Daybreak's Weekend Heads Up 9/24/26

“Managing Trail Systems with Multiple Landowners” with the Grafton Co. Conservation District. The tour introduces a network of landowners in Lyme collaborating to form a cohesive trail system, and will talk about trail maintenance, local resources, and other issues. 11 am, you’ll need to register at the link. 

At the Howe Library, an afternoon of Nyckelharpa. Upper Valley-based multi-instrumentalist Nacio Levey gives a concert of traditional Swedish folk music on the country’s national instrument, a keyed fiddle. 3 pm in the Main Books Area.

Artist’s talk by Barbara Takenaga at the Hood Museum. Known for “immersive, meticulous abstract paintings that draw upon the cosmic as well as the scientific,” Takenaga give the Root Distinguished Contemporary Art Lecture, focusing on the influences and ideas that have informed her practice over the last five decades. 5 pm.

A big opening reception at AVA Gallery. In all, AVA is celebrating “four distinct but interconnected exhibitions that explore how we understand the past, navigate uncertainty, and carry traces of history into the present”. Among them, “A Place Visited Only in Dreams,” an exhibition with 33 artists whose works are “rooted in Surrealism.” Reception 5-7 pm.

Opening reception for Marjorie Ryerson’s “Water Music” at the Chandler Gallery in Randolph. It’s been two decades since Ryerson turned her photographs of water—including the Mississippi River—into a book and project that included essays, poetry, and the work of dozens of musicians. The Chandler’s exhibition of how the book came together opens Friday, with a reception from 5-7 pm.

Cindy Pierce at Billings Farm & Museum with “Wrangling the Drift.” The celebrated comic storyteller brings back her by turns funny and poignant show about her mom’s “dementia journey” in a fundraiser for The Upper Valley Walk to End Alzheimer’s. “Filled with family foibles, unexpected twists, and laugh-out-loud moments, her stories reveal how humor helps all of us navigate even the most challenging days.” Friday and Saturday at 7 pm. Tickets for Saturday’s show are moving fast. Here’s Susan Apel’s recent writeup about the show.

Solo piano concert by Annemieke McLane in Strafford. She’ll be playing three Beethoven sonatas: the “Tempest,” “Moonlight,” and “Pathétique.” As she writes, “The Tempest, you can imagine fall-weather, storms… Moonlight, full moonlight in Vermont this weekend… and Pathetique, a ‘bath’ with stirring emotions.” 7 pm at the United Church of Strafford, donations at the door. No link.

At Sweetland Farm in Norwich, Hoofin’ It For Hay 5K fun run and harvest festival. The runs support StoneLedge Stables, a nonprofit farm school. Plus meals and snacks from local food trucks, activities for kids, product samples, and more. 5K run at 9:30 am (registration at 9), family fun run at 11 am (registration at 10:30), festival lasts until 2:30 pm.

Sullivan County Farm Day. A sampling of local NH farms, products and activities, with animals, food, apple picking, demonstrations, and more. Participating farms include Edgewater Farm, Mac’s Maple, Hall Apiaries, Five Sisters Farm, King Blossom Farm, and plenty of others. Use the interactive map to zoom in on what’s going on. 10 am to 4 pm.

Haverhill History Day in Haverhill Corner. It’s the second year of what’s becoming an annual event, with talks on the underground railroad and its connection to Haverhill, the arrival of the railroad there, the Revere Bell at the First Congregational Church, and stagecoach routes through Haverhill, plus horse and wagon rides, historic home tours, traditional crafts and music, and displays around the village. Starts at 10 am.

Magnificent Mammals Day at VINS. “Meet a few live mammals that could live in your backyard with Squam Lakes Natural Science Center, and explore the wonderful world of goats with Five Rooster Farm. Hear tales of the mystical world of mammals with the Vermont Museum of Natural History.” Among many other things. 10 am to 5 pm.

HopStop with Valley Improv. The local improv troupe pulls out all the stops for this family event, using prompts from the audience. 11 am in the Hopkins Center’s Daryl Roth Studio Theater.

Shaker Harvest Festival at the Enfield Shaker Museum. Horse-drawn wagon rides, cider making, butter churning, ice cream cranking, candle dipping, traditional crafts including broom making, farm animals, live music with Cardigan Mountain Tradition, tours of the garden, barn, and museum, plus food and more. 11 am to 4 pm.

Met Opera in HD at the Hop: Twenty Years of the Met in Cinemas. “Hosted by star soprano Renée Fleming, this special presentation will showcase unforgettable moments from some of opera's greatest stars, culled from the series' vast archive of transmissions.” 1 pm in the Loew Auditorium.

Lynne Hanson at Seven Stars Arts in Sharon. “Too tough for folk and too blues-influenced for country,” they write about the Ottawa-based Americana singer-songwriter, “Lynne Hanson’s brand of porch music with a little red dirt can turn on a dime from a sunshine, blue sky ballad to a full on thunderstorm of gritty Americana swamp from one song to the next.” 7 pm.

Counterpoint Chorus and the Opera Company of Middlebury in Norwich. The Montpelier-based chorus joins forces in a joint concert featuring “a powerful program of operatic laments over oppression and protests against internal and external tyranny.” With music of Verdi, Beethoven, Mussorgsky, and others. 7:30 pm in the Norwich Congregational Church.

The Anonymous Coffeehouse. It’s on a Saturday night instead of the usual Friday, with songwriter, storyteller, and guitarist Cosy Sheridan opening things up at 7:30 pm. She’s followed at 8 by The Bottom Dollars, a bluegrass/old-timey trio with fiddle, guitar, and banjo. And at 9 pm, traditional music stars Andrew and Noah VanNorstrand. At the First Congregational Church of Lebanon.

Don Jovi—The Definitive Bon Jovi Tribute at the Claremont Opera House. The NY-based band is fronted by recording artist Don Chaffin, “best known as the lead vocalist for Voices of Extreme, Red Lamb, Ram Jam, Riot Act, Road Crew and American Mafia.” 7:30 pm.

Fermentation Celebration at Root 5 Farm in Fairlee. The gathering of fermentation enthusiasts celebrates “the microbial transformation of our food. This year's Fermentation Celebration brings together local producers, bakers, and brewers for an exciting day of demos, delicious samples, and a one-of-a-kind Community Starter Swap.” Plus live music with Patrick Ross. 11 am to 3 pm, rain or shine.

In Brookfield, Jackson Gillman, the Stand-Up Chameleon, with “Awesome Autumn.” Song, story, comedy, dance, mime, and sign language in a show celebrating the bounty and beauty of the season: Apples, pumpkins, cranberries, a nip in the air, flaming maples, leaf piles, migrating geese… 1 pm at Brookfield Old Town Hall.

Brewgrass Sunday with Ninja Wizard at River Roost Brewery in WRJ. Kit Creeger, Steve Hennig, Jakob Breitbach, and Mick Hargreaves on bass, from 2-4 pm. Rain or shine. Every Sunday through October.

Buster Keaton’s Our Hospitality in Fairlee. It’s the first in a series of monthly silent films, hosted by Fairlee Community Arts and with live piano accompaniment by Jeff Rapsis. Keaton’s 1923 film puts him in the midst of a generations-long backwoods feud. As FCA writes about a silent on a big screen with live piano, “This is an experience you can't get at home via streaming.” 2 pm in the town hall theater.

Recorder virtuoso Sarah Cantor returns to her native Strafford with the Early Music ensemble Tanto Tempo. “Breathing new life into Early Music, Sarah will be joined by Claudia Gantivar, recorders, and Joel Spears, lute and theorbo, in an exciting program of trio sonatas, solo lute, and a contemporary duet.” Tickets at the door. 2 pm at the United Church of Strafford. No link.

Ted Levin and Emma Paris in Calais. Part of the Art at the Kent “Words Out Loud” series of readings, with naturalist and writer Ted Levin reading from The Promise of Sunrise, and Paris, the 2025-26 VT youth poet laureate, from her poetry. 3 pm at the Old West Church in Calais.

Hop Film screens The Odyssey. Yep, that one: Christopher Nolan’s epic with Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Lupita N'yongo, and a bunch of thoroughly unpleasant suitors. Plus, of course, the cyclops, Circe, Scylla and Charybdis, and some meddling gods. 4 pm in Spaulding.

Burger Night at Flying Dog Farm in Tunbridge. With beer by Brocklebank, ice cream by Kiss the Cow, burgers etc by Flying Dog, and music by the Well Kept Men. 4-7 pm.

The Smithereens and Marshall Crenshaw at Lebanon Opera House. It’s a serious ‘80s and early ‘90s nostalgia-fest. “The band’s distinctive sound is rooted in the melodic punch of the British Invasion, fused with the raw energy of American garage rock,” LOH writes. And who knows what Crenshaw will bring along, but maybe "Someday, Someway", his 1982 top 40 hit, or "Cynical Girl.” 7:30 pm.

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