Style and substance at Fire & Ice

Chili Cook-Off offers demonstrations of creativity

By John Fladd

[email protected]

For the past nine years the Amherst Lions Club has raised money for its community-based projects with a Fire and Ice Chili Cook-Off. Joan Ferguson is one of its coordinators.

“This is our ninth annual chili event,” she said, “and the idea has been to provide a community event in the middle of winter when everybody is asking when spring will come. There’s the chili, which is the fire, and the ice is making your own ice cream sundae.”

Ferguson said the cook-off has become something of an Amherst institution.

“We think we have it down in terms of planning, at this point,” she said, “but, you know, there’s always something we can do better. For example, during Covid we did something radically different. We videotaped competitors going before judges and making their presentation. And then we filled the recipes online. And that year we were able to get really prestigious judges because the restaurants weren’t open.”

The 2025 Fire & Ice event will take place Friday, Feb. 7, in the Souhegan High School Cafeteria. Competitors submit crockpots of their chili to be judged. Judges will circulate around the room, to each table, and judge the submissions on taste, smell, heat, creativity and presentation. Attendees will pay to sample and eat the different chilis.

Amherst Chief of Police Anthony Ciamoli will be one of this year’s judges. He said he loves chili but really looks forward to judging entrants’ creativity and patience.

“Being a layman, I was really excited [last year] to see some of the work that people put into their presentation and different kinds of chili,” he said. “Some were sweet, some were hot, and some of the people truly prepared their little stations. They had turned their areas into small vignettes. One was a dinosaur scene. It was really cool. They take a lot of pride in it. That’s a reason to make sure that we take each [submission] seriously.”

Dan DeCourcey, owner of the Up in Your Grill Food Truck (493-3191, upinyourgrill.com), is another chili judge. He thinks first impressions are important.

“You’re always going to start off with how it looks,” he said, “so the presentation, right? Then you’re looking at the product itself. In a contest like this one, the presentation is important. When you walk up [to a station] there could be a little story written on the side or, you know, they have garnishes out or, you know, different things and you’re kind of getting the first impression. If there’s a really interesting story, like … I don’t know, it’s great-grandma’s secret recipe from, you know, Mississippi that is now a family guarded secret and sought after by everyone. It just adds to the fun.”

Joan Ferguson said the chili submissions themselves have been extremely creative in past years. “We’ve had venison entries,” she said. “We’ve had beef, we’ve had chicken, and of course we’ve had vegetarian. We have very hot chili recipes and we have pleasant chili recipes. One [chili] will take the top of your head off and will be one that everybody finds savory. Don’t ask me what people prefer because the pots usually go home empty.”

Chief Ciamoli agreed. “Everyone has had different bases,” he remembered. “There was one table that I remember last year that actually had a vegetarian chili. Then there was your standard ground beef and some that had brisket. So it’s really neat to be able to try all the different styles. Some have some fruit in it to soften things. There’s work that goes into it.”

Ciamoli has a double involvement in this year’s cookoff. In addition to judging, the Amherst Police Department will be submitting a chili (which he will not be allowed to judge). He said his officers feel surprisingly motivated. “I was shocked because when I brought it up with them I said, ‘I think we should do something brisket-based,’ and then all of a sudden one of our officers I never hear from is like, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold the phones! I want in, man!’”

Amherst Lions Club 2025 Fire and Ice Chili Cookoff

When: Friday, Feb.7, from 5 to 7 p.m.
Where: Souhegan High School Cafeteria, 412 Boston Post Road, Amherst.
Tickets: To purchase tickets, contact any Amherst Lion or purchase online. Tickets are $12 for adults, $6 for students ages 7-12, free for children ages 6 and under, $40 for a family of four or more.
There is no fee to enter a chili. Competitors must register by Feb. 4.
Visit the Amherst Lions Club website at e-clubhouse.org/sites/amherstnh.

The Weekly Dish 25/01/23

• Just opened: Evviva Trattoria Bedford, a Massachusetts-based chain restaurant featuring locally sourced, modern Italian cuisine served in a family-style atmosphere with a full bar serving beer, wine and specialty cocktails, has opened a site in Bedford at 5 Colby Court (471-3205, evvivatrattoria.com). It opens at 11:30 a.m. seven days a week and closes at 8 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday and at 9 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, according to the website. Evviva also has a location in Rochester, N.H.

• Wine expo: The 19th Annual Winter Wine Spectacular will take place at the Doubletree Expo Center (700 Elm St., Manchester, 625-1000) on Thursday, Jan. 23, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. This event is the culmination of New Hampshire Winter Wine Week and will feature more than 1,700 wines, 25 restaurants and winemakers and distributors. Tickets are still available for $75 at eventbrite.com.

• Highly anticipated chicken fingers: After many weeks of anticipation, fried chicken fingers restaurant Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers will open for business on Tuesday, Jan. 28, in the former Cactus Jack’s location (782 S. Willow St., Manchester, 263-3787, raisingcanes.com). This is the chain’s first location in New Hampshire.

• Possibly the best pairing: Wine on Main (9 N. Main St., Concord, 897-5828, wineonmainnh.com) will host a cupcake and wine pairing event, Thursday, Jan. 30, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Participants will taste four mini-cupcakes from Savvy Sweets and Treats (Bow, 387-0241, savvysweetsandtreats.com) paired with four specially chosen wines. Tickets are $35 and available through eventbrite.com. Because this event has proven to be popular in the past, a second date has been added, Wednesday, Jan. 29, also from 6:30 to 8 p.m.

Treasure Hunt 25/01/23

Dear Donna,

I am a faithful reader who now has a question for you. This was in a junk drawer at my parents’. We recently cleaned the house out and I now have it.

At first I thought it could be a bracelet, because they all connect. They are all painted metal and wheels all move so I’m not sure now. The lot of train pieces only measures 6 3/4 inches. So they have to be tiny toys? As I said, not sure. I also couldn’t find any name on them.

Thank you, Donna, for any help.

Melissa

Dear Melissa,

They look like they could be made into a bracelet. How fun that would be. But I’m thinking they were always meant to be toys.

They could have come from Germany or Japan. Without any markings it’s hard to tell. I did do some research for you and found some similar from the 1950s. They were from Japan so it’s a possibility.

The value on the ones I found were in the $50 range but had a few more than you do. They were part of a train set with signs and other stuff.

Melissa, I hope this was helpful to you. I also think a bracelet isn’t a bad idea! Thanks for sharing with us.

Featured photo: Courtesy photo.

Community gathering

Music school series begins with contradance

By Michael Witthaus

[email protected]

An evening devoted to a centuries-long American folk music tradition will launch a series of public events from Concord Community Music School dubbed New England Roots & Branches. Contradance Music: The New England Contradance Repertoire will include a community jam session followed by a contradance called by a veteran and scholar of the style.

David Millstone began attending contradances soon after moving to New Hampshire’s Upper Valley in the early 1970s. Within a couple of years he was regularly attending dances led by Dudley Laufman. Millstone called Laufman the most influential figure in spreading contradancing across America and especially in New England.

“People would refer to Dudley dances,” Millstone said by phone recently. “He was a charismatic individual, and he was calling essentially every night from Maine to Connecticut back in the day. Other callers got interested, other musicians started playing, and the whole scene … really took off.”

Millstone was one of those inspired by Laufman; he began calling in the mid-’70s, and 50 years on he’s doing it still, in addition to writing books and album liner notes and making movies about contradance. As a caller he becomes an integral part of the band, and at the Jan. 25 event he’ll be working with four leading lights of New England acoustic music.

Guitarist Dan Faiella will accompany fiddlers Jordan Tirrell-Wysocki, Audrey Budington and Liz Faiella, who organized the series. She’s excited to have Millstone calling.

“My brother and I’ve worked with him through the years, and I used to go to his country dances,” Liz Faiella recalled in a recent phone interview. “He’s great at working with absolute beginners and really advanced dancers, getting everyone on the floor dancing comfortably and enjoying themselves.”

In 2015 Liz received a New Hampshire Arts Council grant to explore contradancing across the state. “I got to bop around, visit all of these different contradances, talk to the people who organized them and get a sense of the history,” she said. “I came away with a sense of how central it was to people’s lives here.”

As a musician she’s also impressed by the many tributaries joined together to make New England’s contradancing scene unique. “There’s stuff from Ireland, England, coming from Cape Breton, and we’ve got Quebecois music coming down here,” she said. “We’ve also got music from Appalachia, that sort of thing, and it’s all been integrated into this really rich contradance music tradition.”

All the band members are part of Concord Community Music School’s folk department.

“It really is a dream team; I can’t believe I get to work with these guys,” Liz said. “We all have been immersed in this scene and yet have our own takes on it. So it was kind of an opportunity to do some of what we do best, in sort of disentangling some of the genres.”

Beginning with a dance was the logical way to kick off the series, she continued. “We’re sort of starting out with ‘OK, here’s what we experience … this convergence of all of these different styles.’ Then, let’s pick that apart a little bit, and in the next few concerts, we’re going to celebrate different places that that music comes from.”

On Saturday, April 5, Transatlantic Tunes: Celtic & British Isles Folk Tunes celebrates music from the United Kingdom that became part of New England’s folk repertoire, and Music From North & South: Canadian & Appalachian Folk Tunes finishes the series on Friday, June 13.

Don’t fret about fitting in at the upcoming event, cautions David Millstone.

“If you can walk, you can do these dances,” he said, and welcoming newbies is a hallmark. “Experienced dancers will go up, say hello and invite people to dance, because that’s how we all learned how to do this. You don’t go to class for eight or 10 weeks … you learn it on the fly.”

Contradance Music: The New England Contradance Repertoire
When: Saturday, Jan. 25, 6 p.m.
Where: City Wide Community Center, 14 Canterbury Road, Concord
More: ccmusicschool.org/event/ne-roots-and-branches-1

Featured photo: Liz & Dan Faiella. Photo by Elizabeth Frantz.

Yes, you should hire a wedding photographer

Weddings are one of the most important and memorable events in a person’s life. From the vows to the first dance, every moment is a reflection of love, commitment, and joy. Capturing these moments is crucial, and the best way to do that is by hiring a professional wedding photographer. While smartphones and cameras are more advanced than ever, they can’t replace the expertise and experience of a skilled photographer.

A wedding day is often a blur of emotions, conversations, and moments that pass by quickly. As the day unfolds, couples can easily miss out on key moments, like the look of a groom’s face when he sees his bride for the first time or the laughter shared between family members. A wedding photographer’s job is to capture these fleeting moments, preserving them for you to relive for years to come. These photographs are not only keepsakes for the couple but also for future generations.

Wedding photographers bring a level of professionalism that ensures your photos will be high-quality. They are experienced in managing lighting, composition, and angles to create stunning, timeless images. Professionals know how to handle various lighting conditions, from bright outdoor settings to dimly lit reception halls, and use the best equipment to produce clear, sharp images that tell a story.

Choosing to hire a wedding photographer means you can focus on enjoying your day without worrying about capturing every moment. Photographers are experts at what they do, so you won’t have to ask friends or family members to take pictures, which could detract from their ability to participate in the celebration. You can rest assured that your photographer will have everything covered, so you can stay present and relaxed.

A wedding photographer’s portfolio is often a representation of their style, creativity, and technical skills. By hiring a professional, you gain access to a body of work that shows how they can capture moments in different settings, lighting conditions, and environments. You can assess whether their style aligns with your vision for your wedding album.

So maybe you realize that you need a wedding photographer but then how do you choose one?

Wedding photographers have distinct styles, from traditional and posed to candid and documentary. Before you start your search, it’s essential to define the style you want for your wedding photos. Whether you want a modern, artistic look or a more classic approach, knowing your preferences will help narrow down your options.

Start by researching local photographers and reading online reviews. Personal recommendations from friends and family who have had positive experiences can also be valuable. Look through their portfolios to assess the quality of their work and the variety of images they capture. Keep an eye out for consistency and whether their style aligns with your preferences.

Once you’ve narrowed down a list of potential photographers, meet them either in person or virtually to get a sense of their personality and approach. It’s crucial to feel comfortable with your photographer, as they will be a constant presence throughout your wedding day. Make sure they are friendly, approachable, and able to communicate clearly about your needs.

Wedding photography requires specific skills, so it’s important to choose someone who specializes in weddings rather than someone who primarily shoots portraits or events. Inquire about their experience, particularly with weddings of a similar size and style to yours. A photographer with ample experience will know how to handle unexpected situations and will be more adept at capturing all the details that make your day unique.

Wedding photography can be a significant investment, so it’s important to understand the pricing structure. Ensure that you are clear about what is included in the package, such as the number of hours, the number of photographers, and any post-production work like editing and album creation. Discuss the photographer’s policy for overtime or additional costs for travel, prints, or extra services.

Finally, trust your gut. Your wedding photographer will be with you on one of the most important days of your life, so it’s vital that you feel confident in your choice. If you feel at ease with the photographer and confident in their ability to deliver high-quality images, it’s a good sign that you’ve found the right fit.

This is your special day, make those memories and record them.

Featured Image: Courtesy photo.

Celebrate Winter

Concord holds its annual Winter Fest

Winter is definitely here, and what better way to celebrate the season than with a festival filled with an ice sculpture competition, a tour for delicious hot chocolate, and roasting marshmallows over a fire downtown?

“Winter Fest is on its seventh year,” said Jessica Martin, the executive director of Intown Concord, which puts on the event with the Hotel Concord.

“It started as the grand opening of the Hotel Concord. So it’s a partnership between Intown Concord and The Hotel Concord. There’s an ice carving competition, and every year we add different things to it and just see what people like, but the ice carving competition piece has remained the same,” Martin said.

Winter Festival takes place on Friday, Jan. 24, from 3 to 9 p.m. and Saturday, Jan. 25, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. It’s the perfect place to see ice sculpting in action.

“So with the ice carving competition we reach out to some of New England’s best ice carvers and typically we get between four and six, this year I think we have six confirmed, and they are artists. They work with huge blocks of ice and they use chainsaws and they make art. It’s beautiful. A lot of them, which I always tell people because I think it’s interesting, a lot of them come from a culinary background,” Martin said.

Both Jeff Day and Eric Knoll have culinary backgrounds. “Which is interesting to me,” Martin said. “I would think they’d be chopping wood or something with chainsaws.”

Last year a winter Mickey Mouse was sculpted. There is no telling what artful creations will be brought out of the ice this year. “I think we’ve had people do an owl, I think we had a dragon one, so it was really cool,” Martin said.

Speaking of culinary efforts, there are going to be tasty meals available at Winter Fest.

“This year we’re also including a little bit of a food truck-sustainable component,” Martin said. “We’re going to have quite a few different types of foods for people to try. Everything is pretty hearty and will help people warm up. We’ll have some propane heaters gathered around. We give away free s’mores, so we have fire pits for people to cook the s’mores on.” Food vendors include Batulo’s Kitchen, Bubble Bee Milk Tea, Cali Arepa NH, Canterbury Kettle Corn, Mi Corazon Taqueria, Teenie Wienies, and Wicked Tasty.

“Another thing that’s happening that’s new this year is we’re introducing a hot cocoa tour throughout the downtown and people can buy a ticket to that,” she said. “That’s the only paid part of the event. You buy a ticket and you can go sample hot cocoa at five different cafes or coffee shops downtown,” Martin said. (See sidebar.)

Music will help set the festive mood too. “We’re going to have a DJ playing music throughout the day, so it will keep the energy up, and I think that will be a nice addition for this year.”

Some other organizations will be joining in on the fun. “We partner with a lot of other organizations, we don’t have them all confirmed yet, but I know Darbster Dogs will be there so people can come pet the puppies and potentially leave with a new furry friend. Several of the businesses downtown will do things. Wine on Main, for instance, is doing a free wine tasting during our event, that’s inside their store. The Concord Garden Club is doing an event at the same time called Art in Bloom at Kimball Jenkins. So people can come down to Winter Fest, they can do the hot cocoa tour, they can go to Art in Bloom, they can do a wine tasting, there’s just a ton going on.”

The McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center and the New Hampshire Astronomical Society will also have an activity about Europa on Saturday as well as Ram Axe Throwing. Red River Theatres will be showing Happy Feet for $5 per ticket.

The sculpting of the ice takes place on the Statehouse lawn with sponsored ice carving taking place on Friday and the competition on Saturday.

“Most of these festivities happen on Saturday. On Friday, from 3 to 9, they are carving ice, and so people can come look at that if they want, but most of the other stuff that I mentioned is on Saturday. We’re going to have some really great ice carvings for people to see. Some of them will be interactive. Some of them we’ll have opportunities to take photos with,” Martin said.

Concord Winter Fest

Friday, Jan. 24
10 a.m to 6 p.m. Art & Bloom at the Kimball Jenkins Estate Floral – Designers will be working with art from the Women’s Caucus for Art, NH Chapter. $10 suggested donation.
3 to 9 p.m. Sponsored ice carvings on Statehouse lawn

Saturday, Jan. 25
10 a.m pre-event activities in Concord
10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Art & Bloom at the Kimball Jenkins Estate
10 a.m. Red River Theatres screens Happy Feet, $5
11 a.m. Ice carving competition starts on the Statehouse lawn
11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Ram Axe Throwing
11 a.m. to 4 p.m. McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center and the New Hampshire Astronomical Society: Activity about Europa, the ice moon, and sky viewing
11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Darbster Rescue meet & greet with adoptable dogs on City Plaza
11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Winter Fest Hot Cocoa Tour at participating downtown coffee shops
1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Wine on Main free wine tasting
3 p.m. ice carving competition ends
3:30 p.m. awards announcement
4 p.m. festival ends

A Concord NH Winter Fest Mug

The Hot Cocoa Tour

There are few things more comforting in the winter, whether it’s bracingly cold or miserable and drizzly, than a cup of cocoa.

In that spirit this year’s Winter Fest in downtown Concord will feature a hot cocoa tour. Participants will buy a ticket entitling them to a cocoa mug, a cocoa “passport” and cups of cocoa at five participating businesses on Concord’s Main Street during the Saturday of Winter Fest.

Berit Brown, Event and Marketing Manager for Intown Concord, said the cocoa tour is a good way for Winter Fest goers to “warm up after watching ice carving.” Each ticket is good for five cups of cocoa, she said.

These are the five stops on the tour:

Revelstoke Coffee (100 N. Main St., Concord, 715-5821, revelstokecoffee.com)

Brothers Cortado (3-5 Bicentennial Square, Concord, 856-7924, facebook.com/BrothersCortado)

Gibson’s Cafe (45 S. Main St., Concord, 715-5833, gibsonsbookstore.com/cafe)

The Bean and Bakery (15 Pleasant St., Concord, 228-3317, facebook.com/TheBeanandBakery)

TeaTotaller (2 Capital Plaza, North Main Street, Concord, 715-1906, teatotallercafe.com)

Brown said this self-guided tour is a good excuse to spend an afternoon with an adult friend. At the same time, “It’s also the sort of thing you think about and say, ‘Ooh! I could bring my kid to that!’” she said.

The Cocoa Tour Passport is your chance to write down impressions of each cocoa and take tasting notes on “how chocolatey each is, or how it smells, and what your favorites are,” Brown said. “We did a group taste test with some members of Intown Concord and the Chamber, and it struck us that other people could set up their own tasting panel.” — John Fladd

Winter Fest Hot Cocoa Tour

Where: five shops on Main Street in Concord
When: Saturday, Jan. 25, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Tickets: $35 each, which includes a mug, a passport and five hot chocolates. Register for the Tour at members.intownconcord.org. InTown Concord website warns that only 70 mugs will be available, on a first-come-first-served basis. Pick up your mug and passport at the s’mores station at City Plaza during Concord NH Winter Fest between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Featured Images: Courtesy photos.

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