Tag: 240926

In the kitchen with Denise Nickerson

Owner/Pastry Chef, The Bakeshop on Kelley St. (171 Kelley St., Manchester, 624-3500, thebakeshoponkelleystreet.com)

“I am Le Cordon Bleu trained and a dessert enthusiast,” Nickerson said. “Many of my recipes have been passed down through generations, but stand the test (or taste) of time. My mother was a big influence for her from-scratch desserts as every night no matter what was for dinner, we would always look forward to some sort of delicious homemade treat. She passed along my love for taking the time to come up with new baking ideas, searching recipes and enjoying the happiness of seeing the look on the faces that have just had a little piece of dessert heaven. I’m proud to say that everything offered at The Bakeshop is handmade, using quality ingredients, and made in small quantities to ensure freshness. Whether you are coming in to the bakery for a cake, pie, sandwich, bagel or just a little pick-me-up snack, there’s a lot of pride, history and of course love of baking that goes into all that we do.”

What is your must-have kitchen item?

It would definitely be my offset spatula. Not only can you make some beautiful decoration magic happen, but it is also excellent at smoothing out problems.

What would you have for your last meal?

I would want a banquet table of chocolate desserts. Just picture this in your mind and you will see that the possibilities are pretty sweet.

What is your favorite local eatery?

You can often find The Bakeshop crew at Tucker’s eating waffles, breakfast burritos or their sunrise breakfast while discussing new ideas and planning for a busy week ahead. Dessert would definitely be a slice of cake from Campo Enoteca.

What celebrity would you like to see eating something from your bakery?

I would love to see Carmy from The Bear try my food just to show that simple, clean recipes made with high-quality ingredients can be just as equally enjoyed as the most elegant and acclaimed restaurants around the world. Jeremy Allen White would be welcome, as well.

What is your favorite item that your shop makes?

The hardest question to answer is ‘What is my favorite item on our menu?’ I truly love everything that we make.

What is a major food trend you see in New Hampshire recently?

Doughnuts are one of the biggest food trends that’s been around in New Hampshire. People are getting very excited as we go into the fall flavors of pumpkin, spice and apple cider.

What is your favorite thing to cook at home?

Grilled cheese — mozzarella, tomato, basil and balsamic reduction on The Bakeshop garlic herb bread. Willing to throw out a cliche here: It’s to die for!

Hummingbird Cake

Put dry ingredients in bowl:
2 cups flour
1 1/3 cups sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt

Stir and add liquid:
1 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
28-ounce can crushed pineapple, including juice
2 ripe bananas
1 cup chopped pecans

Stir until combined. Put into two greased 9” pans and bake at 350 degrees F for 25 to 30 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.

Cool, then frost:
3/4 cup softened butter
8 ounces softened cream cheese
4 cups confectioner’s sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt

Hospitality is on the menu

And butter — in a panoply of Greek pastries

According to Margaret Gegas, the secret to a good spanakopitais butter. More butter.

“We use fresh spinach,” she said, “and feta cheese, eggs and good phyllo dough. And butter; a lot of butter.”

Gegas has been cooking for the yearly Taste of Greece festival at Holy Trinity Church (68 N. State St., Concord, 225-2961, holytrinitynh.org) for more than 20 years. Church ladies are crucial to every Greek church food festival, and over the years she has probably made everything on the menu at some point.

“I love the moussakawith the eggplant and meat sauce and a bechamel sauce,” Gegas said. “That is a favorite that goes pretty quickly. Another item is our macaroni dish called pastitsio; it’s macaroni with meat sauce and a bechamel topping to that too. And then the other things that are on the hotline are chicken shish kebab and lamb shish kebab and rice to go with it. We have a lady that makes all the meatballs and sauce, Greek-style.”

Except for a break during the Covid lockdown, Holy Trinity has been hosting a food festival every fall for the past 22 years. Constantine Newman is the parish priest. He is always impressed by how his parishioners throw themselves into the Taste of Greece event.

“It’s just a very festive event,” he said, “and the parish pulls together and works for the day to serve and to clean and do all the stuff that needs to be done.”

He isn’t entirely certain how many people attend the festival each year.

“I don’t know if we got an exact number [last year],” he said, “but I know that from at least 11 o’clock to easily 3 or 4, the line stretched from the food line all the way down toward the street.” Constantine said most Greek churches hold their festivals in the summer because that’s when most people have enough time to devote to hosting or attending them. Holy Trinity’s event puts a cap on the Greek food festival season.

“The festivals start around the end of May and June,” he said. “That’s the beginning of the festival season. We’ve always done it [Holy Trinity’s festival] toward the end of September … usually a week or two after Glendi in Manchester.” He said Glendi gives a big boost to Holy Trinity’s festival. “The sort of people who go to these festivals have that in mind [at the end of September] because they’ll go to Glendi and then they’re looking for more Greek food somewhere and then they can come to us.”

Margaret Gegas agrees with that theory, pointing out that most of the people who attend Taste of Greece aren’t actually Greek.

“Because the Greek families make these things at home, you know, it’s their own menu, their own diet. See, that makes sense. There will be Greek people there because some of them don’t cook these things, so there will still be Greek people, but basically I’d say it’s pretty much mostly non-Greek,” Gegas said.

Father Constantine said the weather plays into the success of this festival, too.

“I don’t think we’ve ever had any problems with the weather, at least not as long as I’ve been here,” he said. “So it’s usually sunny and just warm enough that it’s not too cold yet. So the end of September has always been good for us. And it’s not so buggy. It always ends up being a really nice day.”

Both Constantine and Gegas emphasized how many savory and sweet Greek dishes there will be, from loukanikos — Greek lamb or pork sausages flavored with fennel and orange peel — to galaktoboureko, a sweet custard baked in phyllo.

Which brings us back to the spanakopita.

“We just finished making 37 pans of spanakopita,” Gegas said. “That’s because our festival is just a one-day event. If we were three days, we would have to have made over 100.”

Which is a lot of butter.

Featured Photo: Courtesy photo.

Oktoberfest!

A celebration of German-style beers and eats

A traditional celebration of beer in Munich, Germany, Oktoberfest has been held each fall since 1810, and it has been adopted by many American breweries and brew pubs. Oddball Brewing in Suncook will hold its first Oktoberfest on Saturday, Oct. 12. For co-owner and brewer Joe Friolet, that means focusing intensely on the beer.

“We do a Märzen-style Oktoberfest,” he said. “That’s more of your traditional style.” Märzen is a pale, traditional, Munich-style lager. Friolet describes it as “still malty and flavorful — just an easy-drinking, full-bodied Oktoberfest.”

While it might be tempting to play around with a Märzen, to try infusing it with fruits or spices, Friolet said that would not be in the proper Oktoberfest spirit.

“The Germans are very purist, “ he said. “They don’t like fruit or anything else added to their beer besides yeast, water, hops and barley.” The oldest food purity law in history, Munich’s Beer Purity Law, enacted under Wilhelm IV in 1516, limits the ingredients allowed in beer to water, barley malt and hops. (The law was relaxed slightly in the 1800s to allow yeast.) “A fruited sour beer would not be a thing that would happen in Germany,” Friolet said. “The Märzen just spoke to us; it was more of the classic style.”

Oddball has saved its whimsy for another fall beer, its Built Gourd Tough Pumpkin Spiced Ale. “It’s based off of a pumpkin pie,” Friolet said. “So it comes in around 9.5 percent [Alcohol By Volume, or ABV]. It’s got real pumpkin in it and it’s roasted with brown sugar. There’s a little lactose for sweetness for the whipped cream aspect. It’s got some graham cracker malt and it also has some spices, so, you know, like your cinnamon and molasses for extra flavor.” While it isn’t an authentic Munich-style Oktoberfest beer, it is very Octobery.

While Oddball Brewing is just starting to celebrate Oktoberfest, the Mile Away Restaurant in Milford is reaching the end of an era. After more than 50 years, the restaurant and event venue will close permanently at the end of September, and its yearly Oktoberfest Dinner on Oct. 6 will be its last meal.

“This is our largest outdoor event to the public every year,” said Kyle Altman, the Mile Away’s general manager. “This year is going to serve not only as our final Oktoberfest but kind of a farewell to the Mile Away since the property was just sold to a charter school.”

Altman said that the restaurant’s connection with Oktoberfest and all things Teutonic goes back to the 1960s. The Mile Away was originally started by two men from Switzerland, Ernst Kell and Joe Zund.

“Because of the heavy Swiss influence, there was a lot of German atmosphere to the whole restaurant and German food,” Altman said. “When it was purchased by the Murphy family from the original owners in 1996, Kevin and Sandy Murphy had actually just come back from teaching overseas in Germany for two years. So it was a natural fit to start doing an Oktoberfest as a kind of an end to the wedding season.”

Oktoberfest has always been one of the high points of the year for the Mile Away.

“It’s always been this big blowout,” Altman said, “because it’s a completely outdoor event. We have three bars, we have authentic German food, and we have special beer that’s made in Germany that we’re the only ones in the state of New Hampshire that can receive this beer. We have to order it months and months in advance. There’s a live tuba band, people are always encouraged to come in traditional Bavarian lederhosen and all the staff dresses up. It’s the largest outdoor event that the Mile Away does every year.”

Upcoming Oktoberfest celebrations

• The Hop Knot (1000 Elm St., Manchester, 232-3731, hopknotnh.com) will have a rotating series of seasonal beers (Oktoberfest, festbiers, Marzens, pumpkin, ciders, etc.) from various breweries around New England.

• Daydreaming Brewing Co. (1 1/2 E. Broadway, Derry, 965-3454, cask.life/daydreaming-brewing-co) will have German Schwarzbier on as well as Marzen available throughout September and October. Daydreaming will also hold a 16-line tap event at Cask & Vine (1 E. Broadway, Derry, 965-3454, cask.life/cask-and-vine) with 12 Weihenstephaner beers and four additional Oktoberfest beers, along with a stein hoisting qualifying competition that runs the entire month of September, followed by an elimination round and finals into October. $25 gets you entry into the competition, a commemorative liter stein and a liter of any of the 16 options on draft.

• Samuel Adams Brewing (samueladams.com) and Dover restaurants will present the 16th Annual Dover Oktoberfest Saturday, Sept. 28, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in downtown Dover. Tickets are available at participating bars for $20. Visit facebook.com/DoverOktoberfest.

• Join Talespinner Brewery (57 Factory St., Suite B, Nashua, 318-3221, ramblingtale.com) for its third annual Oktoberfest gathering, Saturday, Sept. 28, from 1 to 5 p.m. in its new outdoor Biergarten (weather-dependent). The afternoon includes a stein-holding competition, German spelling bee, costume contest and more. Rambling House Food & Gathering will be serving brats and pretzels to pair with TaleSpinner brews. This is a 21+ event.

• There will be an Oktoberfest Polka & Pints Pub Crawls in Nashua, Manchester and Concord, Saturday, Sept. 28, from 4 to 11 p.m. Visit Pubcrawls.com.

• Henniker Brewing Co. (129 Centervale Road, Henniker, 428-3579, hennikerbrewing.com) will hold a four-day celebration of Oktoberfest, Thursday, Oct. 3, through Sunday, Oct. 6. There will be a special Oktoberfest menu, trivia, stein-holding, barrel-rolling, stein-racing, yodeling, pretzel-tossing, live music and more.

• There will be a Fall Fest Block Party at 603 Brewery (42 Main St., Londonderry, 404-6123, 603brewery.com), Saturday, Oct. 5, from noon to 9:30 p.m. The party will take over Main Street with food trucks, live music, a stein holding contest, axe throwing, 603 Scratch Kitchen specials and more.

• Celebrate Oktoberfest at the Mile Away Restaurant (52 Federal Hill, Milford, 673-3904, mileawayrestaurantnh.com) with the Tubafrau Hoffbråu Band, Sunday, Oct. 6, from 12:30 to 5:30 p.m. Dinner plates with German specialties like sauerbraten, schweineschnitzel and jaeger chicken with German side-dishes are $20. Event is cash-only; there is a $20 per car parking fee.

• Long Blue Cat Brewing (298 Rockingham Road, Londonderry, 818-8068, longbluecat.com) will participate in two Oktoberfest events this season. One is an Oktoberfest Celebration, Oct. 12, from noon to 10 p.m. at Fody’s Tavern (187 1/2 Rockingham Road, Derry, 404-6946, fodystavern.com), with Oktoberfest activities as well as beer and food. Long Blue Cat will also have an Farm Day/Oktoberfest event at Little Red Hen Farm (85 Norris Road, Pittsfield, 568-5540, littleredhenfarm.net) on Oct. 19. There will be a food truck, a beer tent and local vendors with New Hampshire-made crafts and food for sale and to sample. There will also be farm tours and petting.

• The White Mountain Octoberfest will be held Oct. 12 through Oct. 14 at Loon Mountain Resort (60 Loon Mountain Road, Lincoln, 745-8111, loonmtn.com). This three-day festival is the region’s largest celebration of German food, drink and music. There will be beer, live oompah bands, axe throwing, pretzel necklace-making, keg-tossing, stein-carrying and more. Admission is free. Visit loonmtn.com/events/oktoberfest.

• The New Hampshire Brew Fest (nhbrewfest.com) is Saturday, Oct. 12, from 1 to 4:30 p.m.. Held on the grounds of Cisco Brewers Portsmouth (35 Corporate Drive, Portsmouth, 380-7575, ciscobrewersportsmouth.com), New England craft breweries and food trucks will gather to raise money for the Prescott Park Arts Festival and the New England District of the Master Brewers Association of Americas. Admission includes entry to the session specified on individual tickets, beer samples and live music and festivities. Food is available for purchase. VIP tickets are $80 with noon access. General admission tickets are $60, with access at 1 p.m.. Designated driver tickets are $20 and include entry, food and non-alcoholic drink vouchers. Taps-down occurs at 4 p.m.

• Oddball Brewing (6 Glass St., Suncook, 210-5654, oddballbrewingnh.com) will hold its first Oktoberfest Saturday, Oct. 12, from 2 to 9 p.m., with beer specials, food specials like bratwursts and pretzels, and a stein hoisting competition. Live music from 4 to 6 p.m.

• Rockingham Brewing Co. (1 Corporate Park Drive, Unit 1, Derry, 216-2324, rockinghambrewing.com) will host its annual Steinfest on Saturday, Oct 12, from 1 to 8 p.m. There will be four German-style beers on tap, available in one-liter stein pours. There will be a men’s & women’s stein hoisting competition and Teenie Wienies Food Truck will be there with German-style Bratwurst.

• The New Hampshire Ski Club (nhskiclub.org), will hold an Oktoberfest Schussbomb on Saturday, Oct. 26, from 6 to 11 p.m. at the Sweeney Post American Legion, 251 Maple St., Manchester. Come dressed in Octoberfest clothing with a chance to win a prize for the best costume. Doors open at 6 p.m., and dancing starts at 7 p.m. Tickets are $25.

• The Mile Away Restaurant’s(52 Federal Hill, Milford, 673-3904, mileawayrestaurantnh.com) Oktoberfest on Sunday, Oct. 6, from 12:30 to 5:30 p.m. will be the popular venue’s last event. Dinner plates featuring German specialties like sauerbraten, schweineschnitzel and jaeger chicken with German side-dishes are $20. This is a cash-only event and there is a $20 per car parking fee.

Local brews

Here are some of the fall-themed and Oktoberfest beers at area breweries. Know of one not mentioned here? Let us know at [email protected].

• Able Ebenezer Brewing Co. (31 Columbia Circle, Merrimack, 844-223-2253, ableebenezer.com): Gemütlich Oktoberfest Märzen

• Backyard Brewery and Kitchen (1211 S. Mammoth Road, Manchester, 623-3545, backyardbrewerynh.com); Oktoberfest Märzen

• Candia Road Brewing Co. (840 Candia Road, Manchester, 935-8123, candiaroadbrewingco.com) Märzen Lager Octoberfestbier

• Concord Craft Brewing (117 Storrs St., Concord, 856-7625, concordcraftbrewing.com): Kapitöl Kölsch; Festbier Märzen-Style Lager

• Feathered Friend Brewing (231 S. Main St., Concord, 715-2347, featheredfriendbrewing.com): Ottoberfest Bavarian Amber Lager; Trouble Ahead Doppelbock

• Flying Goose Brew Pub & Grille (40 Andover Road in New London; 526-6899, https://www.flyinggoose.com): Oktober-Festbier

• Great North Aleworks (1050 Holt Ave., No. 14, Manchester, 858-5789, greatnorthaleworks.com): Märzen Rover

• Kelsen Brewing Co. (44 Nashua Road, Londonderry, 965-3708, kelsenbrewing.com): Crown Prince Märzen, Harimanna Berliner Weisse

• Lithermans Brewing Co. (126 Hall St., Suite B, Concord, 219-0784, lithermans.beer): Delicate Cycle Sour Fruited Berliner Weisse

• Lost Cowboy Brewing Co. (546 Amherst St., Nashua, 600-6800, lostcowboybrewing.com): Pumpkin Roundup Oktoberfest Beer; Von Trapp Munich Dunkel

• Martha’s Exchange (185 Main St., Nashua, 883-8781, marthas-exchange.com): Pumpkinweizen Roasted Pumpkin German Wheat Beer; Oktoberfest Lager

• Oddball Brewing (6 Glass St., Suncook, 210-5654, oddballbrewingnh.com) Bug Eyed Kolsch; Oddtoberfest Märzen

• Odd Fellows Brewing Co. (124 Main St., Nashua, 521-8129, oddfellowsbrewery.com): Hefeweizen

• Pipe Dream Brewing (49 Harvey Road, Unit 4, Londonderry, 404-0751, pipedreambrewingnh.com): Pumpkin Ale; Pumpkin French Toast

• The Prodigal Brewing Co. (9 Auburndale Lane, Auburn, 682-7381, prodigalbrewingnh.com: Fool’s Fest Märzen Lager

• Rockingham Brewing Co. (1 Corporate Park Drive, Unit 1, Derry, 216-2324, rockinghambrewing.com): Schweinstein Märzen; Gourdy Pumpkin Ale

• To Share Brewing (720 Union St., Manchester, 836-6947, tosharebrewing.com): Oktoberfest Altbier; Sophisticated Pumpkin Ale

Featured Photo: Oktoberfest at Mile Away. Courtesy photo.

The Weekly Dish 24/09/26

News from the local food scene

• Closing: The North End Bistro in Manchester has closed. In a Sept. 18 post on the restaurant’s Facebook page, the owners cited the normal “big challenges” of running a restaurant and a family emergency for North End’s sudden closing, and thanked their staff and customers.

• Burgertober: New England Tap House Grille’s (1292 Hooksett Road, Hooksett, 782-5137, taphousenh.com) October Burger of the Month will be a bacon apple cheddar burger featuring locally sourced beef, crispy bacon, Vermont cheddar cheese, sliced apple, arugula and a drizzle of honey mustard nestled in a bun, for $18.50.

• Cupcaketober: The October martini-cupcake pairing at the Copper Door (15 Leavy Drive, Bedford, 488-2677, and 41 S Broadway, Salem, 458-2033, copperdoor.com) will have a spooky theme. A Trick-Or-Tini features 360 Chocolate Vodka, butterscotch schnapps, Frangelico, Trader Vic’s Dark Chocolate, cream,chocolate syrup and a candied Halloween rim for $14. October’s featured cupcake, Batty for Boston Cream, features vanilla sponge cake, vanilla bean pastry cream, chocolate ganache, chocolate frosting and a chocolate cup for $11.

• Wine Saturday: Appolo Vineyards (49 Lawrence Road, Derry, 421-4675, appolovineyards.com) will hold a Rock #thecrushpad event Saturday, Sept. 28, from 3 to 6 p.m. Reckless Luna will perform with Chef Chase preparing food.

• Polenta: There will be a cooking class at the Cooking School at Tuscan Market Salem (Tuscan Village, 9 Via Toscana, Salem, 912-5467, tuscanbrands.com) Saturday, Sept. 28, from 2 to 5 p.m. Learn to make polenta with sausage ragu. Tuscan Chef Jarrett Parizo-Kellerman will show attendees how to make a classic polenta and turn it into polenta squares or fries, along with a demonstration of a sausage ragu to go with it. Tickets are $70 through the Tuscan Market website.

• Bread: The Culinary Playground (16 Manning St., Derry, 339-1664, culinary-playground.com) will hold a focaccia bread art workshop on Sunday, Sept. 29, from 10 a.m. to noon. The cost is $65.

Kiddie Pool 24/09/26

Family fun for whenever

Deerfield Fair

• “147 years of agricultural family fun!” is how the Deerfield Fair describes itself at deerfieldfair.com. The fair kicks off Thursday, Sept. 26, at 8 a.m. and offers a full day of live music, performances including puppets and magic and agricultural shoes and competitions. The fair runs through Sunday, Sept. 29, and is open 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, and 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets cost $12 for ages 13 and older, kids ages 12 and younger and all military get in for free. Senior days are Thursday and Friday when tickets for $65+ purchased at the gate cost $9. See the website for early ticket purchases. Ride Special Wristband Days are sold Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. for unlimited rides until 6 p.m. for $35 and on Sunday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. with unlimited rides until 7 p.m. for $35. Ride ticket singles cost $1.50 with discounts for bulk purchases.

Some of the highlights from the fair entertainment and events schedule include (see the website for a full schedule):

• Thursday: BJ Hickman Magician at 10:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. at the Relaxation Stage (also appearing through the weekend); Lindsay and her Puppet Pals at 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. at the Bandstand Stage (also appearing Friday); Bryson Lang Juggling & Comedy Show at 1 p.m. at the Bandstand Stage (also appearing through the weekend); Pig scramble for ages 8 to 10 at 2 p.m. at the Swine Area

Friday: The Flying Wallendas at noon and 3 p.m. at the Main Stage (also on Saturday and Sunday); Pig scramble for ages 11 to 13 at 2 p.m.; The Incidentals at 7 p.m. at the Relaxation Stage

Saturday: 4-H Dairy Goat show at 9 a.m. at the Sheep Barn Area; Pig scramble for ages 8 to 10 at 2 p.m. at the Swine Area; Sheep shearing at the Sheep Barn 2 p.m.; Aim High Canines at the Swine Ring 3 p.m.; Truck Pull at the Tractor Pull Area 5 p.m.: Shakerz Band at 7 p.m. Relaxation Stage

Sunday: The Bel Airs (doowop and vintage rock ’n’ roll) at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. at the Relaxation stage; Dog demonstration, sheep dog herding at the Special Events Area at noon; Pig scramble for ages 11 to 13 at 2 p.m. at the Swine Ring; Pig scramble for adults at 2:15 p.m. at the Swine Ring; Fry Pan Toss for women 18+ at the Tractor Pull Area at 4 p.m.; Double Take at 5 p.m. Relaxation Stage

Strolling performers throughout the weekend include Pirate Man Dan, Seacoast NH Ukulele, Wicked Witches of the Lakes Region and Mixtape A Cappella Group, according to the website.

Fall family fun

• The Harvest Moon Festival at the Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum (18 Highlawn Road, Warner, indianmuseum.org, 456-2600) is Sunday, Sept. 29, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and offers something for the whole family. According to the website, the Harvest Moon Festival celebrates the traditional harvest season; it is a family-friendly event featuring craft demonstrations, activities for kids, and educational exhibits. Food for sale, prepared using Native American recipes, includes bison stew, chicken wild rice stew, several varieties of cornbread, and sweets. Tickets cost $13 for adults, $7 for children, and are available online.

Les Enfants

• The Franco-American Centre is offering Children’s Beginner French classes for ages 6 to 11 via Zoom. The classes will run Tuesday, Oct. 1, through Dec. 3, from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. The kids will learn “through various fun activities and games” and no French knowledge is required, according to a Franco-American Centre newsletter. The cost is $150, with discounts for multiple children. See facnh.com/product-page/children-s-beginner-french.

Save the date

• The Joppa Hill Educational Farm (174 Joppa Hill Road, Bedford, 472-4724, theeducationalfarm.org) will hold a Fall Fair on Saturday, Oct. 5, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The day will feature artisan booths, food trucks, vendors, tractor rides, apples, pumpkin decorating, live music, kids’ activities and farm fun. Tickets cost $15 (plus fees) per person or $30 (plus fees) per family.

• Tickets are on sale now for the Community Players of Concord’s Children’s Theatre Project production of Charlotte’s Web featuring 42 young actors ages 6 to 16, according to a press release. Catch the production on Friday, Oct. 18, at 7 p.m. or Saturday, Oct. 19, at 2 p.m. at the Concord City Auditorium, 2 Prince St. in Concord. Tickets cost $15 and are available at CommunityPlayersofConcord.org or at the box office 90 minutes before each show, the release said.

Treasure Hunt 24/09/26

Hello, Donna,

Can you give me any information on this hand-painted wood blue jay? I believe it could be hand-carved as well. There are three places where it might have been in something on the bottom. It’s 9 inches long and 3 inches wide.

Charlene

Dear Charlene,

Sweet blue jay bird! It’s tough to tell a value if there is no maker or carver’s name on it. You didn’t mention it so I am assuming there are no markings. So let’s start off by just the quality of the carving. Look at detailing, intricate carving, painting, etc. You can also check the eyes to see if they are glass or plastic. Glass eyes are better for a higher value.

The holes were probably a place to go into a base, as you said.

Taking all this into consideration I would say the value of your carved wood blue jay is in the $40 range.

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