N E W H A M P S H I R E M AG A Z I N E JULY 2 01 9
PADDLING THE MERRIMACK FRESH START FARMS FOLKS
The Explorers take a page from Thoreau and add a little fun Page 56
Meet the immigrants and refugees growing a new life in NH Page 46
BEST OF NH
The “Daydream” at The Birch on Elm
PA D D L I N G T H E M E R R I M A C K
Winner of Best Fun Craft Cocktails
F R E S H S TA R T FA R M S 4 T H O F J U LY
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Contents
July 2019
BEST
OF
NEW
HAMPSHIRE 46 First Things 4 Editor’s Note 6 Contributors Page 8 Feedback
Features
65
56 603 Navigator
603 Informer
603 Living
10 squam lake
24 the statehouse turns 200
92 go kayaking
12 Top Events
28 Blips
fourth of July fun
by Casey McDermott
photo by Kathie Fife
by Meghan McCarthy McPhaul
94 How To
44 Transcript
Meet hair model Kateryna Demers. by David Mendelsohn
46 Growing Home
The refugees farmers at Fresh Start Farms in Dunbarton can no longer return to the places they once called home. Today, they are working here in New Hampshire to cultivate new lives and opportunities. by Maggie Wallace photos by Yoav Horesh
New Hampshire in the news
by Emily Heidt
29 Review
guide to buying a kayak
14 Our Town
by Emily Heidt
Milton
by Barbara Radcliffe Rogers
96 Health advanced directives
18 Food & Drink
by Karen A. Jamrog
from left: photos by yoav horesh and joe klementovich
56 City River Gone Wild
98 Local Dish
The Explorers trade in the remote reaches of the state for a more familiar waterway — the Merrimack River.
watermelon bowl
recipe courtesy of the Town Docks
The new Hampshire pulp fiction series
by Jay Atkinson photos by Joe Klementovich
what to do this month
by Rick Broussard
65 Best of NH 2019
Want to be an expert on the Granite State? A great starting point is the Best of NH, which includes hundreds of Readers’ Poll winners listed alongside all of the editor’s favorites. Get up to speed on all the latest and greatest in food, fun, shops and so much more.
104 Calendar edited by Emily Heidt
30 Out and About mayfair farm
by Susan Laughlin
the 2019 excellence in nursing awards
22 Small Bites
32 Politics
grateful for garlic
by Susan Laughlin
ON THE COVER Pictured is a cocktail called The Daydream, created by Jeremy Hart of The Birch on Elm in Manchester, the Editor’s Pick for fun cocktails. Photo by Jenn Bakos
Good eats
120 Ayuh
why is Sununu so popular? by James Pindell
116 Dine Out
hearing voices
by Jack Kenny
Volume 32, Number 7 ISSN 1560-4949 nhmagazine.com | July 2019
3
EDITOR’S NOTE
We “Like” to Evolve
I
On Memorial Day, after shopping with the crowds at Concord’s Agway for some bark mulch and vegetable starts, I snagged a bottle of chocolate milk from their cooler near the checkout. And thereby hangs a tale.
t was an impulse buy. I didn’t even look at the price (pricey) because it was displayed with some hand-wrapped cuts of cheese so I could tell it was from a local dairy — two of my favorite words — though there was no logo or address printed on heavy glass bottle. Back home, before returning to my gardening, I cracked it open and poured a small glass. It filled in ripples like a milkshake: creamy and roiling with rich chocolate and butterfat. When I took a sip, I found myself draining the glass and pouring more. Then I had to call Agway. “Where in the world was this delicious stuff produced?” I asked. “Just up the road at Bartlett Farm,” I was told. A mental note was made and I’ve been singing the praises of Bartlett Farm chocolate milk ever since. And often that’s how the great wins out over the meh — by accidental discovery and word of mouth. We were pretty far along with the production of this 2019 Best of NH issue at the time so we’ll be checking out Bartlett Farm as a 2020 Best of NH prospect, but no need for you to wait to try it yourself. I’ve been making such mental notes for the quarter of a century that I’ve held this job. While the magazine has changed focus and names over the years, it’s always had a mission to discover and share what’s cool and excellent about the state, but a lot has changed in that time and, frankly, there’s a lot more that’s cool and excellent now than when I started. This magazine deserves some credit for that, and so, most likely, do you, assuming you share your finds and faves as you traverse the Granite State and don’t just hoard them like some dragon sitting on a pile of gold in a cavern. (Speaking of dragons, check out the “NH Pulp Fiction” review on page 29.) Evolutionary science says that life on Earth, from the amoeba to the velociraptor to Pete Buttigieg, took shape in tiny increments of 4
nhmagazine.com | July 2019
change over immense spans of time by blind forces guided only by, well, I’m still not really sure what’s guiding the blind forces, but then school wasn’t exactly my thing back when this knowledge was being dispensed. There is nothing blind about the forces that guide the evolution of our state, however. Our progress is perhaps sometimes shortsighted, but we navigate with eyes wide open and we help each other out along the way — whether we know it or not. Every affirmation you make, every endorsement you post, each time you point someone to a better choice, you are part of the process. That’s what concentrates talent in some towns, and industry in others. It’s what guarantees that Blink’s Fry Doe will remain a fixture on Hampton Beach in the 21st century, and it will determine which of the 20 to 30 Democrats combing the state for the next year will wind up the winner of our First-in-the-Nation Primary. It’s what brings people to our state in the first place or compels them, ultimately, to leave. Everyone is looking for something good, something better, something best. I’m sure my college Biology 101 teacher is feeling a disturbance in the Force as I write this, but maybe something similar has been guiding human evolution all this time. Maybe God just crowd-sourced the whole operation to the seraphim. Maybe we’re nothing but the product of a few thousand millennia of angelic likes, thumbs-ups and “best” lists. And, hopefully, they aren’t done yet. Whatever the cause, we’re obviously all still works in progress, so here are a couple of hundred cool and excellent suggestions, chosen by readers like you and editors like me, to help us on our way to perfection.
© Forevermark 2018. Forevermark®,
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Contributors
Frequent New Hampshire Magazine contributor Jenn Bakos shot this year’s Best of NH cover photo. She is a Seacoast-based food, lifestyle and wedding photographer who travels all around New England for her work. She enjoys exploring the Granite State and beyond, and everything small business and farm-to-table. In her free time she likes to hike and kayak. Learn more about her and see more of her work at jennbakosphoto.com.
for July 2019
The Explorers, photographer and writer team Joe Klementovich (left) and Jay Atkinson, produced the feature story “City River Gone Wild.”
Maggie Wallace, who wrote the feature story “Growing Home” about Fresh Start Farms, is a freelance writer based in Portsmouth.
Yoav Horesh took the photos for “Growing Home.” His work has been featured by Amnesty International and in publications around the world.
Award-winning author and journalist Meghan McCarthy McPhaul wrote this month’s “Informer.” Learn more about her at meghanmcphaul.com.
Food Editor Susan Laughlin regularly contributes “Food & Drink,” “Small Bites,” “Artisan” and “Local Dish.”
Photographer Kathie Fife, who took the “Navigator” photo, focuses on environmental conservation and historic preservation.
About | Behind The Scenes at New Hampshire Magazine
Jeremy Hart
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nhmagazine.com | July 2019
This month’s cover features a cocktail created by Jeremy Hart (left) of The Birch on Elm in Manchester. You can read more about why we selected The Birch as one of our Editor’s Picks — fun craft cocktails — on page 76. When Creative Director Chip Allen decided he wanted to use an eye-catching summery drink for the Best of NH cover, we knew right away that The Birch was a great choice. Sure enough, Hart was gracious enough to make a number of brightly colored drinks (two others, and the one we ended up using, are pictured at left) for photographer Jenn Bakos to shoot. And yes, they do taste as good as they look. Thanks to everyone involved for helping us make such a cool, refreshing cover. With summer finally warming up, we think it really hits the spot.
photos by jenn bakos
Cover Craft
A FRESH TWIST
O N T R A D I T I O N.
®
Jim Beam Peach, Peach Liqueur infused with Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, 32.5% Alc./Vol. ©2019 James B. Beam Distilling Co., Clermont, KY.
Send letters to Editor Rick Broussard, New Hampshire Magazine, 150 Dow St. Manchester, NH 03101 or email him at editor@nhmagazine.com.
Feedback
nhmagazine.com, facebook.com/NHMagazine & @nhmagazine
Interesting Issues and Events Update on the Rescued Rhubarb My cousin Dave took me on a tour of Riverside Farm yesterday. I’d been away for a while and stopped by to see him and give him a copy of this magazine — after all, I told him, he is the hero of the story! [“Rescuing the Rhubarb,” June 2019]. We buckled ourselves into his 4-wheeler and checked out the cold crops and squash under row covers, the early planting of corn coming up, the first and second plantings of peas looking fine, the blueberries and strawberries in blossom ... And then he took me to the rhubarb, where six or eight crowns of the ancient Dover Point variety are thriving, stalks as ruby-red as ever. Thanks, all of you, for your kind comments. Rebecca Tuttle Editor’s note: Rebecca Tuttle wrote our First Person story last month. She posted this note online in response to a number of well-wishes from fans of her family farm and also, we assume, fans of rhubarb.
Happy for the Shoutout Thank you for Barbara Radcliffe Rogers’ article on Claremont [“Our Town,” June 2019]. It’s wonderful to see recognition of some of the great things we have here in the city. WCCMA is also incredibly grateful for the link and the mention. One tiny correction — we are actually located in the Union Church facility, not St. Mary’s across the street as noted. I tried to leave a comment on the article, but it doesn’t seem to go through (unless it’s pending approval, which would make sense, but it didn’t indicate that to me). It seems that we also don’t have your calendar on our spreadsheet of event calendars, so I’ll have to remedy that as well. Thank you for this wonderful resource. Melissa Richmond Executive Director The West Claremont Center for Music and the Arts Editor’s note: Thank you for the correction — we’ve made the changes online. As for leaving comments at nhmagazine.com, no approval is required. We’ll look into the issues you’ve reported and make sure everything is working as it should. 8
nhmagazine.com | July 2019
emails, snail mail, facebook, tweets
New Hampshire Magazine is my “home” connection. I read it cover to cover every month, and particularly enjoy James Pindell’s political articles. He encourages me to take a long, hard look at national and local government issues. I also appreciate the monthly calendar that allows me to plan fun and interesting activities. Mary Pat Acerno Litchfield
We left out the artist’s name
Getting to Know the Granite State I love your magazine. My boyfriend and I have fallen in love with New Hampshire and visit several times a year. We are planning to buy a home there eventually, and your magazine has helped us get to know New Hampshire better. Barb Box New York, New York
Valuable Resource Our son and daughter-in-law moved to New Hampshire two years ago. They absolutely love the state. We ordered a subscription for them and one for us so we could all get to know New Hampshire. Love your magazine! We’ve all found great things to do based on your articles. Thanks! Cheryl Simonis Newton, New Jersey
Mourning the Old Man I grew up in New Hampshire and enjoy reading New Hampshire Magazine each month. Great job in providing interesting and unique articles. I always get some good ideas for my annual summer trek/vacation back north. I would like to enter the Spot the Newt drawing for the May issue of the magazine. [Note: the prize that month was a lovely silver necklace with a likeness of The Old Man] As a child, we drove by the Old Man in the Mountains countless times and always stopped to gaze at the profile. So sad that the wonderful icon is no longer there. Linda Ratsep West Chester, Pennsylvania
We were so thrilled by the work of art appearing at the Art Center in Dover that was submitted by a faithful reader last month that we glossed over a pretty essential detail — the identity of the artist. Here’s the rest of the story about this likeness of Paris Hilton created from actual Pop-Tarts. The creator of the art is Aaron T. Stanley, of Black Pond Arts in Dover. You can find him on Facebook and buy his work on Etsy. Along with playing with his food, he makes a variety of mixed media, collage and kinetic art, including a series of Calder-esque mobiles and earrings.
Shameless self-promotion (i.e., pride) Editor’s note: This is a bit of shameless self-promotion, but we think our annual newcomer’s guide — Destination NH — is worthy of a bit of attention in New Hampshire Magazine, our flagship publication. We’ve been producing it for more than 20 years, and it has become a staple for anyone considering a move to the Granite State, and a tool for tourism and business development. It’s a handy guide for those who just settled here and want to get the lay of the land but also a good refresher for those who already know and love New Hampshire — like us and, most likely, you. Learn more at nhmagazine.com.
NEED A GOOD REASON FOR SPOTTING THE NEWT? This month’s lucky Newt Spotter will receive two large soy wood-wick candles from Windsor Candle valued at $50. Windsor Candle is located in picturesque little Windsor, New Hampshire. Each candle is hand-poured, made with essential oils, and colored to match its fragrance. You can learn more at windsorcandle.net. Windsor Candle is proud to be a member of the NH Made Organization. (nhmade.com). Spot four newts like the one above (but much smaller) hidden on ads in this issue, tell us where you found them and you might win a great gift from a local artisan or company. To enter our drawing for Spot the Newt, send answers plus your name and mailing address to:
Spot the Newt c/o New Hampshire Magazine 150 Dow St., Manchester, NH 03101 Email them to newt@nhmagazine.com or fax them to (603) 624-1310. Last month’s “Spot the Newt” winner is Leo Leger of Campton. June issue newts were on pages 3, 6, 25 and 89.
nhmagazine.com | July 2019
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603 Navigator “If once you have slept on an island you’ll never be quite the same.” — Rachel Field
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Photo by Kathie Fife
603 NAVIGATOR
EVENTS
July | Picks
courtesy photo
Fourth of July Fun
Celebrate Independence Day
Barbecues? Fireworks? Games? Yes to all of the above. Get your red-white-and-blue shirts ready and light those sparklers as you enjoy one of these memorable Fourth of July events. 17th Annual American Celebration
June 29-July 4, Portsmouth
Start the week of celebration at Strawbery Banke Museum on June 29 with costumed reenactors and living history performers, who will present American history from 1602 to 1945. The highlight happens on July 4 with an old-fashioned field day and naturalization ceremony, where you can celebrate America by welcoming new citizens. The ceremony begins at 11 a.m. strawberybanke.org
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Special Fourth of July Fireworks Show
July 4, Hampton Beach
End your Independence Day festivities with a fireworks show at Hampton Beach. Walk the boardwalk, enjoy some Blink’s fried dough and bring a blanket and experience the magic of the night sky lit up by a beautiful fireworks display. hamptonbeach.org. For more Fourth of July fireworks show listings, check out nhmagazine.com/nh-fourth-ofjuly-events, sponsored by Atlas Fireworks.
The Castle Car Show features antique cars.
Fourth of July Fireworks Party Cruise July 4, Laconia
Fireworks shows are great, but viewing them from the waters of Lake Winnipesaukee? Even better. This annual event is fun for the whole family. Take part in a delicious buffet and live music from Club Soda and Tom Paquette while you sit back and enjoy a three-hour cruise around one of New Hampshire’s most scenic lakes. cruisenh.com
Fourth of July Americana Celebration
July 4, North Conway
Celebrate Independence Day the “Cranmore Way.” Cranmore’s base area will be transformed into a backyard barbeque complete with live music, lawn games like potato sack races and water balloon toss, brews on tap, and more food than you could ever possibly eat. cranmore.com
Hearing Voices
Fending off the automated annoyances BY JACK KENNY
I
once had to listen to a high school principal tell me I was an “angry young man.” But that was long ago, and I have changed since then. I’m no longer young. And the older I get, the more I find cause for anger, or at least annoyance. Because there are more people pestering me, and they have greater technological means of pestering. The pests don’t even have to call you anymore — they have robot voices do it for them. Just the other day a female voice, named Rachel, I think, from card something-or-other, called with news about my credit card account and how I could lower my interest rate. I might have said, if the voice could listen, that I have no credit card debt because I have never owned a credit card. Therefore I couldn’t possibly lower my noninterest on the nondebt not arising from the credit card I’ve never had. No card, no debt; no debt, no interest. It’s that simple. “Hipso fatso,” as Archie Bunker used to say. If Rachel’s voice had ears, I might have suggested to them that Rachel might be better employed at some other task, like finding Amelia Earhart or Jimmy Hoffa or Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction. Then there is the voice of another woman, Jessica maybe, that calls every now and to tell me the good news: I have
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been preapproved for a student loan. Well, that is surprising and Jessica’s voice sounds quite excited about it. I’m not. The last thing I need is a loan. Even without a credit card, I have managed to accumulate debt. As Rabelais put it, “I owe much, I have nothing, the rest I leave to the poor.” And a student loan? Now that’s a stretch. I know Rodney Dangerfield went “Back to School” in the movies and went around the school looking for the faucet of middle age. But for me, approaching old age would be a youth movement. Another voice named Vanessa called to offer something that would help with “chronic pain,” though I am quite sure unwelcome telephone solicitations by robot voices are not among the chronic pains Vanessa’s voice has in its automated mind. The same voice called again the very next day, reminding me of, you guessed it, chronic pain. “Ma’am,” I said to someone who wasn’t there, “you could relieve the pain you’re giving me by ceasing to call me every damn day.” This time the voice hung up abruptly. Can’t imagine why. Once, long ago, I had occasion to call Public Service of New Hampshire, probably about an overdue payment. It was shortly
before Christmas and from the other end of the line I heard, “Seasons greetings from Public Service of New Hampshire.” “Ah, go to hell,” I growled. “Oh, really?” I heard from what I discovered to my shocked surprise was a real live lady at the other end of the call. It was what we now call an OMG! moment. “Oh, I’m sorry!” I said at once. “You sounded like a recording.” “A lot of people say that,” she said. Well, it just “shows to go ya” that you can’t always tell whether there is actually a person talking to you on the phone. In the words of an old TV commercial, “Is it real or is it Memorex?” Most of the time it doesn’t matter. What it is is a “chronic pain.” “Progress was all right once,” wrote the comic poet Ogden Nash, “but it has gone on too long.” I’m inclined to agree, even while watching cable television, surfing the internet, and writing on a word processor an article I will submit by email. And I know I should stop cursing, even at robot voices. At least they’ve given me an excuse to write another story. And if I should ever meet, somewhere in eternity, Alexander Graham Bell, I will apologize for having said he should have been strangled in his crib. Maybe. NH
illustration by brad fitzpatrick
603 LIVING
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EVENTS
On The Green 1 Arts & Crafts Festival
July 5-7, Wolfeboro
What’s a holiday weekend without some first-rate shopping to celebrate the Fourth of July? This craft fair features over 100 exhibitors offering everything from fine art to pottery to quilts. joycescraftshows.com
Castle Car Show at Castle in the Clouds
July 6, Moultonborough
Bring your family and friends to this incredible gathering of automobiles from the past at this classic country estate. View stunning examples of antique cars dating from the turn of the 20th century in an equally stunning setting, and pick your favorite in the people’s choice awards category. There will also be a featured 1940s category. Food and beverages will be available at Meadows by Shannon Pond. castleintheclouds.org
1. 17th Annual American Celebration, Portsmouth 2. Special Fourth of July Fireworks Show, Hampton Beach
4
courtesy photo
3. Fourth of July Fireworks Party Cruise, Laconia 4. Fourth of July Americana Celebration, North Conway
3,5,6
5. On The Green 1 Arts & Crafts Festival, Wolfeboro 6. Castle Car Show, Moultonborough
1,2
Celebrate your Fourth of July at Cranmore Mountain the “Cranmore Way.”
A cornucopia of gems to be worn with blu e jeans or that lo vely dress that makes you feel like a million dollars. the
Kalled Gallery Opals, drusys, aquamarine, tanzanite, tourmaline & sapphires in 22k & 18k gold. Designer Jennifer Kalled. Photo by Jane Kelley.
603.569.3994 kalledjewelrystudio.com Wolfeboro, NH and Santa Fe, NM nhmagazine.com | July 2019
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OUR TOWN
Milton Musings
Architecture, music and farming history By Barbara Radcliffe Rogers
W
hen the northern section of the Spaulding Turnpike was opened in 1981, it replaced the previously busy old Route 16 through the town of Milton. Now renumbered as Route 125, it leads north from Rochester, paralleling the Salmon Falls River to the town of Milton and the shores of two of the Milton Three Ponds. From there, it follows the crest of Plummer’s Ridge north into Union. Driving through the town today, even at its busiest in the summer when the lakes draw vacationers to the cottages and campgrounds that surround them, it’s hard to imagine that it was once a booming mill
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town. In 1893, Jonas Spaulding opened a leatherboard mill in Milton, where they developed machinery to make vulcanized fibers and manufactured sturdy containers, including lunch boxes and violin cases. It wasn’t long afterward that Ira W. Jones realized the location’s abundant water power, and opened I.W. Jones Engineers to build water-powered factories, dams and hydroelectric plants. At the height of these industries, a five-story brick mill building stood beside the railway tracks and several others clustered nearby. Milton attracted more than factories. In fact, before the booming mill days, the Mil-
The New Hampshire Farm Museum
ton Ice Company — and four other similar firms — were drawn by the abundant supply of ice on the ponds, blocks of which the companies harvested, stored and shipped to Boston and other eastern cities. Milton Ice Company alone shipped as many as 100 carloads daily in the 1880s. Modern refrigeration made the ice harvesting industry obsolete, but Milton still has a popular use for the ice that covers the ponds each winter. For more than 70 years, car races have drawn spectators to watch cars, mostly 8-cylinder models from the 1970s, skid around the track’s curves on the frozen lake. Races are held on Sunday afternoons whenever the ice is more than a foot thick. In the summer, the three contiguous ponds — more like lakes, as they
courtesy photos
603 NAVIGATOR
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courtesy photo
OUR TOWN
combine to form upward of 1,200 acres of water — buzz with boats. The ponds spill over the border into Lebanon, Maine. As you might expect from a town with a history of prosperous manufacturing, Milton has some interesting old buildings. Most impressive is the Milton Free Public Library, a French Second Empire-style building with a mansard roof and a bell tower. It began life as a schoolhouse in 1875, and it still has its school bell in the tower. Even earlier is the Milton Town House, built in 1803. Liberty Chapel, the small Congregational Church on Highland Aveue in Milton Mills, also dates to the 1800s, and claims an unusual distinction: At the top of its spire is a hand pointing a finger toward the sky. The building was originally the Milton Mills Methodist Church, and the original hand atop the steeple was carved from a single block of wood by Erastus Shaw. That hand is now in the collection of the Milton Historical Society. On alternate Saturdays at 6 p.m., the church hall at Liberty Chapel hosts the Liberty Music Gathering, an acoustic jam hosted by Gordon and Wendy Parsons,
The Music Mill guitar and music store
owners of The Music Mill. The public is invited to bring their musical instruments and join the jam or just come to enjoy listening. The Music Mill is a guitar and music store in a series of attached farm buildings on Church Street.
Milton has a number of these traditional farms with connected houses and barns. Once a common sight throughout New Hampshire, they have fallen victim to the very thing that made them convenient. Being connected meant that farmers
MARKETPLACE
Shop. Dine. Explore.
Spend the day with us on the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee! 10 Unique Marketplace Shops • Five Distinctive Restaurants • Waterfront Boardwalk and Park Award-Winning Sculpture Walk and Gardens • Al Fresco Dining • Friday Night Music in July & August Mill Falls Marketplace • Shops open daily at 10 a.m. • Routes 3 & 25. • Meredith, NH • millfalls.com nhmagazine.com | July 2019
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The Milton Free Public Library
could reach barns and livestock in the winter without having to go outside, but it also made them susceptible to destruction, as a fire started anywhere raged from one building to the next. A good description of these, titled “Big House, Little House, Back House, Barn,” is on a large signboard at the New Hampshire Farm Museum, describing the layout, chronology and reasons for attached farm buildings. The museum occupies one of these sprawling complexes of barns and outbuildings on Plummer’s Ridge. It and the neighboring Plummer Farm, also part of the museum, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The 104-foot-long great barn houses collections of early farm tools, and the museum’s exhibits describe rural life and agriculture in past centuries. Visitors can see heritage breed farm animals, including Gloucestershire Old Spots pigs and Merino sheep, and during special weekend events, such as the Farm Harvest Day, they can join in activities such as pressing apples to make cider, shelling beans, stringing apples and pumpkins to dry, and riding in a
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courtesy photo
OUR TOWN
photo by stillman rogers
At the New Hampshire Farm Museum
horse-drawn wagon. The farm store, which is open June through October, sells locally grown vegetables and plants and grass-fed, hormone-free meats. Visitors can also see kitchen and household utensils on a tour of the farmhouse, home to generations of the Jones family. In the last generation of the family to live here was Robert Edmond Jones, the man who revolutionized stage design, creating the sets for more than 60 Broadway shows. He went on to be one of the early figures in technicolor filming in Hollywood. He began his education at the little Plummer’s Ridge Schoolhouse No. 1, not far south of the Farm Museum on Route 125. Connecting to the New Hampshire Farm Museum and the adjacent Branch Hill Farm and McKenzie’s Farm, the newly opened Plummer’s Ridge Forest and Farms Hiking Trails stretch almost seven miles through 400 acres of conserved fields and woodlands. McKenzie’s Farm is a three-generation family farm that grows berries, fruits and vegetables for pick-your-own and sale at their farm shop (which is also known for its delicious cider donuts). NH
Dorr Mill Store
INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR WOOLENS & FIBER ARTS.
Visit our store in the Lake Sunapee region for the largest selection of woolens for fiber arts you will find anywhere. PLUS we have sportswear for men and women and blankets & gifts.
Learn more The Music Mill (603) 473-2522, Facebook New Hampshire Farm Museum (603) 652-7840 nhfarmmuseum.org McKenzie’s Farm (603) 652-9400 mckenziesfarm.com
Located on Routes 11 & 103 Halfway Between Newport and Sunapee, NH
MON.-SAT. 9-5 • DORRSTORE.COM • 603-863-1197 • 800-846-DORR nhmagazine.com | July 2019
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FOOD & DRINK
Family Farm-to-Table Culinary surprises at Mayfair Farm by susan laughlin
R
unning a farm can be a charmed life, but it’s a tough business. The numbers don’t always work when you subtract taxes, feed, supplies and the endless maintenance from what goes to market. Doing one thing no longer works — there is a strong need to diversify. Sarah Heffron and Craig Thompson are more than pig farmers. The duo ran a small farm in South Carolina and were wooed to
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New Hampshire by Heffron’s mother. The charm of Harrisville, one of the prettiest towns in the state, was irresistible. They found land with two houses and eight outbuildings, all just a country mile from the classic Harrisville General Store. That was the good news. Unfortunately, most of the buildings were in “ramshackle” condition, says Heffron, and the property had not been a working farm for
many years. The old buildings were beyond repair and had to be buried, burned or removed, but over the years, the couple has been adding roads and fencing, and replacing those buildings. Early on, grants from the Natural Resources Conservation Service really helped the farm turn a corner. Driving onto the property now, a brief turn off a dirt road, reveals a very tidy setting with a scattering of picture-book farm buildings set in a hollow that’s surrounded by woods. With two sweet dogs waiting, you could say it’s idyllic. The property is now officially considered a “Farm of Distinction” by the state. The renovations include a commercial kitchen in a former kennel, plus space for a farm store to sell creations from the kitchen and other interesting foodstuffs Heffron has found in her travels. Imported olive oils, local ice cream, eggs, Mayfair Farm logo hats and T-shirts, and their own maple syrup round out the offerings. The freezer holds cuts of lamb and pork raised on the farm. A small shed holds a few geese, “an experiment,” says Heffron, mostly to provide chores and business opportunities for her two children, ages 9 and 7, to sell the prized eggs. A few other experiments failed — raising cattle for beef, chickens for eggs, and blackberries for jam — all were deemed not worth the effort. The main cash crops from the farm are heritage breed and commercial pigs, with the former raised in the backwoods, where
photos by susan laughlin
Sarah Heffron works on a wedding cake in the Mayfair Farm commercial kitchen.
FOOD & DRINK
photo by susan laughlin
they enjoy wallowing in mud and rooting for grubs. Also on the hillside are cohorts of sheep grazing in the grass, adding pastoral charm and to the bottom line. In the surrounding fields, Thompson has planted several apple groves for pick-your-own selling. The one he planted four years ago is now deemed “The Old Orchard,” as the land continues to be utilized for more apples and other diversified crops. A small house on the property called Mayfair Cottage is available on Airbnb for additional revenue or offered to wedding parties as a guest house. But it’s Heffron and her culinary background that defines Mayfair Farm. Her almond cake won a Yankee Magazine award, and is distributed to 20 Whole Foods and 15 other independent grocery or fine food stores in the Northeast. The farm store has gourmet-to-go meals, quiche and chicken stock, all from the kitchen next door. But the main event is catering for weddings, primarily on-site.
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Driving onto the property, a brief turn off a dirt road, reveals a very tidy setting with a scattering of picture-book farm buildings set in a hollow that’s surrounded by woods. When the pig barn burned to the ground last year, it was quickly replaced with a barn-like event space, mostly for those weddings. One year they catered 14 weddings in a row on- and off-site, but Heffron prefers to manage the schedule to allow time for a few farm dinners, which are open to the public. Yes, the space is a delight for the bride seeking a rural wedding, but it’s Heffron’s food
that’s the big draw. A recent spring menu lists six appetizers, including lamb meatballs with harissa and house-smoked salmon on endive with sorrel sauce. Then a plated salad with local greens, chèvre and edible flowers, followed by mains served family-style, including chicken with morels, wild rice salad with pecans, currants and mint, plus a braised beef dish with
Heritage breed pigs are allowed to roam the fenced-in woodland. nhmagazine.com | July 2019
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turnips and snap peas. In addition to a display wedding cake of lemon with berry buttercream from preserved local berries, Heffron also provided vanilla and chocolate pots de crème. Pork and lamb from the farm are worked into the menus, along with herbs from the garden. Other ingredients are sourced locally too, including eggs from Granja Gloria in Marlborough, chicken from Walpole Valley Farm and beef from Barrett Hill Farm in Mason. Heffron uses Monadnock Menus, a local distributor, to find local products in season that are delivered to her doorstep. Heffron has always had a love affair with food, but does not have traditional culinary training. Traveling to Bend, Oregon, she studied with Marda Stoliar, a famed baker, and learned the art of laminated pastries, including croissants. Later she took a wedding cake course at the Institute of Culinary Education in NYC. She says, “Their cake
Craig Thompson checks out the Dorset lambs, just 10 weeks old.
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FOOD & DRINK
The event barn at Mayfair Farm is a recent addition.
recipe was so sweet even the kids wouldn’t eat it ... we finally fed it to the pigs.” Sometimes hands-on experience and an aim for the best brings the desired result. With all her experience and study,
Heffron readily admits her “secret weapon” is her mother, Barbara Michelson, who has a Grand DiplÔme from Le Cordon Bleu, Paris. Michelson found success with food early, when she and her husband ran
photo by susan laughlin
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FOOD & DRINK
a small farm on Long Island and sold vegetables to famed chef Thomas Keller in the city. She later developed a mail order business for her brownies that included dessert shops and Macy’s in New York City. Finally, The New York Times ran her recipe, calling it the “Gold Standard for Brownies.” The good news is the recipe is in Michelson’s cookbook, “Leave Nothing on the Back Burner: My Happy Cooking Life,” and the famed brownies and cookbook are both available in the Mayfair Farm store. A sequel, a memoir-style cookbook, will be available this fall, with a big chapter covering “Ramshackle Acres.” Michelson, who lives in nearby Nelson, still helps out in the kitchen when needed. Family farming never tasted so good. Heffron has plenty of stories to tell about life on the farm. And there’ll be many more, as this family farm in New Hampshire braves another season balancing the whims of weather and the joys of baking. And then another. NH
Mayfair Farm is open to the public for their annual farm dinners. photo by k. lenox photography
They are all sold out for the year, but in the fall they will be offering a dessert and dance party. Sign up for their newsletter to get the news first.
Find It Sarah Heffron’s culinary skills include baking beautiful wedding cakes.
Mayfair Farm, 31 Clymers Dr., Harrisville (603) 827-3925, mayfairfarmnh.com
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SMALL BITES
Small Bites For the health of it by Susan Laughlin
Piling on: Toast a bagel, smear with Nuttin Ordinary 100-percent plantbased Italian herb cashew cheese, dot with black garlic cloves and sprinkle with fresh herbs. This vegan cheese is a local product made in Peterborough, and their line now also includes cashew cheese stuffed ravioli. Find it at Whole Foods or order online. The company is poised to go national soon. nuttinordinary.com
Fermented black garlic is loaded with healthful properties Black garlic doesn’t grow that way. Cindy and Marcel Collard at Quarter Moon Farm in Hancock ferment their own organically grown garlic bulbs, plus they make and market a black garlic vinaigrette. The fermented cloves have a very interesting flavor that is not pungent or harsh. The cloves are soft and spreadable, and can be smeared over mascarpone cheese on top of a cracker or peanut butter toast. Use them like truffles in scrambled eggs or sprinkle them on a pizza. Compared to conventional raw garlic, black garlic has phytochemicals that reportedly have positive effects on the body, as many fermented products do. Products are available online or at local farmers markets. $12 to $14 for three bulbs. loveblackgarlic.com Keene Farmers Market, Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m 22
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Do you need supplements? Does anybody need vitamin or mineral supplements to maintain a healthy body? That question has proponents on both sides, but when you consider the average diet of fast food, quick meals and picky appetites, nutrient deficiencies are certainly possible. To fill any possible nutrition gap, the folks at MegaFood in Londonderry have been developing lines of nutritional supplements for more than 45 years. They originally started in a suburban home in Derry in 1973, and now have huge production facilities in several buildings just south of the Manchester-Boston Regional Airport. What makes their products different? First, extreme care is taken is sourcing organic whole food products that are dehydrated on-site and/or fermented for easier absorption. Each capsule or tablet is at least 30 to 50 percent whole food to help add micronutrients and aid with bioavailability. Plus, all products are lab-tested for potency. Farm-to-tablet is their goal, offering a better option for those who seen the need to supplement in general. They also offer the INNATE line for physicians treating patients with specific vitamin or mineral deficiencies. megafood.com NH
photo by susan laughlin
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603 Informer
“Those who do not look upon themselves as a link, connecting the past with the future, do not perform their duty to the world.” – Daniel Webster
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Blips 28 Review 29 Out and About 30 Politics 32
Celebrating 200 Years
Here’s a guided tour of our historic statehouse by meghan MCcarthy mcphaul After nearly 20 years of wandering the halls, Virginia Drew, director of the Statehouse Visitor Center, has learned a few things about the building. She knows which portraits hang where, which huge window to look through for the best view of the golden dome, and where to find fossils in the floor. “There’s something for everyone in here,” Drew says, noting some 30,000 visitors — from New Hampshire fourth-graders to curious tourists to international guests — tour the building each year. “I believe history has to be something tangible. The Statehouse is really a treasure for the people of New Hampshire.” As the Statehouse — the oldest state capitol in which both houses of the legislature meet in their original chambers — marks 200 years, Drew shares some of her favorite treasures found within its walls. First-in-the-Nation Primary Display Near the entrance to the visitor center, the First-in-the-Nation Presidential Primary display is a colorful jumble of campaign nhmagazine.com | July 2019
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Looking down onto the Senate floor from the balcony
Old Man of the Mountain Painting Hanging beyond the primary display is an impressive painting of the Old Man of the Mountain. The painting was part of the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadel-
The elevator, originally installed in 1910, was once staffed with operators.
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phia and was given to the state by Lucinda Taft, whose husband owned the grand Profile House and surrounding property — including the Old Man — in Franconia Notch from the hotel’s 1853 opening until his death in 1881. 1796 Map On the wall opposite the Old Man painting hangs an original hand-colored map of New Hampshire from 1796, only 20 years after the state became the first to adopt its own constitution. Granite Staters can look to see if their town existed 223 years ago, when there were only five counties (today there are 10), but the spelling may be a bit off; the map was made by German cartographer Daniel Friedrich Sotzmann. Bicentennial Dioramas Four dioramas in the visitor center showcase important New Hampshire moments in the American Revolution: the surrender of Fort William and Mary on December 14, 1774; the repulsion of the first British attack at Bunker Hill by Col. John Stark and his New Hampshire troops on June 17, 1775; New Hampshire’s adoption of the first state con-
stitution on January 5, 1776; and the climax of the Battle of Bennington, a turning point in the Revolution, when John Stark’s charges were victorious. Richard Gill Forrester Flag The Hall of Flags at the main entrance to the Statehouse contains 88 Civil War battle flags, as well as flags from the Spanish-American, Vietnam and both world wars. However, there’s one flag with a story that stands out. When the South seceded from the Union in April 1861, the American flag was lowered at the capitol in Richmond, Virginia, and discarded unceremoniously. Richard Gill Forrester, an African-American page in the capitol, secretly retrieved the flag and hid it for four years, presenting it to the 13th New Hampshire Regiment as it entered the city after Richmond’s fall in 1865. Drew says Virginia asked for its flag back in 2011, but New Hampshire refused. Civil War Mural Just around the corner hangs a giant mural depicting Pickett’s Charge on the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg, in which the 12th New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry
photo by rick broussard
buttons, slogans, and candidate photographs and signatures from a 1968 Humphrey-Muskie sticker to a giant cardboard cutout of Donald Trump.
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photo by meghan mccarthy mcphaul
Regiment was engaged. Tour guides often bring fourth-grade classes to view the mural to demonstrate what the soldiers and their flags endured. Hungarian Revolution Plaque In an opposite corner of the first floor of the Statehouse is a small plaque commemorating the revolution of October 1956, when Hungarians protested Soviet oppression and demanded a more democratic government. The Soviet Union quashed the uprising in a matter of days, and 200,000 Hungarians fled the country. More than 40,000 Hungarian refugees arrived in New Hampshire, and a group of Hungarian-Americans still visits the Statehouse each October. Centennial Commemoration Two floors above that plaque there is a large framed document celebrating the centennial of the United States government. Dated July 4, 1876, the document is signed by President Ulysses S. Grant, his cabinet, and all members of the Supreme Court and the United States Congress. Missing is the signature of Vice President Henry Wilson, the only vice president (so far) to hail from New Hampshire, who had died just prior to the centennial.
photos by rick broussard
The Elevator Installed during the 1910 renovation of the Statehouse, the black-iron-framed elevators were once staffed by operators. House Speaker Steve Shurtleff remembers getting kicked out of the Statehouse as an 11-yearold, after wandering into the building and riding the elevator up and down, and up and down. Now, he says, “I always take the elevator. Sometimes I get off on floors I don’t need, just because I can.”
Virginia Drew, director of the Statehouse Visitor Center
first commencement at Dartmouth College, Daniel Webster reading the US Constitution as a young boy, New Hampshire artist and scientist Abbott Thayer explaining his theory of protective coloration (which led to military camouflage), and John Stark preparing to mount his horse and go to battle. The murals are interspersed by scales of justice, which honor the chamber’s use from 1819-1895 as a regular meeting place for the state Supreme Court. 1819 Desk Tucked between two tall windows in the Senate chamber is an antique desk crafted
House Gallery Visitors may opt for the elevator or take the stairs to the House Gallery overlooking the chamber that seats 400 representatives, making it the largest legislative body in the country. The gallery is open to the public whether or not the House is in session. Drew tags this spot as the best place in the Statehouse for taking selfies: “Where else can you stand overlooking the oldest House chamber, where the largest legislative body in the country meets?” Senate Chamber The Senate Chamber includes four tall murals painted by Barry Faulkner in 1942 and painstakingly cleaned during a renovation of the chamber last year. The murals depict the
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen’s portrait is one of the nine that depict women.
from birdseye maple by Concord furniture maker Porter Blanchard, who made much of the original Statehouse furniture. This desk is relocated to Secretary of State Bill Gardner’s office each presidential primary season and used by candidates to sign and file paperwork to appear on the ballot. Portraits More than 200 portraits — historic and modern — line the walls of all floors and in many offices. Portrait subjects include three signers of the Declaration of Independence: Josiah Bartlett (the first to sign after John Hancock), William Whipple and Matthew Thornton. Only nine portraits are of women. They include Mary Baker Eddy, founder of the Church of Christian Science; Civil War nurse Harriet Patience Dame, who marched alongside men into battle and was twice captured by Confederate soldiers; and Marilla Ricker, who ran for governor in 1910, well before women could vote, and was the first woman accepted into the New Hampshire bar. Dorothy Peterson’s Teacup Collection Displayed in a glass-fronted cupboard behind Executive Councilor Andru Volinsky’s desk is a collection of more than 100 teacups and saucers from the collection of Dorothy Peterson, New Hampshire’s first lady from 1969-1973 when her husband, Walter Peterson, was governor. Drew says Mrs. Peterson would sometimes host tea parties in the dome of the Statehouse, which, by the way, is not open to the public. NH nhmagazine.com | July 2019
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POLITICS
Blips Monitoring appearances of the 603 on the media radar since 2006 Sambo says he wanted to use this single to show people “where I’m from, what I’m all about,” but he’ll be aiming for a more “universal sound” in his future songwriting. “All walks of life can enjoy it,” Sambo says, “no matter if you’re from New Hampshire or San Diego or Texas or wherever, the goal is to make something for everybody.” If you want to sample some of Sambo’s music in person, you’re in luck: He’s got gigs lined up across New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maine all throughout the summer. One of those shows will even find him singing alongside some reggae legends and former bandmates of Bob Marley, The Wailers. But even if you can’t catch one of his sets, Sambo recommends checking out some of his favorite spots for live music: Bernie’s Beach Bar in Hampton Beach, Marty’s Driving Range in Mason, Stone Church in Newmarket or Pipe Dream Brewing in Londonderry. NH
Music for the Rasta Us What’s so incongruous about a reggae star from NH? By Casey McDErmott
J
oe Sambo’s songs sound like they’d be right at home on a breezy, bright beach in the Caribbean — but his musical roots were planted in New Hampshire. The 27-year-old reggae artist from Salem developed his ear for rhythm in the drumline of the Blue Devil Marching Band, devoured jazz albums while working at the local arm of Bull Moose Music, and recorded his debut album at Revelry Studios, inside a refurbished mill building in Manchester. And that album, “The Wrong Impression,” is catching the attention of fans far beyond the Granite State. Sambo just landed a No. 1 spot on the Billboard reggae charts and has made several cameos in the top echelon of the iTunes reggae charts in the last few months. “The response even out of state has been really big,” Sambo says. “I’m blessed. I’m pumped. It’s cool to see the analytics and see where people are actually listening to it, it’s like all
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around the world.” Sambo knows his status as a burgeoning reggae star from a place better known for maple syrup and mud season than its music scene is, in his words, ”random.” But rather than downplay his connections to New Hampshire, he embraces them. His debut music video — for his song “How We Do” — features scenes of Sambo toting a boogie board in the middle of a blizzard on the patio of Manchester City Hall, shimmying down snow-covered alleys, carrying a tiki drink down Hanover Street, and lounging in a beach chair outside what appears to be the WMUR-TV mothership. “It was in the middle of February. We were planning to get snowed in at the studio that night,” Sambo recalls, “and we were like, yo, let’s just film a video.” Luckily, despite the impending snowstorm, Sambo just so happened to have all of the necessary beach supplies on hand.
WWE Stars, they’re just like us! Pro
wrestler and (Massachusetts native) John Cena was spotted at the Seabrook Walmart over one recent holiday weekend. Any hopes of making a quiet shopping run were lost when the store posted his smiling photo from the checkout line on its Facebook page with a friendly, “You think we don’t see you but we did!” It looked like he was picking up some essentials, like batteries and cleaning wipes. And the good news is that it doesn’t seem like he had to body slam anyone over a bargain.
What is there to say, but “wow!” A
kid from Kensington stole the hearts of Boston Symphony Hall — and later, the world — when he punctuated a beat of stoic silence during one recent performance of the Handel and Haydn Society with that simple exclamation. Nine-yearold Ronan Mattin’s unfiltered moment of musical joy was soon replayed by NPR, Fox News, the “Today” show and other news outlets all across the world. As noted by Boston’s WGBH, “David Snead, the president and CEO of the Handel and Haydn Society, wrote in a Facebook post that it was ‘one of the most wonderful moments [he’s] experienced in the concert hall.’”
courtesy photos
Joe Sambo filming his debut music video “How We Do”
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Review (Stuff worthy of your time and treasure or we wouldn’t bother with it)
Perfect Pulp
The series of Granite State genre fiction wraps up with book six
Each volume of NH Pulp Fiction sells for $19.95 and they are available at good local bookstores and online from nhbooksellers.com.
In the new audio book version of “Massacre on the Merrimack: Hannah Duston’s Captivity and Revenge in Colonial America” [Lyons Press/ Tantor Media], narrator Malcolm Hillgartner brings a real sense of drama to a New Hampshire story that already crackles with energy. Author Jay Atkinson is always interested in the power of landscape, a preoccupation that’s reflected in our series “The Explorers.” (See the latest Explorers story by Atkinson and Joe Klementovich on page 58.) Once lauded as a heroine, now viewed more skeptically, Hannah Duston is a true historical cypher whose saga takes shape in the vivid context that Atkinson provides.
A decade in the making, the NH Pulp Fiction anthology series spans all the major pulp genres — horror, mystery, sci-fi, romance, westerns and fantasy — and each volume of short stories builds its worlds of imagination here among the familiar places, people and tropes of the Granite State. The project was originally conceived by our own magazine editor, Rick Broussard, with local publisher George Geers of Concord’s Plaidswede Pubishing. The first volume, “Live Free or Undead,” appeared in bookstores about a year later. After producing two more books (“Live Free or Die, Die, Die!” and “Live Free or Sci-Fi”), Broussard handed over the reins to the able hands of Elaine Isaak, a prolific writer of romance and fantasy. She guided the series through its next three iterations, “Love Free or Die,” “Live Free or Ride,” and the final volume, just published, “Live Free or Dragons.” The last addition conjures up the wispy and surreal realm of fantasy upon the hardscape of the Granite State. Along the way, dozens of writers have contributed, many earning their first publishing credits, while joining forces with successful and award-winning fiction authors like science fiction star James Patrick Kelly and mystery writer Brendan DuBois. Geers says that his hopes in starting Plaidswede Publishing were to encourage local writers and provide as many as possible with the experience of seeing their words in an actual book. Now, 10 years later, it is mission accomplished, but the question arises — Is the series really done? “Good question,” says Geers. “The series has so many directions to go in.” And when it comes to monsters, mobsters, lovers and dragons, the stories never really end. NH “Supervision” is a four-part podcast that takes a look at the challenging journey that follows incarceration, as former inmates try to navigate new lives. NHPR Reporter Emily Corwin began work on this story in the spring of 2017, interviewing Josh Lavenets while he was still incarcerated at the Northern New Hampshire Correctional Facility in Berlin. Through five months of immersive reporting, she witnessed his attempts to find a job, decide where to live, and face a sudden medical emergency. Ultimately, she also bears witness to how things turn out for him in unexpected ways. nhmagazine.com | July 2019
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Out and About Celebrating the state’s most excellent nurses
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photos by karen bachelder
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5/23 Excellence in Nursing Awards
New Hampshire Magazine, in partnership with the New Hampshire Nurses Association, celebrated the state’s top nurses at the second annual Excellence in Nursing Awards. The reception was held at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Manchester. Excellence in Nursing was created in an effort to draw attention to the unsung heroes of the state’s health care community. Nurses are key members of any health care team, but their skills and contributions are often unrecognized. These awards honor the very best in nursing — those who go above and beyond to comfort, heal and educate — to bring to light how critical nursing is to achieving comprehensive care. Thanks go to presenting sponsor Harvard Pilgrim Health Care for helping us create such a special evening. Thanks as well to our other valued event sponsors, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health, Granite State College, Hornitos and Rivier University. 1 From left: Judi O’Hara of event sponsor Rivier University, award-winner Bobbie Bagley, Denise Baxter of Rivier University and Keith Bagley 2 Carlene Ferrier, president of the New Hampshire Nurses Association, and Dr. Bill Brewster, vice president of the New Hampshire market of presenting sponsor Harvard Pilgrim Health Care 3 Award-winner Daniel Moran (far right) with his family (from left) Liam, Tammy and Shannon Moran 4 This year’s award-winners from left, back: Laurie Chandler, Michelle Poirier, Paul E. Hodgdon, Ericka Bergeron, Kathleen Broglio, Lisa Brown and Lisa McCarthy; From left, front: Nancy A. Wells, Bobbie Bagley, Daniel Moran, Annie C. Roy and Kerry Nolte (Note: Not pictured is Daisy J. Goodman.) 5 From left: Emily Dirkse and Rachel Dow of event sponsor Dartmouth-Hitchcock 6 From left: Dan Rice, award-winner Laurie Chandler and Amanda Fortier 7 From left: Teresa Knight, Wendy Ferrucci, Kathleen Patenaude and Mark Rubinstein of event sponsor Granite State College
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At Harvard Pilgrim, we’ve got plans for you. We’re listening to the communities we serve and building on our 50-year promise to provide personalized, flexible, and affordable health plans to everyone in New England. Get to know us at GetHaPi.org/NH Harvard Pilgrim Health Care includes Harvard Pilgrim Health Care of New England and HPHC Insurance Company. Form No: NH_8297_nh_mag_ins_0419
POLITICS
illustration by peter noonan
603 INFORMER
What’s Not to Like? It’s always sunny in Sununu’s New Hampshire by James pindell
S
ununu was chosen by the majority of the state’s voters both times he ran for governor, but without questioning those merits, it’s still puzzling why he remains so darn popular. And yes, he is popular. Sununu is both the most popular major New Hampshire politician and the third most popular governor in America. But why? He hasn’t managed the state through a tragedy, and he isn’t governing like a swing-state governor might either. Consider that the top two most popular governors in America are also Republican, but they both represent blue states and are decidedly not backing President Donald Trump on much. The same is also true for the person in fourth place — Vermont’s Phil Scott — who recently said that basically any Republican would be a better president than Trump. Sununu? He not only represents a swing state, but he is the most pro-Trump governor east of Ohio and north of West Virginia. “I’m a Trump guy, through and through,” Sununu once said. Meanwhile, Trump has rarely been above a 40 percent job approval rating in New Hampshire polls during his two years in office, while
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Sununu is at a 66 percent job approval rating, according to the latest University of New Hampshire Survey Center poll. It’s not just the Trump factor. He nominated a controversial and political person from the party’s base to be the commissioner of education. The first bill he signed into law was a gun bill that was also not popular. Sununu hasn’t even tried to come across as bipartisan, as the model has been for 15 years in the state. When Democrat John Lynch was governor, you could sense the frustration from New Hampshire Republicans. It seemed nothing could knock him off the title as the most popular ever. Lynch, after all, was no partisan ideologue. He avoided engaging in an increasingly partisan national political atmosphere or meeting with other Democratic governors— even Obama administration officials like then-vice president Joe Biden when he visited the state. Sununu? He invited Mike Pence to the state to appear at fundraisers for him. And that is in between trips around the country to appear at Republican governors’ events. He writes letters to Washington regularly disparaging the state’s all-Democratic delegation.
So what is going on here? Beyond his famous last name, Sununu has come across to voters as the younger brother of a large family that he actually is. For the most part, he has earned the benefit of the doubt among voters. There is also a very solid local economy. But quite possibly, Sununu’s popularity has less to do with him than it does the ineptitude of the state’s Democratic Party. After three years, they have yet to find anything to stick to him in a negative way. While the Democrats are good at organizing their team, they have been bad at finding an argument against Sununu. For example, when Alabama passed the most restrictive abortion law in the nation, it should have provided ample ammo for the Democrats to challenge Sununu to act like the pro-choice politician he says he is, particularly in a pro-choice state. But no. The message the next day what was about Sununu and tax cuts. The Associated Press story the day after that was a weird, but enjoyable, story about a bear once on the loose that was pardoned by lovable Gov. Sununu. In pro-choice Vermont, the Alabama ruling forced the Republicans to pass a new law protecting abortion rights. In pro-choice New Hampshire, it was just another day for Sununu to talk about bears. And if that is how it is even on what could have been a very contentious day for the Guv, then why not like Sununu? NH
603 INFORMER
TRANSCRIPT
Hair Apparent Photo and interview by David Mendelsohn
Kateryna Demers is a hair model from Luhansk, a Ukrainian city of 700,000, who has settled within our slightly more populous state. She once modeled fashion but the demand for her extraordinary tresses now allows her to specialize. Consider her New Hampshire’s resounding retort to Rapunzel. Martin Luther wrote, “Hair is the richest ornament of a woman,” which would make Demers seem like a wealthy woman, but she works hard on the road and keeps an active presence on Instagram to get gigs. So, lather, rinse, repeat — and try not to imagine what a bad hair day is like in her home.
While modeling in general is a difficult field, being a certain-body-parts model is harder still, because that one feature you are modeling needs to be very exceptional. My hair length is 4.5 feet and I have been growing it for about 10 years. It sort of just grows on its own with very little encouragement from me. I am happy with it being knee-length right now, but in the future I may let it grow until it reaches the floor. A benefit would be no more sweeping around the house. I shampoo twice a week — there are only 24 hours in a day and I need to have a life as well, but I use a leave-in conditioner each day. It takes about two hours to clean and dry my hair. After washing, I tend not to use a hair dryer but simply wrap my hair up in a towel. As brushes go, I like the Tangle Teezer and Wet Brush. I have never worked for them, so I am being unbiased.
I use a balm made from dead mice, cinnamon and tears of a Gypsy. What so many Ukrainian women get wrong is they forget the importance of getting the tears during a full moon, or it won’t work. Seriously, aside from the usual products, I also routinely use coconut mask, keratin spray, and I always use the scalp conditioner when I go from one climate to another. On Instagram, you can imagine the wide variety of modeling offers of dubious artistic merit that come my way. I had a request to cut my hair from a German businessman — he started out asking me to cut it off for $25,000. After I refused, he eventually raised his offer to $500,000 if I would let him shave my head entirely. That was tempting, but in the end I decided I couldn’t go through with it. My hair and I have become a symbiotic organism. Who knows how it would grow back. I am booked primarily by word of mouth — and having a social media presence. I believe in fate, and some of my most interesting opportunities have been by chance.
Demers’ luxurious locks are an international sensation and pair beautifully with beach shots like the one to the left, but she also poses for local concerns like this modeling shot at Manchester’s Boards and Brews. You can join about 100,000 other fans of fabulous follicles and follow her @kateno4eklala.
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Isho, from Somalia, proudly displays a harvest basket in the doorway of a greenhouse at Fresh Start Farms Dunbarton. 46 innhmagazine.com | July 2019
Growing Home For the refugee and immigrant farmers of Fresh Start Farms, there’s no path back to the lands they once called home. But now New Hampshire soil invites them to plant the seeds for both a livelihood and a new life.
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lex Sebantu grew up, like ets when they arrive, which means that many many of the farmers at begin building their businesses while in debt. Fresh Start Farms, amid When Fresh Start Farms first started, they ongoing conflict in the didn’t have running water; the farmers carDemocratic Republic of ried buckets of water from marshy areas on Congo (DRC). His fam- the property. They had one greenhouse, for ily moved to a refugee training purposes. Since then, they have dug camp in the neighboring a 200-foot-deep well and built six greencountry of Burundi when houses with the help of federal USDA farm he was 14, but they could not escape the war. assistance programs. In 2018, ORIS officially “The rebels followed us to our refugee camp, bought the Dunbarton property it had been which was protected by the police of Burundi, renting, and was able to apply for grants and but they attacked us anyway. They massacred.” partnerships to get electricity and serviceSebantu speaks with an almost apologetic able roads running to the property. “So it tone while he talks about the attack, com- started slowly with nothing, and we have this pensating with intermittent shy, sad smiles. now,” says Sebantu. “Our camp looked like this,” he gestures to the Fresh Start currently has a waiting list for greenhouse we are in, the flimsy plastic walls refugees who want to farm. “We’re just workletting in late summer sun. “We cut it and ran ing on funds for more land or clearing more outside. But a lot of people died at that time. land,” says Fresh Start program director MatA lot. They burned it with gasoline,” he looks thew Thorne. Meanwhile ORIS is educating down at his lap, “it was horrible.” and training farmers so they can run their At 17, Sebantu and his parents came to New Hampshire as refugees. “To us, it was very new.” He laughs, remembering his first days in school. “We didn’t even understand the language the teacher would be writing or speaking.” In 2007, there was no translator available at his high school. Sebantu learned to communicate through books, television and the surrounding community. “The good thing here in America, they don’t laugh at you if you say something incorrect. They will correct you, the way that you’re Beans in a Fresh Start farmer’s hands supposed to speak to different people — and that’s how we learned English,” he says, speaking for the many who came own farms and businesses. Greenhouses at the farm can sound like from all over Africa during so many years of turmoil. From Somalia, Kenya, Burundi, the a modern-day tower of babel, overflowing with Lingala, Somali, French and English. “I DRC, they came here seeking refuge. Sebantu was a child in the DRC, an adoles- didn’t think I would move to New Hampshire cent in between worlds, and is now an adult in to learn Swahili,” Thorne jokes. He came on New Hampshire. He works for the nonprofit board from a background in nonprofits, horOrganization for Refugee and Immigrant ticulture and habitat restoration. The ORIS Success (ORIS) as a case manager, helping program that supports Fresh Start is the New new refugees find employment, and obtain American Sustainable Agriculture Program and file documents, among other things. He (NASAP). The term “new American” is a fitoften directs people to the workshops run by ting description for refugees like Sebantu. “This is the new face of New Hampshire in a Fresh Start Farms. Fresh Start Farms is a New Hampshire lot of ways,” says Thorne, who has watched co-op started by refugees. With both their the community grow. “I’ve talked to a middle Dunbarton and Concord locations, they have school teacher who teaches in Concord. He 30 farmers who grow and sell their produce. teaches a lot of Congolese and Nepalis, and ORIS helps them learn how to manage land he said, ‘If you’d told me 20 years ago that this and run a business, then they draft their own is what my classroom would look like in New Hampshire, I never would have believed you.’” business plans and get to work. Part of the learning process for the farmers Farmers at Fresh Start work as small business owners. Refugees are billed for their plane tick- has been to embrace a whole new culture of 48
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food. “In Africa, they don’t eat salad,” Sebantu says, noting that the African diet does not include many cruciferous vegetables or leafy greens. “Broccoli and radishes and cauliflowers, stuff you see in the stores? They are not very common,” he says. Because of this division of food cultures, the farmers sell most of their more familiar ethnic crops to the African community and their American crops to the American community, but there have been more cross-sales recently, with local curiosity about African food growing. And the farmers? According to Sebantu, “They are learning about salad here.” A NEW KIND OF MARKET On summer Thursdays, in the midst of downtown Manchester traffic, a row of farmstands overflow with curly piles of dark green kale, deep purple eggplant and pale orange butternut squash. African pumpkins sit side by side with fresh corn on a colorful cloth. Their colors pop against a gray, late-season sky. Hajiya, Fadumo and Asli, wearing headscarves (hijabs) and traditional Somali dresses known as baatis, sell their produce at the weekly Manchester Community Farmers Market. “Today is slow because food stamps are not coming through for families until tomorrow,” explains Minata Toure, the farm’s marketing coordinator. Fresh Start helps administer a program called Granite State Market Match (GSMM), which matches peoples’ SNAP EBT money dollar for dollar. It’s part of what Thorne calls the farm’s “responsibility for food security,” the idea being that a community-supported program should in turn support the community. “I would say 70 percent of the customers are EBT,” says Toure. At her terminal, she accepts credit, debit and SNAP EBT in exchange for the small wooden tokens that vendors accept as cash. “When you buy 10 dollars, you get 10 greens and 10 reds [tokens],” Toure explains. “You can use the green for greens — like to buy vegetables.” The red tokens are more versatile; they can be used for any food stamp purchase, like local maple syrup or honey. The system is more than convenient; in the middle of an urban space, many of the farms prefer the tokens to amassing cash. “We even have some vendors here that don’t accept cash for safety reasons. They prefer to use tokens.” At the end of the market, she buys back the tokens and transfers the money. For many, Fresh Start has become the face of the market. People first come to Toure’s
booth for their tokens and then find themselves funneled past stands of colorful ethnic and American crops and new American vendors, decked out in their brightly patterned baatis and sandwiched next to neighbors who sell maple syrup and grass-fed beef. Fresh Start Farms took on the role of supplying tokens and managing the receipts for other vendors because they have so many representative farmers there. Today, its numerous farmers have become a large presence at local markets — hence Toure’s unexpected role as the unofficial market accountant. During the farming season, Toure is at Fresh Start every morning, helping the farmers figure what produce they’ll be sending to each market. After they pack them up, she delivers community supported agriculture (CSA) shares to people’s workplaces or homes. Fresh Start Farms’ CSAs provide seven to eight items (bundles of leafy greens, squash, pints of tomatoes) for a single share and 11 for a family share. Toure came here on a student visa in 2012 from Burkina Faso and then was granted
“Somebody was asking, ‘Where are you from?’ and I was like, ‘I’m from Burkina Faso,’ and he was like, ‘No, where do you live now?’” asylum in the US. She got her LNA license, volunteered with, and eventually worked for, the Granite State Organizing Project (GSOP), which helps educate youth from the refugee community, and then came to work for ORIS full time three years ago. In the six years since she moved to America, Toure has gotten married and started a family, but her extended family is still back home in western Africa. “I still feel like I am
from Burkina Faso,” she admits. “I remember one time I went to a workshop and somebody was asking, ‘Where are you from?’ And I was like, ‘I’m from Burkina Faso,’ and he was like, ‘No, I’m just asking where do you live now?’” She laughs. “I say, ‘Oh, in Manchester!’” Toure laughs often. In Africa, she says, your extended family is a huge part of your focus. “Everybody help everybody. In Africa, my mom never had a
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babysitting problem because everybody is around and everybody helped.” Sometimes Toure worries about her son growing up between two cultures. “I don’t know how he will be with my family — If he will see them as family, being American and speaking a different language. But sometimes it is exciting to see all the opportunity that your son will have as an American.” So does New Hampshire feel like home? “With Fresh Start, I see all of them as home, like my people,” she says, pointing around the wash station. “I see my mom in her, I see my grandma in Fadumo. We’re not from the same country — we’re not even from the same part of Africa — but I really feel ‘home’ and I feel like what I’m doing is helping my community.” THE CUSTOMERS It’s Erin Miller’s first year with Fresh Start Farms’ CSA, but she plans to continue, noting, “They always have a good variety.” And she likes that the work helps immigrants as-
similate. “It fits into my vision of Manchester,” says Miller, an occupational therapy assistant working in rehab. Magdalena Czaplinski, who emigrated here from Poland, used to go to the farmers market often after she got out of work at the downtown YMCA. Then she had two kids. “Right now, obviously getting out of the house with these two, it’s a little bit more of a hassle,” she says, juggling toddlers in a double stroller. “I’m an outsider as well, so I kind of feel how they might feel.” Deborah Harbin and Mags Pattantyus have had a CSA with Fresh Start for the summer and fall, and have strong feelings about their produce: “It’s the most vibrant, most beautiful produce that I feel like anybody could get in Manchester,” Pattantyus says, beaming. At the corner of Elm and Pleasant streets, the market is in a high-traffic area. As Toure hands out tokens, people pour off a bus and stare at the blue-capped booths. The bus driver himself walks off to buy a pint of tomatoes
Sylvain (Democratic Republic of Congo)
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and then hops back on to continue his route. Toure’s husband visits her at the farmers market with her 2-year-old son. She expects him to grow up multilingual, speaking both her native French and the English he has learned in school. “Bisous! Bisous!” she says into her giggling toddler’s face. Both mother and son share the same infectious laugh. Toure is currently working on designing “grower profiles” — a picture and a biography on the website for each farmer — based on a new trend she’s noticed: “The CSA customers that we have now ... they want to know their farmers.”
FROM REFUGEE TO NEW AMERICAN: STORIES OF GROWERS SYLVAIN Most of the farmers at Fresh Start are female, but Sylvain is one of a few men who has a plot. He works 40 hours a week for Enterprise Rent-a-Car and comes here after work to tend his vegetables. As a member who can read and write in multiple languages, Sylvain also serves as the chairman of the co-op. He is tending to some sprinkler lines as he points out the rows in his greenhouse. “I’m starting some radishes here for the cold season. I have those Chinese cabbage. They’re responding very well. They like this weather.” Many of these are new-to-him American crops, he explains, but there is one that he knows well from his old home in the DRC. “Collard greens,” he says. “You can grow them in just a week because it’s so warm. Over there, we just call them sukuma wiki — That means, ‘push the week.’ “These are the seed from the first crop when I started. I try to keep the seed,” he explains, and turns to a line where dried amaranth hangs. “All these seeds are going to fall and then next year they’re going to come back.” Sylvain came here in 2006. His mother’s family was Rwandan and, although they had become Congolese citizens long ago, they were not safe in the DRC. Sylvain and his wife escaped to Tanzania where they were sent to refugee camp in the Kigoma region called a Mkugwa, “a camp that the UN started for refugees who came from different countries ... That’s the first time that I see Tutsis and Hutus living together,” he says. The camp, where he spent six years, actually held reconciliation trainings for warring factions. “When you agree to go there you have to respect each other. Even if you fought back home, when you get there, it’s peace.” A common story among refugees is that
Batolo (Somalia)
Hibo (Somalia)
there is seldom enough food, water or work in the camps, but this often leads to innovation. “In the refugee camp they don’t give you vegetables. They have jobs, they pay you a little bit, and I didn’t like that. I was like, ‘Instead of doing that, I can start my own garden.’” Within the confines of the refugee camp and bracketed by the tense peace of Tutsis and Hutus, Sylvain raised pigs and grew passion fruit and amaranth, sweet potatoes and peanuts. “Everywhere I go, I grow things — even back when I was younger, I used to grow flowers around my vegetables. Now this is my home, that’s why I’m doing this,” Sylvain explains, “When you start planting, that’s your home.” BATULO Batulo works in housekeeping and manages three farm plots: one at each of the Fresh Start properties and one with the Sycamore Community Garden Project. She came over from Somalia to escape fighting 14 years ago years ago, after spending 16 years in refugee camps. She speaks English and a few Somali dialects, including Maay Maay. Like many of the others, New Hampshire was where she saw snow for the first time and also where she has raised her daughter, Medina, born in a Kenyan camp. Medina is a middle-schooler now, and she stands by Batulo, texting on her phone. “She is sick today, came to farm instead of going to school,” she says. The girl smiles shyly and then goes back to her technology. When Batulo first arrived, she was very afraid. Coming from a war-torn country, she would shut the door on people who knocked, having no way to understand them. Eventually, she learned English and came to work at Fresh Start nine years ago, seeking, like many other refugees, a fresh source of produce. “You go to the store, you don’t know if it’s fresh or not fresh,” she explains. “Here you know.”
there was tough and how I get through was, I realize we can start our own harvesting. We started planting our own things, our own vegetables, making our own money, getting to making our own little shops.” When Hajiya came to America, she didn’t expect to farm. But the winter, she discovered, was very harsh. Many immigrants from Africa say that wearing a jacket is uncomfortable, because they’ve never done it before. Having the heavy material on their bodies feels wrong as does, of course, the frigid temperature. Eventually Hajiya found out about ORIS and thought, “I can get back to my normal life where I can start making my own vegetables. I couldn’t handle just sitting at home watching the snow in the winter.” Now she’s used to winter, wearing jackets and boots, she says proudly while day cicadas buzz in the tall grass along the greenhouse walls. “She got her roots back” here, at Fresh Start Farms, her translator Ali explains. Hajiya has five children. Her oldest
daughter, who was born in the Kakuma refugee camp, is 15 now and attending Manchester Central High School. “She is very connected,” says Hajiya. “She always feels like she’s in the community.” The rest of her children were born here, in New Hampshire. All five of her children can’t imagine what it is like to not be American, much less what it is like to be without a country, shuffling from place to place. “I have talked to all my kids and told them about the refugee camps, all the years that I spent,” Hajiya says in Maay Maay. “Whenever I tell them what I went through, they can’t believe it.” HIBO ALI Ali is a Somali who speaks three languages. Born at a refugee camp in Kenya and brought to New Hampshire when she was 7, she has been straddling two worlds ever since. Like Sebantu, she works in case management at ORIS and often assists with translation. Ali talks more about the struggles of others than her own experiences as a refugee. She looks at the wash station, where women
Hajiya (Somalia)
HAJIYA (as translated by HIBO ALI) Hajiya came here about 10 years ago from Somalia, a city called Jilip. She stands next to a massive summer squash, wearing a plaid button-up over a brightly colored baati. She talks with her hands, making big gestures to accompany her Maay Maay, a Somali dialect that Hibo Ali (an ORIS case worker) translates to English. After the war, she spent 17 years in Kenyan refugee camps, moving from Dadaab to Kakuma. There was not enough food or water at the camps, Hajiya says. “It was very crowded. There were a lot of people there and there was nowhere to sleep; we were just sleeping wherever we want — outside, the grass, everywhere.” Her story is familiar to Sylvain’s. “The life nhmagazine.com | July 2019
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grip bundles of scallions to shake loose in streams of water. They walk back and forth carrying baskets, their bright baatis brilliant in the hanging mist. “Back in Africa, they used to have their own farm, plant their own vegetables, take care of their family with their own products, with their hands,” she says. “That was part of their life and when they came to America they were like, ‘We want to get back to our old life,’ and when they started coming to this farm, they know what to do.” At the refugee camp where she was born, Ali and her family watched a video to prepare them to come to the States. It was the first time she saw things like American school buses and winter weather. She says, “When we come to America, they have a very difficult time with snow. Some are scared of the snow, won’t go out, stay at the house the whole time ... They’re not used to it because in Africa it’s 100 degrees. It’s very humid.” A woman approaches with a basket, pushing small golden discs into people’s hands. “Somali cookies,” explains Ali. The cookies taste familiar but exotic, a mixture of butter, flour, sugar and Somali spices that Ali is unable to translate. “We would have different names for them in America.” They’re a common treat at Somali weddings, where the women “wear tons of colorful dresses like the ones they’re wearing but dif-
Anthony (Kenya)
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Like many of the refugees at Fresh Start, Amisa did not know she would farm when she got here. She used to think that America was all paved, she says, laughing. ferent,” explains Ali, in a hot pink baati. “Some are see-through, sparkly, flowery, and the whole entire hall or room will be so colorful.” ANTHONY MUNENE and AMISA Anthony Munene, who works for ORIS, began working with immigrants and refugees in Maine 10 years ago. He has been a farm manager at Fresh Start for six years now and
Amisa (Democratic Republic of Congo)
watched it grow. He is amused to see these big plots that can yield food enough to sell the excess. In Kenya, he says, people do not do this. They have their “kitchen garden,” a small plot where they grow their food “not for business, not for selling — it’s where you plant stuff for your family.” At the smaller “incubator farm” that Fresh Start rents from Saint Paul’s School in Concord, Munene translates for Amisa, who stands with her hands on her hips and a tall basket balanced on her head. “I don’t know how she does that,” admits Munene. She leans to one side in her purple and yellow baati and speaks while Munene translates, “You have to learn when you are young.” Amisa, like many of the refugees at Fresh Start, did not know she would farm when she got here. She used to think that America was all paved, she says, laughing. She left her home in the DRC, like many others, because the fighting showed up at her doorstep. There was “fighting in the forest,” Amisa says, describing the gunshots that constantly plagued her banana plantation. Her brother-in-law was one of those fighting, and he came to them to ask her husband to join. When her husband said no, his brother killed him. He wounded Amisa badly as well but she escaped to a refugee camp in Tanzania. She spent nine years there but moved
because of tribal tension within the camp. She went to four other camps before coming to America. “We had to find ways to survive in the camp.” Amisa says. She started a café there where she made donuts. She is animated, upbeat even, but Munene shakes his head while he translates. “That really was messed up,” he says after the story of her husband’s murder. “It’s really a lot of trauma.” Amisa is more matter-of-fact: “Oh, people don’t understand it,” she says. “How will they?
A freshly picked basket of peppers
What they see in the media is not the real deal. Refugee — if you really take a moment to think about the term — you leave your country, house, wealth, children, everything.” “The first thing Americans should understand is if they see refugees it is just that. They have gone through trauma. They would love to be peacefully in their own country; peace is very important. They lost everything, they moved from country to country. It’s very difficult.” Amisa goes back to work and Munene
turns away, speaking softly. “Having peace is very important.” It is quieter at the Concord farm. There are fewer plots and no greenhouses at this incubator location, and at midday there is not the same bustle of farmers market preparations. A young woman stands in the field wearing a hajib and a sweatshirt, and Munene waves to her as he walks through the different crops. He points out two cornstalks side by side — African and American corn that they are crossbreeding. “You get a very different maize,” Munene says. Munene is not a refugee; he immigrated here to help refugees assimilate. “I had a chance to visit the refugee camp,” he says, “and it’s bad ... But there is life in the refugee camp. If you stay in the camp for 10 or 12 years you have to learn how to survive.” Like Amisa with her café, Hajiya with her garden, Sylvain with his peanuts and flowers, the Fresh Start farmers understand survival. Together, they’ve grown a new life here, up from the roots. “Food brings people together. Food brings your mind and your spirit together,” says Munene. “Now that they are here working on the farm, it’s therapy.” These people have come here seeking peace, religious freedom, opportunity and innovation, or for some of them, only a peaceful place where they can put down roots. In that sense, they are more reminiscent of old Americans than new ones. Maybe that’s appropriate, though, since they’re joining one of the oldest states in the union and one of the oldest traditions in America, a visible reminder that communities are not immutable. They are in a constant cycle of struggle and peace, loss and rebirth, sadness and joy, pushed by forces beyond their control to grow. NH
THE PHOTOGRAPHER The photos in this story are part of a yearlong project by Israeli-born photographer Yoav Horesh, who has earned the trust and friendship of the farmers of Fresh Start Farms. Since 2001, Horesh’s work has been concerned with history, conflict, memory, ethnicity and multiculturalism, taking him to the American Southwest, Germany, Laos, Israel, the Gaza Strip, Bolivia, Vietnam, Mongolia and Cambodia, places where history still shapes and influences current events and daily life. In the summer of 2017, Horesh was hired as the chair of the photography department at the New Hampshire Institute of Art in Manchester. He got involved in chronicling and promoting the work of Fresh Start Farms in 2018. “I strive to help make their work appreciated and supported using my large-format camera and being engaged with their work and life on the farm on a weekly basis,” writes Horesh in his artist's statement. Currently, selections of his work at Fresh Start Farms is featured as part of the “New England Biennial 2019” at the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Lincoln, Massachusetts, through September 15, 2019.
Community Supported Agriculture Along with their weekly sales of seasonal veggies at Manchester Community Farmers Market (Weds, 3 p.m. - 6:30 p.m., 700 Elm St., Manchester), and at 10 other farmers markets in southern NH, the farmers of Fresh Start Farms can arrange delivery of produce to any workplace, place of worship or community space in the Greater Manchester or Concord areas. Email them at freshstartfarmsnh@gmail.com, call (603) 296-0443 or visit freshstartfarmsnh.com/csa for details. nhmagazine.com | July 2019
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Tanya, Kaya and Jay paddle out ahead of Chris and Will on the Merrimack River.
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City River Gone Wild Our Explorers paddle the Merrimack from the red-brick canyon rapids of the Manchester mills to a calm, secluded island. As always, lessons are learned along the way. by The Explorers
Words by Jay Atkinson | Photos by Joe Klementovich
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ess than a half-mile from our put-in below the Amoskeag Dam in Manchester, we reach the first set of rapids, stretching out from the Bridge Street overpass and running in a tumult for 150 yards. I’m manning the bow of the canoe, 13-yearold Kaya is sitting amidships, and her mom, Tanya Pierce, is in the stern. While we hover above the drop, my rugby pal, Chris Pierce, and his 9-year-old son, Will, charge the rapids first, their heads bobbing up and down amidst the whitecaps. Tanya says, “Paddle,” and I stroke hard for the entry point. As we cross into the shadow of the bridge, I spot a concrete berm just below the surface of the water. Too late. Before I can shout a warning, the canoe grinds over the obstacle, turns broadside to the current, and capsizes. I’m tossed into the drink, followed by Tanya. Kaya’s still in the canoe, which is beginning to roll over. She’s an arm’s-length away, her face turned sideways, regarding me calmly. Tanya is attempting to right the canoe, but the roiling water pushes Kaya toward the bow, and I’m having trouble getting a purchase with my hands or my feet. The river pulls us farther into the maze of whitecaps, and Tanya swings around the stern, grabbing ahold of Kaya ... It’s a hot humid day, like being mummified in gauze beneath a trillion-watt sunlamp. Today, my friends and I have resumed our ongoing “It’s Easier to Ask Forgiveness Than Permission Tour” through the wilds of New Hampshire. But this is a darker, and certainly more urban adventure than what we’re accustomed to, as we paddle through and beyond the relics of the Industrial Revolution. Off to our left, Manchester’s red-brick mills loom ominously over the water, shading it to black. Running 117 miles from Franklin, New Hampshire, to Newburyport, Massachusetts, the Merrimack is a broad, twisting river passing through farmland, field and forest. But we’ve set out from downtown Manchester for an overnight excursion, with a vehicle parked at the take-out point approximately 10 miles south. Our party consists of photographer and all-round adventurer, Joe Klementovich, of North Conway, and the Pierce family — Chris, Tanya, and their blond-haired, blueeyed children. As usual on these trips, I’ve had the wisdom to surround myself with people I
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trust, whose outdoor capabilities, athleticism and experience reflect Hemingway’s notion of “grace under pressure.” The Merrimack River is known for being wide and slow, but it’s not without peril, as we quickly find out. Henry David Thoreau and his brother John paddled a long stretch of the Merrimack River in 1839. In Thoreau’s poetic treatise, “A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers,” he noted the mingling of wilderness and civilization they experienced on the trip: “We contemplated at our leisure the lapse of the river and of human life; and as that current, with its floating twigs and leaves, so did all things pass in review before us, while far away in cities and marts on this very stream, the old routine was proceeding still.” One of the earliest mentions of the river occurred in 1603, from Pierre du Gaust, Sieur De Monts. Earlier that year, De Monts, who
ing possibilities. One interpretation is that Merrimack is the Algonquin word for “sturgeon,” the large, migratory fish that were so plentiful in the river. (Generally, all the Native American tribes of the Eastern Seaboard, including the Abenaki, were Algonquin, named for the language they spoke.) Algonquin is known for its word-pictures, marking the landscape with names that can often be recognized when the places they stand for are encountered. Thus, Abenaki who lived nearby may have wished to memorialize the river’s powerful current, naming it “merroh” (strong) and “auke” (place). Another viable interpretation is that the local tribes conflated the words for island (“mena”) and place (“auke”) to create “mena-auke”, or “island place,” which the English settlers took for Merrimack. By the time our journey was finished, we’d all have a keen appreciation of the Merrimack as both “strong place” and “island place.”
Below the crest of the first rapid, Tanya and I are managing the crisis, but it’s a struggle. As the canoe rides the swell, I’m thrust backward against submerged rocks, bashing my right hip. I’m trying to hang onto the gunwale so I can go hand-to-hand along the side to reach Kaya. Tanya is out of the boat on the upriver side, and is fighting her way around to grab hold of Kaya’s personal flotation device, or PFD. The water is just shallow enough that I can get my feet down, but the current keeps sweeping my legs downriver. For a few seconds, the whole episode unspools in a skein of images, the roar of the water is vacuumed away, and my field of vision turns to black and white, like I’m watching an old silent movie. In slow motion, the canoe rolls and Kaya’s face hovers close to mine. I can read the prevailing emotion in her eyes — trust. With two hands on her PFD, Tanya pulls Kaya free of the canoe, and starts toward Tanya and Chris are about to take a swim as the shore. Meanwhile, the canoe bobs free of canoe rolls over in the swift-moving current. the hollow and I’m able to right it, though was acting as the French lieutenant-general it’s half-filled with water. Tanya and Kaya and of Acadia — all the land from the 40th to the I kick and swim, toting the canoe toward the 46th parallel — visited the Abenaki tribes in river’s western bank. Quebec. He wrote, “The Indians tell us of a Downstream, Chris and Will calmly paddle beautiful river, far to the south, which they around to various spots, retrieving the cooler, call the Merrimack.” dry bags, paddles, even my flip-flops, from In 1863, the historian J.W. Meador not- what Chris later calls an aquatic “garage sale.” ed that the Merrimack had been the “grand trunk road” of the Abenaki for centuries, With Joe leading the way on his paddleboard, leading to abundant fishing grounds, as well we clear two sets of rapids without incident. as a vast wilderness teeming with deer, bea- Approaching the Route 101 bridge, the huge ver, bears and other game. concrete abutments rise up from the choppy The origin of the name “Merrimack” is not surface of the Merrimack. River guides will entirely clear, though there are several intrigu- tell you — and Chris, Tanya and I discovered
on a rafting trip in Montana — that manmade objects are often the most dangerous things in the water. As Chris noted, if you end up pinned against one of the abutments, you’re in real trouble. Joe goes ahead to scout the rapids originating under the bridge. There’s a significant drop and an islet crabbed with scrub providing a vantage point on the run. Joe waits for us there, and we disembark for a better look. Below us, the river runs fast and black, tipped with white rollers. A trio of kayakers in helmets and PFDs huddle nearby in an eddy, picking out their routes. Chris and Tanya shoot the rapids in the first canoe, mooring it below the island. I join them on the rocky slab, Joe and the kids a short distance away, scanning the river. I nod to Chris, gesturing him aside. We’ve been in plenty of tricky situations, in rugby matches and in the wilderness, and he reads me pretty well. “What’s up?” he asks. Will has sidled over, but Chris turns him
Manmade objects are often the most dangerous things in the water. If you end up pinned to an abutment, you’re in real trouble. around by the shoulders, gently directing him away. “Back there,” I point over my shoulder, “there were a few seconds where I didn’t like the way things were going.” Chris gazes frankly at me. “It’s all right, buddy,” he says. For the second run, Chris and Will and I shoot the rapids, with Kaya and Tanya waiting on the other side. I’m in the bow, Will in the
middle, and Chris mans the stern. We paddle over to the flat water above the drop, and Chris holds us in the current, studying the way ahead. “Ready?” he asks. “Go,” I say. We start paddling, trying to outpace the current, which gives Chris added maneuverability. A patch of smooth water cleaves the top of the rapid, and as we approach, Chris says, “This isn’t the same route ...”
Chris and Will paddle alongside Manchester’s historic mill buildings. nhmagazine.com | July 2019
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Arriving at the pointy end of the flat spot, I see a shelf of black rock lying inches below the water. The canoe grinds against the serrated rock, the stern slips around so we’re perpendicular to the current, and for a split-second, Chris and I keep us afloat. But the pressing water tips us to port, and we’re thrown into the roiling whitecaps. Chris and Will are whisked away in the flutter of an eyelash, hanging onto the canoe, their heads bobbing in the froth. I can hear Chris laughing and Will’s excited cries over the sound of the burbling water. For a few seconds, I cling to the rock, shifting my weight — and my feet — downriver in a sitting position. It’s 100 yards of rough, rockstrewn water to either shore. So I let go, my PFD riding up on my neck a little, but getting my head and shoulders above the water. The ride is wild and fast and bumpy, like barreling down a cobblestone road in an old jalopy. Waves break over my head as I zoom down into black trenches of water, and then crest the foam. About 75 yards of whitecaps stretch ahead of me, and other than a hard knock against one of the submerged boulders, I sit back, racing along at 30 mph, amazed at the power of the river. I’m a quarter-mile downstream before I realize I’m clutching my paddle, and that my sunglasses are still attached to my face. Out ahead, the kayakers are picking up the unsold items from our latest garage sale. By the time we’re eight miles downriver, the sun has disappeared behind a wall of trees and we need a place to camp. Up ahead, there’s an islet on the left side of the river. After we clear the last set of rapids, Joe paddles
The ride is wild and fast and bumpy, like barreling down a cobblestone road in an old jalopy. Waves break over my head as I zoom down into black trenches of water and then crest the foam. over to investigate. It’s one of the tiny sliver islands that dot the “merroh-auke,” a narrow hump of land bristling with small trees and fringed by a slim gray beach. Landing the canoes, we level the beach with our paddles, rig up Chris’ tent, off-load our gear, and collect driftwood for a fire. Will hollows out a sand pit by the water’s edge. In the twilight, the river takes on a silvery glaze, broad and flat like a mirror. Chris piles up tinder, twigs and a few dead branches, and lights it with a match. The fire smolders, emits a wavering ribbon of smoke, and then blazes up. Chris grins. “One match,” he says. At the violet hour, we cobble together a meal. There’s rolled grape leaves from Korbani’s Bakery in Methuen, Massachusetts, Chris’ homemade hummus, enchiladas from Dos Amigos in Concord, strips of fresh pineapple
Tanya and Chris squeeze through a narrow stretch of rapids.
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and apples smothered in peanut butter. Talk is lively, our voices booming over the water. We trade stories about the worst night we ever spent outdoors, and the best meal we’ve ever had in the wilderness (Joe: peanut butter and jelly sandwiches cooked in the heat of his backpack, and mushed together during a family expedition to Hampton Beach). When Chris breaks out the chocolate stout, and Joe produces a flask of bourbon distilled in Tamworth, the conversation pivots to the best single drink of alcohol we’ve ever had. Pretty sure I win this category. On a trip across Europe with rugby teammate “Surfer John” Hearin, we stopped in Antibes on the French Riviera where we made the acquaintance of a beautiful, sophisticated blonde woman who owned our cabana. She invited us to dine al fresco with her and two other guests. After feasting on roasted chicken and vegetables, the hostess poured a generous splash of Armagnac into a snifter. She stood beneath a string of white lights hanging from the grape arbor, the smooth planes of her face hovering beside mine as I tried the cognac. Très magnifique. After Tanya and the kids turn in, and Joe retires to his bivvy sack, Chris and I pass the flask. In the shorthand of old friends, we discuss our favorite baseball movies (“The Natural,” “Bang the Drum Slowly”), Australian actor Guy Pearce’s most underrated performance (“The Hurt Locker”), and our best adventures (among them, biking in San Luis Obispo, California, where Chris invented the concept of “Absentee Good Samaritanism,” twice borrowing an air pump from a bicycle chained up near an old Spanish mission, replacing it each time). A few stars are out — heavenly fire shining through the cracks in the firmament, as the
Chris and Will paddle toward one of the many bridges crossing their route. nhmagazine.com | July 2019
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ancient Greeks believed. The only sound is the rush and sweep of the river, turned purple in the darkness. I sip from the flask, staring into the flames. Thoreau was right: You can always see a face in the fire. Chris and I have each lost a friend lately, and we provide a few details about that person’s life, and what it means to see them go. Beneath the night sky, Chris and I work out the calculus of risk vs. reward, the dangers of our trip measured against the notion of lived-in time, and what else we went to accomplish before we go. With no rain expected, we’ve left off the tent fly, the entire Pierce clan sleeping beside me. To my left, Will is fidgeting in some white water dream. Chris and Tanya are the ultimate helicopter parents — they’d let their kids fly a helicopter, so long as there was a licensed instructor on board. After Will settles down, I cross my forearms behind my head, gazing upward through the mesh ceiling. A full moon, shining like a coin, rides high above the river, momentarily halved by a boat-shaped cloud. I feel a long ways from anywhere, but my friends are close at hand. I doze off for a while, and rise in the dimness of early morning, quietly gathering sticks and
Jay chats with Will and Kaya as they set up camp.
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Will and Tanya help prepare supper using a piece of driftwood for a table.
twigs, ripping out an old page from my notebook to use as tinder. One match. On the other side of our camp, Joe sits up in his bivvy sack. Shaking off the cobwebs, he rigs his fly rod and paddles out to fish the deep portion of the river. The sun edges to the horizon, and the Pierces begin to emerge from the tent,
like characters in one of Jack London’s stories. Chris makes tea with a quick-boil stove, and soon we’ve buried the fire, packed the canoes and bagged our trash. “Leave it the way we found it,” Chris says to Kaya. Beneath glassy blue skies, our little fleet makes its way downstream. The landscape is greener here, hemmed in by trees on both sides, the city noise disappearing behind us. On the first day, the river had a fetid smell in places, the embankments littered with trash. A bit peeved, Tanya said that if more people fished and paddled along this portion of the Merrimack, it would become known as a wilderness destination and be treated with more respect. For an hour, the river is wide and flat, reflecting bluebird skies. A bald eagle flies across the river, passing directly in front of us. Like Tanya was saying, there’s a lot to recommend this section of the river. Rounding a bend, we hear a loud, rumbling noise that sounds like a freight train. Joe paddles up from behind us, going forward to explore the next set of rapids. Tanya, Kaya and I hang back, chatting with Chris and Will. After the hard knocks of the first day, no one would complain about flat, still waters. But 75 yards
ahead, Joe paddles over to the lee shore, reaches into his pack, and zips on his PFD. “Not a good sign,” says Tanya, making a face. Joe returns to our location. Ahead, to the left, we can see two large, gray boulders. One of them is the size of a small house. On the right, there’s a maze of steep, triangular whitecaps that continue for a good distance. Joe points out a fallen tree near the boulders, so the only possible route is through the white water. We’re going first. As we paddle out, I glance back at Kaya. “Pull your knees up to your chest,” I say. “I doubt we’re going to spill, but if we do, I want you to roll out of the boat. Got it? Get out of the boat right away, and I’ll come get you.” For an instant, I stare into Kaya’s large, bluegray eyes. “Right?” I ask her. Kaya nods. “Right.” We’re positioned 50 yards above the first drop, the water roaring. I have to yell over the din. “OK, Tanya,” I say. “Paddling.” “OK,” she hollers. There’s a smooth, triangular patch of water to our left and right, with a narrow, furrowed, rocky channel straight ahead. This time, we know enough to avoid the flat spots, and enter the deep, watery V with a thump.
“It’s all right, kid,” I say. “We’re good.” Paddling furiously, we cut through the roughest section, skim over a line of diamond-shaped whitecaps, and are deposited into the main channel, following the diminishing thread of the current. I reach behind my back, and Kaya gives me a fist bump. “Like butter,” I say, and she laughs. NH
Jay sketches the river and scribbles a few notes for this story.
Instantly, the canoe is rocking and pitching and rolling, waves crashing over the bow, but we’ve built up enough momentum to cut through the whitecaps. When a black, table-shaped rock appears out of the foam, I yell, “See it?” to Tanya, and she says, “Yeah. See it!” We slip by the table rock, and narrowly avoid a small pointy one by shifting our weight to the left. Waves crash over the boat to starboard, and Kaya lets out a high-pitched cry.
The Explorers are this publication's semiofficial outdoors experts. Their next expedition, a bike trek to a Bethelehm yoga retreat, will appear in October and their past adventures are available online. Search “The Explorers” at nhmagazine.com.
Darkness falls over a quiet section of the Merrimack River. nhmagazine.com | July 2019
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FOR ALL YOUR AUTOMOTIVE NEEDS
MANCHESTER
•
HAVERHILL
•
STRATHAM
•
NASHUA
•
CHELMSFORD
BEST OF
NEW
HAMPSHIRE RAISE YOUR GLASS (OR YOUR TROPHY). HERE’S A GUIDE TO WHAT OUR READERS (AND WE) PICKED AS THE 2019 WINNERS.
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FOOD DRINK
AND
For those with special dietary needs or preferences, choosing a place for dinner out with friends can be challenging. Typically, you wouldn’t think that a tavern would end up as an ideal solution. Enter the Railpenny Tavern in Epping, with its surprising menu offering an impressive number of gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan dishes that venture well beyond the usual tired suspects, and many dishes that can be easily modified, meaning there’s something to make all kinds of diners happy. Add to that an excellent cocktail and tap list (with both beer and cider), and you’ve got a winner. railpennytavern.com
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Tavern for All
Bakery Overall Harvey’s Bakery and Coffee Shop Dover
harveysbakery.com
popoversonthesquare.com
Bakery White Mountains Region Leavitt’s Country Bakery
Concord
Conway
Bakery Dartmouth/Lake Sunapee Region Blue Loon Bakery
Barbecue KC’s Rib Shack
Bakery Great North Woods Region Polish Princess Bakery
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Family-owned Fiesta Jalisco in North Conway may look like just another strip mall restaurant, but the inside is a piece of Mexico — the type of place where you can practice your Spanish. The beef and chicken tacos (hard or soft shell) are only $1.25, which is a good thing because you’ll want way more than one (or two or three). Throw in chips and salsa and a couple of margaritas, and you’ll be saying muy bien in no time. fiestajalisconh.com.
Feel-good Goat Cheese Main Street Cheese is a cure for cynicism.
Manchester
ribshack.net
Bartender Chanel Haskell at Giorgio’s Ristorante & Bar
blueloonbakery.com
Taco Tuesdays
Epping and Portsmouth
Bakery Concord Area Bread & Chocolate
New London
Manchester
giorgios.com
Breakfast Place Overall The Purple Finch
Lancaster
This small, woman-owned artisanal goat cheese shop in Hancock operates on the honor system. Inside the lovely red barn is the cheese room, where you can choose delicious cheese from the fridge and leave your payment. Beyond the fact that this is a reminder that people are, generally speaking, good, the store is a charming example of small-town community. From May to October, they raise the goat kids at Main Street, and visitors are welcome. Sit in the garden, and perhaps one of the three elder goats will come say hello. You can also sign up for a cheese-making class, or perhaps book a stay at the farm-based Airbnb, where, if the
Amherst, Bedford and North Andover, Mass.
pastry.net
What’s better than decadent pastries? The answer — decadent pastries, too pretty to eat. Get an eyeful at the Crumb Bar in Littleton. Each selection in the case seems to be screaming, “Pick me!” And how to choose from a dark chocolate fudge/espresso blackout cake, giant carnival chocolate chip cookies, duck fat angel biscuits, poached pear pop tarts or coconutella crullers? Whew. Stop in here for a magical day. crumbbumbakery.com
Windham
Multilocation Regional
Frederick’s Pastries
Pastries
Bakery Salem Area Klemm’s Bakery Bakery Seacoast Region Popovers on the Square
Bakery Overall
FOOD & DRINK
Food and Drink
polishprincessbakery.com
Bakery Lakes Region Yum Yum Shop
Bedford
purplefinchcafe.com
Breakfast Place Overall
Wolfeboro
yumyumshop.com
Bakery Manchester Area Michelle’s Gourmet Pastries & Deli Manchester
michellespastries.com
Bakery Monadnock Region The Bread Shed Keene
thebreadshed.com
Bakery Nashua Area Buckley’s Bakery & Café Merrimack and Hollis
Multilocation Local
Tucker’s
Multiple Locations
tuckersnh.com
Breakfast Place Concord Area The Newell Post Concord
newellpostrestaurant.com
Breakfast Place Concord Area
Multilocation Local
Tucker’s
Multiple Locations
tuckersnh.com
buckleysbakerycafe.com
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Breakfast Place Salem Area
maryannsdiner.com
Breakfast Place Dartmouth/Lake Sunapee Region
Breakfast Place Seacoast Region 2 Home Cooks
Warner
Multilocation Local
MaryAnn’s Diner
Derry, Windham and Salem
Multilocation Local
Dover
Multiple Locations
Breakfast Place Seacoast Region
Tucker’s
tuckersnh.com
Breakfast Place Great North Woods Region Polish Princess Bakery Lancaster
2homecooks.com
Multilocation Regional
The Friendly Toast Multiple Locations
thefriendlytoast.com
Breakfast Place Lakes Region The Farmer’s Kitchen
Breakfast Place White Mountains Region Polly’s Pancake Parlor
pollyspancakeparlor.com
Breakfast Place Manchester Area Chez Vachon
Brewery Overall 603 Brewery
chez-vachon.mycloveronline.com
Brewery Concord Area Henniker Brewing Company
polishprincessbakery.com
Farmington
Manchester
Breakfast Place Manchester Area
Multilocation Local
Sugar Hill
Londonderry
603brewery.com
Tucker’s
Henniker
tuckersnh.com
Brewery Dartmouth/Lake Sunapee Region Flying Goose Brew Pub & Grille
Multiple Locations
Breakfast Place Monadnock Region Parker’s Maple Barn Mason
parkersmaplebarn.com
Breakfast Place Monadnock Region Multilocation Local
The Red Arrow
Multiple Locations
redarrowdiner.com
Breakfast Place Nashua Area The City Room Café Nashua, Facebook
Breakfast Place Salem Area Janie’s Uncommon Café
hennikerbrewing.com
Ice Cream “Flight” The family-run Jordan’s Ice Creamery in Belmont has been making kids and adults happy for more than 25 years. With 150 flavors of homemade ice cream from which to choose, narrowing down the options can be a bit daunting. Can’t decide between caramel crunch, cookie dough, chocolate habanero or coffee heath bar? Try them all by ordering the paddle — a kind of ice cream flight — with four samples. Other items include frozen yogurt, sugar-free options, cakes, pies and their homemade waffle cones. Facebook
New London
flyinggoose.com
Brewery Great North Woods Region Coös Brewing Company Colebrook
Brewery Lakes Region Kettlehead Brewing Co. Tilton
kettleheadbrewing.com
Londonderry
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FOOD & DRINK
Breakfast Place Dartmouth/Lake Sunapee Region The Foothills of Warner
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time is right, you can feed a goat kid with a bottle. mainstreetcheese.net
Over-the-top Grilled Cheese Cheese lovers, make it your mission to track down the Manchester-based Prime Time Grilled Cheese food truck. The menu ranges from your basic grilled cheese (with a three-cheese blend) to sandwiches with all sorts of additions, such as pulled pork or buffalo chicken. For those who crave a little spice, there’s no topping the jalapeño mac and cheesy sandwich. Consider it the ultimate comfort food mash-up — creamy macaroni and cheese smack in the middle of more cheese and bread, with jalapeños for an extra kick. primetimegrilledcheese.com
Wine and Food Pairings Wine bars don’t always have the best reputation — they can be pricey and intimidating, discouraging people who want to learn more about wine. Find the exact opposite attitude at Raleigh Wine Bar + Eatery in Portsmouth. Whether you’re a casual wine drinker or oenophile, this is a great place to learn about or enjoy wine with a knowledgeable staff that can recommend excellent pairings. And what excellent pairing options there are — the food menu is seasonal, modern yet approachable. Intriguingly, the wine list focuses on natural wines, which essentially means they’re made with organic or biodynamic fruit and native yeast, no
Manchester
backyardbrewerynh.com
Brewery Monadnock Region Elm City Brewing Company Keene
elmcitybrewing.com
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Brewery Nashua Area Able Ebenezer Brewing Company Merrimack
Chase down this mobile food. Owner/chef Isaac Kaufman matches quality local ingredients with a perfect balance of sweet, salty and sour for his aptly named food truck, Salt & Lime, parked at 79 Emerald St. in Keene. Crowd favorites are his handcrafted sausages using Archway Farm’s pork served on grilled buns and his street fries dolloped with farmers’ cheese, crumbled house-made sausage, fresh herbs and a vinegar aioli for a perfect combination. There’s probably some salt and lime in there too — Kaufman’s self-proclaimed favorite ingredients. saltandlimenh.com additives, fining or filtering, and minimal sulfur. It opens up a new and interesting world of wine to explore. raleighwinebar.com
Small Batch Chocolate Chocolate is chocolate, right? Not at all, according to the folks at Loon Chocolate. Based in Manchester, they are bean-to-bar specialty chocolate makers who want you to realize how wide the world of chocolate really is. They only work with ethical traders who import cacao beans from small-farm organic growers. They then hand-sort, roast, shell and grind the beans, blending them with organic turbinado sugar and cocoa butter. The results are delicious specialty chocolate bars, each with its own unique flavor representing a different part of the globe. loonchocolate.com
Bacon Bistro There’s a little bit of a learning curve at The Bacon Barn in Londonderry. First, you need to know the menu lingo. There’s hog steak (big slab of ham), hog (ham), dead (bacon burned beyond crispy), oinkers (sausage), half & half (not creamer — this is for when you want to order two half-sizes of side orders), cluckers (extra large eggs) and a few other terms. All your favorite breakfast and lunch items are here, and most come with a bacony twist. This beloved food is given its
due here, with five options — applewood, peppercorn, jalapeño, bourbon and house bacon — with your choice of preparation, from soft to the aforementioned dead. When a bacon craving hits, this is the place to go. baconbarndiner.com
Tacos al Pastor When it comes to great taco trucks, the Granite State is a far cry from sunny California. Thankfully, the Taco Time food truck out of Milford is giving hope to taco lovers in the Monadnock Region and southern New Hampshire. They serve authentic Mexican food, including burritos, burrito bowls, quesadillas, nachos and, of course, tacos, but one of the best items on the menu is the classic taco al pastor. Simple but tasty, the marinated pork on a corn tortilla is topped with onion, cilantro, salsa roja and grilled pineapple. Follow them on Facebook to see where they’ll be next.
Thai Noodle Soup Americans are catching onto the idea of ramen and other Asian noodle bowls as comfort food. At Hana Japanese Restaurant in Merrimack, find a whole tour of Asian soup that includes Japan, Korea, Vietnam and Thailand. For those looking for an introduction, this is a great place to sample a wide range of dishes. A good place to start is the Thai versions — the boat noodle or tom
Brewery Salem Area Border Brewery and Supplies Brewery Seacoast Region Stoneface Brewing Co. Newington
stonefacebrewing.com
Brewery White Mountains Region Woodstock Inn Brewery North Woodstock
woodstockinnbrewery.com
Brewpub Backyard Brewery & Kitchen Manchester
backyardbrewerynh.com
New London
flyinggoose.com
Burger Great North Woods Region The Burg Pittsburg
Burger Lakes Region
Multilocation Local
T-BONES Great American Eatery Multiple Locations
t-bones.com
Burger Manchester Area New England’s Tap House Grille Hooksett
taphousenh.com
Burger Manchester Area
Multilocation Local
T-BONES Great American Eatery Multiple Locations
Brunch The Old Salt & Lamie’s Inn
t-bones.com
Hampton
oldsaltnh.com
Burger Overall Tuckaway Tavern & Butchery Raymond
thetuckaway.com
Burger Overall Multilocation Local Lexie’s Restaurants Burger Concord Area
Burger Dartmouth/Lake Sunapee Region Flying Goose Brew Pub & Grille
patrickspub.com
borderbrewsupply.com
peaceloveburgers.com
thebarleyhouse.com
Gilford
Salem
Multiple Locations
Concord and North Hampton
Burger Lakes Region Patrick’s Pub & Eatery
ableebenezer.com
Specialty Food Truck
The Barley House
FOOD & DRINK
Brewery Manchester Area Backyard Brewery & Kitchen
Burger Monadnock Region Papa Joe’s Humble Kitchen Milford
papajoeshumblekitchen.com
Burger Nashua Area Buckley’s Great Steaks Merrimack
buckleysgreatsteaks.com
Burger Salem Area The Copper Door Bedford and Salem
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Hillsborough
T-BONES Great American Eatery
Chili
t-bones.com
The Red Arrow 24 Hr Diner
Multilocation Local Multiple Locations
Burger Seacoast Region Tie Hop + Grind Durham
hopandgrind.com
Burger Seacoast Region Tie Wild Willy’s Burgers Rochester
wildwillysburgers.com
Burger White Mountains Region Black Mountain Burger Co. Lincoln
blackmtnburger.com
Burrito Burrito Me
Plymouth and Laconia
burritome.com
tacobeyondo.com
Multilocation Local Multiple Locations
redarrowdiner.com
Chinese Restaurant Lilac Blossom Nashua
lilacblossom.us
Chocolatier Van Otis Chocolates Manchester
vanotischocolates.com
Clam Chowder Newick’s Lobster House
Dover and Concord
newicks.com
Clam Chowder Multilocation Regional
Weathervane Seafood Restaurants Multiple Locations
Burrito
weathervaneseafoods.com
Dos Amigos Burritos
Bedford and Salem
Multilocation Regional
Multiple Locations
dosamigosburritos.com
Cakes Jacques Fine European Pastries Suncook
jacquespastries.com
Cakes
Multilocation Regional
Frederick’s Pastries
Amherst, Bedford and North Andover, Mass.
pastry.net
Chicken Tenders The Puritan Backroom Manchester
puritanbackroom.com
Chili Tie Patrick’s Pub & Eatery Gilford
patrickspub.com
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Cocktails The Copper Door
courtesy photo
FOOD & DRINK
Burger Salem Area
copperdoorrestaurant.com
Coffee Roaster Wayfarer Coffee Roaster Laconia
wayfarerroasters.com
Coffee Roaster
Multilocation Local
A&E Coffee & Tea
Amherst, Manchester and Goffstown
aeroastery.com
Coffee Shop Overall Wayfarer Coffee Roaster Laconia
wayfarerroasters.com
Coffee Shop Overall
Multilocation Local
A&E Coffee & Tea
Amherst, Manchester and Goffstown
aeroastery.com
nhmagazine.com | July 2019
French Fries and a Burger Burgers always demand a side of fries — it’s a match originally dreamt up in a diner, that has since made its way to even the finest of dining joints. At Wicked Fresh Craft Burgers in North Conway, the hand-cut Green Thumb potatoes are fried to perfection and tossed with fresh-snipped herbs grown onsite. The burgers are smashed on the grill for a perfect sear, and made with local beef, turkey or a veggie version of their own mix or the Impossible Burger. Toppings rule with a choice of fried egg, caramelized onions, marinated mushrooms, pickled onion and their own cajun or truffle sauce. Did we mention the bacon onion jam? Have it your way, or their way with pre-selected toppings. wickedfreshburgers.com yum soups. The first is for meat lovers — it has stewed beef, beef meatballs, thinly sliced sirloin steak, rice noodles, bean sprouts, spinach, garlic and cilantro. Tom yum might be more familiar — it comes with rice noodles, ground pork, a homemade pork patty, fish meatballs, ground peanuts, scallions, bean sprouts, spinach, garlic, cilantro and is topped with a crispy wonton. Next time you feel the need for food therapy, consider one of these filling, satisfying, spicy bowls of noodle soup. hanamerrimack.com
Out-of-the-box Mead Ancient Fire Mead & Cider in Manchester is taking a really old beverage (you might even say ancient) and putting their own modern twist on it. Traditionally, mead is simply wine fermented from honey. Jason and Margot Phelps, founders of Ancient Fire, are doing all sorts of interesting things with this basic idea. For instance, this spring they created the Much Higher Love, a raspberry blossom mead blended with passion fruit and more raspberry blossom honey, which
Concord
truebrewbarista.com
Nashua
riverwalknashua.com
Coffee Shop Concord Area Aroma Joe’s
Coffee Shop Salem Area The Grind Rail Trail Café
Multilocation Regional
Multiple Locations
Salem
aromajoes.com
thegrindnh.com
Coffee Shop Dartmouth/Lake Sunapee Region Lucky’s Coffee Garage
Coffee Shop Seacoast Region Flight Coffee Co.
Lebanon
luckyscoffeegarage.com
photo by emily heidt
Coffee Shop Great North Woods Region Polish Princess Bakery
Portsmouth and Nashua
Coffee Shop Lakes Region Wayfarer Coffee Roaster
surfseafood.com
Crab Cakes
Multilocation Local
The Common Man
Laconia
Burger Twist There are many good things happening at this locally sourced, solar-powered spot in Northwood. Though the burger menu changes often at Umami Farm Fresh Café, bet on the fact that no matter what’s offered, it will be good and unlike anything you’ve had before. On top of that, you can make any of the creative burgers (like the Shmac, which has braised short rib and mac and cheese) your own by choosing from three options – the Asian-style smash burger, Korean fried chicken sandwich or veggie patty. You can also upgrade to specialty fries (these also change often) or swap out the regular bread for a gluten-free bun. umaminh.com
Cool Coffee Shop Revelstoke in Concord has a modern, cozy, welcoming vibe. It’s named for the small town of Revelstoke in Canada, which the founders wound up in during a roadtrip through Banff national park. Revel, to enjoy oneself, and stoke, consuming for energy, seemed like a good fit. And it is. But no one would hang out here, no matter how cool, unless there was good coffee. From the basic cup to more elaborate drinks, everything is excellent. Looking for something new? Try the Ipsento, a hot latte with local honey, milk, coconut cream and cayenne. revelstokecoffee.com
Avocado Toast The fresh, joyful atmosphere at Native Coffee + Kitchen in Rye and Hampton Falls is represented in their avocado toast.
Coffee Shop White Mountains Region Metropolitan Coffee House Crab Cakes Surf Seafood
Multiple Locations
wayfarerroasters.com
thecman.com
Coffee Shop Lakes Region
Cupcakes Queen City Cupcakes
Multilocation Regional
Manchester
qccupcakes.com
Aroma Joe’s
Multiple Locations
aromajoes.com was then dry hopped like an IPA. Visit the welcoming taproom to see what’s on tap next. ancientfirewines.com
flightcoffeeco.com
metropolitancoffeehouse.com
polishprincessbakery.com
Created to celebrate community, creativity and culture, Sweets by Coolwoka in Exeter has it all — exposed brick walls, natural lighting, marble tables, twinkly lights, rose sugars for your tea — plus macarons that will make you feel like you just stepped into a scene from “Downton Abbey.” Pick from seasonal macaron flavors like vanilla bean, meyer lemon and New Hampshire blueberry pancake while you treat yourself to lavender tea. If you have no room for your dessert’s dessert, take a flourless chocolate cake or Belgian waffle home to enjoy later. Facebook
Dover and Bedford
North Conway
Lancaster
Macarons
Coffee Shop Nashua Area Riverwalk Café & Music Bar
Coffee Shop Manchester Area Café La Reine Manchester
cafelareine.com
Coffee Shop Manchester Area
Delicatessen Bubby’s NY Style Delicatessen Portsmouth
bubbysdeli.com
Diner Overall Tilt’n Diner Tilton
thecman.com
Multilocation Regional
Diner Overall
Multiple Locations
Multiple Locations
aromajoes.com
redarrowdiner.com
Coffee Shop Monadnock Region Union Coffee Company
Diner Concord Area Northwood Diner
Multilocation Local
Red Arrow
Aroma Joe’s
Milford
FOOD & DRINK
Coffee Shop Concord Area True Brew Barista
Northwood
unioncoffee.co
nhmagazine.com | July 2019
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Multilocation Local
Diner White Mountains Region Littleton Diner
Multiple Locations
littletondiner.com
Red Arrow Diner redarrowdiner.com
Diner Dartmouth/Lake Sunapee Region Four Aces Diner Lebanon
4acesdiner.com
Diner Lakes Region 104 Diner New Hampton
thecman.com
Diner Manchester Area Airport Diner Manchester
thecman.com
Diner Manchester Area
Littleton
Distillery Tamworth Distilling & Mercantile Tamworth
tamworthdistilling.com
Doughnuts Donut Love
North Hampton
donutlove603.com
Family-friendly Dining Puritan Backroom Manchester
puritanbackroom.com
Family-friendly Dining
Multilocation Local
Multilocation Local
T-BONES Great American Eatery
Multiple Locations
t-bones.com
Diner Monadnock Region Peterborough Diner
Favorite Restaurant Overall Tuckaway Tavern & Butchery
Red Arrow Diner redarrowdiner.com
Multiple Locations
Peterborough
Raymond
peterboroughdiner.com
thetuckaway.com
Diner Monadnock Region
Favorite Restaurant Concord Area The Barley House
Multilocation Local
Red Arrow Diner Multiple Locations
redarrowdiner.com
Diner Nashua Area Joey’s Diner Amherst
joeysdiner.com
Diner Salem Area The Bacon Barn Londonderry
baconbarndiner.com
Diner Salem Area Multilocation Local
MaryAnn’s Diner
Derry, Windham and Salem
maryannsdiner.com
Diner Seacoast Region Roundabout Diner and Lounge Portsmouth
roundaboutdiner.com 72
courtesy photo
FOOD & DRINK
Diner Concord Area
Concord and North Hampton
Mobile Artisanal Pizza Without a speedy delivery service, pizza off-premises can be a disappointment — especially for an occasion. But thanks to Farm to Fire Mobile Pizza in Monroe, lava-hot wood-fired pizza can be the centerpiece of your North Country event. They specialize in artisanal thin-crust pizza fired to perfection in their mobile unit. Though they also have the typical pizza lover’s menu, their signature pie —the maple bacon — takes the cake, with garlic oil, green apple, bacon, caramelized onion, shredded cheddar, mozzarella, spinach and maple syrup for a real taste of New Hampshire fresh from the fire. Also find them at the Sugar Hill Pizza Night one Thursday night a month through October. farmtofire.pizza
thebarleyhouse.com
Favorite Restaurant Concord Area
Multilocation Local
The Common Man Multiple Locations
thecman.com
Favorite Restaurant Dartmouth/Lake Sunapee Region Flying Goose Brew Pub & Grille New London
flyinggoose.com
Favorite Restaurant Dartmouth/Lake Sunapee Region
nhmagazine.com | July 2019
Made with locally sourced, sustainable and organic ingredients, it’s no wonder that their vibrant, delicious toast is as good for the eyes as it is for the stomach. It is nutrient-rich and made with a contagious smile that will make you smile from the inside out. nativenh.com
Healthy Meals To Go No time to spend in the kitchen, yet you crave home cooking? Consider The Clean Take in Concord, a new service that provides meals to go for dining at home. Start with a healthy antioxidant-rich kale and beet salad, and round it out with a nutritious carrot soup and a hormone-free stuffed turkey entrée. They strictly avoid the dirty dozen foods that are high in pesticide, instead seeking organic and local ingredients, and they make most meal components
from scratch. They even offer meal plans for those suffering from Lyme disease or recovering from cancer treatment. Just order ahead and pick up from their Capital Two Plaza location on weekdays. thecleantakeconcord.com
Asian Fusion The old Fat Belly’s space in Portsmouth has been rebranded as Fuki, featuring the mind-bending menu of executive chef Zack Squier, the creative genius behind Umami in Northwood. If you enjoy small-plate dining and innovative Asian flavors, this is your ticket. Find wagyu beef hot dogs and burgers dressed to kill, a duck fat brownie sundae, kimchi fried rice, fried duck wings and smoked ribs that are delightfully presented. And, oh my, the Oh Mai Tai cocktail with aged rum, a mango shrub and house orgeat. fukinh.com
The Common Man Multiple Locations
thecman.com
Favorite Restaurant Great North Woods Region Rainbow Grille & Tavern Pittsburg
rainbowgrille.com
Favorite Restaurant Lakes Region Patrick’s Pub & Eatery
Multilocation Local
The Common Man
Multilocation Local courtesy photo
T-BONES Great American Eatery Multiple Locations
t-bones.com
Favorite Restaurant Manchester Area The Copper Door Bedford and Salem
copperdoorrestaurant.com
Breakfast and Agritainment
Tucked away in a house in Wolfeboro is the cozy and authentic Mexican restaurant El Centenario. The Lira family’s recipes are all worth trying, but you’d be remiss not to start with the tableside guacamole. Skipping to the end, save room for another tableside creation — the fried ice cream, which is lit on fire right in front of you. Fans of real mole sauce should not pass up the mole poblano. Other signature dishes include familiar favorites such as tamales and enchiladas, plus cochinita pibil, slow-cooked Yucatan-style pork, and chiles en nogada, a picadillo stuffed poblano with a creamy walnut sauce. elcentenarionh.com
New Hampshire’s pancake houses are all great in their own way, but at Heritage Farm Pancake House in Sanbornton, your tasty breakfast comes with a side of old-fashioned farm fun. After enjoying a family-style meal with farm-fresh eggs, Fox Country Smoke House bacon, from-scratch pancakes and pure, locally made maple syrup, take the kids to the petting farm or take a horse-drawn wagon ride (or sleigh ride in the winter). heritagefarm.net
Outrageous Sandwiches If you call your place Sandwich Master, you better deliver the goods. This Rindge restau-
Favorite Restaurant White Mountains Region Tie Moat Mountain Smokehouse and Brewing Co. Favorite Restaurant White Mountains Region
Favorite Restaurant Lakes Region
Mexican Gem
woodstockinnbrewery.com
moatmountain.com
patrickspub.com
For years, Keith Sarasin has championed local ingredients and the farmers who produce them. As the founder of the Farmers Dinner, he hosts a series of dinners featuring locally sourced items. Happily, these days you no longer have to wait for one of his often instantly sold-out events — along with Chef Chris Viaud, he’s opened a new restaurant where fresh, local ingredients are the star of the show (or plate). At Greenleaf in Milford, find an exciting but approachable menu with a nod to regional classics as well as ever-changing seasonal dishes. greenleafmilford.com
North Woodstock
North Conway
Gilford
Farm-to-table Cuisine
Favorite Restaurant White Mountains Region Tie Woodstock Inn, Station and Brewery
Multiple Locations
thecman.com
Fine Dining Restaurant Hanover Street Chophouse Manchester
hanoverstreetchophouse.com
Gluten-free Options Tie Laney + Lu
Favorite Restaurant Monadnock Region The Stage
Exeter
thestagerestaurant.com
Londonderry
Keene
laneyandlu.com
Gluten-free Options Tie Lucciano’s Café luccianoscafe.com
Favorite Restaurant Nashua Area Surf Seafood
Gluten-free Options
Multilocation Regional
Portsmouth and Nashua
110 Grill
surfseafood.com
Multiple Locations
Favorite Restaurant Salem Area The Copper Door
110grill.com
copperdoorrestaurant.com
Greek Restaurant Amphora
Gourmet To Go All Real Meal
Bedford and Salem
Favorite Restaurant Seacoast Region Surf Seafood Portsmouth and Nashua
surfseafood.com
FOOD & DRINK
Multilocation Local
Manchester
allrealmeal.com
Derry
amphoranh.com
Ice Cream Overall Hayward’s Ice Cream Nashua
haywardsicecream.com nhmagazine.com | July 2019
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Concord
arniesplace.com
Ice Cream White Mountains Region Bishops Homemade Ice Cream Littleton
Ice Cream Dartmouth/Lake Sunapee Region Sanctuary Dairy Farm Ice Cream
bishopshomemadeicecream.com
icecreamkidbeck.com
tajindia.co
Ice Cream Great North Woods Region Moose Alley Cones
Irish Pub The Holy Grail
Sunapee
Pittsburg
partridgecabins.com
Ice Cream Lakes Region Jordan’s Ice Creamery Belmont
facebook.com/jordansic
Ice Cream Manchester Area Puritan Backroom Manchester
puritanbackroom.com
Ice Cream Monadnock Region The Walpole Creamery Walpole and Keene
walpolecreamery.com
Ice Cream Monadnock Region
Indian Restaurant Taj India/New Taj India Manchester and Nashua
Epping
holygrailrestaurantandpub.com
Italian Restaurant Patty B’s Ristorante Italiano Dover
pattybs.com
Italian Restaurant Multilocation Local
Fratello’s Italian Grille
Manchester, Laconia and Nashua
fratellos.com
Japanese Restaurant Tie Shio Japanese Restaurant Portsmouth
shiojapaneserestaurant.com
Japanese Restaurant Tie Moritomo
Multilocation Local
Concord
Jaffrey and Mass.
Lobster Roll Tuckaway Tavern & Butchery
Kimball Farm
kimballfarm.com/jaffrey
Ice Cream Nashua Area The Big 1 Ice Cream Stand
moritomonh.com
Raymond
thetuckaway.com
Lobster Roll
Nashua
Multilocation Local
Ice Cream Salem Area Moo’s Place Homemade Ice Cream
Epping, Portsmouth and North Hampton
thebig1icecream.com
Derry and Salem
moosplace.com
Ice Cream Seacoast Region Lago’s Ice Cream Rye
lagosicecream.com 74
The Beach Plum thebeachplum.net
Locally Sourced Menu Republic Manchester
republiccafe.com
Mac and Cheese Tuckaway Tavern & Butchery
nhmagazine.com | July 2019
courtesy photo
FOOD & DRINK
Ice Cream Concord Area Arnie’s Place
Not Totally Tea It’s hard to pin down a place like Teatotaller in Somersworth — tea house, coffee shop, breakfast and lunch spot, third place, and hub of a people’s conspiracy to make Somersworth an epicenter of joy, art and human liberation. Not a small task for a tea shop, but then they do serve great teas, most blended in-house where the tea kitchen “infuses our imagination, daydreams and lust for the finer things in life, to create delicious and exciting blends for the experienced tea-drinker (or the uninitiated).” To get a glimpse of the bigger picture, check out their provocative roadside billboard series that makes periodic appearances on the pages of seacoastonline.com. teatotallerteahouse.com rant definitely lives up to its name with some truly over-the-top options. The Dumpster, for instance, has chicken fingers, fried mozzarella sticks and onion rings topped with more mozzarella plus marinara sauce served on a grilled sub roll. Or how about sandwich on sandwich? The Grilled Cheese Crazy is your choice of ham, turkey or roast beef with lettuce, tomato and your choice of dressing or sauce layered between a grilled cheese sandwich and a grilled bacon and cheese sandwich. Now that’s thinking outside the bun. sandwichmaster.net
Maple Bacon Donut The yeast-raised donuts only appear in the Local Moose Café case on weekends, and they sell out quickly. Selections vary, and can include maple frosting with bacon to vanilla with pistachios to strawberry and sprinkles — all just the ticket after enjoying a healthful smoothie, farm-to-café sandwich or Vietnamese iced coffee at this Manchester breakfast and lunch hot spot. thelocalmoosecafe.com
IPAs Spyglass Brewing Company in Nashua is a nano brewery (meaning very small) with a taproom offering full pours, half pours, flights, and a limited food menu. If you need more sustenance with your brews, you can bring in your own food or have it delivered. The folks at Spyglass are really into IPAs, and their love for them certainly shows. Check the website to see what’s currently on tap, and hopefully that will include Fuzzy Logic, a New England double IPA, or the Stack Trace Denali, an intriguing oat IPA, which is also a hazy New England style. spyglassbrewing.com
Italian Restaurant Nicola’s Trattoria in Keene has always impressed, but lately the food has ascended to new heights. A recent addition to their housemade pasta selections is a classic Roman cacio e peppe made with shepsog cheese from Vermont’s Grafton Village. In fact, these days many of their regular dishes and seasonal specials feature local and regionally
Brazilian Buffet Sabor Brasil Restaurant has been serving Brazillian chow on the same spot on Canal Street in Nashua for a couple of decades, but a new family took over about 12 years ago and really earned the trust of diners who love savory meats. The lunch buffet sells for $7.45 a pound (or $20.95 for all you can eat). Don’t miss the picanha (sirloin top butt) and Brazillian sausage and save room for their popular flan for dessert. And if it’s a laid-back lunch, order a caipirinha, a delicious mixed drink featuring Brazil’s “51” rum. Facebook
Cajun Spirit The very idea of Cajun food can be off-putting, suggesting exotic spices and ingredients, but any real Cajun knows the primary ingredient for a meal is joy — both in the preparation and in the tasting of the food. Madear’s on Hanover Street in Manchester is the kind
of Cajun joint you might find in Opelousas or Lafayette, unselfconciously authentic. The food is rich and tasty ranging from gumbo and étouffée to small plates of braised collard greens and fried okra. Try the boudin balls and ask for a little history. The owners have their recipes down so they can tend to the spirit of the place, which is a bit like a nightly Mardi Gras. madears603.com
Raymond
BBQ Ribs
mr-macs.com
New Hampshire isn’t exactly known for its BBQ, but that doesn’t mean you can’t fulfill your craving for smoked or low-and-slow cooked meats (plus all the sides) — you just have to know where to look. Smokehaus Barbecue in Amherst, which opened in 2017, quickly gained buzz for a variety of items, but the highest praise goes to the baby back ribs. The combination of a dry rub and smoky flavor are spot-on. Under the “just meats” section of the menu you can order either a half or whole slab, though you really shouldn’t pass up the sides. Order a plate (again with a choice of a half or full order) and choose two from classic sides including mac and cheese, hush puppies, cole slaw, creamed corn, collard greens, baked beans or fries. If you’re somehow still hungry, give the brisket a try. smokehausbbq.com
thetuckaway.com
Mac and Cheese Multilocation Regional
Mexican Restaurant
Multilocation Local
La Carreta
Multiple Locations
Mr. Mac’s Macaroni and Cheese Manchester, Portsmouth and Tyngsboro, Mass.
lacarretamex.com
New Restaurant Noodz Manchester
Outdoor Dining The Crown Tavern
Martinis Cotton
Manchester
Manchester
thecrownonhanover.com
cottonfood.com
Mediterranean Restaurant Mediterrano Turkish & Mediterranean Cuisine Hillsborough
Pastries Popovers on the Square Epping and Portsmouth
popoversonthesquare.com
mediterranoo.com
Pastries
Mexican Restaurant Hermanos Cocina Mexicana
Frederick’s Pastries
Concord
hermanosmexican.com
FOOD & DRINK
grown produce and products, and a number of other items are made in-house, such as the bread that’s baked daily or perhaps sausage for the pizza special. All told, this is elegant, simple — yet flavorful — Italian food made even better with the focus on keeping it local whenever possible. nicolaskeene.com
Multilocation Regional
Amherst, Bedford and North Andover, Mass.
pastry.net
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Pizzeria Manchester Area
harveysbakery.com
Sal’s Pizza
Dover
Pies
Multilocation Local
The Red Arrow Milford
redarrowdiner.com
Pizzeria Overall La Festa Brick & Brew Pizza Dover
lafestabrickandbrew.com
Pizzeria Concord Area Constantly Pizza Concord
constantlypizza.net
Pizzeria Concord Area
Multilocation Regional
Multiple Locations
sals-pizza.com
Pizzeria Monadnock Region Athens Pizza House and Restaurant Keene
(603) 352-5370
Pizzeria Monadnock Region Multilocation Regional
Ramunto’s Brick Oven Pizza Multiple Locations
ramuntos.com
Sal’s Pizza
Pizzeria Nashua Area Nashua House of Pizza
sals-pizza.com
nashuahouseofpizza.com
Pizzeria Dartmouth/Lake Sunapee Region Lui Lui
Pizzeria Nashua Area
Multilocation Regional
Multiple Locations
West Lebanon and Nashua
Nashua
Multilocation Regional
Sal’s Pizza
Multiple Locations
luilui.com
sals-pizza.com
Pizzeria Dartmouth/Lake Sunapee Region
Pizzeria Salem Area Granfanallys Pizza Pub
Multilocation Regional
Salem
Ramunto’s Brick Oven Pizza
granfanallys.com
ramuntos.com
Multilocation Regional
Multiple Locations
Pizzeria Great North Woods The Burg Pittsburg
Pizzeria Lakes Region Tilton House of Pizza Tilton
tiltonhouseofpizza.com
Pizzeria Manchester Area Alley Cat Pizzeria Manchester
alleycatpizzerianh.com 76
photo by jenn bakos
FOOD & DRINK
Pies Harvey’s Bakery and Coffee Shop
Pizzeria Salem Area Sal’s Pizza
Multiple Locations
sals-pizza.com
Pizzeria Seacoast Region Front Row Pizzeria Exeter
frontrowpizzeria.com
Pizzeria Seacoast Region Multilocation Regional
Flatbread
Multiple Locations
flatbreadcompany.com
nhmagazine.com | July 2019
Fun Craft Cocktails Sometimes good things can be taken just a tad too seriously. We’re all for excellent, considered cocktails with ingredients we need to Google, but sometimes you want to have a little more fun with your drink. At The Birch on Elm in Manchester, find the perfect happy medium of expertly crafted cocktails with a splash of lightheartedness. Many of the classics are here — French 75, sazerac, etc. — in addition to their own elegant creations, plus an impressive brunch cocktail list you should absolutely check out some Sunday. But, back to the fun. For instance, they once offered a traditional blue Hawaiian (with homemade, from-scratch ingredients, of course). Another time there was the Clouds and Dirt, a pineapple, smoked rhubarb, orgeat, lemon, gin, mezcal concoction with a poof of cotton candy on top. These special drinks come and go, so you’ll just have to stop in once a week or so. Darn. thebirch.restaurant
Restaurant With Best Beer List
Multilocation Local
Seafood Restaurant Surf Seafood
bostonbrotherspizzeria.com
Multiple Locations
surfseafood.com
North Conway
Pizzeria White Mountains Region
flatbreadcompany.com
bedfordvillageinn.com
Pizzeria Gourmet 900 Degrees
Sandwich The Nashua Garden Nashua
billyssportsbar.com
900degrees.com
Restaurant With Best Beer List New England’s Tap House Grille
Sandwich
Steakhouse Hanover Street Chophouse
The Green Bean
Manchester
taphousenh.com
nhgreenbean.com
Tacos Taco Beyondo
Manchester
Hooksett
Bedford
Multilocation Local Exeter, Portsmouth, New Castle
thaismilenh.com
Soup Collins Brothers Chowder Co.
Flatbread
Multiple Locations
Chef Jordan Scott has moved from Odelay in downtown Keene to a joint effort at Machina Arts Kitchen & ArtBar, located just off Keene’s Central Square. And arty it is. The comfortable bar with glowing red columns and distinctive art installations, in cooperation with Machina Arts, bring excitement for the arts to this social space in the Monadnock Region. Look for monthly prix fixe, multicourse dinners this summer that feature Chef Scott’s sensibility for French and Asian flavors. Bartender Becca Paine offers a distinctive bar program rooted in wild harvested and organic ingredients for an eclectic cocktail and mocktail list, which includes a “Cure-all” with turmeric, a lemonade with Earl Grey tea ice cubes and house-made Italian-style sodas. machinaarts.org
thirstymoosetaphouse.com
Plymouth and Durham
Portsmouth and Nashua
Restaurant With Best Wine List The Bedford Village Inn
Multilocation Regional
Bar Vibe
Thirsty Moose Taphouse
Thai Restaurant Thai Smile
Nashua
collinsbrotherschowder.com
Sports Bar Billy’s Sports Bar & Grill Manchester
Vegetarian Green Elephant vegetarian Bistro Portsmouth
greenelephantnh.com
Winery or Vineyard LaBelle Winery
Amherst and Portsmouth
labellewinerynh.com
Wings Wing-itz
Portsmouth and Dover
wing-itz.com
hanoverstreetchophouse.com
Hillsborough
tacobeyondo.com
courtesy photos
Culinary Fellowship The Friendship Dinners at the Turkish Cultural Center in Manchester are just one of many outreaches there (along with festivals, performances and talks), but what better way to achieve understanding between the diverse neighbors of the Queen City than sitting down for a meal together? Even something as simple (and rich) as a cup of Turkish coffee can become the spark of an intercultural dialogue — especially when paired with servings of the Turkish specialty Noah’s Pudding, a sweet porridge of grains, fruits and nuts, traditionally served on the 10th day of Muharram. A large community of Turkic Americans lives in New Hampshire, so this is a way to get to know some neighbors and explore a culture that is at once so distant and so near at hand. Information on meals and other outreach can be found at tccnh.org.
Rustic Bread Oklahoma City’s loss is Keene’s gain. A few years ago, career-changers Sam Temple and Bridget Love headed back to their Monadnock roots, bringing along their rustic bread recipes featuring long fermentations, fresh-milled heirloom grains and toothsome crusty exteriors. After showcasing at the local farmers market, they opened Fire Dog Breads this past December. Find seed-studded baguettes, pain au levin with a dark mahogany crust, wheat, spelt and buckwheat walnut loaf, earthy sourdoughs, a bougnat embedded with leeks or olives and a delicate golden semolina scented with saffron and honey. Selections vary day to day, as this is a family operation. For lunch, find by-theslice pizza featuring potatoes and white truffle or roasted cauliflower with currants and ham. Their crusty bread is the high spot for sandwiches with imported cheeses or a bánh mì. Ogle the eye-popping display of divine pastries including pistachio chocolate and almond and cherry chocolate croissants. Breads can also be found at the Monadnock Food Co-op and Nature’s Green Grocer. Facebook nhmagazine.com | July 2019
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FOOD & DRINK
Pizzeria White Mountains Region Boston Brothers Pizzeria
SHOPS
AND
SERVICES
Nostalgic Shop
The Melamine Cup in Jaffrey is a mid-century modern shop that gives you affordable ways to redecorate your home with trends that will take you back to yesteryear’s designs. Purchase vintage items like furniture, barware, linens, pottery, electronics, industrial office items, wall art and many more unique treasures. Stop by and enjoy a trip down memory lane. themelaminecup.com 78
nhmagazine.com | July 2019
Photos by Kendal Bush
NH Fish and Game has been known for protecting and managing the Granite State’s fish, wildlife and marine resources since 1865, but we are also making them known for best state merch. Take your pick from NH hats, sweatshirts, mugs, calendars, NH Wildlife Journal, novelty license plates, or their very own cookbook, “New Hampshire’s Wild Eats: Cooking Your Catch.” wildlife.state.nh.us/shop
Neighborhood Grocer Look, we’re as excited as the next person about the new Trader Joe’s in Bedford, but sometimes it’s nice to walk into a charming grocery store where the owners know your name and all your favorite items. Roy’s Market in Peterborough is just such a place, with
staff that will let you in just after closing up for that one last thing you really, really need. It’s the kind of old-fashioned customer service that feels more like genuine friendliness — because it is. Roy’s has been a Peterborough staple since 1938. In 2004, Peter Robinson bought it from his uncle Albert Roy, and in 2010 Robinson remodeled the store, adding green technology in an effort to make it more environmentally friendly. You can feel good all around when shopping here. roysmarket.com
Paper Lives! Rumors of the long-predicted “death of paper” will draw a few yawns at Little Dog Paper Co. in Meredith. The beauty, function and fun of paper in its spectrum of colors and textures has been the inspiration here
Shops and Services Antique or Vintage Shop REVIVED Furniture and Home Décor Derry
revivedfurnitureandhomedecor.com
Automotive AutoFair autofair.com
Barbershop Lucky’s Barbershop and Shave Parlor Concord/Portsmouth
luckysbarbershop.biz
Beer Store Bert’s Better Beers Hooksett
bertsbetterbeers.com
Bike Shop Exeter Cycles
Rochester
jetpackcomics.com
Fitness Instructor Adam Gray, GetFit NH Concord
getfitnh.com
Concord
cobblestoneflorist.com
Garden Center Wentworth Greenhouses & Garden Center Rollinsford
wentworthgreenhouses.com
Hair Salon Hair Daze Dover
hdaze.com
Exeter
exetercycles.com
Bike Shop
Multilocation Local
Home Décor Shop REVIVED Furniture and Home Décor Derry
Goodale’s Bike Shop
revivedfurnitureandhomedecor.com
goodalesbikeshop.com
Independent Book Store Gibson’s Bookstore
multiple locations
Butcher Shop Tuckaway Tavern and Butchery
Concord
Raymond
gibsonsbookstore.com
Caterer Celebrations
Independently Owned Fitness Center GetFit NH
Manchester
celebrationsmenu.com
courtesy photo
Comic Book Store Jetpack Comics
Florist Cobblestone Design Company
multiple locations
thetuckaway.com
SHOPS & SERVICES
NH Merchandise
Concord
getfitnh.com
Comfort With Style If you think it’s strange that an upscale women’s clothing boutique is located in Littleton, you haven’t visited this White Mountains town lately. It’s worth a stroll along the river and delightful Main Street, bustling with independent shops, the new Schilling Beer Company tasting room, bakeries and excellent restaurants. Amid all of this is Bella Funk Boutique, where you’ll find premium labels that are as cozy and comfortable as they are beautiful. The idea that quality fashion has to be restrictive or even painful is nowhere to be found. Find dresses, footwear, accessories, denim and more, plus handmade items from local artisans. bellafunkboutique.com
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SHOPS & SERVICES
since it was founded as a greeting card line in 2014. Now the line has expanded to nearly 200 different original cards, and they stock an extensive inventory of notecards, planner inserts and sticker albums, plus their “suck it up baby” set of screenprinted baby bodysuits. littledogpaperco.com
Vinyl Vanguard
Doggonit Training
Indoor Cycling Cycle Fierce
Pet Supply Outlet
cyclefierce.com
Pet Training Doggonit Training
Jeweler Bellmans Jewelers
Portsmouth
macandcoppers.com
Gilford
Manchester
doggonitnh.com
Kids’ Clothing Shop Puddle Jumpers
Second Hand Clothing Shop M&C Clothing and Goods
bellmans.com
Exeter
puddlejumpersnh.com
Lingerie Shop Top Drawer Boutique Exeter
topdrawerboutique.com
Local Jeweler with Store Jonathan’s Jewelers Bedford
jonathansjewelers.com
Men’s Clothing Shop George’s Apparel Manchester
georgesapparel.com
Pet Boarding Take Five Dogcare Lee
takefivedogcare.com
Pet Boarding
Multilocation Local
The Barking Dog Derry, Exeter and Hooksett
thebarkingdog.com
Pet Grooming Mac and Cooper’s Pet Supply Outlet Portsmouth
macandcoppers.com
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Gift Shop and Apothecary Walk into Lonesome Woods in Bethlehem, and you’ll find there’s not an inch of the store that doesn’t have something of interest to ponder. The sign outside says they have antiques, apothecary, dry goods, candles, vintage, clothing and records, but there’s way more than that. Somehow it doesn’t overwhelm; it invites. Need an ax? Got them. Paddles? Smudge sticks? Organic soap? Honey dipper? “Live Free or Die” sign? Cast-iron frying pan? Got them all. You can also get soy wax candles, bath salts, room mist, potpourri, and even Mountain Man beard oil, all part of an apothecary line made by the proprietors. If you want to buy someone a not-your-usual gift, this is the place. lonesomewoods.com
Amherst
m-c-clothing-and-goods. myshopify.com
Skin Care/ Specialty Makeup Boutique Kriss Cosmetics Manchester
krisscosmetics.com
Specialty Food Store Angela’s Pasta & Cheese Shop Manchester
angelaspastaandcheese.com
Toy Store Noggin Factory Dover
nogginfactorytoys.com
Wine Shop WineNot Boutique Nashua
courtesy photo
Portsmouth
Its purple storefront studded with LP record “polka dots” is a beacon to those who must have the warm sounds of pure, classic vinyl to fill their audio brain grooves. Skele-Tone’s punk roots show through the free-form décor and pop up in the depth of history and inventory on hand — classic vinyl, CDs, cassette tapes, audio equipment, and a passion for the hidden gems and relics of the once-monolithic music industry. Skele-Tone of Rochester is self-proclaimed
as the most organized record store on the East Coast. Seek and ye shall find. Facebook
winenotboutique.com
Women’s Clothing Shop Gondwana & Divine Clothing Concord
clothingnh.com
Yoga Studio Sol Power Yoga Bedford
solpoweryoga.com
nhmagazine.com | July 2019
Vintage Advantage Walking into antique shops can be overwhelming — many are stuffed to the rafters, overflowing with so many items that it can be difficult to even pick a place to start. At The Quince and Quail in Ashland, the owners have made a considered effort to carefully curate their wares, intentionally avoiding the clutter of traditional secondhand shops without turning it into a sterile space. The result is a charming shop where you can happily peruse antiques from the 18th century through the mid-20th century, as well as vintage clothing. Facebook
SHOPS & SERVICES
Men’s Vintage Boutique
photo by john hession
The alliterative slogan — “Purveyor of the Pleasing & Peculiar Past” — says it all. Old as Adam in Portsmouth buys and sells an eclectic mix of antiques that includes menswear. Yes, menswear. You can buy vintage men’s clothing dating back to 1970 or earlier. You might even find an item 100 or more years old. They also buy and prefer casual clothing, like cotton shirts and denim jeans, but they’ll consider formal clothing too. Don’t expect to go there without calling, texting or emailing first. Their hours, they say, are “sometimes.” oldasadam.com
Haberdashery A trip to a haberdashery was once a chance for a man to update his fashion sense, check his measurements, and learn a few style points from someone in the know. Now most men dash into a department store (or shop online — shudder) and get none of that. And we wonder why dads are failing at fashion. Miller Bros.-Newton in Keene has been around since 1844 so they remember and have preserved the old ways. Drop by, allow yourself to be cared for by practiced and seasoned fashion observers, and you may never want to shop in the 21st century again. millerbrosnewton.com
Local Lighting When designing a space — be it your kitchen or an office — one of the key elements to making it inviting is lighting. To go a step further, Derek Marshall of Derek Marshall Custom Lighting in Sandwich will turn your lights into works of art. He designs wall sconces, pendant lights and chandeliers, all of which are crafted by hand with American-made glass. As he says, they are “the jewelry that sets off an interior space.” derekmarshall.com
Stay at the Lake. — Mill Falls at the Lake —
4 Inns • 5 Distinctive Restaurants • 10 Marketplace Shops • Beautiful Event Spaces • Cascade Spa & Salon Lake Activity Center • Located on the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee Mill Falls at the Lake • 312 Daniel Webster Highway • Meredith, New Hampshire • (877) 684-9892 • millfalls.com nhmagazine.com | July 2019
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You have to think way outside the box to be a modern puppeteer. In fact, why not just make the box into another puppet? To see creativity in its most agile and tactile expressions, check out the second annual Granite State Puppet Slam (dubbed the GS Puppet Invasion!) on Oct. 25-27 at the Hatbox Theatre in Concord. Organized and directed by members of Weare’s Fantastical Puppetarium (visit them on Facebook), the first slam last year drew big adult crowds eager to see puppetry not aimed at the kiddos. This year will be even more fantastic and the group is hoping to create a NH Puppetry Guild to promote the art form in our state. 82
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Puppet Slam
A lot has happened in film in the last 50 years leading up to modern icons like Tarantino and Pixar. And a lot happened in the 50 years before that, going back to the Lumière brothers and the creation of cinema in the late 19th century. So if you love movies, there’s a lot to love, but where do you share that love with other, like-minded film fans? You might say, “At the movies, of course,” but folks tend to wander off once the lights come up. Not at The Film Club at “The Loft” screening room of The Music Hall in Portsmouth. Here, the greatest and most notorious films of all time (plus a few oddball favorites) are viewed and discussed by fans and experts alike. The series is hosted by award-winning film critic Trevor Bartlett, who really knows the behind-thescreen stories. themusichall.org
Band Leader We named Conway’s “Cold River Radio Show” as a Best of NH Editor’s Pick a couple of years ago and since then have gotten to know the show’s suave and multitalented leader, Jonathan Sarty. Turns out he’s a singer/songwriter who also founded the roots/country White Mountain Boys and the Jonathan Sarty Band playing classic
covers. He still keeps Cold River hot by attracting the best local, regional and national talent — all while conducting the eclectic mix and crooning the music of artists ranging from Sinatra and Cole to Presley and Cash. jonathansarty.com
Creative Collective Weary of Portsmouth’s commercial art scene and seeking an independent space to express themselves, a group of Seacoast creatives formed Sue’s Space — a “member-run creative performance space” in Rollinsford’s Salmon Falls Mills. They manage 15 studio spaces where local artists work in mediums ranging from loom weaving to painting, animation and carving. They also offer a literal underground performance space where visitors can see a touring band or cult movie screening, and even participate in yoga classes, drag shows,or comedy open-mic nights — provided they can find the place first. (Search for 3 Front St., B789, in Rollinsford.) Sue’s currently has regular events every night of the week. Facebook
“New” Theatre Company The Granite State is rightly renowned for its devotion to live theatre — two of
Arts and Culture Art Gallery ArtHub Nashua
AM Radio Station WGIR 610 Manchester
wgiram.iheart.com
FM Radio Station NHPR Concord
nhpr.org
Independent Movie Theater Red River Theatres Concord
redrivertheatres.org
Large Music Venue Bank of NH Pavilion Gilford
nhpr.org
Small Music Venue The Tupelo Music Hall Derry
tupelomusichall.com
Theatre/ Performing Arts Venue The Palace Theatre Manchester
palacetheatre.org
TV News Anchor Erin Fehlau, WMUR Manchester
wmur.com
TV News Reporter Ray Brewer, WMUR
banknhpavilion.com
Museum The Currier Museum of Art
Manchester
wmur.com
TV Sports Anchor Jamie Staton, WMUR
Manchester
currier.org
photo by michael havey
NH Radio Talk Show “The Exchange with Laura Knoy” NHPR Concord
naaa-arthub.org
NH Radio Morning Show Greg and the Morning Buzz, WHEB
Manchester
wheb.iheart.com
wmur.com
Manchester
ARTS & CULTURE
Film Club
wmur.com
Weatherperson Kevin Skarupa Manchester
A scene from Firelight’s production “Body Awareness” by Annie Baker
Experimental Theatre
Theatre probably began when a Stone Age ancestor began acting out moments of the mammoth hunt by the cave fire. Since then, it’s been one long experiment in how to use people and props to tell stories, move hearts and change minds. The most fascinating experimental theatre in NH is the Firelight Theatre Workshop in Peterborough. They keep the flames of creativity hot with “innovative and immersive professional theatre” at affordable rates in traditional and alternative spaces both locally and on tour. For a new and different look at stagecraft, step into the Firelight. firelighttheatreworkshop.com
Jamie Staton, Erin Fehlau, WMUR nhmagazine.com | July 2019
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ARTS & CULTURE Pittsfield may be a million miles (give or take) from Motown, but it has its own music factory. Rocking Horse Studio under the leadership of producer/musician Brian Coombes has been cultivating a fine-feathered flock of the finest artists in the state, all in his state-of-the-art recording studio set in the rolling hills outside town. There he has nurtured talent that has gone on to national success (and much that deserves such fame). The Rocking Horse Music Club is his venue for the best voices and most accomplished musicianship he’s collected along the way, and he has taken that show on the road, even successfully touring the UK where they debuted a hit single in the making titled “Everywhere is Home.” The band’s first album, “Every Change of Seasons,” is a perfect showcase for the band and one of the best recordings to come out of New Hampshire in the past year. rockinghorsestudio.com the oldest professional companies in the country still operate here and virtually every town has its own community theatre group, but usually the plays are tried and true classics produced to put butts in seats. That’s where Manchester’s Cue Zero Theatre Company takes its cue by emphasizing new productions and new approaches to theatre and by casting fresh, promising talent. The company produced its first show, “Project Zero: A Night of Original One Acts,” in July of 2014. The devotion continues, as their Facebook page notes: “Every Cue Zero show will have some element of ‘new’ or ‘first time’ to it,” furthering their mission to cultivate and showcase new works, young directors/designers and rising actors.” Facebook
Cultural Mashup We’ve written a lot about the partnership between Lebanon’s Opera North and its partnership with Blow-Me-Down Farm, a property belonging to the National Park 84
nhmagazine.com | July 2019
Service as an annex to the glorious Augustus Saint-Gaudens’ National Historical Park in Cornish. See our online story from the February issue for details. But we’re proud to give the project one more stamp of approval. In a nutshell, Opera North plans to renovate the Blow-Me-Down property and take advantage of its spectacular views to stage outdoor festivals of music and art. In the process they hope to revive one of the country’s oldest and most esteemed artist groups — the Cornish Colony. Their first attempt, under a big tent and overlooking the Connecticut River, was “Singers and Swingers” last July, in which professional opera and circus arts were combined to delightful contrasts and comparisons, leaving the audience dazzled. That worked so well, they have a similar mash-up between Opera North and Big Apple Circus planned for this month (July) with their “Hoedown at BlowMe-Down,” but by all reports, this is just the beginning of something big, beautiful and enduring. operanorth.org
Rocking Horse Music Club 2019 (left to right): Eric Wagley, Brenden Harisiades, Brian Coombes, Patrik Gochez, Justin Cohn, Mike McAdam and Myron Kibbee
Voice Auditons for ABC’s “American Idol” singing contest can number as high as 10,000 per major city, so when someone from NH makes the cut, you know they must be remarkable. Claremont’s Evelyn Cormier is the latest to earn a starring role on the show, and though she was eliminated when the top 14 contestants were thinned by viewers, it was not before Idol judge Katy Perry declared she had “one of my favorite voices I’ve ever heard in my life.” If you missed the show, Cormier has been recording for a while and her music, including her new single, “Yard Sale Guitar,” can be found on her website, evelyncormier.com. (True fans might also want to buy a lovely Evelyn Cormier T-shirt.) After leaving the Idol quest, Cormier agreed to perform for us and the rest of her fans at this year’s Best of NH Party.
courtesy photos
NH Super Group
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FUN
ADVENTURE AND
The annual charge down a grass-and-dirt ski slope on low-riding tricycles is what the World Championship Downhill Tricycle Grand Prix hosted by the Red Parka Pub in Glen is all about. Racers careen down the course, complete with chicane. Great for spectator fun, it’s a hoot of a time held in mid-September at Attitash’s Bear Peak. attitash.com/event/trike-race 86
nhmagazine.com | July 2019
courtesy photos
Most Fun on Three Wheels
Evans Notch, which wiggles its way through New Hampshire and Maine, is located in the eastern White Mountains. It has several excellent campsites (Cold River, Hastings and Wild River), including the spectacular Basin in Chatham. Here you’ll find hiking and paddling opportunities, plus outstanding views. What you won’t find are crowds — these White Mountain National Forest campgrounds are in a rustic setting, and generally don’t attract as many people as the western White Mountains.
Lake Life Promoters
photo by cindy jones
Most museums have a pretty strict “look don’t touch” policy. At the New Hampshire Boat Museum in Wolfeboro, you’re invited to get much more hands-on. For one, you can take a tour of Lake Winnipesaukee aboard a vintage wooden boat The Millie B. Programs include boat-building classes for adults, families and kids, community sailing, summer camp, lecture series, boat restoration plus model yacht-building and sailing. Then there’s the season of events
Bar With a View The new Glen House next to Mt. Washington in Gorham is the fifth iteration located on this historic spot. It’s past stretches back to the 1850s, with four versions succumbing to fire, the final one in 1967. The latest incarnation, which was first proposed 25 years ago and recently opened, continues the Glen House line in grand style. Though the entire building is lovely, you might never leave the gorgeous bar, complete with floor-to-ceiling windows perfectly positioned to offer breathtaking views of Mt. Washington. Don’t just take our word for it — Architectural Digest called it the “most beautifully designed bar” that has the feel of a “new-age cabin.” Consider it the ultimate luxury basecamp for your mountain adventures. theglenhouse.com
that starts with the ice-out celebration in spring and continues with the Vintage Boat & Car Auction, and a chance to glimpse inside the magnificent boat houses that dot the shores with the annual Boat House Tour. The premier event is the Wolfeboro Vintage Race Boat Regatta, which takes place this year on September 12-14. You can watch the action for free as drivers show off their racing boats from the ’20s to ’80s. nhbm.org
New Arcade Downtown Manchester is undergoing some exciting changes, thanks in part to ventures like Electric Avenue. Opened by Manchester natives, this new family-owned arcade bar invites you to relive your childhood with classic games like “Donkey Kong” and “Qbert.” Or take a turn down their pinball alley, where more old-school favorites await. While partaking in some peak nostalgia, remind yourself that you’re all grown up now, and order from the rotating selection of local craft beer. It’s a fun hangout that’s something different from the typical bar. electricavearcade.com
Niche Hostel You could say that rock climbing is having a moment. The sport broke through into the greater cultural consciousness with the Oscar-winning documentary “Free Solo,” and you’ll see rock climbing in the upcoming 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. Right here in New Hampshire, there happens to be some excellent climbing, which many consider the best in the Northeast. Getting in on the growing trend of the shared economy (such as ride-sharing) is Dave Cook, the founder of New Hampshire Hostels Network, who recently opened a new hostel in Rumney that caters to rock climbers and outdoors enthusiasts. The Barn Door Hostel and Campground offers indoor accommodations for $20 and outdoors for $10, making it a truly affordable option for those who want to explore the White Mountains area. barndoorhostel.com
Truly Local Beer Festival Beer festivals are nothing new, but this Concord event is doing things a bit differently — here you’ll find Granite State brews only. On July 13, the New Hampshire Brewers Association’s 6th annual NH Brewers Festival will feature the largest collection of New Hampshire craft breweries at any brewfest in the state. It’s a fantastic opportunity to sample what’s brewing locally all in one spot. Make your way among 40 or
Fun and Adventure Bed and Breakfast Inn at Pleasant Lake New London
innatpleasantlake.com
FUN & ADVENTURE
Hidden Gem Camping
Sunapee Region Mount Sunapee
Newbury
mountsunapee.com
Summer Outdoor Attraction Great North Woods Region Bear Rock Adventures
Campground Wakeda Campground Hampton Falls
wakedacampground.com
Day Spa Wingate Salon & Spa Stratham
wingatespa.com
Family-friendly Resort The Inn at East Hill Farm Troy
east-hill-farm.com
NH Sports Team New Hampshire Fisher Cats Manchester
Pittsburg
bearrockadventures.com
Summer Outdoor Attraction Lakes Region Gunstock Mountain Resort Gilford
gunstock.com
Summer Outdoor Attraction Merrimack Valley Chuckster’s Family Fun Park Chichester
nhfishercats.com
Resort or Hotel Spa Omni Mount Washington Resort Bretton Woods
omnihotels.com/brettonwoods
Ski Resort Gunstock Mountain Resort Gilford
gunstock.com
Summer Outdoor Attraction Overall Canobie Lake Park Salem
canobie.com
Summer Outdoor Attraction Dartmouth/Lake
chuckstersnh.com
Summer Outdoor Attraction Monadnock Region Inn at East Hill Farm Troy
east-hill-farm.com
Summer Outdoor Attraction Seacoast Region Hampton Beach Hampton
hamptonbeach.org
Summer Outdoor Attraction White Mountains Region Story Land Glen
storylandnh.com
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FUN & ADVENTURE Charitable Renaissance Faire The New Hampshire Renaissance Faire celebrated 15 years this spring, and for those who’ve been, it’s no surprise that it continues to be successful. With all sorts of different fantastical topics — from knights and steampunk to fairies and pirates — it’s truly a fun, welcoming and family-friendly event that encourages everyone to have a good time. Held in Freemont each May, it’s much more than a chance for people to gather and celebrate. Thanks to volunteers, performers and participants who donate time and money, each year the faire gives away a substantial amount of money. During the faire’s run, they’ve given almost $200,000 to the New Hampshire Food Bank and Meals on Wheels. So next year, don’t miss out on this great event that you can feel good about. nhrenfaire.com so New Hampshire brewers offering more than 100 beers. tickets.beerfests.com/event/ nh-brewers-festival
Convenient Family Resort Not only is Moose Hillock Camping Resorts a charming family spot in of itself, it also happens to be located in the middle of some of the area’s most popular attractions. Located in North Warren, some of the bigname summer spots are within easy reach, including Flume Gorge, Clark’s Trading Post, Mt. Moosilauke, Loon Mountain, Ruggles Mines, Polar Caves, Lost River, Whale’s Tail Water Park, Cannon Mountain and the aerial tramway, the towns of Woodstock and Plymouth and access to the Appalachian Trail and White Mountains. The resort itself has campgrounds with plenty of amenities, a pool complete with pirate ship, indoor games and a playground. It’s a one-stop-summer88
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fun spot. newhampshire.moosehillock.com
Big Anniversary If you’ve never ridden the Cog Railway to the top of Mt. Washington, this should be the year you finally make the trip. As of 2019, this mechanical marvel has been chugging up the Northeast’s tallest peak for 150 years. Back when Sylvester Marsh first proposed this “impossible” task, lawmakers at the time said he may as well “build a railway to the moon.” Today, it’s designated a National Historic Engineering Landmark, and it also happens to offer some spectacular — and perhaps peek-only-throughyour-fingers — views. thecog.com
Community Event There’s something special — and maybe a little eerie (in a good way) — about the annual Portsmouth Halloween Parade. Whatever the mix of holiday spirit and po-
tentially actual spirits, some magic is clearly working as this grassroots, volunteer-run event is celebrating 25 years this October. Held each year on Halloween night, everyone is invited to don a costume and stroll (or dance, strut or stalk) down Congress Street. It’s more than just people getting dressed up — it’s a cheerful, welcoming celebration of creativity, free expression, inclusiveness and, perhaps most importantly, community. The parade is not a city event — the costs of insurance, police escort and permits are covered entirely by money raised through various fundraisers. Whether you want to join the crowds lining the sidewalk or have the perfect costume in mind, don’t miss out on this special night. portsmouthhalloweenparade.org
Glassblowing for Beginners Feeling like you need to flex your artistic muscles? At the mother-and-daughter-run Terrapin Glassblowing Studio in Jaffrey, you can sign up for entry-level glassblowing classes, learning how to make everything from beads and drinking glasses to terrariums and paperweights. Classes take place in both the hot shop (traditional glassblowing studio) and the flame shop (torch studio), and many of the offerings are kid-friendly as well, with age requirements varying from 7 and older to 12 and older. Who knows, maybe one class will lead to a new creative passion. terrapinglass.com
At 32 years, Headliners Comedy Club in Manchester is New Hampshire’s longest-running comedy club. After three decades, it was time for a change. The new venue, located at the recently updated DoubleTree by Hilton on Elm Street, is classy and intimate and has already hosted some of the area’s best comedians, many of whom have appeared on the “Late Show With Dave Letterman,” Comedy Central, “The Tonight Show” and more. It’s also an affordable night out, usually $20, with the option for dinner and a show at $43. Check out the upcoming shows at headlinerscomedyclub.com.
FUN & ADVENTURE
Comedy Club
A BETTER CHOICE FOR YOU
Historic Inn Renovation Experience a piece of history in Wolfeboro at the elegant Pickering House Inn. Wolfeboro’s motto — “The oldest summer resort in America” — is in part due to the efforts of mid-19th-century businessman Daniel Pickering, who opened the Pavilion Hotel, among many other businesses, helping to attract tourists from Boston and beyond. His former South Main Street home is now on the National Register of Historic Places, thanks to a two-year renovation undertaken by Wolfeboro couple Patty and Peter Cooke. Today, it’s a gorgeous 10-room luxury inn, with all of the modern amenities you’d expect carefully blended with the building’s original features. pickeringhousewolfeboro.com
Atlantic Broadband provides residential and business customers with advanced Internet, TV and Phone services. Services subject to availability. Contact Atlantic Broadband for details.
atlanticbb.com • 1-833-625-1219
Substance-free Nightlife This isn’t your usual nightclub. At REMIX Coffee Bar & Social Club in Claremont, no one is expected to dress or look a certain way, there’s no cliquey attitude, and the nonalcoholic drinks — coffee, tea and other refreshments — don’t have prices. This gathering place for everyone 16 and older is a nonprofit, welcoming space where “customers” are simply asked to pay what they can. Entertainment and events range from inspirational speakers to music — in fact, Claremont resident and recent “American Idol” contestant Evelyn Cormier (who, by the way, will play at this year’s Best of NH Party) performed here. Fostering community is about more than bringing people together — it also involves giving back. To that end, REMIX donates 100 percent of the proceeds to other local nonprofit organizations. livethatremixedlife.org nhmagazine.com | July 2019
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Answer Guy NHPR’s Sam Evans-Brown (an occasional contributor to this magazine) has become the official New Hampshire answer man (er ... person) with his new series “Ask Sam.” The show is worth a listen just for the rousing “Ask Sam” jingle that bumpers it — a creation of multitalented senior producer Taylor Quimby. Since Brown is famous for answers, we asked about his favorite question, and he replied: “Hmmm ... the one that has gotten the most feedback is the Squirrelpocalypse question. Generally, I like questions to which the answer pulls back the curtain on the mechanisms of the natural world and changes the way you interpret everyday phenomena that you previously ignored. In that regard I’d have to say the question about what makes your breath more visible when a car goes by was a winner.” nhpr.org 90
nhmagazine.com | July 2019
VEKOMA — KENTUCKY DERBY DREAM Named after the Dutch roller coaster manufacturer, Vekoma is taking his connections to dizzying heights. Owned by Mike Gatsas of Manchester’s Gatsas Stables, the 3-year-old is the family’s first in 30 years of owning quality Thoroughbreds to make it to the top — the Kentucky Derby. He’s also New Hampshire’s first Derby runner since Peter Fuller’s Dancer’s Image in 1968 and, in a twist of fate, is Dancer’s Image’s great-great-great-grandson. The fleet-footed Vekoma might have finished 12th in May’s controversy-marred Run for the Roses, but there are still a lot of big races ahead for this dream-come-true colt.
Peacemakers It was founded in 1941, a time of war. Its mission: In a time of war, prepare for peace. In the years since, the World Fellowship Center has pursued that goal at what it calls a “camp and conference center with a social conscience” for people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities. On its 455 acres of wooded land in Conway, the center has offered renewal of mind,
body and spirit through educational programs, recreational activities and informal sharing of progressive values. The hope is to help create a world where people are aware of their shared humanity and have a commitment to peace, social justice and the environment. The center’s lofty goals are mediated with just plain fun — canoeing, fishing, hiking, zip lines, blueberry-picking and more. worldfellowship.org
photo by coady photography
AND
Historic Covered Bridge New Hampshire is known for its covered bridges, and the Contoocook Covered Railroad Bridge isn’t just a visual standout, it’s also the oldest surviving railroad covered bridge in the world. Located in Contoocook Village, the bridge was built in 1889 by the Boston & Maine Railroad. Floods in the 1930s knocked it off its abutments, but repairs were made and the bridge continued to carry train service until the 1960s. Today, it attracts tourists and pedestrians and is a community landmark. This spring, the bridge received minor repairs and several coats of stain, thanks to funding from New Hampshire’s Moose Plate program. “New Hampshire’s covered bridges are a big part of our state’s identity,” says Elizabeth H. Muzzey, NH Division of Historical Resources director and state historic preservation officer. “It’s wonderful to be able to stabilize this very special bridge and bring back to its Boston & Maine maroon stain.” nh.gov/nhdhr/bridges
“To provide creative respite from the world of patriarchal madness” — that’s part (just part) of the mission statement for Avalon North, a new kind of women’s club. It’s a club that’s out to change the world, using individual and collective action to heal the wounds of a patriarchal society that it says has allowed the collapse of the environment, human decency, functional capitalism and more. The other part of its mission is to encourage the cultural, intellectual and emotional growth of the women in its community. Founded by women for women, the private educational and philanthropic organization has a plethora of programs to support its mission, ranging from meditation and workshops to wilderness retreats and international group tours. A quarter of the proceeds from events are donated to charities that support women worldwide. The club’s facilities, located in the Dover mills, also house a number of artist maker studios. Ahead, there are plans to expand to a women’s community and retreat in the North Country. avalonnorth.org
Brighten someone’s day– send flowers!
courtesy photo
Florals & Plants for Personal & Professional Occasions
www.jacquesflowers.com 1-800-622-5155 • 603-625-6153 712 Mast Road, Manchester, NH 03102
IMPORTANT! You must be 21 years old or older to purchase fireworks in the state of New Hampshire. Check with your local fire department to see if permissible fireworks are allowed in your community.
®
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New Kind of Women’s Club
603 Living
“Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth.” – Henry David Thoreau
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How To 94 Health 96 Local Dish 98 Events Listing 104 Dine Out 116 Ayuh 120
Restful Journeys
Keeping it low-key with kayaking Kayaking is a peaceful way to explore the state by water — from the Great Bay to the many lakes and rivers scattered around every region. For six picturesque recommendations on where to go, see visitnh.gov/trip-ideas/ articles/kayak-with-a-view. All of this sounds great but you have no idea where to start? Check out “How To” on page 94 for a beginner’s guide to buying a kayak, plus other expert advice on getting into the sport. nhmagazine.com | July 2019
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HOW TO
Kayaking on Lake Sunapee
Paddle On
A beginner’s guide to buying a kayak by emily heidt
T
he sun is shining, the flowers are blooming, and the wide-open rivers are calling. If summer’s energetic atmosphere leaves you feeling inspired to try something new, consider kayaking. While you may not be ready just yet for five-hour and overnight trips, that doesn’t mean you have to miss out on kayaking fun. You don’t need to be a seasoned professional to enjoy the beautiful ponds, lakes and even ocean; all you need is a kayak and a little help from your local specialty paddle sport shop. We spoke with Patrick Malfait, owner of Contoocook River Canoe Company, and asked him for tips on where to begin if you are looking to buy your first kayak. His first suggestion — consider what type of kayaking works for you.
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Deciding What Kayak Is Best Instead of getting overwhelmed by the multitude of options the minute you walk through the door, you can trust that Malfait and his team have you covered from start to finish. “We start by asking customers where they want to paddle — in quiet water, a pond or on a lake,” says Malfait. “Will there be moving water where there might be class II or III rapids? From there, we formulate the type of boat that will work best. We want to engage the customer so, by the end of the sale, they feel comfortable that their purchase fits their needs and their questions have been answered.” Materials impact the weight and durability of the boat, which directly impact the kayak’s price, so make sure you also walk in with a budget in mind.
Kayaks are classified in many ways, but the two main categories are sit-on-tops and sit-ins. Sit-on-tops are primarily used for recreational kayaking on quiet water. Sit-in kayaks can be used for recreational, touring and sea kayaking on quiet water, lakes and the ocean. “The temperature of the ocean off of the coast of New Hampshire runs between 50-55 degrees,” says Malfait. “The colder temperatures mean we have fewer paddlers paddling our coast than inland paddling on rivers, ponds and lakes. Kayaking on the ocean also requires a different paddling skill set than paddling inland. The ocean has tides, currents, waves and wind to contend with. In that respect, we often sell more sit-in than sit-on-top kayaks.” Recreational kayaks (sit-ins and sit-ontops) are the most popular among Granite Staters for their stability, larger cockpits and maneuvering and car-topping ease. They go up to 14 feet in length and are less expensive. They are also easy to get in and out of, and simple to turn. Day touring kayaks are in the 14-to-16-foot range, and are known for their smaller cockpits, narrow width, optional
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HOW TO
Get a Better Grip on Kayaking With These Extra Tips: Accessories: -Kayak-specific lifejacket -Polarized sunglasses -Sun-shielding hat -Spray skirt (for cold/hot weather) -Dry bag -Waterproof shoes Books: -“AMC River Guide New Hampshire/ Vermont” by John Fiske
courtesy photo
-“Quiet Water New Hampshire and Vermont” by Alex Wilson and John Hayes
Kayaking is a fun summer sport that everyone in your family will enjoy.
rudder and water efficiency. Longer touring kayaks that are 16 to 18 feet long are often used for sea kayaking. They’re efficient, track well, and have a smaller cockpit and rudder to deal with wind and currents. “The kayaking trend is moving toward lightweight kayaks,” says Malfait. He adds that while lightweight kayaks made of Thermoform plastic or composite materials reduce the weight of a kayak, they are more expensive than the common rotomolded plastic kayak, which are much heavier. Lighter, though, means easier to carry and load onto your car. “If you can move it, carry it, or car-top it with ease, then you will use it. If you find it a chore, the kayak will stay in the garage,” says Malfait.
Picking a Paddle
A proper paddle can make or break your kayaking experience, so it is important to give yourself time to find a paddle that works best for you. Malfait recommends starting with buying the lightest paddle you can afford. “You are the fuel and your paddle is your motor, so the lighter the motor, the longer and more efficient you will be,” he says. Just like your kayak, heavy paddles are the least expensive and light paddles are the most expensive. The lighter paddles are higher quality and reduce swing weight, which in turn will help lessen joint strain and fatigue. Low-angle touring kayak
paddles are good for day trips, general exploring or for spending a long time in your boat. The high-angle and wider touring paddles allow for a more powerful, athletic stroke. The longer, thinner, low-angle blade is the most energy-efficient, which makes it the most common paddling style.
Getting Ready to Go
Don’t leave your local paddle sport shop and jump right in the water for a six-hour trip. “Take a minute to get to know your new kayak,” says Malfait. “Get in a pool with a spotter and learn how your kayak handles in the water. Go in the shallow end and learn the stability of your kayak.” He recommends intentionally tipping over — with your spotter present — to see if you can get out safely. “We have a lot of paddlers who aren’t comfortable swimming in the water,” says Malfait. “You need to feel confident that your life jacket will keep you afloat in open water so you don’t panic. Always wear your life jacket.” If you find that you still need extra help, Malfait and his team offer intro to kayaking classes every other week. Each class is six hours, and you’ll learn about paddle strokes, boat terminology, your kayak and more. Once you feel comfortable with your new kayak, grab a friend or family member, plan your own trip or find a trip adventure near you and hit the water. NH
Places to Paddle: -The Androscoggin -Grafton Pond -Contoocook River -Pemigewasset River -Ammonoosuc River -Great Bay Outside Storage Suggestions: -Make sure that your boat is in a place that is exposed to limited sunlight, moisture and extreme temperatures. -Invest in a good weather-resistant tarp that will help your boat last longer. -Suspend the tarp above the hull instead of wrapping it around the boat to keep mold or fungus away. -Watch out for wet snow load in the winter as your boat could get crushed under the weight of it.
Contact
Contoocook River Canoe Company 9 Horse Hill Rd., Concord (603) 753-9804 contoocookcanoe.com nhmagazine.com | July 2019
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HEALTH
Prudent Planning
If the worst happened, would your loved ones know what you would — or wouldn’t — want? BY KAREN A. JAMROG
O
f the two certainties in life, it’s a safe bet that most of us would choose taxes over death. In fact, thinking about our demise is so unbearably hard that some of us avoid any consideration of our mortality until advanced age or illness sucker punches us into facing reality. And even then, we might still put it off. Perhaps this explains why so few people create an advance directive — a legal docu-
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ment that specifies what types of medical intervention we wish to receive if we become unable to communicate or make decisions about our care. “More than 70 percent of people” have no advance directive or anything remotely resembling one, says Mary Valvano, MD, chief of emergency medicine at Portsmouth Regional Hospital. But advance directives empower patients and spare friends
and family from possibly having to make gut-wrenching decisions. If you’re young and healthy, you might think you don’t need an advance directive. Having one can benefit an adult of any age, however, because anyone can suddenly fall ill or be seriously injured in an accident. “Starting at age 18,” Valvano says, everyone should have an advance directive. Indeed, as Valvano points out, some of the most famous cases involving advance directives centered on young individuals in their 20s who didn’t have one — Karen Ann Quinlan and Terry Schiavo, for example, who long persisted in a vegetative state and sparked bioethical debate over the right to die. There’s no need to worry about changing your mind over time: If you fill out an advance directive form at the age of, say, 30 and decades later find that your interest in life-sustaining treatment has changed, you can create a new advance directive. Completing an advance directive means considering, among other things, what you value in life and how you want to live. Would you want to be kept alive via mechanical means? If you’re not sure what your options might be — say, what being on IV nutrition or a ventilator is like — talk to your physician, Valvano says. “It’s much better to have those conversations” during a relaxed office visit than “at the bedside with me as the emergency physician trying to explain” what cardioactive drugs are, for example, or what is involved with delivering electrical shocks to the heart. “It’s never enough time when someone’s critically ill.” The process of creating an advance direc-
illustration by emma moreman
Advance directives empower patients and spare friends and family from possibly having to make gut-wrenching decisions.
HEALTH
tive is quite simple and can be completed in as little as 10 minutes, says Pat Marsh, RN, acute care case manager at Patient and Family Services at Southern New Hampshire Medical Center. (Free forms are available online at healthynh.com/ images/PDFfiles/advance-directives/2017_ ACPG_Final.pdf.) Patients can choose how much detail they want to go into. “There are advance directives that delineate lots of different things,” Valvano says, as well as options such as do not resuscitate cards, and POLST forms (short for provider orders for life-sustaining treatment), which are most often used by people who are frail or seriously ill, and indicate highly detailed preferences regarding medical care. In certain situations when a patient doesn’t have an advance directive, surrogacy law will grant a family member or friend the power to make healthcare decisions on the patient’s behalf, following a hierarchy that begins with the patient’s spouse or partner and progresses through the patient’s adult child, parent, sibling and others. Essentially, the law “assign[s] someone to be the surrogate, and
they would have to make the decision” regarding the patient’s care, Marsh says. In many instances, without an advance directive or prior discussion regarding the patient’s preferences, the appointed decision maker must guess as to what the patient would want. While many people, Marsh says, just don’t “want to talk about it,” and think “nothing’s going to happen to them,” completing an advance directive will pay dividends later — and not just for the individual in question. “When you’re at the moment of life and death,” Valvano says, “it’s super-hard [for your loved ones] to make a decision that says, ‘Don’t do everything,’ even though they know that that’s what you wanted.” An advance directive will prevent you from receiving treatment that you don’t want and will potentially spare your loved ones from having to agonize over “one of the most difficult decisions of anybody’s life.” “Sometimes,” Valvano says, an advance directive “is the best last gift that a loved one can give to their family.” NH
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Creating an advance directive is easier than you think
Many people put off creating an advance directive because they think it will be complicated. But really, “it’s easy,” says Mary Valvano, MD, chief of emergency medicine at Portsmouth Regional Hospital. “You can do it at your kitchen table.” Ask your doctor for an advance directive form or grab one online at healthynh.com/ images/PDFfiles/advance-directives/2017_ ACPG_Final.pdf. (Either way, it’s free.) Fill out the form — no attorney required — to name an individual who will make decisions on your behalf if you become incapacitated, and to indicate what kind of care you do and do not wish to receive. Sign the form in front of two witnesses — perhaps your significant other and adult child, for example — or a notary, and ideally, bring it to your next doctor’s appointment so that it becomes part of your medical record. If you choose instead to keep your advance directive at home, be sure to alert loved ones as to the existence and location of the document.
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LOCAL DISH
Watermelon Bowl for Two A summer cocktail perfect for backyard fun By Susan Laughlin
Town Docks Restaurant 289 Daniel Webster Hwy. Meredith Open daily at 11 a.m. for lunch and dinner in season thecman.com
The Town Docks in Meredith is one of the true classics on the lake. Their watermelon bowl cocktail is a perfect summer drink with fresh watermelon blended with strawberries and the flavors of piña colada. Add Sailor Jerry spiced rum and serve in a melon bowl with a dark rum floater or in a tall glass garnished with a cherry. Serves 3 or 4. Town Docks, a member of the Common Man family, is celebrating its 20th year offering a summer experience in Meredith — right at the town docks. Drive up or boat in to wiggle your toes in the sand by the picnic tables or find shade under an umbrella at a two-top. Enjoy the relaxing view of Lake Winnipesaukee and the summer menu. Other seating options include the rooftop deck and, most recently, air-conditioning was added to a former screened porch. Besides the classic watermelon bowl, find the Big Lake Runner with cherry-infused Sailor Jerry spiced rum, crème de banana, blackberry brandy, pineapple juice, orange juice and a float of dark rum. Summer fun foods include lobster rolls, traditional or butter-poached, a complete boiled lobster dinner, fried whole-belly clams, fried scallops, lobster mac and cheese and more. Finish up with delicious housemade ice cream or an ice cream frappe.
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3/4 cup frozen strawberries 1 cup frozen pineapple (You can use fresh fruit along with a cup of ice.) 1 1/2 cups fresh watermelon 1/2 cup fresh lime juice 1 cup cream of coconut (Coco López) 1/4 cup agave syrup Mix together with a blender, adding the watermelon first. If using ice, add that last. Lightly blend in 6 ounces Sailor Jerry’s spiced rum (or a light rum). Top each serving with a splash of dark rum. Pour into individual glasses and decorate with whipped cream and maraschino cherries or other fruit. To serve it like they do at Town Docks, carve out a watermelon and pour in mixture and serve with straws. A charming face with whipped cream and cherry eyes is optional.
Discover the White Mountain Attractions Drive • Tour • Explore
SUMMER FAMILY EVENTS
MOUNT WASHINGTON Just 25 minutes north of North Conway
the whole family will enjoy!
Sensory Friendly Fridays Month of July Tea with Cinderella July 12, August 9 Circus Train July 19, 20, 21
Take an old-fashioned train ride to an old-time (animal-free) circus! Winter Tours on
Please visit our website for details on these and more events!
DRIVE YOURSELF
Guided tours run all day on a first-come basis Reservations are also available online!
GUIDED TOURS
Children under 4 ride FREE in Coach! Well-behaved ell-behaved dogs are rre always welcome.
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603-745-8913 •110 DANIEL WEBSTER HWY RT. 3, LINCOLN, NH nhmagazine.com | June 2019
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Summer Fun One-stop shopping located on Route 11 on your way to the Lakes Region! OPENING SOON: Pepper’s Landing • Mattress Firm NOW OPEN: Old Navy • Market Basket • PETCO • Marshalls • 110 Grill • Starbucks NH Liquor & Wine Outlet • Hobby Lobby • Supercuts • T-Mobile • The Paper Store AT&T • Sally Beauty • Eastern Paradise • ULTA Beauty • Famous Footwear • Tiare Nail Spa Bloom’n Cow Ice Cream • Cricket Wireless • MooYah Burgers, Fries & Shakes
FREE JULY EVENTS! FREE Yoga on the Lawn with Upala Yoga & Wellness Every Monday, July 1-29 • 12:15-1:15 PM
Dunk Tank & Water Slides! Every Wednesday, July 3-31 • 11:00-3:00 PM
Movie Night & Free Bouncing Every Saturday, July 6-27 • 6:00-10:00 PM
Historic estate. Unmatched views.
Bringing You Nearer to Nature
Tours • Dining • Programs & events • Trout pond Horseback riding • Hiking trails • Waterfalls & vistas Reduced admission of $13 for up to 4 guests! Limit one coupon per party. Cannot be combined with other offers or discounts.
Valid May 25-Oct 27, 2019 19NHM
nhnature.org | 603-968-7194 | Holderness, NH
Make a day of it! Walk on the wild side to see live animals and enjoy a cruise on Squam Lake.
Don’t miss the Castle Car Show on Saturday, July 6th! Register your auto and learn more at castleintheclouds.org
Open daily 10:00 AM - 5:30 PM
castleintheclouds.org • 603-476-5900 455 Old Mountain Rd., Route 171 Moultonborough, NH
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SAT 12-8 P.M. SUN 12-4 P.M. Also available for functions lithermans.beer • (603) 219-0784
Summer Fun
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CALENDAR
Calendar
Ed ito r’ s
Ch oi ce
OUR FAVORITE EVENTS FOR JULY 2019
to pay a visit. $45-$60. 12 to 4 p.m., Kiwanis Waterfront Park, 15 Loudon Rd., Concord. (334) 603-2337; granitestatebrewersassociation.org
7/14
Wright Museum Family Day A visit to an educational museum is always a great family activity, but if your kiddos need their entertainment a bit more hands-on, try this popular child-centric event. Young visitors can enjoy face painting, balloon artists, and magic and live animal shows, while the whole family can take advantage of self-guided tours of the museum, historical renactors, and one-day-only opportunities to ride around Wolfeboro in a WW II-era car. $10-$12. 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Wright Museum of WW II, 77 Center St., Wolfeboro. (603) 569-1212; wrightmuseum.org Hillsboro Balloon Fest & Fair From live music and a parade to a fairway full of carnival rides, this annual festival is packed with activities. These majestic hot air vehicles take off daily at 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. For a free spectacle, stick around till dusk on Friday night. Grimes Field, 29 Preston St., Hillsboro. (603) 464-5858; balloonfestival.org
7/13
American Independence Festival If you didn’t get all the patriotism out of your system on the Fourth of July, then try this later homage to America. Activities at this 29-year-old fest include battle reenactments, lawn games, live music and enough kids’ activities to keep the little ones entertained all day. Outside the festival grounds, the rest of Exeter gets in on the action too, with downtown shops and businesses open to give visitors a taste of both modern and historic sides of this quintessential New England town. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., American Independence Museum, 1 Governors Ln., Exeter. (603) 772-2622; independencemuseum.org
7/18-7/21 7/13 Summer Carnival Grab your friends and family and celebrate all things summer at Gunstock Mountain Resort. There will be horse-drawn carriage rides, face painting, kids’ crafts, animal workshops, a drum circle, a tie-dye shirt station (bring your own white piece of clothing), carnival food and more. Free. 12 to 4 p.m., Gunstock Mountain Resort, 719 Cherry Valley Rd., Gilford. (603) 293-4341; gunstock.com
Fairs & Festivals 7/2-8/1
New Hampshire Music Festival Venues throughout Plymouth and Wolfeboro come alive for this festival with the sounds of orchestras, choruses and professional soloists on instruments and voice. Highlights of the five-week fest include Beethoven’s “Triple Concerto” and Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet.” Dates, times and locations vary. (603) 238-9007; nhmf.org
7/11, 7/26, 8/8, 8/22 and 8/29
White Mountain Jewish Film Festival This fivefilm series presents an array of films describing the Jewish experience and culture. At each pre-film reception, the film will be introduced by a unique guest speaker who will be leading a lively Q&A session following the film. The film lineup includes “The German Doctor,” “Trumbo” and “The Women’s Balcony.” $45. 6 p.m., The Colonial Theater, 2050 Main St., Bethlehem. bethlehemsynagogue.org/white-mountain-jewish-film-festival
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7/13
A Brew With a View Sip on local brews while taking in the stunning views of Lake Winnipesaukee and Lake Winnisquam during this classic summer event. Bring your family and friends to the Large Venue Tent at Steele Hill for your chance to sample a variety of local craft breweries and select meads, wines and liquor. There will be great music, door prizes and tasty food. There will also be a free concert to close out the festivities. $40-$55. 4 to 7 p.m., Steele Hill Resorts, 516 Steele Hill Rd., Sanbornton. (603) 524-0500; abrewwithaview.com
7/13
New Hampshire Brewers Festival For a beer fest that’s all New Hampshire, all the time, look no further than this sixth annual fête. The event features more than 40 Granite State breweries, making it the largest single collection of New Hampshire breweries found at any event in 2019. Sample a few, get to know the brewers at the less-crowded VIP hour, and head home with an updated list of all the local beermakers you need
Stratham Fair For the classic fair experience, grab some fried food, stroll the fairway, and settle in for a concert or tractor pull — but don’t overlook the 4-H festivities. Dog shows are shows that are great for little animal-lovers, rowdy swine shows are perfect for rambunctious boys, and the buildings housing “non-walking” projects such as photography and sewing are tailor-made for moms and dads who need a break from funnel cake fumes and July sun. $5-$10. Thurs 4 to 10 p.m., Fri-Sun 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., Stratham Fairgrounds, 270 Portsmouth Ave., Stratham. (603) 772-4977; strathamfair.com
7/27
6th Annual Manchester Brewfest This craft beer showcase is back for a day featuring over 100 unique, local and regional craft beers for you to taste. There will also be delicious local foods, non-alcoholic beverages, and live music. $40-$50. 12 to 5 p.m., Arms Park, 10 Arms St., Manchester. (603) 244-8593; manchesterbrewfest.com
7/27
20th Annual Chocolate Fest Enjoy an evening of chocolate temptations in Town Square accompanied by a free outdoor concert as the sun sets. Pack a picnic or just bring a bottle of your favorite red or white libation and enjoy an indulgent evening in the square, on a blanket, or with your toes in the sand. 6-9 p.m. Town Sqaure, Waterville Valley. waterville.com
7/27
Hebron Fair This fair boasts that it’s the place to be for the last Saturday in July. Festivities include more than 100 craftspeople, pony rides,
courtesy photo
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children’s games, white elephant, delicious foods, baked goods, plants and a silent auction. It’s held on the picturesque Hebron Common at the north end of Newfound Lake and will happen rain or shine. Free. 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Hebron Common, 16 Church Ln., Hebron. (603) 744-5883; hebronchurchfair.org
boats, sailboats, canoes, vintage car memorabilia and maritime antiques. If you’ve ever wanted the perfect boat or car to cruise around the Granite State, now is your chance so don’t miss out. Proceeds will benefit the museum. Free. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., New Hampshire Boat Museum, 399 Center St., Wolfeboro Falls. (603) 569-4554; nhbm.org
7/27
7/14
Beveridge Summer Fest Sample some amazing brews from a bunch of amazing New England breweries while listening to the tunes of Copilot. There will be corn hole, beer pong and other fun games to play at the base of Wolfeboro’s Abenaki Ski Hill. Food vendors will fill your tummies with their tasty goods. Bring a lawn chair if you like and enjoy a day of amazing beer, cider, music and food. 12-4 p.m. $40. Abenaki Ski Area, 390 Pine Hill Rd. tickets.beerfests.com/event/beveridgecraftbeerfest
7/27-7/28
9th Annual Summer Psychic Fair We can’t see into the future, but we can predict that you will have fun at this event. Take part in a day filled with presentations, a marketplace and some of the finest nationally known psychics. There will also be door prizes, indoor and outdoor attractions, concessions and more. Free. Times vary, Weirs Beach Community Center, 25 Lucerne Ave., Laconia. (603) 321-4818; lovinglifeexpo.com
Benefits 7/13
New England Vintage Boat and Car Auction Stop by the New Hampshire Boat Museum for this one-of-a-kind summer auction. Auction items include vintage cars, vintage boats, fiberglass
5K Walk/Run Walking and running aficionados unite for this annual series. This walk/run will benefit Angels & Elves and is a part of the 5K Triple Play Race Series. If you enjoy this event, be sure to check out the remaining 5Ks in August and September. $25. 7:30 a.m., 196 Shawtown Rd., Freedom. (603) 367-8896; danforthbay.com
7/21
Hula Hustle 5K & 10K Get out your craziest Hawaiian shirt and grass skirts for this fun Hula Hustle in memory of Bill Kelley. Once you have completed the road race and received your lei at the finish line, you are invited to attend the luau party at the poolside Tiki bar. Don’t forget to participate in the new most outrageous costume contest and be one to win a prize courtesy of Runner’s Alley. Proceeds from this event will benefit New Horizons. $30-$35. 9 a.m., Executive Health & Sports Center, 1 Highlander Way, Manchester. hulahustle.org
Sports & Recreation 7/7
Loon Mountain Race This Granite State race is the race to end all races. It is 6.6 miles, 10.62 kilometers, has an elevation gain of 3,125 feet and an average slope of 14 percent. It has a reputation as one of the country’s toughest mountain
races in large part due to the kilometer ascent of North Peak known as Upper Walking Boss. “The Boss,” as it’s known, is around a kilometer of grassy slope with angles that exceed a 40-percent grade. Voted as one of the five classic vertical trail races in the US, this race is no joke. If you are feeling daring this summer, be sure to check this one out. $30-$50. 8 a.m., Loon Mountain Resort, 60 Loon Mountain Rd., Lincoln. loonmountainrace.com
7/12-7/13
The Prouty If you enjoy outdoor recreation of just about any kind, then you’ll find something to suit your tastes at this annual mega-fundraiser for the Dartmouth Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer Center. Cyclists can opt for 20- to 100-mile rides or the 200-mile, two-day Prouty Ultimate; walkers can traverse anything from a 3K stroll through Hanover to a 10K walk in the woods; rowers can hit the Connecticut River for 5-20 miles; and golfers can enjoy a four-person scramble at the Hanover Country Club. Don’t like any of those? They also need volunteers. Prices, times and locations around Hanover vary. theprouty.org
7/19-7/21
Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 The weekend features three days of exciting on-track action for one of New England’s biggest parties of the summer. The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series will be taking center stage for the Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 on Sunday. The weekend will also feature the NASCAR Xfinity Series and the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. Be there to see Kevin Harvick defend his 2018 Foxwoods 301 victory. Prices and times vary. New Hampshire Motor Speedway, 1122 NH-106, Loudon. (603) 783-4931; nhms.com
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7/9-8/22
2019 Bank of NH Children’s Summer Series This Summer Children’s Series includes a variety of stories that include music, dancing, audience participation and more. Even better? Your kiddos have the opportunity to meet the characters at the end of every show. This year’s line-up includes “Beauty and the Beast,” “Aladdin,” “The Little Mermaid,” “Wizard of Oz,” “Peter Pan,” “Jack and the Beanstalk” and “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” $9. Shows at 10 a.m. and 6:30 p.m., The Palace Theatre, 80 Hanover St., Manchester. (603) 668-5588; palacetheatre.org
7/11-7/20
7/10
The Making of Strawbery Banke Local legend says Strawbery Banke Museum began when a Portsmouth librarian gave a rousing speech in 1957. This is a dramatic tale of economics, urban renewal, immigration, and historic architecture in New Hampshire’s only seaport. J. Dennis Robinson, author of an award-winning “biography” of the 10-acre Strawbery Banke campus, shares the history of “America’s oldest neighborhood.” Tapping into private letters, unpublished records, and personal interviews, Robinson explores the politics of preservation. Free. 7:30 p.m., Holderness Historical Society, US Rte. 3, Holderness. (603) 968-7487; nhhumanities.org
7/11
Comedian Rob Schneider Rob Schneider is known for his trademark blend of character and comedic acting, and has become one of the most popular touring acts in comedy. He has been on “SNL,” and is friends with David Spade, Adam Sandler, Tim Meadows and more. Some of his biggest features include “Grown Ups,” “The Waterboy,” and “Benchwarmers.” Upgrade your ticket by adding a meet and greet. You won’t want to miss this. Tickets start at $29.50. 7:30 to 10 p.m., The Flying Monkey Movie House & Performance Center, 39 S. Main St., Plymouth. (603) 536-2551; flyingmonkeynh.com
7/25
Moths: Surprising Pollinators Join independent moth researcher Deb Lievens for an informative presentation about moths followed by a moth viewing. The evening will begin with a presentation on moths, fascinating facts on this group of Lepidoptera and their role as pollinators. You will also have the opportunity to observe and identify moths close-up. $10-$15. 8 to 10 p.m., McLane Center, 84 Silk Farm Rd., Concord. (603) 224-9909; nhaudubon.org
7/27
52nd Antique Show and Sale The New London Garden Club will be holding its annual antique show and sale on the New London Town Green. The Garden Club’s Café will be serving wonderful sandwiches, soups, salads and pies, and the Flower Tent will be full of creative bouquets. The club has joined with Goosefare Antiques and Promotions of Saco, Maine to bring over 50 quality dealers to the show. The proceeds of the event help keep the pocket gardens of New London beautiful and support scholarship projects. $8. 3 to 6 p.m., New London Town Green, Main St., New London. newlondongardenclub.org
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who bought a painting for a few dollars in a thrift shop and thought it could possibly be a lost Jackson Pollock masterpiece worth millions. Fri-Sat 7:30 p.m. and Sun 2 p.m. $12-$17. Hatbox Theatre, 270 Loudon Rd., Concord. (603) 715-2315; hatboxnh.com
Through 8/18 Prescott Park Arts Festival The state’s most sprawling summer arts festival returns in 2019 for yet another season of world-class entertainment for the whole family. A chili cook-off has the “festival” part covered, while an impressive music and theatre roster takes care of the “arts.” In addition to weekly movie nights and a theatrical production of “Beauty and the Beast” on the main stage, big-name performers this year include Aimee Mann and Lucius. To avoid fighting for a spot in the first-come, first-serve outdoor spaces, don’t forget to reserve a blanket or table in advance. Free (donations are suggested). Dates, times vary, Prescott Park, 105 Marcy St., Portsmouth. (603) 436-2848; prescottpark.org
Performing Arts 7/5-7/20
“West Side Story” The iconic work is a classic tale of Romeo and Juliet-inspired forbidden love. The show explores themes of race, young love, tradition and the immigrant experience against the backdrop of New York City. $16-$44. Times vary, Seacoast Repertory Theater, 125 Bow St., Portsmouth. seacoastrep.org
7/3-7/14
“Gertrude Stein and a Companion” Win Wells’ evocative and witty play explores the 40-year relationship between Gertrude Stein, an avant-garde novelist, poet, playwright and art collector, and her partner, editor and muse, Alice B. Toklas. See the website for the show schedule. The Peterborough Players, 55 Hadley Rd., Peterborough. (603) 924-7585; peterboroughplayers.org
7/5-7/14
“Bakersfield Mist” A one-act, 90-minute play inspired by the true story of a California woman
“Laughter on the 23rd Floor” This Neil Simon classic features the fast-talking, sharp-witted TV comedy writers’ fight for what it means to be funny in this wonderful commentary on timeless current events. See the website for show schedule. The Barnstormers Theatre, 104 Main St., Tamworth. (603) 323-8500; barnstormerstheatre.org
7/11, 7/16, 7/19, 7/27 and 7/29
“Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks” This is a touching and human comedy about a formidable retired woman, Lily Harrison, who hires an acerbic dance instructor, Michael Minetti, to give her private dance lessons — one per week for six weeks — in her gulf-front condo in St. Petersburg Beach, Florida. What begins as an antagonistic relationship blossoms into an intimate friendship. 8 p.m. The Weathervane Theatre, 389 Lancaster Rd., Whitefield. (603) 837-9322; weathervanetheatre.org
7/11-7/27
“Titanic the Musical” This musical swept the 1997 Tony Awards winning Best Musical, Best Script and Best Score, among others — and it still sweeps audiences away. History is colored by the intimate storytelling through the eyes of the many passengers on board the celebrated ship. See the website for the show schedule. $20-$32. Jean’s Playhouse, 34 Paper Mill Dr., Lincoln. (603) 745-2141; jeansplayhouse.com
7/11-7/20
“Avenue Q” In this multiple Tony-winning musical, new and surprising friends take recent college grad, Princeton, under their wing and give him a slice-of-life experience like nothing he — or we — might imagine. No sweet and goofy childhood rhymes here: these character puppets are decidedly for adults only. $20-$39. See the website for the show schedule. The Winnipesaukee Playhouse, 50 Reservoir Rd., Meredith. (603) 366-7377; winnipesaukeeplayhouse.org
7/12-7/14
Hoedown at Blow-Me-Down Big Apple Circus director Mark Lonergan and a team of professional circus artists team up with Opera North again this summer for Singers and Swingers, Volume 2. Join the incredible team at BlowMe-Down Farm as they celebrate American dreams with the music of Copland, Gershwin, Rodgers and Hammerstein and more. $25-$50. Times vary, Blow-Me-Down Farm, 364 New Hampshire 12A, Cornish. (603) 448-0400; lebanonoperahouse.org
photo by david murray/clear eye photo
The History of Gym Class Rebecca Noel explores the sometimes-alarming, sometimes-hilarious backstory of what we now know as gym class. Tracing the sedentary idea from Europe to the United States, from scholars to children, and from boys’ to girls’ education, the presentation shows how these fears inspired schools to get children moving. The (optional) interactive aspects of the presentation will include audience testing of historic exercise schemes, some done in pairs. The program concludes with audience discussion of the relevance of this problem to our own times — like the Enlightenment, a moment in history when suddenly many more people live the sedentary lives once limited to a few scholars. Free. 7 p.m., Camp Morgan Lodge, 339 Millen Pond Rd., Washington. (603) 495-3231; nhhumanities.org
Ch oi ce
7/8
Ed ito r’ s
Miscellaneous
CALENDAR
TICKETS & INFO: B2W Box Office at the Historic Theater: 28 Chestnut St., Portsmouth, NH LOFT: 131 Congress St., Portsmouth, NH 603.436.2400 • TheMusicHall.org /MusicHall @MusicHall /MusicHallNH
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LEGENDARY ACTS IN AN INTIMATE THEATER CONCERTS, COMICS, CINEMA, & CELEBRATED AUTHORS
Dawes 2019 Photo: David J. Murray/ClearEyePhoto.com
UPCOMING SUMMER SHOWS For more listings, check out our calendar at TheMusicHall.org
THE MUSIC HALL PRESENTS
DJ LOGIC
Sat., July 27 • 8pm
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Fri., August 2 • 8pm
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Wed., August 7 & Thu., August 8 • 7:30pm
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7/17-8/4
“Grease” Your favorite greasers are back for a show of summer fun. Join the Rydell High School’s senior class as they pay homage to the idealism of the fifties. At the heart of the story is the romance between Danny Zuko and the sweet new girl, Sandy Dumbrowski. The whole gang will sing and dance through hit songs like “Grease Lightnin’” and “Summer Nights.” This show is among the world’s most popular musicals and you won’t want to miss it. $20-$40. Times vary, New London Barn Playhouse, 84 Main St., New London. (603) 526-6710; nlbarn.org
7/21
Opera North Veranda Concert at The Fells Opera North’s annual celebration at The Fells includes music inspired by American dreams and selections from “Pirates of Penzance” and “Macbeth.” Before the concert, guests are invited to explore the renowned gardens and woodland trails of this historic property. $40. 5 p.m. The Fells, 456 Route 103A, Newbury. (603) 2053008; operanorth.org
7/25-7/27
“URL vs. IRL” What is more real, the lives that we lead in “the real world”or “the online world”? Combining the use of high-tech gaming technology and low-tech theatricality, “URL vs. IRL” will follow a group of teenage characters as their lives intersect and collide online and off. Andy’s Summer Playhouse, 582 Isaac Frye Hwy., Wilton. (603) 654-2613; andyssummerplayhouse.org
7/29-8/3
“Lost in Wonderland” Following a white rabbit leads Alice on a very strange adventure. In a place where up means down and right means wrong, Alice discovers a world filled with a strange smiling cats, a wild tea party, and a Queen whose temper is as red as the hearts on her dress. Prices and times vary, Jean’s Playhouse, 34 Papermill Dr., Lincoln. (603) 745-2141; jeansplayhouse.com
7/31-8/11
“Mamma Mia!” A mother. A daughter. Three possible dads. What could possibly go wrong? This smash hit musical based on the songs of ABBA is coming to this Granite State stage for a summer of raucous fun. The story telling magic of ABBA’s timeless songs lead this tale of love, laughter and friendship. $25-$35. Times vary, Interlakes Theatre, 1 Laker Ln., Meredith. (603) 707-6035; interlakestheatre.com
Music 7/6
Aimee Mann The Oscar-nominated, Grammy-winning singer began her journey with the band Til Tuesday, and has long since created a strong solo career. She’ll be performing all your favorites, plus songs from her latest album “Mental Illness.” This show also features special guest Jonathan Coulton. Tickets start at $49. Door at 6 p.m. show at 7:30 p.m. The Flying Monkey Movie House & Performance Center, 39 Main St., Plymouth. (603) 536-2551; flyingmonkeynh.com
7/11-8/1
Atlantic Grill Music By the Sea Concerts This summer long concert series brings some of New England’s hottest bands to the Seacoast on Thursday nights. Enjoy great tunes from bands like Jumbo Circus Peanuts or Joshua Tree, and the seaside setting while supporting the Seacoast Science Center and its ocean education mission. Bring a
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blanket or chair, pack a picnic, or purchase freshly grilled dinner beverages on site. Concertgoers can also enjoy the Center and its exhibits, free with concert admission. $4-$12. 6 to 8:30 p.m., Seacoast Science Center, 570 Ocean Blvd., Rye. (603) 436-2235; seacoastsciencecenter.org
Visual Arts 7/1-9/22
Medieval to Metal: The Art and Evolution of the Guitar Highlighting the single most enduring icon in American history, this exhibit explores all aspects of the world’s most popular instrument. Visitors will experience the artistry, history, design and cultural influence of the guitar. Along with 40 distinct instruments that showcase the rare and antique to the wildly popular and innovative, this exhibit includes dozens of photographs and illustrations that depict significant musicians and instruments of the last century. Currier Museum, 150 Ash St., Manchester. (603) 669-6144; currier.org
7/13-7/14
30th Annual Craft Fair at the Bay Over 75 juried artisans from all over New England will display and sell their American made arts and crafts including wreathes, pet accessories, photography, furniture, jewelry and so much more. There will also be a sampling of specialty foods such as herbal dips, maple syrup, kettle corn and lemonade. This event will take place rain or shine, and friendly pets on a leash are welcome. Free. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Alton Bay Community House & Grounds, Rt. 11, Alton. castleberryfairs.com
7/14-9/8
Esquire Magazine: The World War II Years Esquire Magazine was founded in 1933 as a men’s magazine that featured a slick, sophisticated style with cartoons and drawings often focused on beautiful women. The magazine later abandoned its titillating role but continued to cultivate the image of affluence and refined taste. During World War II, the magazine evolved into a general-audience magazine concentrating on aspects of American style and culture that provided a momentary respite from the media’s constant and unsettling war coverage. $6-$10. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., The Wright Museum of World War II, 77 Center St., Wolfeboro. wrightmuseum.org
7/23-8/3
Arts Week at Canterbury Shaker Village This event is intended to harness The Shaker impulse to create, innovate and collaborate into a contemporary framework. Throughout the week, various artists will be immersing themselves in the peace of The Village during which the will be installing existing works and imagining new ones. Visitors will have the opportunity to experience the creative process as it is unfolding including painting, photography, dance and music. Free. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Canterbury Shaker Village, 288 Shaker Rd., Canterbury. (603) 783-9511; shakers.org
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Congrats to all our past and present Best of NH winners! nhmagazine.com | July 2019
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603 LIVING
DINE OUT
Good Eats
The Glen House
979 Route 16, Gorham (603) 466-3420, theglenhouse.com
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photo by gayle conran, courtesy the glen house
OUR GUIDE TO FINE DINING
603 LIVING
DINE OUT Our restaurant listings include Best of NH winners and advertisers along with others compiled by the New Hampshire Magazine editorial department. Listings are subject to change from month to month based on space availability. Expanded and highlighted listings denote advertisers. For additional and more detailed listings, visit nhmagazine.com. H Best of NH
$ Entrées cost less than $12 B Breakfast H Best of NH L Lunch 2019 Reader’s Poll D Dinner $$$$ Entrées cost b Brunch more than $25 $$$ Entrées cost between ( Reservations recom2019 Editor’s Picks
$18 and $25
mended
$$ Entrées cost between
New – Open for one year or less
$12 and $18
MERRIMACK VALLEY
Angelina’s Ristorante Italiano
buckleysgreatsteaks.com; $–$$$$ D ( $$–$$$ LD (
Commercial St., Manchester; (603) 836-1925; foundrynh.com; $$-$$$ D b
chester; (603) 836-5878; Facebook; $-$$ L D
Campo Enoteca
Giorgio’s Ristorante
North End Bistro
Canoe Restaurant and Tavern
AMERICAN 216 S. River Rd., Bedford; 935-8070; 232 Whittier Hwy., Center Harbor; (603) 253-4762; magicfoodsrestaurantgroup.com/canoe-restaurant-and-tavern $$-$$$ L D (
Grazing Room
FARM-TO-TABLE/NEW AMERICAN 33 The Oaks, Henniker; (603) 428-3281 colbyhillinn.com; $$–$$$$ D (
The Copper Door H
Hanover St. Chophouse H
AMERICAN 15 Leavy Dr., Bedford; (603) 488-2677; 41 S Broadway, Salem; (603) 458-2033; copperdoorrestaurant.com; $$–$$$ L D (
STEAKHOUSE 149 Hanover Street, Manchester; (603) 644-2467; hanoverstreetchophouse.com; $$$–$$$$ LD (
Cotton H
The Bedford Village Inn H
Cucina Toscana
AMERICAN/TAVERN 2 Olde Bedford Way, Bedford; (603) 472-2001; bedfordvillageinn.com; $$–$$$$ L D (
ITALIAN 427 Amherst St., Nashua; (603) 821-7356; cucinatoscananashua.com; $ L D (
The Birch on Elm H
Dixie Blues
STEAKHOUSE 438 Daniel Webster Hwy., Merrimack; (603) 424-0995;
NEW AMERICAN 96 Pleasant St., Concord; (603) 227-9000; graniterestaurant.com; $$–$$$$ B L D b (
ITALIAN 264 North Broadway, Salem; (603) 898-1190; thecolosseumrestaurant.com; $–$$$ L D
AMERICAN 75 Arms St., Manchester; (603) 622-5488; cottonfood.com; $$–$$$$ L D (
Buckley’s Great Steaks H
Granite Restaurant and Bar
Colosseum Restaurant
ITALIAN 11 Depot St., Concord; (603) 228-3313; angelinasrestaurant.com; $$–$$$ L D (
NEW AMERICAN/TAPAS 931 Elm St., Manchester; (603) 782-5365; Facebook; $–$$ L D
MEDITERRANEAN 707 Milford Rd., Merrimack; (603) 883-7333; 524 Nashua St., Milford; (603) 673-3939; 270 Granite St., Manchester; (603) 232-3323; giorgios.com; $$–$$$ L D(
ITALIAN/MEDITERRANEAN 969 Elm St., Manchester; (603) 625-0256; campoenoteca.com; $$–$$$ L D
Madear's H
CAJUN/CREOLE/TAPAS 175 Hanover St., Manchester; (603) 206-5827; madears603.com; $-$$ D
Mint Bistro
FUSION/JAPANESE 1105 Elm St., Manchester; (603) 625-6468; mintbistronh.com; $$–$$$ L D b (
MT’s Local Kitchen & Wine Bar
CAJUN 345 Amherst St., Nashua; (603) 417-6909; New Manchester location coming soon; dixiebluesnh.com; $-$$$ LD
AMERICAN 212 Main St., Nashua; (603) 595-9334; mtslocal.com; $–$$$ L D
The Foundry
Noodz H
AMERICAN/FARM-TO-TABLE 50
RAMEN/ASIAN 968 Elm St., Man-
ITALIAN 1361 Elm St., Manchester; (603) 232-3527; Facebook; $-$$$ LD(
O Steaks & Seafood
STEAKHOUSE/SEAFOOD 11 South Main St., Concord; (603) 856-7925; 62 Doris Ray Court, Lakeport; (603) 524-9373; magicfoodsrestaurantgroup.com; $$–$$$ L D
Republic H
MEDITERRANEAN 1069 Elm St., Manchester; (603) 666-3723; republiccafe.com; $–$$$ L D
Revival Kitchen and Bar
AMERICAN 11 Depot St., Concord; (603) 715-5723; revivalkitchennh. com; $$–$$$ D (
Stella Blu
TAPAS 70 East Pearl St., Nashua; (603) 578-5557; stellablu-nh.com; $$–$$$ D
Surf Restaurant H
SEAFOOD 207 Main St., Nashua; (603) 595-9293; 99 Bow St., Portsmouth; (603) 334-9855; surfseafood. com; $$–$$$$ D b
Trattoria Amalfi
ITALIAN 385 S Broadway, Salem; (603) 893-5773; tamalfi.com; $–$$ D (
Tuscan Kitchen
ITALIAN 67 Main St., Salem; (603) 952-4875; 581 Lafayette Rd., Portsmouth; (603) 570-3600; tuscan-kitchen.com; $$–$$$ L D b
Pickity Place
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It is in our culinary garden that we find inspiration for the recipes used in our creative herbal-infused cuisine. We encourage all of our guests to explore our gardens and ‘‘please handle the herbs.” Come enjoy one of our three private seatings: 11:30, 12:45 or 2:00. Reservations by phone. Have a Pickity Day! nhmagazine.com | July 2019
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603 LIVING
SEACOAST Atlantic Grill
SEAFOOD 5 Pioneer Rd., Rye; (603) 433-3000; theatlanticgrill.com; $$-$$$ L D
Black Trumpet Bistro
INTERNATIONAL 29 Ceres St., Portsmouth; (603) 431-0887; blacktrumpetbistro.com; $$–$$$$ D (
Botanica Restaurant & Gin Bar
NEW AMERICAN 110 Brewery Ln., Ste. 5, Portsmouth; (603) 373-0979; Facebook; $$-$$$$ D
CAVA
TAPAS 10 Commercial Alley, Portsmouth; (603) 319-1575; cavatapasandwinebar.com; $–$$$ L D
Chapel+Main
NEW AMERICAN 83 Main St., Dover; (603) 842-5170; chapelandmain. com; $$–$$$ D (
CR’s the Restaurant
NEW AMERICAN 287 Exeter Rd., Hampton; (603) 929-7972; crstherestaurant.com;. $$-$$$ L D b (
Cure
NEW AMERICAN 189 State St., Portsmouth; (603) 427-8258; curerestaurantportsmouth.com; $$-$$$ L D (
Franklin Oyster House
SEAFOOD 148 Fleet St., Portsmouth; (603) 373-8500; franklinoysterhouse.com; $-$$$ D
Green Elephant H
VEGETARIAN 35 Portwalk Place, Portsmouth; (603) 427-8344; greenelephantnh.com; $–$$ L D
Jumpin’ Jay’s Fish Café
SEAFOOD 150 Congress St., Portsmouth; (603) 766-3474; jumpinjays. com; $$$–$$$$ D (
Lure Bar and Kitchen
TAPAS/SEAFOOD 100 Market St., Portsmouth; (603) 373-0535; lureportsmouth.com; $$–$$$ D
Martingale Wharf
AMERICAN/SEAFOOD 99 Bow St., Portsmouth; (603) 431-0901; martingalewharf.com; $$–$$$ L D
Mombo
INTERNATIONAL 66 Marcy St., Portsmouth; (603) 433-2340; momborestaurant.com; $$–$$$ L D (
Moxy
TAPAS 106 Penhallow St., Portsmouth; (603) 319-8178; moxyrestaurant.com; $$–$$$ D (
Oak House
AMERICAN 110 Main St., Newmarket; (603) 292-5893; oakhousenewmarket.com; $–$$ L D b
Otis
NEW AMERICAN 4 Front St., Exeter; (603) 580-1705; otisrestaurant.com; $$–$$$ D (
Paty B's H
DINE OUT
Revolution Taproom and Grill
AMERICAN 281 Daniel Webster Hwy., Meredith; (603) 279-5221; thecman. com; $–$$ B L D b
Ristorante Massimo
Lemongrass
ITALIAN 59 Penhallow St., Portsmouth; (603) 436-4000; ristorantemassimo. com; $$-$$$ D (
ASIAN 64 Whittier Hwy., Moultonborough; (603) 253-8100; lemongrassnh.net; $–$$ L D
Row 34
Local Eatery
SEAFOOD 5 Portwalk Place, Portsmouth; (603) 319-5011; row34nh. com; $-$$$ L D b (
FARM-TO-TABLE 17 Veterans Square, Laconia; (603) 527-8007; laconialocaleatery.com; $$–$$$ D (
Sonny’s Tavern
Mise en Place
PIZZERIA 22 Main St., Keene; (603) 903-1410; fireworksrestaurant.net; $–$$ D (
Fox Tavern
TAVERN 33 Main St., Hancock; (603) 525-3318; hancockinn.com; $-$$$ L D(
The Grove
AMERICAN The Woodbound Inn 247 Woodbound Rd., Rindge; (603) 532-4949; woodbound.com; $$–$$$ BLDb(
Surf Seafood H
SEAFOOD 99 Bow St., Portsmouth; (603) 334-9855; surfseafood.com; $$–$$$$ D
The New Woodshed
AMERICAN 128 Lee Rd., Moultonborough; (603) 476-2700; newwoodshed.com; $–$$$ D
AMERICAN 33 Main St., Hancock; (603) 525-3318; hancockinn.com; Prix fixe, $48.; $$–$$$$ D (
Tinos Greek Kitchen
O Bistro at the Inn on Main
FARM-TO-TABLE 9 Edwards Ln., Walpole; (603) 756-3444; hungrydinerwalpole.com; $–$$ B L D
GREEK 325 Lafayette Rd., Hampton; (603) 926-5489; galleyhatch.com; $$–$$$ L D
AMERICAN 200 North Main St., Wolfeboro; (603) 515-1003; innnewhampshire.com/our-bistro; $$–$$$ D
Vino e Vino
O Steaks & Seafood
ITALIAN 163 Water St., Exeter; (603) 580-4268; vinoevivo.com; $$–$$$ D(
LAKES Burnt Timber Tavern
BREWPUB/TAVERN 96 Lehner St., Wolfeboro; (603) 630-4186; burnttimbertavern.com; $–$$ L D
Canoe Restaurant and Tavern
AMERICAN 232 Whittier Hwy., Center Harbor; (603) 253-4762; 216 S. River Rd., Bedford; 935-8070; magicfoodsrestaurantgroup.com/ canoe-restaurant-and-tavern; $$-$$$ LD(
Corner House Inn
AMERICAN 22 Main St., Center Sandwich; (603) 284-6219; cornerhouseinn.com; $$ L D b (
Crystal Quail
AMERICAN 202 Pitman Rd., Center Barnstead; (603) 269-4151; crystalquail.com; $$$–$$$$ D (
Faro Italian Grille
ITALIAN 7 Endicott St., Laconia; (603) 527-8073; faroitaliangrille.com; $–$$ D (
Garwood’s
AMERICAN 6 North Main St., Wolfeboro; (603) 569-7788; garwoodsrestaurant.com; $–$$ L D (
Hobbs Tavern & Brewing Co.
BREWPUB 2415 White Mountain Hwy., West Ossipee; (603) 5392000; hobbstavern.com; $–$$ L D
Inn Kitchen + Bar
AMERICAN/FARM-TO-TABLE 28 Shepard Hill Rd., Holderness; (603) 968-4417; innkitchen.com; $–$$$ D (
Kathleen's Irish Pub
Raleigh Wine Bar + Eatery H
Kettlehead Brewing H
nhmagazine.com | July 2019
Fireworks
ITALIAN/AMERICAN 96 Lehner St., Wolfeboro; (603) 569-5788; miseenplacenh.com; $$-$$$$ L D (
ITALIAN 34 Dover Point Rd., Dover; (603) 749-4181; pattybs.com; $–$$$ L D
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(603) 355-3335; elmcitybrewing.com; $–$$ L D
NEW AMERICAN 328 Central Ave., Dover; (603) 343-4332; sonnystaverndover.com; $–$$ D b
IRISH PUB 90 Lake St., Bristol; (603) 744-6336; kathleensirishpub.com; $–$$ L D
NEW AMERICAN 67 State St.,Portsmouth; (603) 427-8459; raleighwinebar.com; $$–$$$ D b (
Lakehouse
GASTRO PUB 61 North Main St., Rochester; (603) 244-3022; revolutiontaproomandgrill.com; $-$$ L D
BREWPUB 407 West Main St., Tilton; (603) 286-8100; kettleheadbrewing. com; $–$$ L D
STEAKHOUSE/SEAFOOD 11 South Main St., Concord; (603) 856-7925; 62 Doris Ray Court, Lakeport; (603) 524-9373; magicfoodsrestaurantgroup.com; $$–$$$ L D
Osteria Poggio
The Hancock Inn
The Hungry Diner
Nicola’s Trattoria H
ITALIAN 51 Railroad St., Keene; (603) 355-5242; Facebook; $$$–$$$$ D
The Old Courthouse
NEW AMERICAN 30 Main St., Newport; (603) 863-8360; eatatthecourthouse. com; $$–$$$ L D b (
Papagallos Restaurant
ITALIAN 18 Main St., Center Harbor; (603) 250-8007; osteriapoggio.com; $$–$$$ D (
ITALIAN/MEDITERRANEAN 9 Monadnock Hwy., Keene; (603) 3529400; papagallos.com; $–$$ L D (
Pasquaney Restaurant
Parker's Maple Barn H
AMERICAN Inn on New Found Lake, 1030 Mayhew Turnpike, Bridgewater; (603) 744-9111; newfoundlake.com/ restaurant-tavern; $$–$$$ D (
Tavern 27
BREAKFAST 1316 Brookline Rd., Mason; (603) 878-2308; parkersmaplebarn.com; $ B L
Pearl Restaurant & Oyster Bar
TAPAS/PIZZA 2075 Parade Rd., Laconia; (603) 528-3057; tavern27. com; $–$$ L D (
ASIAN 1 Jaffrey Rd., Peterbrough; (603) 924-5225; pearl-peterborough. com $$–$$$ D (
Wolfe’s Tavern
Pickity Place
NEW ENGLAND TAVERN 90 N. Main St., Wolfeboro; (603) 569-3016; wolfestavern.com; $$–$$$ B L D b (
MONADNOCK
Alberto’s Restaurant
ITALIAN 79 Antrim Rd., Bennington; (603) 588-6512; albertosnh.com; $–$$ D (
Bantam Grill
ITALIAN 1 Jaffrey Rd., Peterborough; (603) 924-6633; bantam-peterborough.com; $$–$$$ D (
Bellows Walpole Inn Pub
NEW AMERICAN 297 Main St., Walpole; (603) 756-3320; bellowswalpoleinn.com; $$ L D (
Chesterfield Inn
AMERICAN 20 Cross Rd., West Chesterfield; (603) 256-3211; chesterfieldinn.com; $$-$$$ D (
Cooper’s Hill Public House
PUB 6 School St., Peterborough; (603) 371-9036; coopershillpublichouse.com; $-$$$ L D
Del Rossi’s Trattoria
ITALIAN Rte. 137, Dublin; (603) 5637195; delrossis.com $$–$$$ D (
Elm City Brewing H
BREW PUB 222 West St., Keene;
FARM-TO-TABLE 248 Nutting Hill Rd., Mason; (603) 878-1151; pickityplace. com — A historic place to lunch located in a quaint, 1786 red cottage that Elizabeth Orton Jones used as inspiration for her "Little Red Riding Hood" illustrations. Fresh, local ingredients are used, including herbs grown in the onsite gardens. There are three seatings at 11:30 a.m., 12:40 p.m. and 2 p.m. Reservations needed. $$ L (
Piedra Fina
LATIN 288 Main St., Marlborough; (603) 876-5012; piedrafina.com; $–$$ L D (
Restaurant at Burdick’s
FRENCH 47 Main Street, Walpole; (603) 756-9058; burdickchocolate. com; $–$$$ L D b (
The Stage H
AMERICAN 30 Central Sq., Keene; (603) 357-8389; thestagerestaurant. com; $-$$ L D
Thorndike’s & Parson’s Pub
AMERICAN/PUB The Monadnock Inn, 379 Main St., Jaffrey; (603) 532-7800; monadnockinn.com; $–$$$ D (
Waterhouse
AMERICAN 18 Water St., Peterborough; (603) 924-4001; waterhousenh.com; $-$$$ L D b (
DINE OUT
DARTMOUTH/ LAKE SUNAPEE
hanoverinn.com/dining.aspx; $$$–$$$$ B L D b (
447-3838; jonathonsseafood. com; $–$$$ L D (
Revolution Cantina
The Last Chair
Appleseed Restaurant
American 63 High St., Bradford; (603) 938-2100; appleseedrestaurant.com $-$$ D
CUBAN AND MEXICAN 38 Opera House Square, Claremont; (603) 504-6310; Facebook; $-$$ LDb
Base Camp Café
Suna
american/brew Pub 5 Rte. 25,Plymouth; (603) 238-9077; thelastchairnh.com; $-$$ L D
Libby’s Bistro & SAaLT Pub
nepalese 3 Lebanon St., Hanover; (603) 643-2007; basecampcafenh.com; $-$$ L D
AMERICAN 6 Brook Rd., Sunapee; (603) 843-8998; magicfoodsrestaurantgroup.com; $$–$$$ D (
NEW AMERICAN 115 Main Street on Rte. 2, Gorham; (603) 466-5330; libbysbistro.org; $$–$$$ L D (
Bistro Nouveau
Taverne on the Square
Littleton Freehouse Taproom & Eatery
AMERICAN The Center at Eastman, 6 Clubhouse Lane, Grantham; (603) 863-8000; bistronouveau.com; $–$$$$ L D (
AMERICAN 2 Pleasant St., Claremont; (603) 287-4416; claremonttaverne.com; $–$$$ L D
Candela Tapas Lounge
NORTH COUNTRY
tapas 15 Lebanon St., Hanover; (603) 277-9094; candelatapas. com; $$-$$$ D (
Coach House
AMERICAN 353 Main St., New London; (603) 526-2791; thenewlondoninn.com/the-coachhouse-restaurant;$ $–$$$$ D (
Farmer’s Table Café
farm-to-table 249 Rte. 10, Grantham; (603) 863-9355; farmerstablecafe.com; $–$$ L D
Flying Goose Brew Pub H
brew pub 40 Andover Rd., New London; (603) 526-6899; flyinggoose.com; $–$$ L D
Latham House Tavern
TAVERN 9 Main St., Lyme; (603) 795-9995; lathamhousetavern. com; $–$$ L D
Little Brother Burger Co.
burgers 420 Main St., New London; (603) 877-0196; Facebook; $–$$ L D
Bailiwicks
brew pub 3378 White Mountain Hwy., North Conway; (603) 356-6381; moatmountain.com; $–$$ L D (
Barley & Salt Tap House and Kitchen
Rainbow Grille & Tavern H
Gastropub/International 1699 White Mountain Hwy., North Conway; (603) 307-1037; barleyandsalt.com; $-$$$ L D
The Beal House Inn
pub 2 W. Main St., Littleton; (603) 444-2661; thebealhouseinn.com; $$-$$$ D
The Burg H
PIZZA 8 Back Lake Rd,. Pittsburg; (603) 538-7400; Facebook; $ D
Chang Thai Café
thai 77 Main St., Littleton; (603) 444-8810; changthaicafe. com; $-$$ L D
Chef’s Bistro
farm-to-table 44 Main St., Hanover; (603) 676-7996; markettablenh.com; $–$$ B L D b
NEW american 2724 White Mountain Hwy., North Conway; (603) 356-4747; chefsbistronh. com; $-$$ L D
Millstone at 74 Main
Conway Scenic Railroad
Oak & Grain H
prix fixe Inn at Pleasant Lake, 853 Pleasant St., New London; (603) 526-6271; innatpleasantlake.com — Take in the gorgeous lake views while enjoying elevated New England cuisine with global inspirations using fresh, local ingredients, which come from local partners and even their own onsite herb garden and maple sugar stand. Reservations required. Prix fixe menu. D (
The Old Courthouse
American 30 Main St., Newport; (603) 863-8360; eatatthecourthouse.com; $-$$$ L D b (
Peter Christian's Tavern
dinner train 38 Norcross Circle, North Conway; (603) 356-5251; conwayscenic.com/dining — The dinner train resumes service starting in June. Relive the golden days of railroad and enjoy lunch or dinner.
Deacon Street Martini & Whiskey Bar
AMERICAN 32 Seavey St., Conway; (603) 356-9231; deaconst. com; $$–$$$ D
Gypsy Café
international 111 Main St., Lincoln; (603) 745-4395; gypsycaferestaurant.com; $–$$ L D
Horsefeathers
AMERICAN 2679 White Mountain Hwy., North Conway; (603) 356-2687; horsefeathers.com; $–$$ L D
Iron Furnace Brewing
american/Tavern 195 Main St., New London; (603) 5262964; peterchristiansnh.com; $-$$ L D
brewpub 115 Main St., Bethlehem; (603) 823-2119; ironfurnacebrewing.com; $ L D
PINE at the Hanover Inn
Jonathon’s Seafood
AMERICAN 2 South Main St., Hanover; (603) 643-4300;
Moat Mountain Smokehouse H
american 106 Main St., Littleton; (603) 444-7717; bailiwicksfinerestaurant.com; $-$$$ L D (
Market Table
american 74 Newport Rd., New London; (603) 526-4201; 74mainrestaurant.com; $–$$ L D b
new american 28 Cottage St., Littleton; (603) 575-5410; littletonfreehouse.com; $-$$$ L D
seafood/American 280 East Side Rd., North Conway; (603)
SEEkiNG NH’S BESt ANd BRiGHtESt
AMERICAN/TAVERN 609 Beach Rd., Pittsburg; (603) 538-9556; rainbowgrille.com — Serving a variety of comfort food from seafood to ribs. The tavern serves appetizers, hearth-baked pizzas and more. $–$$ D (
Red Parka Steakhouse
STEAKHOUSE 3 Station St., Glen; (603) 383-4344; redparkapub. com; $–$$ L D
Rek'•lis Brewing
Brewpub 2085 Main St., Bethlehem; (603) 869-9696; redparkapub.com; $–$$ L D
Schilling Beer Co.
brew pub/pizzeria 18 Mill St., Littleton; (603) 444-4800; (603) 444-4800; schillingbeer. com; $-$$ L D
Table + Tonic
new american/farm-totalbe 3358 White Mountain Hwy., North Conway; (603) 356-6068; tableandtonic.com; $-$$$ B L D (
Thompson House Eatery
AMERICAN/FArm-to-table 139 Main St., Jackson; (603) 383-9341; thompsonhouseatery. com; $$-$$$ L D (
Tony’s Italian Grille
italian 3674 Rte. 3, Thornton; (603) 745-3133; $$ L D (
Vito Marcello’s Italian Bistro
Since 2003, NH Business Review’s Business Excellence Awards have honored the best and the brightest leaders in the state’s small business community. Since 2015, we’ve been honoring larger businesses too – with awards presented in eight different categories for small businesses (under 100 employees) and bigger ones (over 100 employees). Go to nhbr.com for more details.
Submit a nomination by August 16 at nhbr.com Sponsored by:
italian 45 Seavey St., North Conway; (603) 356-7000; vitomarcellositalianbistro.com; $$-$$$ D
Woodstock Brewery H
BREW PUB Rte. 3, North Woodstock; (603) 745-3951; woodstockinnnh.com; $–$$ L
Visit nhmagazine.com/food for more listings, food and drink features or to sign up for the monthly Cuisine E-Buzz. nhmagazine.com | July 2019
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Hearing Voices
Fending off the automated annoyances BY JACK KENNY
I
once had to listen to a high school principal tell me I was an “angry young man.” But that was long ago, and I have changed since then. I’m no longer young. And the older I get, the more I find cause for anger, or at least annoyance. Because there are more people pestering me, and they have greater technological means of pestering. The pests don’t even have to call you anymore — they have robot voices do it for them. Just the other day a female voice, named Rachel, I think, from card something-or-other, called with news about my credit card account and how I could lower my interest rate. I might have said, if the voice could listen, that I have no credit card debt because I have never owned a credit card. Therefore I couldn’t possibly lower my noninterest on the nondebt not arising from the credit card I’ve never had. No card, no debt; no debt, no interest. It’s that simple. “Hipso fatso,” as Archie Bunker used to say. If Rachel’s voice had ears, I might have suggested to them that Rachel might be better employed at some other task, like finding Amelia Earhart or Jimmy Hoffa or Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction. Then there is the voice of another woman, Jessica maybe, that calls every now and to tell me the good news: I have
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been preapproved for a student loan. Well, that is surprising and Jessica’s voice sounds quite excited about it. I’m not. The last thing I need is a loan. Even without a credit card, I have managed to accumulate debt. As Rabelais put it, “I owe much, I have nothing, the rest I leave to the poor.” And a student loan? Now that’s a stretch. I know Rodney Dangerfield went “Back to School” in the movies and went around the school looking for the faucet of middle age. But for me, approaching old age would be a youth movement. Another voice named Vanessa called to offer something that would help with “chronic pain,” though I am quite sure unwelcome telephone solicitations by robot voices are not among the chronic pains Vanessa’s voice has in its automated mind. The same voice called again the very next day, reminding me of, you guessed it, chronic pain. “Ma’am,” I said to someone who wasn’t there, “you could relieve the pain you’re giving me by ceasing to call me every damn day.” This time the voice hung up abruptly. Can’t imagine why. Once, long ago, I had occasion to call Public Service of New Hampshire, probably about an overdue payment. It was shortly
before Christmas and from the other end of the line I heard, “Seasons greetings from Public Service of New Hampshire.” “Ah, go to hell,” I growled. “Oh, really?” I heard from what I discovered to my shocked surprise was a real live lady at the other end of the call. It was what we now call an OMG! moment. “Oh, I’m sorry!” I said at once. “You sounded like a recording.” “A lot of people say that,” she said. Well, it just “shows to go ya” that you can’t always tell whether there is actually a person talking to you on the phone. In the words of an old TV commercial, “Is it real or is it Memorex?” Most of the time it doesn’t matter. What it is is a “chronic pain.” “Progress was all right once,” wrote the comic poet Ogden Nash, “but it has gone on too long.” I’m inclined to agree, even while watching cable television, surfing the internet, and writing on a word processor an article I will submit by email. And I know I should stop cursing, even at robot voices. At least they’ve given me an excuse to write another story. And if I should ever meet, somewhere in eternity, Alexander Graham Bell, I will apologize for having said he should have been strangled in his crib. Maybe. NH
illustration by brad fitzpatrick
603 LIVING
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TOP DOCTORS AND COUNTING We’re proud of the 112 doctors from across the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health System featured on this year’s New Hampshire Magazine’s Top Doctors list. Thank you for your expert knowledge and compassionate care, and for helping us have more top doctors than any other health system or hospital in New Hampshire.
Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital, Cheshire Medical Center, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center, New London Hospital, Visiting Nurse and Hospice for Vermont and New Hampshire, Dartmouth-Hitchcock practice sites at more than 24 locations throughout the region. dartmouth-hitchcock.org
Denise Aaron MD Stacey Abbis MD William Abdu MD MS Daniel Albert MD Bruce Andrus MD MS Bradley Arrick MD PhD Emily Baker MD Perry Ball MD James Bartels MD Richard Barth Jr. MD Joan Crane Barthold MD Barbara Bates MD John Batsis MD David Bauer MD Valerie Bell MD John-Erik Bell MD Elizabeth Bengtson MD Paul Bettinger MD William Bihrle III MD Brian Binczewski MD William Black MD Annika Brown MD Jack Bueno MD Christopher Burns MD Mark Carney MD Samuel Casella MD Mary Chamberlin MD M. Shane Chapman MD Jeffrey Cohen MD Phillip Collins MD Richard Comi MD James DeVries MD Todd Dombrowski MD MS Konstantin Dragnev MD Richard I. Enelow MD Elisabeth Erekson MD MPH David Finley MD Timothy Fisher MD MS Evelyn Fleming MD Naomi Gauthier MD Marc Gautier MD Jennifer Glatz MD Patricia Glowa MD Philip Goodney MD MS Stuart Gordon MD E. Ann Gormley MD Benoit Gosselin MD James Gray MD MS Sherry Guardiano DO Matthew Hand DO Jeffrey Harnsberger MD Cherie Holmes MD MSC Paul Holtzheimer MD Joseph Hou MD Kathyryn Hourdequin MD
John Jayne MD Scott Jaynes MD Barbara Jobst MD J. Gilliam Johnston II MD Julie Kim MD PhD Alan Kono MD Stacey Kopp MD Kevin Kwaku MD PhD William Laycock MD Gregory Leather MD Lisa Leinau MD Stephen Liu MD MPH Keith Loud MD MS Harold Manning MD Heather Marks MD M.T. Charisse Marquez MD Keith McAvoy MD Jock McCullough MD Kenneth Meehan MD John Moeschler MD Patrick Morhun MD Srikrishna Nagri MD Catherine Pipas MD Emil Pollak JR. MD Richard Powell MD Anthony Presutti MD Brian Remillard MD William Rigby MD Steven Ringer MD PhD Lara Ronan MD Kari Rosenkranz MD Richard Rothstein MD Nina Sand-Loud MD Andrew Schuman MD Gary Schwartz MD Keisuke Shirai MD MSC Corey Siegel MD MS Mark Silbey MD Nathan Simmons MD Lijun Song MD PhD Andrew Spector MD David Stone MD Arief Suriawinata MD Vijay Thadani MD PhD Andrew Trembley MD Vijaya Upadrasta MD Dale Vidal MD Adam Weinstein MD Wendy Wells MD Loyd West MD Brent White MD Jill Winslow MD Jan Wollack MD PhD Alicia Zbehlik MD