SO MUCH GOOD STUFF, UPPER VALLEY!
Friday
Family nature walk at the Montshire. On the museum’s accessible trails, a chance to examine logs and trees—and “forest bathe” together. 10:30 am.
Panel conversation on “The Lasting Impact of the Arts at Dartmouth.” It’s a “back to class” event that’s open to the general public, with alums from the classes of 1986 and 2001 talking with Hopkins Center director Mary Lou Aleskie about how the arts on campus shaped their time in Hanover and their careers ever since. 3:30 pm in the Hop’s Moore Theater.
The 46th annual Quechee Balloon Festival kicks off. Three days of live music, family-friendly shows, food vendors, and hot air balloons get going at 3 pm Friday when the gates at the Village Green open and Ernest James Zydeco takes the stage. At 6 Friday, balloon launches, Steven Johnson and Route 5 Jive on the big stage at 6:30, then balloon glow at 8:30 pm. Music, lots of food, more balloon launches, and entertainment on Saturday and Sunday.
Piano Night at the Main Street Museum in WRJ. It’s an evening devoted to Cole Porter. “Music begins at six, and, remember requests are welcome, and, if you want, feel free to come onstage and accompany on the mic,” the MSM writes.
Juneteenth speech and bike ride in Claremont. In conjunction with Pride week there, 6 pm at Broad Street Park. See Saturday listings for the WRJ/Lebanon/Bethel Juneteenth event.
BarnArts’ production of Dancing at Lughnasa opens at Woodstock’s King Farm. Brian Friel’s celebrated play is set in County Donegal, Ireland in the summer of 1936, and draws on Friel’s own early memories to tell the story of a family caught up in both social and individual change. Directed by Dory Psomas, with Irish dance choreography by Bridgette Hammond and a cast from around the Upper Valley. Fridays and Saturdays this week and next at 6:30 pm, Sundays at 4 pm, and next Thursday at 6:30 pm. Here’s The Herald’s look ahead.
The Thetford Arthouse Cinema screens Anatomy of a Fall. Justine Triet’s 2023 French legal drama stars Sandra Hüller as a writer trying to prove her innocence after she’s accused in the death of her husband. “Nominated for 5 Oscars, 5 BAFTAs, and winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes,” writes organizer Arthur Kahn, “this is that fairly rare film whose screenplay takes full command.” 7 pm in the Martha Rich Theater at Thetford Academy.
Saturday
Thetford Village Fair and Country Auction. Part of the town’s 250th celebration, there will demos, history displays, and activities, all free, plus food for sale, including Red Kite ice cream. The live auction is “full of amazing donated items and services of all sorts, and is a benefit to repurpose the wonderful old brick church across the road.” Downtown Thetford Center starting at 8 am, with the auction at 10 am.
Hartford/Lebanon/Bethel Juneteenth celebration at Lyman Point Park in WRJ. Coordinated by community members from Hartford, Lebanon and Bethel, this event will offer kids’ activities, free food from the White River Co-op, Hannaford Food Markets, the Upper Valley Co-op, and Bocasoca Mexican Grill, along with entertainment from DJ Mix Kings and performances by Ella Bogdonoff, Rev. Leon Dunkley, and Stephen Stuntz, plus speakers. 2 pm to 4:30 pm.
The Hanover Conservancy hosts a Hewes Ravine Off-Trail Ramble. “Preview an in-progress trail build at our Hewes Ravine property,” they write. “We’ll follow the proposed route of Adair’s Erratic Trail (construction starting summer 2026), learning what factors we consider when planning new trails and offering a sneak peek of this recently conserved gem.” 2-4 pm, meet at the Iby Road trailhead.
At the Norman Williams Public Library in Woodstock, Ben and Josh Mezrich talk about Checkmate: Genius, Lies, Ambition, and the Biggest Scandal in Chess. Ben Mezrich’s new book (he’s also the author of The Accidental Billionaires, which was adapted into the film The Social Network) takes off from the 2022 chess match in which American chess prodigy Hans Niemann defeated world champion Magnus Carlsen—and the chess world turmoil after Carlsen accused Niemann of cheating. The brothers Mezrich talk it all over, 2 pm, seating is first-come, first-served.
Pizza Night at Crossmolina Farm in West Corinth. This week with music by Footworks, the Cape Breton-inspired trio of Jacob Brillhart on fiddle, Jon Brillhart on whistle, and Tory Heft on guitar. Food at 5, music at 6, and you’ll need a reservation.
The Oak Hill Music Festival begins its run of concerts. The stirring chamber music ensemble starts its Upper Valley stay with guest artists Vieness Piano Duo, the LA-based husband and wife duo of Eva Schaumkell and Vijay Venkatesh, performing music by Schubert, Barber, and Saint-Saens' Carnival of the Animals for piano duo. First Congregational Church of Lebanon at 7 pm.
“Trumpet Calls” at Chosen Vale. Trumpeters Jeroen Berwaerts, David Bilger, Edward Carroll, Rebecca Wilt, and various ensembles perform music by Bach, Vivaldi, Holst, Wilkinson, and others. Free and open to the public, 8 pm in the Mary Keane Chapel at the Enfield Shaker Museum.
The Mt. Ascutney Mountain Music Series gets going for the summer with Ida Mae Specker. She and her band (with special guest Emily Burkland) kick off the Brownsville Butcher & Pantry-sponsored gathering at the foot of the mountain, with “wood-fired pizzas from our 1952 Ford pizza truck, a new taco menu making its first appearance at our music series events, [and] Mt. Ascutney as our backdrop, doing what it does best.” 4 to 8 pm.
Sunday
It’s Make Music Day, a global celebration of music with free performances on front porches, in parks, and wherever else people can gather. There are a bunch of places to catch music in VT (NH doesn’t seem to be participating) and in the Upper Valley:
In Randolph, musicians will perform around downtown, both outdoors and in (the very packed schedule is at the link). Headliners All the Rivers—the global ensemble of immigrant musicians to Vermont put together by Billy Wylder’s Avi Salloway—performs at 1:15 pm at the Rec Fields and at 6:30 pm at the Chandler. With Steeve Valcourt and Nadine Niles of Haiti’s Lakou Mizik; Colombian singer songwriter Cintia Lovo; balafon master Ousmane Camara of Guinea; violinist Ernesto Villalobos, West African percussionists, and Japanese American drummer Daiki Hirano in collaboration with Salloway.
Pond Village in Brookfield hosts a full afternoon and early evening of musicians at various locations starting at noon, with Tony Strat-Cortez, Nate Mott, Trash Crow, harpist Rachel Clemente, and others.
The Norwich Bookstore features local musicians starting at 1 pm and and lasting until 4 pm.
The Bethel Bandshell starts things up at 11:30 am with Nate Mott, followed throughout the afternoon by Spencer Lewis and Friends, Tony Strat, and then Luminous Crush in the evening.
The Commons (a park just north of downtown) in Springfield (VT) hosts Milk House Heaters, Dan & Faith Senie, Steam Jenny, Phil Henry, and an open mic, noon to 5 pm, while the Springfield Food Co-op hosts the bass and drum duo of Paulin Lukombo and Suzanne Stern from 1-2:30 pm.
At the Tunbridge Public Library from 2 to 5 pm, Neil FitzGerald, Dan Roda, Adam Smith, Rudi Rudell, Anna Mary Zigman, and special guest Nan Frost Trio playing celtic penny whistle songs.
Ali T is at Silo Distillery in Windsor from 2-4 pm, and the Windsor Public Library has an open mic.
Not to be outdone, Whaleback hosts Jay Nash and Brooks Hubbard (and band) for a Father’s Day/Summer Solstice concert. Doors at 4 pm, music at 5 pm, food and drink available while supplies last.
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