The Weekly Dish 24/10/17

News from the local food scene

• German cooking for two: There will be an Oktoberfest-themed cooking class for couples on Saturday, Oct. 19, from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at The Culinary Playground (16 Manning St., Derry, 339-1664, culinary-playground.com). Learn to make jägerschnitzel(pork schnitzel with mushroom gravy), Semmelknödel(bread dumplings) and German apple cake. Teams of two work together in this hands-on class. The cost is $165 per couple.

• Tableside tequila: Join The Birch on Elm (968 Elm St., Manchester, 836-1958, birchonelm.com) for a tequila dinner on Tuesday, Nov. 19, from 6 to 8 p.m. Experience a curated five-course meal with specially selected Don Julio Tequila alongside each course. Courses will feature butternut squash “steak,” seared scallops, fish tacos, carne asada al pastor, and classic tres leches. Tickets are $165 each through eventbrite.com.

• Gourmet Italian wine pairings: There will be a five-course Wine Dinnerin Trattoria Fondi at the Bedford Village Inn (2 Olde Bedford Way, Bedford, 472-2001, bedfordvillageinn.com) on Wednesday, Oct. 23, from 6 to 9 p.m. This 21+ dinner will feature wine selections from the Ruffino wine portfolio. Each dish is paired with wines that showcase Ruffino’s offerings, beginning with a prosecco, followed by a crisp white and finished with bold reds. Tickets are $125+ per person through eventbrite.com and must be purchased in advance.

• A Brewfest in Goffstown: The Mount Uncanoonuc Brewfest will take place Saturday, Oct. 19, from 1 to 5 p.m. in the parking lot of Mountain Base Brewery, 553 Mast Road, No. 111, Goffstown (935-7132, mountainbasebrewery.com). Tickets are$35 in advance at workerbeefund.org/events, or $45 at the gate. All profits go to support the Worker Bee Fund, workerbeefund.org.

Treasure Hunt 24/10/17

Dear Donna,

Can you help me age this Mickey Mouse eraser? Is there any value to it?

Thank you.

Christine

Dear Christine,

I have seen many of these so I think I can help.

Your Mickey Mouse pencil top eraser was manufactured by the Diener Co. The owner was a good friend of Walt Disney. In the late 1950s he produced a line of Disney character erasers from his company. Along with Mickey there were many other Disney characters —Pinocchio, Goofy, Dumbo, Donald Duck etc. I believe yours, in the style it is, was from the late 1950s or 1960s. The value is in the range of $15 in good condition.

Christine, I hope this was helpful and thanks for a smile. How can you not when you see a Disney item?

Kiddie Pool 24/10/17

Family fun for whenever

Season of fun

Windham Recreation Department will hold its annual Harvest Fest on Saturday, Oct. 19, from 1 to 4 p.m. in Griffin Park. A Doggie Costume Parade will take place at 11 a.m. (check in at 10 a.m.) with judging in several categories, according to sarlnh.org, where you can register your pup in advance. The Fest itself will feature DJ Greg; Wildlife Encounters from 1 to 3 p.m.; a bubble performer from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m.; a Kids’ Horrible Costume Parade with a 2:45 p.m. line-up, and Mr. Aaron’s Halloween show at 3:30 p.m. as well as games, crafts, pumpkin decorating and Halloween treats, according to windhamnh.gov.

It’s Touch A Tractor day at the Coppal House Farm (118 N. River Road in Lee; nhcornmaze.com) on Saturday, Oct. 19, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Get photo ops with large farm implements before exploring the corn maze, which is open on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., according to the website. (The maze is also open Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays from noon to 5 p.m. — last admission is 4:30 p.m.) On Sunday, Oct. 20, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., catch Wildlife Encounters, which will bring their animals to the farm (see weecocenter.com), the website said. Admission to the corn maze costs $10 per person for ages 13+ and $8 for ages 5 to 12; kids age 4 and under get in for free, the website said.

On stage

Alice in Wonderland Jr. will be presented by the Peacock Players at Janice B. Streeter Theatre (14 Court St., Nashua) Friday, Oct. 18, through Sunday, Oct. 27. Shows are 7 p.m. on Fridays, 2 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. TIckets cost $15 and $18 for adults; $12 and $15 for students and seniors.

Disney’s The Little Mermaid will be performed by the Manchester Community Theatre Players at The MCTP Theatre at North End Montessori School (698 Beech St., Manchester) Friday, Oct. 18, through Sunday, Oct. 27. Showtimes are at 7 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. on Sundays. According to a press release from the Players, The Little Mermaid is musically directed by Christie Conticcio and directed by Trysran Stoffel who said, “Our production of The Little Mermaid is full of life, color and laughter.” Tickets to this family musical comedy cost $20 for adults, $18 for seniors and $10 for ages 18 and under. See mcpt.info.

Pumpkins of the Piscataquag

The Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off & Regatta returns

By Zachary Lewis
zlewis@hippopress.com

Saturday, Oct. 19, and Sunday, Oct. 20, is the weekend of Goffstown’s Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off & Regatta.

Tina Lawton is a volunteer of the organization and is currently the president of the board of directors. “It’s a two-day event. It’s been around for a long time. This will be the 23rd year,” Lawton said.

How did it get started? “We had some giant pumpkin growers and one of them had a great idea: ‘What if we turn it into a boat and race it down the river?’ And so that’s what they did. It was very popular so it’s kept on year after year,” Lawton said. This year’s theme is Pirates of the Piscataquag River. The length of the race when scaled to pumpkins is quite the journey for these nautical gourds.

“They go from where the dam starts to the bridge. They’re going up the river and there are a bit of escapades that happen where we have, you know, somebody coming out to challenge them, shoot them with water, try and get them off course. So it stretches the race out a little bit so it’s more entertaining for the people that are just all over the place trying to see this race,” Lawton said.

“This year we’ll have six boats, and that’s plenty because there’s not a lot of room. One time we had nine and it was very challenging,” Lawton said.

These pumpkin vessels are large, weighing in at “close to, if not over, 1,000 pounds,” she said, usually hailing from New Hampshire or Vermont.

“We have a tremendous amount of vendors throughout the village of Goffstown from Elm to Depot street and all the businesses are open and it’s a great time to highlight the charm of the village and to highlight the businesses and help people understand that it’s important to support the small-business owners for what they get to the community,” Lawton said.

Other competitions include a pumpkin cook-off, a dog costume contest and a pie eating contest, Lawton said.

“Then we have a pumpkin decorating contest this year,” she added. “There is a scavenger hunt that we have in the village, and that’s again to sort of get people to explore and discover some of the businesses.”

Apples do make a brief cameo. “We have ‘apple slingshots,’ which is very popular. So there’s these giant slingshots that we set up and there’s usually a very long line for usually kids and sometimes dads to slingshot apples into the river and try and hit targets.”

Especially for the kids there will also be bounce houses and some vendors will offer face painting, Lawton said.

Attendees will see a first this year. “One of my board members wants to do a parade, they want to parade the final pumpkin. So the pumpkins come down, the very early part of the first day, the giant pumpkins arrive, it’s sort of like a whole thing, they sort of arrive, unload, they weigh them, and that’s a contest in itself. Once that’s all over they take pumpkins all the way down to the other end of Main Street where they’re going to be placed to turn into pumpkin boats. People like to see the giant pumpkins moving up the street.”

What happens to all the pumpkin insides that are taken out? “That’s a big DPW sort of thing. They have a big truck. We have lots of trash cans and flat loaders. As soon as the pumpkin drops and it’s safe, the kids will run out and try and get some of the big seeds that are from that pumpkin that dropped. And then one thing is important, when they are carving the big pumpkins at the boat, those seeds from that particular pumpkin, they go back to the grower so that they can grow them next year.”

Spellbound
When: Saturday, Oct. 19, and Sunday, Oct. 20
Where: Goffstown
Info: goffstownmainstreet.org/pumpkin-regatta

Schedule
Saturday, Oct. 19
8 a.m. to 1 p.m. – Rummage Sale and Bake Sale St. Matthew’s (5 N. Mast St.)
8 a.m. to 2 p.m. – Goffstown Congregational Church Yard Sale (10 Main St.)
9 a.m. – giant pumpkins arrive at the Common
9 a.m. to 1 p.m. – Touch a Truck (Depot Street behind Citizens Bank)
9 a.m. to 2 p.m. – Friends Of GPL Library Book Sale at the Library (2 High St.)
9 a.m. to 3 p.m. – Apple Slingshots (Mill Street)
9 a.m. to 4 p.m. – vendor booths, concessions, bounce house, GMSP Scavenger Hunt (start at 4 Main St.), live music at Rotary Park
10 a.m. – giant pumpkin carving begins
10 a.m. to 2 p.m. – Art Show Off at Town Hall (16 Main St.)
10 a.m. to 4 p.m. – Annual Quilt Challenge voting at Night Owl Quilting (4 Main St.)
11 a.m. – Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off at the Common
11 a.m. – Pet Costume Contest at Glen Lake Animal Hospital (15 Elm St.)
11:30 a.m. – Parading of the Pumpkin (starts at Elm & Main, ends at Main & Mill)
2:30 p.m. – Giant Pumpkin Boat Building on Mill Street; Pumpkin Cook-Off Contest (5 N. Mast St.)

Sunday, Oct. 20
9 a.m. to 1 p.m. – pumpkin painting at Goffstown Ace Hardware
9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. – vendor booths, concessions, bounce house
10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Art Show Off at Town Hall; Cars on Main (7 Main St.)
10:30 a.m. – Apple Slingshot on Mill Street (while supplies last); Pumpkin Decorating Contest judging (4 Main St.)
Noon – Giant Pumpkin Drop (Depot Street across from the USPS)
1 p.m. – Pie Eating Contest on Mill Street
2 p.m. – Mini Pumpkin Race for the 50/50 Raffle on the River
3 p.m. – Finale: Giant Pumpkin Regatta at the River

Featured image: Courtesy photo.

Arctic alarm

Gibson’s Bookstore hosts climate crisis discussion

When Jon Waterman was growing up in the suburbs of 1970s Boston, he’d skip school and head for the White Mountains to hike and explore the world “above tree line.” It was a seminal experience that shaped his life. Eventually he worked for the Appalachian Mountain Club as a blanket packer and hut boy and finally became a caretaker for the organization.

“That was my first introduction to the Arctic,” he said of life in the Granite State’s high elevations during a recent phone interview. “Because that is an Arctic environment, not in terms of latitude but in terms of elevation. They have the same sorts of flora and fauna [that] I’ve seen in the far-off Alaska and Canadian Arctic.”

Along with studying authors like Edward Abbey and Rachel Carson, this led him to become a writer and photographer. He’s published several books; his latest is Into the Thaw: Witnessing Wonder Amid the Artic Climate Crisis. He’ll discuss it with fellow writer Richard Adams Carey on Oct. 21 at Gibson’s Bookstore in Concord.

The new book is due for official release in mid-November, but copies will be available for purchase at the event.

For Waterman, writing helped convey the feeling of being in the wild, and more. “It was not only the love of these places that drew me, but also an intense need to protect it, share its fragility,” he said. “I was very lucky … because I knew I was passionate about something at a young age, and I’ve stuck with it all my life.”

Into the Thaw chronicles a series of trips in the Far North taken over four decades, beginning with a seven-day journey in 1983 down the Noatak River. He went with Dave Buchanan, a ranger he’d known in New Hampshire. The book also has a brief and useful natural history of the region. Critically, he lists the alarming changes there over time and why they matter.

Some of the things accelerating the climate crisis are melting polar ice caps and thawing permafrost that’s causing ruptures called thermokarsts, along with the so-called “Greening of the Arctic.” Melting ice flowing into the Atlantic helps explain longer hurricane seasons, more severe wildfires and other natural catastrophes.

Thus, changes in the Arctic ripple across the rest of the planet, Waterman continued.

“They’re the world’s air conditioners,” he said. “I think it’s a nuance that’s hard for a lot of people to grasp because it has to do with ocean currents and air currents, but these polar vortexes we’ve been getting increasingly, these subzero air masses that are moving as far south as Georgia, they’re all about the air conditioner being broken.”

Of heightened concern to Waterman are the indigenous populations directly affected by climate change. “It’s the more than 60,000 people that live in the Alaskan Arctic that are going to be paying the most,” he said. “That’s true around the world, of course, not just the Inuit and the Inupiat, but people in the Philippines and low-lying islands. They’re suffering devastating floods in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Then there’s issues of food and agriculture.”

“It’s the indigenous people of the world that are really suffering the most,” Waterman said, adding, “What better way to bring it all home than a book that tells the plight of the Arctic people and what it means to them?”

In the final chapter of Into the Thaw, Waterman offers steps to make a difference. “The best way to be upbeat about it and hopeful, which I am, is to figure out ways that you can take action,” he said. “Thinking about where our food comes from, eating locally, rethinking things that cause emissions … not just to ease their conscience but to try to minimize impacts.”

He’s looking forward to discussing this with Carey, who’s written about indigenous life in Alaska and various threats to the world’s fishing industry. “Rick and I have never met, but we’re enjoying very fluid correspondence,” Waterman said. “I’m just honored to be able to be in a conversation with someone like him that actually has a grasp of these issues and what this culture is that I’m writing about.”

Into the Thaw: Witnessing Wonder Amid the Arctic Climate Crisis, with Jon Waterman
When: Monday, Oct. 21, 6:30 p.m.
Where: Gibson’s Bookstore, 45 Main St., Concord
More: gibsonsbookstore.com

Featured image: Thermokarst (caused by thawing permafrost) – from Into the Thaw Photo Credit: Chris Korbulic.

The Art Roundup 24/10/17

The latest from NH’s theater, arts and literary communities

• Terrific & radiant: The Children’s Theatre Project at the Community Players of Concord will present Charlotte’s Web on Friday, Oct. 18, at 7 p.m. and Saturday, Oct. 19, at 2 p.m. at the Concord City Auditorium (2 Prince St. in Concord;theaudi.org). Actors ages 6 to 16 will tell the story of the pig Wilbur, his dear friend Charlotte the spider and other animals at the farm, according to a press release. See communityplayersofconcord.org for tickets and details on the play.

• Harmonious history: Jersey Boys, a musical about the music of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, opens Friday, Oct. 18, at the Palace Theatre (80 Hanover St. in Manchester; palacetheatre.org). The show runs Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. as well as Thursday, Nov. 7, at 7:30 p.m. through Sunday, Nov. 10. Tickets cost $45 through $59.

• Organ concert: The Young Organist Collaborative will host a Fall Faculty Concert on Friday, Oct. 18, at 7:30 p.m. at Christ Church, 43 Pine St. in Exeter, featuring a range of works for the pipe organ, according to a press release. “The Young Organist Collaborative encourages and supports young people ages 11-18 in learning to play the pipe organ by awarding scholarships that cover the cost for 16 organ lessons with a qualified local organist in the tri-state area of northern Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and southern Maine. The fall concert features five of the faculty currently working with YOC students,” the release said. The concert is open to the public and has an at-the-door suggested donation of $10 per person. See youngorganistcollaborative.org.

Celebrating 5 years
The Two Villages Art Society (846 Main St. in Contoocook; twovillagesart.org) will celebrate its fifth birthday and open its 47th exhibit with an event on Saturday, Oct. 19, from noon to 3 p.m. according to a press release. The event will feature live music, light refreshments and a raffle as well as the opening of “My Artistic Legacy”, a group show featuring works artists would like to be remembered by, according to the website. The exhibit will be on display through Saturday, Nov. 16, and the gallery is open Thursday through Sunday from noon to 4 p.m.
“We have a high caliber of artists proposing shows of their work,” says Larry Morgan, TVAS board president. “We offer as much variety as possible in our calendar, and continue to present two member shows each year. These shows support local artists and they help us meet expenses to run our nonprofit gallery.”

• Weekend outing: Deerfield Arts Tour takes place Saturday, Oct. 19, and Sunday, Oct. 20, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. More than 20 artists are slated to participate, according to deerfieldarts.com, where you can find a map of the studios. Find our coverage of several area arts tours in the Oct. 10 issue of the Hippo; go to hippopress.com to find our digital library. The story is on page 10.

• Staged reading: The Community Players of Concord will present an enhanced stage reading of the play It Can’t Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis on Thursday, Oct. 24, and Friday, Oct. 25, at 7 p.m. at the West Street Ward House, 41 West St. in Concord. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and admission is free. “In 1935, as fascism was taking hold in Europe, Sinclair Lewis wrote It Can’t Happen Here, a dark satire that imagines the rise of a demagogue who becomes president of the United States. Presented first by the Federal Theatre Project, and adapted in 2016 by the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, this enhanced staged reading features theatrical lighting, audio effects, and projections of photographs that help set the stage for a compelling, and frightening, tale of the fall of American democracy,” according to a Community Players release. See communityplayersofconcord.org.

• Seasonal painting: Creature your own picture of the Sanderson Sisters at Hocus Pocus Paint Night on Friday, Oct. 25, at 8 p.m. at Chunky’s (707 Huse Road in Manchester; chunkys.com). The cost is $45.

—Zachary Lewis

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