If the upcoming Olympics (opening ceremonies are this Friday, July 23) or the new season of ABC’s Holey Moley have your kids looking to try out their mini golf abilities, check out our July 8 cover about mini golf and all the places you can putt putt the day away. Find the issue on hippopress.com and flip through the e-book (past e-books are displayed at the bottom of the homepage). Or become a Hippo member to get full access to previous weeks’ stories. (Click on “Become a Member” for more information.) The mini golf story starts on page 10.
Celebrating history
The American Independence Museum (1 Governors Lane in Exeter; independencemuseum.org) wraps up its American Independence Festival this weekend. During the day on Saturday, July 24, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., you can see demonstrations from artisans (including a tinsmith, cooper and milliner) and watch reenactor groups. Tickets cost $5 for adults, $3 for children ages 4 to 18, and are free for seniors and active military and veterans. Saturday night, the museum is holding a family campout from 7 p.m. to 9 a.m. Sunday, July 25, with the reenactors the Acton Minutemen. Bring a tent and sleeping bag and take part in games, singing and a craft, according to the website. The campout includes snacks and a light breakfast. The cost is $20 per person or $75 for a group of four. The campout will be limited to 30 people; purchase tickets online.
Movie time
• Plaistow residents can get in the Olympic spirit with a screening of Cool Runnings(PG, 1993) on Friday, July 23, at 8:30 p.m. The screening will take place at the Plaistow Public Library parking lot and will be presented as a drive-in. Admission is being restricted to 50 cars; register in advance at tinyurl.com/umsrmjz7.
• Movie lovers of all ages can root for the forgetful fish Dory in Pixar’s Finding Dory (PG, 2016), which will screen Friday, July 23, in Wasserman Park (116 Naticook Road in Merrimack) as part of the town’s summer movies in the park. The screening starts at dusk and the films are free and open to residents and nonresidents, according to the town’s Parks and Recreation website.
• Introduce your retro-loving kids to 1980s nostalgia as the O’neil Cinemas at Brickyard Square in Epping (24 Calef Highway; 679-3529, oneilcinemas.com) summer kids movie series continues with The Goonies(PG, 1984) screening Monday, July 26, and Wednesday, July 28, at 10 a.m. Tickets to the screening cost $2 for kids ages 11 and under and $3 for ages 13 and up. A $5 popcorn and drink combo is also for sale.
• The Rex Theatre (23 Amherst St. in Manchester; palacetheatre.org, 668-5588) will be screening some films to raise money for the Palace Youth Theatre. On Tuesday, July 27, at 7 p.m. catch Disney’s Moana(PG, 2016). On Wednesday, July 28, at 7 p.m., the theater will screen High School Musical 2 (TV-G, 2007). Tickets to either show cost $12.
See a show
• The Palace Theatre (80 Hanover St. in Manchester; palacetheatre.org, 668-5588) continues its 2021 Bank of New Hampshire Children’s Summer Series. Finishing up this week’s run, catch Wizard of Oz on Thursday, July 22. Next week the production is The Little Mermaid, Tuesday, July 27, through Thursday, July 29. Showtimes are at 10 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. and tickets cost $10 per person.
• Student performers from the Palace’s summer camp program will have a production of their own this weekend: Seussical Kidswill be performed Friday, July 23, at 7 p.m. and Saturday, July 24, at 11 a.m. Tickets cost $12 to $15.
• The Windham Actors Guild will present a youth production of Seussicalat Windham High School (64 London Bridge Road in Windham) on Friday, July 23, and Saturday, July 24, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, July 25, at 1 p.m. Tickets cost $16 for adults and $12 for seniors and students and are available at windhamactorsguild.com.
• Find Frozen Jr.at the Bank of NH Stage (16 S. Main St. in Concord; ccanh.com, 225-1111) on Friday, July 23, at noon and 1 p.m. Tickets to this all-ages-friendly show cost $8 for adults, $5 for seniors and students.
Over at the Capitol Center for the Arts’ Chubb Theatre (44 S. Main St. in Concord; ccanh.com, 225-1111), Godspell Jr.will be performed Friday, July 23, and Saturday, July 24, at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $15 for adults, $12 for seniors and students.
Both productions are from RB Productions, a nonprofit community theater organization founded to provide theater opportunities for youth and young theater professionals, according to the website.
• The Strawbery Banke Museum (14 Hancock St. in Portsmouth; 433-1100, strawberybanke.org) will host a kids night of outdoor entertainment featuring music by Mr. Aaron and a bubble magic show by Kali and Wayne of Sages Entertainment on Tuesday, July 27, at 5:30 p.m. The cost is $5 per person.
I have collected these cows over the years. Please don’t ask me why! I just picked one up whenever I saw one. I am turning 70 this year and it’s time to start house cleaning.
Do you think there is a collector out there that would be interested in these plastic cows? Or do I just put them out in a yard sale?
Carol from Manchester
Dear Carol,
I’m still chuckling over your email. Thanks for sharing and for the smile.
Your cows are sweet, and I can understand how collecting one item leads to more and more and more!
Plastic cows were, and still are, mass produced, so they probably aren’t too hard to find, and each cow individually would be inexpensive to pick up. But a collection like you have should be in the $30 range. You have done all the hard work for an easy collection for someone.
The story of Jack, of Bean Stalk fame, appealed to me as a boy, and still does. I love climbing vines and grow many, including those that are perennial or annual flowers, and some vegetables. Vines are a great way to save space and to get blossoms up and visible.
A cucumber trellis is easy to build. Courtesy photo.
In the vegetable garden I have had great luck growing cucumbers on trellises. I made a simple frame to support my cukes, and you can, too. You can use four 6-foot-long 2-by-2 pieces of lumber for the framework. Attach them in pairs with simple gate hinges from the hardware store. Then space them 5 feet apart with pieces of strapping at the top and bottom, and attach chicken wire for the vines to grab on to.
I used a cordless drill and short sheet rock screws to put it all together. I made it sturdier by cutting short pieces of strapping to go from the front legs to the back legs. To ensure it doesn’t blow over, I drove a hardwood-grade stake into the ground on each end, and screwed it to that strapping. Once the vines are long enough, lift them up onto the chicken wire, and they will quickly attach to it and grow up.
Other vines will grow up on trellises, too, including squashes and gourds of all sorts. For heavier fruits you may want to build your trellis with two-by-fours, and perhaps to use stronger wire mesh or the stuff used to reinforce concrete that comes in 4-foot by 8-foot pieces.
If you have only grown bush beans, you should also try pole beans. As the name implies, these will encircle a pole and grow up 8 feet or more. The great thing about them is that if you keep on picking them, they will produce beans all summer. Bush beans produce just one load of beans over a three-week period, and then they are done.
Beans fix nitrogen, taking it from the air and storing it in usable form in nodes in the roots, but only if the soil has a certain bacteria to work with your beans. You can buy inoculants to make sure your beans do fix nitrogen, and can add some to the soil and water it in, even now.
Climbing hydragea covers the north side of my barn and looks good all year. Courtesy photo.
Climbing hydrangea is a perennial woody vine that looks good all year. It is slow to get started, but once established (after a few years) it grows quickly. It does well on the shady north side of a building, a place often difficult for flowers. It will attach to brick or stone, but needs to be attached to a wood building, either with a trellis or with individual ties. It blooms in June, but the large white panicles look good long after, even into winter.
There are many types of clematis but all have wonderful blossoms, some 6 inches wide or more, others small but profuse. Most will grow 6 to 10 feet tall; some die back to the ground each year while others have woody vines that send out new shoots and flowers each year. The key to success is to give the vines plenty of sunshine, but to protect the roots with shade from other plants to keep them cool. There are spring, summer and fall bloomers. Some are fragrant, others not.
If you have lived in a warmer part of the country you may long for wisteria, a woody vine that blooms profusely with blue or purple flowers, and occasionally in shades of pink and white. Each blossom is actually a cluster of blossoms that hang down like a cluster of grapes. Although most wisteria varieties will survive our winters, most bloom on “old wood” and the flower buds get killed in winter.
I grow two varieties that do bloom in Zone 4 because they bloom on “new wood,” or this year’s growth. One is called Blue Moon, a hybrid developed in Minnesota. The other is Amethyst Falls, a native variety with smaller leaves and blossoms. Both bloom for me in late June or early July, and re-bloom lightly throughout the summer.
Annual vines are vigorous and delightful, too. We generally grow morning glories from seed. These come in many colors: reds, pinks, blue, purple and white. My favorite is called Grampa Ott. It is a deep purple, and can grow up to 15 feet in a season. It was one of two heritage plants that inspired the creation of the Seed Saver organization and seed company. They grow quickly so it’s not too late to plant some by seed.
Two decorative flowering beans that I like are purple hyacinth bean and scarlet runner bean. The purple hyacinth bean is a beautiful plant: The leaves are purple, along with the flowers and seed pods. It is slow to germinate and get up a pole or trellis, so it is best started in pots indoors before it can be planted outdoors. The young beans are edible raw or cooked, but the mature pods have seeds better used as dry beans.
Scarlet runner beans, like the hyacinth bean, can climb up a support and grow 10 feet in a season. They are quicker to grow than hyacinth beans, and I often start them in the soil near my hexagon cedar shade structure where I also grow wisteria. The bean has bright orange flowers and standard bean leaves. Plant four to six seeds around a pole and watch them grow — just like Jack, the bean stalk kid.
Featured photo:This fall-blooming clematis had hundreds of blossoms. Courtesy photo.
The latest from NH’s theater, arts and literary communities
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• Marriage comedy: The Majestic Theatre presents ’Til Beth Do Us Part on Friday, July 23, and Saturday, July 24, at 7 p.m., and Sunday, July 25, at 2 p.m., at the Majestic Studio Theatre (880 Page St., Manchester). Married for 27 years, Suzannah and her husband Gibby find themselves in a state of complacency as they adjust to life in their newly empty nest. Hoping to advance her career, Suzannah hires an assistant, Beth, to get her house — and her husband — back in order. When Beth begins weaseling into other aspects of the couple’s life, Gibby suspects she has ulterior motives. It becomes a battle of wits between Beth and Gibby as Beth tries to derail the marriage and Gibby becomes more determined than ever to save it. “There are a lot of surprises, a lot of twists and turns, a lot of misdirection and comedy that’s predicated on timing,” director Joe Pelonzi told the Hippo earlier this month. “It’s kind of in the same vein as a lot of the British farces, but without all the slamming doors.” Tickets cost $20 for adults and $15 for seniors age 65 and over and youth age 17 and under. Call 669-7469 or visit majestictheatre.net.
• Heathers auditions: Manchester-based Cue Zero Theatre Co. is holding in-person auditions on Tuesday, July 27, at Granite State Arts Academy Public Charter School (19 Keewaydin Drive, Salem) for its upcoming production of Heathers The Musical. Interested performers must sign up on the Cue Zero website in advance for a 60-minute time slot between 6 and 10 p.m. Callbacks will be held on Thursday, July 29. The production is scheduled to run Oct. 22 through Oct. 24 at the Derry Opera House. Visit cztheatre.com or email [email protected].
“Going with the Flow” by Jane Balshaw, featured in “Tension” exhibit. Courtesy photo.
• Textile works: The Surface Design Association’s (SDA) New Hampshire Group presents an exhibit, “Tension: Process in the Making,” at Twiggs Gallery (254 King St., Boscawen) July 24 through Sept. 4. It features contemporary fiber art by 15 artists juried by textile artist Jenine Shereos. “Reflecting on the past year, there has been a collective stretching; a pulling and tightening, beyond what we ever imagined was possible,” Shereos said in a press release. “The works in this exhibition feature New Hampshire textile artists as they examine the theme of tension in both form and concept.” An artists reception and jurors talk will be held at the gallery on Saturday, July 24, from 1 to 3 p.m. Current gallery hours are Thursday and Friday, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturday, from noon to 4 p.m. Visit twiggsgallery.wordpress.com or call 975-0015.
• Community art for Nashua: The Currier Museum of Art in Manchester, in partnership with the City of Nashua, present “Creative Union,” a new community-centered art project conceived by Elisa H. Hamilton. A number of free, hands-on workshops for all ages are being held throughout the summer in Nashua, where participants can create festive paper sculptures and handmade decorations for a community celebration that will be held in downtown Nashua this fall. Workshop dates are Thursday, July 22, from 4:30 to 7 p.m., at the Arlington Street Community Center (36 Arlington St.); Thursday, Aug. 5, from 4 to 7 p.m., and Saturday, Aug. 7, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., at YMCA of Greater Nashua (24 Stadium Drive); Sundays, Aug. 8 and Aug. 29, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., at the Nashua Farmers Market at City Hall Plaza; and Thursday, Aug. 12, from 6 to 8 p.m., at Grow Nashua Community Garden (Spring Street). Visit currier.org
• Fashion art: The Seacoast African American Cultural Center (located inside the Portsmouth Historical Society, 10 Middle St., Portsmouth) has an exhibition, “Fashion Forward: Africana Style,” on view now through Sept. 1 that showcases Black fashion and explores connections between African American and African design aesthetics from past to present. See photos from Sapeurs: Ladies and Gentlemen of the Congo by London-based photographer Tariq Zaidi; vintage African fashion pieces from 1930s Liberia reflecting influences of Islam and African American immigration; and more than a dozen contemporary fashion and fabric art pieces created or owned by African and African American women living and working on the Seacoast and throughout the East Coast. Gallery hours are Monday through Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; visitors must reserve a 45-minute time slot in advance. Walk-in guests will be accommodated as space permits. Tickets cost $10 for the general public and $5 for Historical Society members and are available through eventbrite.com. Call 430-6027 or visit saacc-nh.org.
Art
Exhibits
• “FRESH PERSPECTIVES” Exhibit features works by New Hampshire artists Peter Milton, Varujan Boghosian, Robert Hughes and others. New Hampshire Antique Co-op (323 Elm St., Milford). On view in the Co-op’s Tower Gallery now through Aug. 31. Visit nhantiquecoop.com.
• “THE BODY IN ART: FROM THE SPIRITUAL TO THE SENSUAL” Exhibit provides a look at how artists through the ages have used the human body as a means of creative expression. On view now through Sept. 1. Currier Museum of Art, 150 Ash St., Manchester. Museum admission tickets cost $15, $13 for seniors age 65 and up, and must be booked online. Call 669-6144 or visit currier.org.
• “DON GORVETT: WORKING WATERFRONTS” Exhibit features more than 60 works by the contemporary Seacoast printmaker. The Portsmouth Historical Society (10 Middle St., Portsmouth). On view now through Sept. 12. Gallery hours are daily, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission costs $7.50 for adults and is free for kids under age 18, seniors age 70 and older and active and retired military. Admission is free for all on the first Friday of every month. Visit portsmouthhistory.org.
• “TWILIGHT OF AMERICAN IMPRESSIONISM” Exhibit showcases New England painters and masters of impressionism Alice Ruggles Sohier and Frederick A. Bosley. On view now through Sept. 12. Portsmouth Historical Society (10 Middle St., Portsmouth). Gallery hours are daily, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission costs $7.50 for adults and is free for kids under age 18, seniors age 70 and older and active and retired military. Admission is free for all on the first Friday of every month. Visit portsmouthhistory.org.
• “ROBERTO LUGO: TE TRAIGO MI LE LO LAI – I BRING YOU MY JOY” Philadelphia-based potter reimagines traditional forms and techniques with inspiration from urban graffiti and hip-hop culture, paying homage to his Puerto Rican heritage and exploring his cultural identity and its connection to family, place and legacy. The Currier Museum of Art (150 Ash St., Manchester). On view now through Sept. 26. On view now. Currier Museum of Art, 150 Ash St., Manchester. Museum admission tickets cost $15, $13 for seniors age 65 and up, and must be booked online. Call 669-6144 or visit currier.org.
• “CRITICAL CARTOGRAPHY” Exhibit features immersive large-scale drawings by Larissa Fassler that reflect the Berlin-based artist’s observations of downtown Manchester while she was an artist-in-residence at the Currier Museum in 2019. On view now through fall. Currier Museum of Art, 150 Ash St., Manchester. Museum admission tickets cost $15, $13 for seniors age 65 and up, and must be booked online. Call 669-6144 or visit currier.org.
• GALLERY ART A new collection of art by more than 20 area artists on display now in-person and online. Creative Ventures Gallery (411 Nashua St., Milford). Call 672-2500 or visit creativeventuresfineart.com.
• “TOMIE DEPAOLA AT THE CURRIER” Exhibition celebrates the illustrator’s life and legacy through a collection of his original drawings. On view now. Currier Museum of Art, 150 Ash St., Manchester. Museum admission tickets cost $15, $13 for seniors age 65 and up, and must be booked online. Call 669-6144 or visit currier.org.
• ART ON MAIN The City of Concord and the Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce present a year-round outdoor public art exhibit in Concord’s downtown featuring works by professional sculptors. All sculptures will be for sale. Visit concordnhchamber.com/creativeconcord, call 224-2508 or email [email protected].
• “SUMMER HAZE” Concord artist and gallery owner Jess Barnet hosts her first group art exhibit. Gallery located in the Patriot Investment building, 4 Park St., Suite 216, Concord. On view Aug. 6 through Sept. 3. Visit jessbarnett.com.
Fairs and markets
• CONCORD ARTS MARKET Outdoor artisan and fine art market. Every third Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Now through October. Rollins Park (33 Bow St., Concord). Visit concordartsmarket.net.
• CRAFTSMEN’S FAIR Nine-day craft fair featuring work by hundreds of juried League of NH Craftsmen members. Sat., Aug. 7, through Sun., Aug. 15. Mount Sunapee Resort (1398 Route 103, Newbury). Visit nhcrafts.org.
Tours
• NASHUA PUBLIC ART AUDIO TOUR Self-guided audio tours of the sculptures and murals in downtown Nashua, offered via the Distrx app, which uses Bluetooth iBeacon technology to automatically display photos and text and provides audio descriptions at each stop on the tour as tourists approach the works of art. Each tour has 10 to 15 stops. Free and accessible on Android and iOS on demand. Available in English and Spanish. Visit downtownnashua.org/nashua-art-tour.
Theater
Shows
• WIZARD OF OZ The 2021 Bank of New Hampshire Children’s Summer Series presents. Palace Theatre (80 Hanover St., Manchester). Wed., July 21, and Thurs., July 22, 10 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. Tickets cost $10. Visit palacetheatre.org.
• ‘TIL BETH DO US PART The Majestic Theatre presents. Virtual and in person at Majestic Studio Theatre, 880 Page St., Manchester. Now through July 25, with showtimes on Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m. Visit majestictheatre.net or call 669-7469.
• DANI GIRL The Winnipesaukee Playhouse presents. 33 Footlight Circle, Meredith. Now through July 31, with showtimes Tuesday through Saturday, at 4 p.m. Tickets cost $29 to $39. Visit winnipesaukeeplayhouse.org.
• YOU’RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN Prescott Park Arts Festival (105 Marcy St., Portsmouth). Now through Aug. 15, with shows daily at 7 p.m. Visit prescottpark.org.
• CABARET The Seacoast Repertory Theatre presents. 125 Bow St., Portsmouth. July 22 through Sept. 5. Visit seacoastrep.org or call 433-4472.
• THE LITTLE MERMAID Palace Theatre (80 Hanover St., Manchester). Tues., July 27, through Thurs., July 29, 10 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. Tickets $10. Visit palacetheatre.org.
• TELL ME ON A SUNDAY The Winnipesaukee Playhouse presents. 33 Footlight Circle, Meredith. July 28 through Aug. 14, with showtimes Tuesday through Saturday, at 7:30 p.m., plus matinees on Tuesday, Aug. 3, and Thursday, Aug. 5, at 2 p.m. Tickets cost $20 to $39. Visit winnipesaukeeplayhouse.org.
• BEAUTY AND THE BEAST The 2021 Bank of New Hampshire Children’s Summer Series presents. Palace Theatre (80 Hanover St., Manchester). Tues., Aug. 3, through Thurs., Aug. 5, 10 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. Tickets $10. Visit palacetheatre.org.
Concerts
• “PURCELL TO PUCCINI — OPERATASTIC!” The Piccola Emerging Opera performs a classic opera show. Part of the Piccola Opera Summer Festival. Fri., July 23, 6 p.m., at Franklin Pierce University (40 University Drive, Rindge), and Sat., July 24, 2 p.m. at Cathedral of the Pines (10 Hale Hill Road, Rindge). Tickets cost $15. Call 781-5695 or visit piccolaopera.net.
Henniker illustrator, photographer, author keeps on creating
It was the barn that Jerry LoFaro fell in love with when he bought his property in Henniker 25 years ago. Since then, he’s used the space as a studio for painting, digital artwork, photography, writing and live music performances, sometimes sitting alone in his well-worn office chair and sometimes surrounded by friends during the intimate concerts that he and his wife Kathleen host.
“This barn — this is why we’re here,” he said of the building, which was built in ’91 and had been used as a dance school. “It was perfect for me, really kind of idyllic.”
With a resume as eclectic as it is long, LoFaro’s recent projects include working on a follow-up to his first book of photography, Abandoned Vehicles of New Hampshire: Rust in Peace, and taking behind-the-scenes and onstage pictures of musicians as the official photographer for Tupelo Music Hall in Derry.
The latter gig started with an iPhone and front-row seats to numerous shows. The self-proclaimed “music freak” would sit in front of the stage and take pictures with his phone, without giving much thought to their artistic quality. It was a far cry from his usual approach to art — LoFaro has been a successful painter and illustrator for years, with work that has graced the covers of books and magazines, advertising and promotional items for brands like Aflac, Coca-Cola and Disney, and, his proudest achievement, boxes of Celestial Seasonings tea. For that work, he uses techniques like airbrushing and digital art, but taking pictures had never really been a thing.
“Most of my photography [at that point] had been a [starting point] for my illustrations,” he said. “It was part of a process and wasn’t really a goal in and of itself.”
But LoFaro was posting his concert shots online, and people were commenting. Knowing that he had an audience, LoFaro started bringing a better camera to the shows, discreetly taking shots from his lap.
“I had no goal other than to have fun and take better pictures,” he said.
Tupelo’s social media director noticed the photos, though, and started posting them on Tupelo’s social media sites. When the venue moved from Londonderry to Derry in 2017, LoFaro was asked to be the official photographer.
“I kind of was grandfathered in,” he said, aware that he got the job over professional photographers with years more experience. “But I’m an artist — what I lack in skill, I make up for in editing and artistry.”
Abandoned Vehicles of New Hampshire, which was published earlier this year, is a new creative venture for LoFaro, one that started when he turned his camera toward rusty old cars he found throughout the state.
“It was just something that captured my interest,” he said.
One of his four Instagram accounts is dedicated to his rusted cars photography, and one of his followers happens to work for a publisher, America Through Time.
“I knew I had a book in me,” LoFaro said.
The star of the book is a Hudson Commodore, a car he found in the middle of a field in Loudon and later bought from the owner of the salvage yard for $200. The Hudson is now a centerpiece in his front yard.
LoFaro said the response to the book has been great.
“I was inundated with people sending messages and locations [of abandoned cars] all over the state,” he said. “I have so much material [for a follow-up book].”
In the meantime, LoFaro is working on a book of photography about Henniker — something never imagined doing when he left New York City in 1995, when he was still working with his agent and big clients in New York.
His favorite client was Celestial Seasonings; he did artwork for them for close to 20 years.
“The way they feature artists on the box, it really just spoke to me,” he said.
It started with redoing the image on the box of Morning Thunder, the company’s first caffeinated tea. LoFaro also, among other things, created several variations of the Sleepytime bear — and that’s when he started transitioning from painting by hand to digital art.
“I had no interest in digital art,” LoFaro said. “I’m in love with the process of painting: mixing the paint, preparing the boards, the tactile element.”
A good friend of his, though, owned what Lafaro says was a “pioneer” computer art school in Weare. After Sept. 11, 2001, LoFaro’s lifeline to work in New York City all but vanished, and he got no jobs for several months after. With extra time on his hands, he agreed to take computer art classes.
“I was the worst student in the class because I had no computer experience,” he said. “It was excruciating.”
But after he got past the initial learning curve, LoFaro realized how much he could do with digital art — and how good it could be.
“I reinvented myself. I was still painting, but I can do this a lot better,” he said.
LoFaro maxed out his credit cards to buy a used computer system, and the day he got it, he took a job making clouds for a video game — that had to be done the next day.
“That was my trial by fire,” he said.
Lafaro said the more he learned about the intricacies of digital art, the more he could relate it to his airbrush work.
“It really was an incredible natural evolution,” he said.
And then there’s the music. A band’s photo shoot in the barn morphed into a bigger idea; in 2016, the LoFaros started hosting concerts, with the musicians playing on a small stage that LoFaro built. They were well-attended, so he built a bigger stage, and they’ve had more than 100 people in attendance for some of the shows. Those stopped during Covid, but LoFaro is hoping to get them going again by fall.
He’s back at Tupelo, too, and looking forward to shooting a few good shows this season. Right now he and owner Scott Hayward are in the process of creating posters of the 52×60-inch mural on canvas of LoFaro’s photos that hangs on the venue’s front wall. That will be sold at the venue and online later this summer.
If that seems like a lot of balls in the air, LoFaro isn’t quite ready to stop juggling.
“I’m on this journey, and I’m open for anything,” he said.
Featured photo: Jerry LoFaro poses in front of the Tupelo tapestry of his photos. Courtesy photo.
The New Hampshire Fisher Cats have home games at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium (1 Line Drive in downtown Manchester; nhfishercats.com) on the schedule through Sunday, July 25, against the Reading Fightin’ Phils. Games today through Saturday, July 24, start at 7:05 p.m.; Sunday’s game starts at 1:05 p.m. Catch fireworks from Atlas Fireworks after the games today and Saturday. Today is also NASA/Space Day and Sunday’s theme is Nickelodeon’s Blue’s Clues and You, with activities for kids. On Friday the Fisher Cats celebrate Christmas in July, with Christmas music and lights and an ornament giveaway for the first 500 fans, according to the website, where you can purchase tickets.
The Nashua Silver Knights also have a game today; they’ll play the Worcester Bravehearts at 6 p.m. See nashuasilverknights.com.
Friday, July 23
Tap dancer, choreographer, professor at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee and New Hampshire native Aaron Tolsonpresents Aaron Tolson and Friends, an evening of dance and music featuring Elan Trotman, tonight at 7:30 p.m. and tomorrow, July 24, at 2 p.m. at the Dana Center (Saint Anselm College, 100 Saint Anselm Dr. in Manchester; anselm.edu/dana-center-humanities). Tickets cost $20. Find more arts and theater events in the Arts section, which starts on page 10.
Friday, July 23
Catch some of your favorite classic songs played live. Tonight at 6 p.m., catch JT Express, a James Taylor tribute show, at the Tupelo Drive-In in Derry (tupelomusichall.com).On Saturday, July 24, Into the Mystic, the Van Morrison Experience, will perform at the Bank of NH Stage in Concord at 8 p.m. (ccanh.com). On Sunday, July 25, the Flying Monkey in Plymouth presents Pink Talking Fish (a band that pays tribute to the music of Pink Floyd, Talking Heads and Phish) at 7:30 p.m. (flyingmonkeynh.com). Find more upcoming concerts in our listings on page 42.
Saturday, July 24
Take a walking tour of Manchester’s millyard with John Clayton, executive director of the Manchester Historic Association, today from 10:30 a.m. to noon. Pre-registration is required for this event, which costs $15 per person. Tour attendees will meet outside the Millyard Museum’s Commercial Street entrance. See manchesterhistoric.org.
Wednesday, July 28
Wednesdays are good nights for catching a free live outdoor concert. Among the towns offering Wednesday concerts: Bedford at the Village Common Park Gazebo at 6 p.m. (this week it’s Knock on Wood), Candia at the Candia Pond Park at 6:30 pm. (Windham Swing Band), Merrimack at Abbie Griffin Park at 6 p.m. (Studio Two) and Plaistow at the PARC at 6 p.m. (B Street Bombers). Find more live music, including listings of area towns concert series, in the Music This Week listing on page 37. If you know of a spot with live music, let us know at [email protected].
Save the date: Saturday, Aug. 7
The Blues on the Range Festival, presented by the Granite State Blues Society, is scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 7, starting at noon at The Range, 96 Old Turnpike Road in Mason. Tickets cost $25 in advance. This year’s lineup includes Veronica Lewis Band with Monster Mike Welch and more local and regional blues talent, according to granitestateblues.org, where you can purchase tickets.
