winnipesaukee this season, based on feedback from anglers who report fouling of fishing lines with dozens of these animals.

The spiny water flea is not harmful to humans but it can be a nuisance to anglers when it accumulates on fishing lines. Boaters and other on-water recreation enthusiasts play an important role in stopping the spread of the flea and similar aquatic invasive species, according to the release.

The NHDES will conduct formal surveys this fall but early indications show that densities of the invasive plankton have increased since its discovery in fall 2023 by state biologists, according to the release.

State biologists warn transient boaters and fishermen to always clean, drain and dry their recreational gear between bodies of water, but especially after being in Lake Winnipesaukee, as well as the two downstream lakes, Lake Opechee and Lake Winnisquam.

All fishing gear, especially fishing line, should be wiped down and left to dry for at least 24 to 48 hours before being used in another water body since these organisms spread by moving with transient boats, fishing gear and other equipment that comes in contact with the infected water, according to the release.

The spiny water flea is a type of zooplankton that is native to Europe and Asia and was introduced to the United States Great Lakes in the 1980s via contaminated cargo ship ballast water, according to the release.

Other Northeast locations of spiny water flea infestation include Lake Champlain in Vermont, as well as Lake George and a few other water bodies in New York.

The tiny animal was likely introduced here by a transient boater who visited a water body with an existing infestation, and then transported live organisms or eggs to Lake Winnipesaukee on recreational gear or in a water-containing structure like a live well or bilge, according to the release.

The spiny water flea has negative impacts on the aquatic food web by shifting plankton communities (microscopic plants and animals), which results in reduced gamefish population, especially trout and salmon, and there are no treatments available to control this species once it is established. The only management option is preventing introduction into uninfected waterbodies.

State biologists will be monitoring spiny water flea populations in September as part of a routine sampling event, according to the release. For more information or to report a potential new infestation, contact Amy Smagula at Amy.P.Smagula@des.nh.gov or 271-2248..

Deer archery season

The fall archery deer season starts on Sunday, Sept. 15, and, similar to 2023, deer hunters now have the option of registering their deer online by visiting wildlife.nh.gov/hunting-nh/deer-hunting-new-hampshire/how-register-your-deer.

Physical registration stations remain a choice for those who prefer the experience of in-person registration. To allow for the collection of biological data, online registration will be unavailable on the first two days of muzzleloader season, Saturday, Nov. 2, and Sunday, Nov. 3, and the first three days of firearms season, Wednesday Nov. 13, to Friday, Nov. 15. Hunters must check in their deer in person on these dates.

To accommodate the online registration system and streamline the tracking of deer registrations, hunters are reminded that New Hampshire Fish and Game no longer issues metal deer seals and instead will provide successful hunters with a confirmation number that will serve as their proof of registration, according to a press release.

Online registration provides a modern and convenient way for hunters to register their deer harvest. But for a list of in-person deer registration locations, visit wildlife.nh.gov/hunting-nh/check-stations-registration.

The Grazing Room at Colby Hill Inn in Henniker (33 The Oaks, colbyhillinn.com, 428-3281) will hold an “Into the Woods Wild Game & Foraging Dinner” on Saturday, Sept. 14, at 6 p.m. This is a six-course dinner with a bourbon tasting and a tented dessert station. The cost is $150 per person.

To Share Brewing Co. in Manchester (720 Union St., tosharebrewing.com) will hold its Oktoberfest on Saturday, Sept. 14, beginning at 1 p.m. The day will feature live music, brats topped with kraut, a stein-holding competition and more.

See some Faberge Imperial Easter Eggs on Tuesday, Sept. 17, at 7 p.m. at the Merrimack Historical Society (10 Depot St., Merrimack, 424-5207) as part of the New Hampshire Humanities (nhhumanities.org) selection of fall events.

Amplified

Rocking up the blues with Anthony Gomes

Anthony Gomes stands where many tributaries meet to feed a river. “Painted Horse,” originally released in 2009 when the guitarist was a member of Nashville-based New Soul Cowboys, is indicative of this. The power trio paid tribute to country music in a decidedly rocking way, while keeping the blues influence front and center. In late 2021 he revived the song for a new album.

Gomes, in a recent phone interview, remembered a time when detractors from both sides called him either too rock for blues or too blues for rock, and deciding then to use that to his advantage. Now he’s signed to a new label that includes several heavy metal bands. To celebrate, he went into the studio with Korn’s drummer Ray Luzier and Billy Sheehan, a bass player whose resume includes David Lee Roth, Mr. Big and The Winery Dogs.

“Painted Horse” was one of five old songs that Luzier and Sheehan helped rock up for High Voltage Blues, though Gomes chose to leave in the banjo — twang on that! Last year Gomes’ new label, Rat Pak Records, remixed 2018’s Peace, Love & Loud Guitars, adding three bonus tracks. The guitarist is wrapping up work on a new album called Praise the Loud.

There’s a rocking message behind all of this, and Gomes delivers it on tracks like the AC/DC doppelgänger “White Trash Princess” and “Fur Covered Handcuffs,” though the latter, a chugging boogie punctuated by fiery solos, provides clues to the Toronto-born blues rocker’s origins.

His big break came when someone from B.B. King’s staff heard Gomes playing at an open mic where good players were given a beer, and invited him to meet the blues legend. “It was a two-beer night, I was playing really well,” Gomes said. “This guy came up to me and said, ‘Who’s your favorite guitar player?’ I could have said Jeff Beck or Jimi Hendrix, but I just said, ‘Oh, that’s easy, B.B. King.’ He said, ‘I thought so. I’m his bus driver.’”

Given the locale, Gomes was a bit skeptical, but he went to the show and found four front-row tickets waiting for him and his friends. He was prepared to meet his idol after. “I made business cards; I wore dress pants and dress shoes. It was like I was going to meet the Pope,” he said. King would become a lifelong mentor. “He was so gracious with his time, such a gentleman, so humble.”

At the time, Gomes was attending the University of Toronto, completing a master’s thesis on the racial evolution of blues music that was later published as “The Black and White of Blues,” but the next day he quit school, telling his parents that he wanted to be a professional musician.

He discovered music via Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones, but songs like “Train Kept A Rolling,” “Whole Lotta Love” and “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” only made him more interested in the music that informed those classic rockers.

“I started to go back to Stevie Ray Vaughan, then to B.B. King, then Muddy Waters,” he said, adding that this experience was leading him to where he’d end up eventually, straddling both genres.

“In some ways, I felt like if I listened to blues, I was only getting half the picture. If I listened to rock, I got the other half,” he said. “Both these musics coexist and have a shared DNA, but oftentimes there’s a strict line dividing them. Maybe that was based on marketing to a certain race initially. To me they’re just two sides of the same coin.”

That’s one reason why Gomes was drawn to Rat Pak, which is based in New Hampshire.

“The president of the label heard our stuff and said, ‘Hey, I know this is blues, and you’ve been marketed [that way], but I really feel that there’s a wider audience here in rock. How would you feel about that?’ I was like, ‘Throw me in, coach, let’s go!”

From his 1997 debut, Primary Colors, to High Voltage Blues, which spent 58 weeks on the Billboard charts over 2022 and 2023, Gomes has successfully blurred the lines between traditional and contemporary blues and rock, purists be damned.

“What I’ve come to realize is that what you may perceive as a liability is actually your superpower, and the more I focused on being who I was and less interested in fitting in … it resonated true to people and to our audience,” he said. “It’s been an interesting journey, and by doing this we’ve created our own lane — and it’s an open road, which is a lot of fun.”

Anthony Gomes
When: Friday, Sept. 6, 8 p.m.
Where: Tupelo Music Hall, 10 A St., Derry
Tickets: $39 at tupelomusichall.com

Featured photo: Bees Deluxe. Courtesy photo.

Hooked on flavor

Hampton Beach Seafood Festival celebrates 35 years

Lobster rolls, clam chowders, crab cakes, fish tacos and so much more — you name it, and you’ll likely find it at the Hampton Beach Seafood Festival. The end-of-summer Seacoast tradition is back for a milestone 35th year, returning to the shores of Ocean Boulevard on Hampton Beach for three days from Friday, Sept. 6, through Sunday, Sept. 8.

“We will see approximately 80,000 people come through over the course of the weekend, but that can be [as high as] 100,000 if the weather is beautiful,” said Colleen Westcott, Director of Events and Marketing for the Hampton Area Chamber of Commerce and Chair of the Hampton Beach Seafood Festival Committee. “We have people that are coming year after year and bringing their friends, and so we’ve been seeing the numbers just keep increasing.”

Westcott said the festival was started in 1989 by a group of business owners on the beach who were looking to extend the summer season. It was originally in the town’s 50-acre state park before moving to Ocean Boulevard, and has continued to grow in scale and popularity ever since. Today, the entire stretch of road is closed to traffic during all three days, transforming into a pedestrian mall for festival-goers to roam freely and peruse the event’s many offerings, from the food and beer tents to the dozens of crafters and local live entertainment acts on two stages.

Attendees can expect many favorites including The Old Salt Restaurant in Hampton to Brown’s Lobster Pound in Seabrook and Rye Harbor Lobster Pound. Each will typically offer a smorgasbord of options ranging from menu staples to items created with the festival’s seafood theme in mind, like the 10-inch crab rangoon-inspired pizza from Deadproof Pizza Co. and the lobster empanadas from The Purple Urchin in Hampton.

For those who aren’t seafood lovers, there are plenty of alternative options to enjoy at the festival. Ronaldo’s Ristorante of North Hampton, for instance, will have meatball subs, fried ravioli and truffle Parmesan fries, while you’ll also be able to enjoy teriyaki steak skewers from Charlie’s Tap House and pulled pork sliders with homemade sweet coleslaw from The Big Bad Food Truck. Westcott added that the desserts and sweet treats are by no means an afterthought — those options will include apple crisp ice cream sundaes from Miss Bailey’s All American Kitchen, chocolate chip and Oreo fudge cannolis from Boston Cannoli Co. and doughnuts, cinnamon rolls, chocolate chip cookies and whoopie pies from the Bearded Baking Co.

On Friday evening on the Seashell Stage, a panel of judges will select a series of “Best Of” awardees among the food vendors. New this year, there will also be a people’s choice option for festival attendees.

“Each vendor will have a QR code and people will be able to vote on their phone for who their favorite food vendor is,” Westcott said.

The crew from Wicked Bites, a television show on NESN focusing on unique food destinations across New England, will host live cooking demonstrations in the culinary tent on Saturday and Sunday, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday’s festivities will also include two cornhole tournaments on the beach from noon to 4 p.m., as well as a fireworks display at 8:30 p.m. Panorama, a Cars tribute band, will perform on the Seashell Stage leading up to the fireworks.

The festival picks right back up early Sunday morning with a 5K road race along Ocean Boulevard organized by Millennium Running. New this year will be a military and first responder parade at 1 p.m., followed by a festival favorite on the Seashell Stage at 2 p.m. — the lobster roll eating contest. Westcott said the festival committee partners with McGuirk’s Ocean View Restaurant & Lounge to supply trays upon trays of lobster rolls for the contestants.

“People eat as many lobster rolls as they can in 10 minutes,” she said. “We have some contestants who [have] returned for the last couple of years and have gotten to know the Seacoast community, so they bring in their cheering squads. It’s a lot of fun to watch them try to beat the person next to them and win the trophy for this year.”

Courtesy of First Student, free shuttle services are available from a variety of parking locations within the festival’s vicinity, including the municipal parking lot on High Street, the old Town Hall parking lot on Winnacunnet Road, the Centre School on Winnacunnet Road, the Marston School on Marston Way and — new this year — The Brook casino on New Zealand Road in Seabrook.

“We’re excited about teaming up with the Brook casino this year because it’s a really nice way for folks to expand their fun in one day,” Westcott said, “whether they come up to the Seafood Fest, enjoy it and then go back to the Brook for some fun and games, or the other way around.”

A portion of event proceeds will be donated to area nonprofits that are providing volunteers to run the gates. Westcott added that the Ted Williams Foundation will be holding a 50/50 raffle for the weekend that will benefit the New Hampshire State Police Benevolent Association.

35th annual Hampton Beach Seafood Festival
When: Friday, Sept. 6, noon to 9 p.m.; Saturday, Sept. 7, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and Sunday, Sept. 8, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Where: Ocean Boulevard, Hampton Beach
Cost: $10 per person per day, or $30 per person for the entire weekend (free admission for children under 12 years old). Tickets are available online or on the day of the event. Foods are priced per item.
Visit: seafoodfestivalnh.com
Pets are not allowed into the festival. Free parking and shuttle services are available from several in-town satellite parking lots; go to seafoodfestivalnh.com/plan-your-visit for the full list.

Participating food and drink vendors

  • Bearded Baking Co.
  • The Big Bad Food Truck
  • Boston Cannoli Co.
  • The Boston Chowda Co.
  • Brown’s Lobster Pound
  • Charlie’s Tap House
  • Clyde’s Cupcakes
  • Deadproof Pizza Co.
  • Extreme Concessions
  • Flamingos Coffee Bar
  • JR’s Seafood
  • La Spiaggia
  • Let the Dough Roll
  • Lupe’s 55 Cantina
  • Miss Bailey’s All American Kitchen
  • The Old Salt Restaurant
  • The Purple Urchin Restaurant
  • Ray’s Seafood
  • Rockingham Rolling Kitchen
  • Ronaldo’s Ristorante
  • Rudy’s Bubble Tea
  • Rye Harbor Lobster Pound
  • Seashore Seafood
  • Sweet Bottom Boys
  • Swell Oyster Co.
  • Troop 177
  • Wing-itz of Hampton

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