Category: News

News & Notes 25/10/30

SNAP plan

More than 75,000 Granite Staters receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, according to an Oct. 24 press release from the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, which announced a contingency plan in the event that the federal government shutdown leads to November’s SNAP benefits not being issued. The state will partner with the New Hampshire Food Bank “to increase SNAP recipients’ access to food through the Food Bank’s mobile food pantry program and traditional food pantries across the state. Upon approval by the Fiscal Committee and Executive Council, the Food Bank will provide mobile food pantries specifically for SNAP participants in locations identified by the State,” the release said. The state can sustain funding for the 13,000 people in the state “participating in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) until at least Nov. 7,” the release said. If the federal shutdown lasts into November funding will not support local WIC agencies, which will close starting on Nov. 1, the release said. “While Local WIC Agencies are closed, WIC participants can continue to receive benefits and food balances on the WIC Shopper app or by calling 855-279-0680. Anyone with additional questions can call DHHS at 800-942-4321,” the release said. See dhhs.nh.gov and click on the link about WIC and SNAP at the top of the page for more information.

Clean room

The University of New Hampshire held a ribbon-cutting for a new high-tech cleanroom at its John Olson Advanced Manufacturing Center at the Durham campus, according to an Oct. 24 press release. “The new ISO7 cleanroom was donated by Airtho and will help strengthen UNH’s role as a leader for emerging research and innovation, contributing to the growth of advanced manufacturing in New Hampshire and the surrounding region,” the release said. “Currently, the John Olson Advanced Manufacturing Center is home to seven co-located technology businesses with approximately 24 UNH undergraduate and graduate students doing research and gaining experience with these companies — helping to train the state’s future workforce and contribute to its economic development.”

Music market

The First Congregational Church, 70 Clinton St. in Concord, will host the Third Annual Musicians’ Flea Market on Saturday, Nov. 1, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Admission costs $2 per person, kids under 13 get in free, according to a press release. The event will feature musical instruments, gear, sheet music, CDs, vinyl records and more, the release said. See ConcordsFirstChurch.org/events.

The Route 3 Art Trail will run Saturday, Nov. 1, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and feature 15 locations in Concord, Penacook, Boscawen and Franklin, according to route3arttrail.com, where you can find a map and information on each location.

The Granite State Ringers will perform Wednesday, Nov. 5, at 7:30 p.m. at Concord City Auditorium, 2 Prince St. in Concord. Admission is free. See walkerlecture.org.

The Exeter Fall Art Tour will run Saturday, Nov. 1, and Sunday, Nov. 2, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. featuring 15 stops within 3 miles, according to exeterfallarttour.com.

The Hollis Arts Society will hold its 2025 Art Show & Sale on Saturday, Nov. 1, and Sunday, Nov. 2, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Lawrence Barn, 28 Depot Road in Hollis. Find works crafted by member artists including pottery, eco prints, glass work, paintings, photographs, jewelry, gift cards, ornaments and more, according to a post on the Society’s Facebook page, facebook.com/HollisArtsSocietyNH.

This Week 25/10/23

Thursday, Oct. 23

New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan and State Archivist Ashley Miller host an open house and lecture at the New Hampshire State Archives (9 Ratification Way, Concord) today to celebrate American Archives Month. The open house begins at 1 p.m. with documents and artifacts showcasing significant periods in New Hampshire history, including records on the state’s witchcraft cases. Dr. Tricia Peone will deliver a lecture on the history of witchcraft in New Hampshire at 2 p.m. The lecture will be available both in person and virtually.

Friday, Oct. 24

The internationally acclaimed chamber group Spanish Brass performs at the Concord City Auditorium (2 Prince St., Concord, 228-2793, theaudi.org) tonight at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 (cash or checks) at the door, $24 at ccca-audi.org, youth admission is free.

Saturday, Oct. 25

The Stockbridge Theatre (22-98 Bypass 28, Derry, 437-5210, pinkertonacademy.org/stockbridge-theatre) presents Neil Berg’s 50 Years of Rock and Roll, Part 2 tonight at 7 p.m. Relive the best moments of music history from Motown and funk to Elton John and Aerosmith. Tickets start at $33.

Saturday, Oct. 25

The Phil Vassar Acoustic Duo takes the stage at the Nashua Center for the Arts (201 Main St., Nashua, 800-657-8774, nashuacenterforthearts.com) tonight at 7:30 p.m. The duo features Vassar on piano and vocals, accompanied by a second musician. Tickets start at $43.25.

Sunday, Oct. 26

Virtuoso guitarist Tommy Emmanuel will perform at the Tupelo Music Hall (10 A St., Derry, 437-5100, tupelomusichall.com) tonight at 7 p.m., as part of his Living In The Light Tour. His style fuses pop, jazz, classical, and roots influences. Tickets start at $60 through the Tupelo website.

Tuesday, Oct. 28

Balin Books in Somerset Plaza, 375 Amherst St. in Nashua, will hold a “Horrorfest” with authors Christopher Golden (editor of and contributor to the newly released The End of the World As We Know It, “an original short story anthology based on Stephen King’s” The Stand, and author of books including 2023’s All Hallows), Paul Tremblay (also a contributor to The End of the World As We Know It and author of 2024’s Horror Movie), Bracken MacLeod (author of Stranded, released in May), Christa Carmen (author of the blog Horror Homesteading and the recent release Something Borrowed, Something Blood-Soaked) and Tanya Pell (author of Her Wicked Roots) on Tuesday, Oct. 28, at 6:30 p.m., according to a press release. The evening will feature a discussion, question-and-answer period and book signing, the release said. The event is free. See balinbooks.com.

Save the Date! Nov. 7

Tickets are on sale now for Tailgate Rescue’s (785-7662, tailgaitrescue.org) biggest event of the year, the Fourth Annual Wine and Whiskers Fundraiser. An evening of fine wine tastings, hors d’oeuvres and chocolate will be accompanied by silent auctions, not-so-silent auctions, and raffles, with a grand prize of a 52-bottle tower of wine. The event will take place Friday, Nov. 7, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Manchester Country Club (180 S. River Road, Bedford, 624-4096, manchestercountryclub.com). Tickets are $40 through zeffy.com.

Quality of Life 25/10/23

Leaves of brown

If you’re noticing a little less fall color this year, it’s not just you, as “weeks of drought have muted this year’s autumn colors” and made leaves drop earlier than usual, as reported by the Concord Monitor on Monday, Oct. 20. The article noted “more than 40% of the country was considered to be in a drought in early October, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor,” and the Northeast is particularly dry.

QOL score: -1

Comment: Less fall color doesn’t mean none; New England’s trees are resilient, the story said, and “tourism business built around leaf peeping has also proven resilient.” The story said Chris Proulx of the Mount Washington Valley Chamber of Commerce noted that the region has a reputation for fall beauty and people book travel plans in advance.

Speaking of Mount Washington…

In an Oct. 17 online weather update, WMUR announced that Mt. Washington has received its first measurable snow of the season. “The Mount Washington Observatory said that the accumulations were very light and rime ice produced from freezing fog added to the appearance of snow dust on Mount Washington,” the report read. “According to the observatory, there was 0.4 inches of snow. Temperatures on the summit were in the teens and 20s.”

QOL Score: 0 (+ 1 because “yay, snow season has begun in New Hampshire!” for some and -1 because “gah, snow has begun in New Hampshire!” for others)

Comment: The Old Farmer’s Almanac (almanac.com/weather/longrange/NH/Manchester) predicts that our first significant non-mountain snowstorm will happen sometime around Nov. 9. For extremely detailed reports of weather conditions at Mount Washington Observatory, visit mountwashington.org.

The mystery continues

As reported by WMUR’s Chronicle on Oct. 13, two pumpkins have appeared skewered on the spires of Rounds Hall at Plymouth State University. According to the Chronicle story this is a yearly occurrence. “The pumpkins pop up there under the cover of darkness,” the article read, “and in all these years, the secret of how they get up there remains a mystery, … this year, one was painted ‘1975’ and the other ‘2025’ to mark the 50th year of the tradition.”

QOL score: +1

Comment: WMUR reported that every year the feed to its live weather cam, which has a view of Round Hall, mysteriously cuts out for an hour or so, only to reveal the pumpkins when the feed comes back online.

QOL score last week: 71

Net change: 0

QOL this week: 71

What’s affecting your Quality of Life here in New Hampshire?

Let us know at news@hippopress.com.

Round ball is back

The Big Story – NBA Season Begins: It begins with a lot less enthusiasm than we’ve had in these parts for some time. But don’t blame GM Brad Stevens. It’s due to Jayson Tatum’s torn Achilles and the league’s destructive collective bargaining agreement, which forced a championship-level team to dump two terrific players for little return to avoid onerous financial and roster-building penalties. Boo, Adam Silver!

Sports 101: Name the guy who coached the most NBA teams and the nine he did it with.

News Item – Pats Win Fourth Straight: Yes, it was 1-6 Tennessee they beat 31-13. But they were (thanks to Joe Milton) just one game better than the Titans in 2024, so it was a benchmark of sorts to gauge their improvement.

Key Stat: Drake Maye going 21-23 for 222 yards with16 straight completions at one point as NE took control of the game.

Improvement – The D: They gave up just three points after allowing 10 on the first two possessions and had four sacks with two turnovers.

Kayshon Boutte: With his third LOUD TD in two games (fourth overall) and by averaging 17.8 per catch he’s become their first deep threat since Brandin Cooks in 2017. And he’s come from out of nowhere.

Observation: Is it my imagination or are the linebackers a lot faster than in 2024? None more so than K’Lavon Chaisson, who had three tackles and two sacks along with a scoop-and-score TD.

Backslide: The coverage teams gave up good starting field position all day.

Game Ball – Maye: He threw for those 222 yards with two TD’s and no TO’s and had 62 rushing yards on eight carries too.

News Item – Joe Mazzulla’s Top 3 Tasks: Given the dour forecast given in the Top Story here’s what the coach must do in 2025-26:

1 – Anfernee Simons: Get him to actually play defense, because he can score.

2 – Help Neemias Queta Find His Ceiling: He has likable attributes around the basket, but they need more than just that.

3 – Find A Way To Better Manage His Three-Ball Mania: His refusal, or was it his inability, to adjust as game conditions dictate cost them last year’s playoff series with NY. This year he’ll have to do it without bigs like Al Horford and Kristaps Porzingis, who could bomb threes.

Somehow I don’t think he will or can.

The Numbers:

21-42-1 – record of teams the Patriots will play in the last 10 games. Combined with the records (16-30) of those already played, it’s 37-72-1 overall to make it one of the easiest schedules in league history.

33 – after being shut out for three quarters, the most ever fourth-quarter points scored, as the Broncos handed the G-Men a devastating 33-32 loss, by a FG as time expired.

522 – rushing yards on just 20 carries by Curry College’s Montie Quinn in a 71-27 drubbing of rival Nichols (per the Boston Globe). Yes it’s D-3, but when you score seven TD’s on runs of 85, 84, 76, 64, 56, 30 and 2, that’s a great day for anyone at any level.

… Of the Week Awards

Thumbs Up – For Retiring Malcolm Brogdon: Hehad a short but effective season in Boston, when he was Sixth Man of the Year.

Quote of the Week – Mookie Betts: Said after Shohei Ohtani sent L.A. to the World Series (again) with a 5-1 win over Milwaukee by astonishingly striking out 10 (in six innings) and hitting three homers, “It’s like we’re the Chicago Bulls and he’s Michael Jordan.”

Babe Ruth Award – Ohtani: While the Babe won games as a pitcher and hit three homers in post-season games twice, he never did it in the same one as the Eighth Wonder of the World did Friday.

Random Thought: How is it that a team with three Gold Glove finalists — Ceddanne Rafaela, Wilyer Abreu and Carlos Narvaez — can still lead the majors in errors with 116?

Sports 101 Answer: Larry Brown has coached the most NBA teams — Denver, NJ, San Antonio, Indiana, LA Clippers, Philadelphia, Detroit, New York and Charlotte.

A Little History – Larry Brown: He also took Kansas (won) and UCLA (runner-up) to the Final Four.

Final Thought – L.A. Lakers Title Count: The Lakers will fittingly unveil a statue of Pat Riley when they play the Celtics next February. But this also brings into focus the LA Lakers’ hypocrisy in claiming they have won a second-most NBA titles at 17. Five of them came (in six seasons) in Minneapolis behind the game’s first truly dominant player, George Mikan, who was every bit as important to any title won by any Lakers team. But there’s no Mikan statue in L.A. because they have no real connection to Minneapolis — where there is one of Big George in front of the T-Wolves’ Target Center. So if they do it that way, then the total won by the LOS ANGELES Lakers is actually 12, to be six behind the Celtics, where all 18 were won in Boston. Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

News & Notes 25/10/23

Lead info

In its October Early Childhood newsletter, the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services discussed National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week, which runs through Oct. 25. The newsletter includes links to information on Lead in Drinking Water Remediation Funding, a program that provides funds for licensed child care facilities to remove lead from its drinking water (applications for the program are paused as of Oct. 16; see dhhs.nh.gov/programs-services/environmental-health-and-you/lead-drinking-water-remediation-funding-licensed), and to “Childhood Lead Poisoning in NH: How to Keep Children Lead-Safe,” a free class for early childhood education professionals (prosolutionstraining.com/store/product/?tProductVersion_id=2310). For more of the state’s lead poisoning resources and information, see dhhs.nh.gov/programs-services/environmental-health-and-you/lead-poisoning-prevention-program.

Walk-ins

Concord Hospital Medical Group has opened the new Concord Hospital Walk-In Primary Care at Merchants Way, according to an Oct. 20 press release. The new facility offers care for minor injuries and sudden illnesses, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily; “each visit is billed as a routine office visit” and open to patients who do not have existing care with the Concord Hospital Health System, the release said. The facility has on-site lab and x-ray services, the release said. See concordhospital.org.

Fraud prevention

The AARP NH Speaker Bureau will host a presentation on “The Scam Landscape: Staying Safe” on Wednesday, Oct. 29, from 11 a.m. to noon at the NH Hospital Association, 125 Airport Road in Concord, according to an AARP NH release. The event will explore fraud trends, prevention and resources and will include a report from the Concord Police Department about current scams in the greater Concord area, the release said. The event is free but registration is required at events.aarp.org/FraudTourConcord25. Find more resources via the AARP’s Fraud Watch Network at aarp.org/fraudwatchnetwork, the release said.

Everyone’s Trash

Duncan Watson, author of the book Everyone’s Trash and assistant director of public works for Keene, will discuss his experiences and his “vision for the future of waste management” on Tuesday, Oct. 28, at 6 p.m. at the Concord Public Library, 45 Green St. in Concord, according to concordnh.gov. Register for the talk at concordpubliclibrary.net/librarycalendar. Watson has worked for Keene’s solid waste program for more than 33 years and “Watson’s journey from childhood recycling attendant to a leader in the field reflects his lifelong commitment to community and sustainability,” the website said.

Celebrate the work of Robert Redford with a screening of The Sting on Friday, Oct. 23, at 7 p.m. at Sweeney Hall at NHTI in Concord. Admission costs $10.

Squam Lakes Natural Science Center in Holderness will hold Fall New Hampshire Day on Sunday, Oct. 26, from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. with $8 trail admission for New Hampshire residents, according to a press release. Purchase tickets in advance at nature.org and bring proof of residency, the release said. The day will feature Up Close to Animals presentations at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.

The Rhythm of New Hampshire Show Chorus, an all-female barbershop chorus in Derry, is kicking off its “Sing in the Holidays” series of rehearsals and membership drive on Thursday, Oct. 30, from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at Marion Gerrish Community Center, 39 W. Broadway in Derry, according to rnhchorus.org. The group meets Thursdays; email info@rnhchorus.org for details.

This Week 25/10/16

Thursday, Oct. 16

Catch a guided tour of the exhibit of serigraph prints “Passion for Progress: Corita Kent and The Art of Assimilation” at the Alva de Mars Megan Chapel Art Center at Saint Anselm College in Manchester at 12:30 p.m. today.

Thursday, Oct. 16

Iconic country act Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives perform at the Tupelo Music Hall (10 A St., Derry, 437-5100, tupelomusichall.com) tonight at 8 p.m. Tickets start at $58.

Friday, Oct. 17

The curtain rises tonight at 7:30 p.m. for a two-week run of Shrek the Musical,presented by the Manchester Community Players (698 Beech St., Manchester, manchestercommunitytheatre.com). Catch the show tonight and Saturday, Oct. 18, at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, Oct. 19, at 2 p.m.; Friday, Oct. 24, and Saturday, Oct. 25, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, Oct. 26, at 2 p.m.

Saturday, Oct. 18

The New Hampshire Philharmonic Orchestra (647-6476, nhphil.org) opens its season today, and tomorrow, Sunday, Oct. 19, at 2 p.m. at the Seifert Performing Arts Center (Salem High School, 44 Geremonty Drive, Salem, 893-7069 ext. 5601, sau57.org/pac). The Orchestra will perform “History in Sound: From Ellis Island to the Russian Revolution” with “Ellis Island: The Dream of America” by Peter Boyer, and Symphony No. 12 in D minor, Op. 112, “The Year 1917” by Dmitri Shostakovich. Tickets are $30.

Saturday, Oct. 18

The Great New England Fall Craft & Artisan Show will take place today and tomorrow, Oct. 19, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Hampshire Dome, 34 Emerson Road in Milford. Admission costs $6; ages 14 and under get in for free. See gnecraftartisanshows.com.

Saturday, Oct. 18

Dance the night away from 7 to 10 p.m. at a New England contra dance with caller Byron Ricker and music by Black Cat Quadrille at the City-Wide Community Center (14 Canterbury Road, Concord, concordnhcontra.wordpress.com). “Beginners, singles, families are welcome. $10, ages 15-25 $5, under 15 free,” according to an email about the event.

Saturday, Oct. 18

The Winnipesaukee Playhouse will present ImprovOlympics! tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Playhouse in Meredith. Tickets cost $10; see winnipesaukeeplayhouse.org. Teams from area non-profits compete in a Whose Line Is It Anyway?-style improv contest for audience votes and donations, according to a press release.

Monday, Oct. 20

Anne Jennison, master storyteller and historian of European and Abenaki heritage, presents Gluskabe, The Magical, Powerful Culture Hero Central to Wabanaki Storytelling at theMt. Kearsarge Indian Museum (18 Highlawn Road, Warner, 456-2600, indianmuseum.org) tonight from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Admission is free.

Save the Date! Saturday, Oct. 25
Andres Institute of the Art in Brookline will hold its Fall Iron Melt on Saturday, Oct. 25, noon to 2 p.m. (-ish, “molten iron can be finicky” according to andresinstitute.org). See the website for information on picking up a mold in advance to have your own iron creation made at the Welcome Center and returning it no later than 10 a.m. on the day of the pour. The cost is $45.

Stay in the loop!

Get FREE weekly briefs on local food, music,

arts, and more across southern New Hampshire!