HAVE A FINE LONG WEEKEND, UPPER VALLEY!
Friday, Sept. 4
Well, of course, it’s First Friday in WRJ. Vendors, music, and mocktails at the Upper Valley Food Co-op from 11-2, a Valley Transit costume and props sale at JAM from 5-7, piano night at the Main Street Museum, an artist talk at Janna’s Gate Gallery with VT-based industrial-salvage sculptor Scott Gordon, open studios in the Tip Top Building, and to close things out from 8 to 11 pm, a Beyoncé birthday bash at The Filling Station with tunes slung by DJ Cartiér and Sir Babygirl (21+).
Route 4 in Quechee celebrates. After three years of construction disruption, the bridge over Quechee Gorge reopened recently, and the surrounding venues are rejoicing with a block party: open houses, special sales, and more. The Quechee Gorge Visitor Center, Global Village Foods, Two Bistro, Whisper Hill, Jake's Market, The Public House, and others will be throwing open their doors from 4:30 to 6 pm (or later). And the VINS Nature Center will be open an hour later than usual, until 6 pm. (At the link, hit the little Sept. 4 calendar item that starts “Quechee Gorge”.)
Photographer Steve Arcone talks about his work at AVA. Arcone is a retired research geophysicist; his current exhibition, Icescapes in the Abstract: Images from New Hampshire Ponds, uses “landscape macro-photography to capture the beauty of small-scale natural scientific phenomena.” 5:30 pm.
Beecharmer at Skunk Hollow Tavern in Hartland. Jes Raymond and Jakob Breitbach blend flatpicking, clawhammer banjo, fiddle, upright bass, and elements of bluegrass, old-time, jazz, and pop. 5:30 pm.
Saturday, Sept. 5
The Chelsea Arts Collective’s 7th Annual Chelsea Arts on the Green Market and Festival. The green’ll be hopping, rain or shine, from 10 am to 4 pm, with 45 artists and artisans, live music from Jim Rooney and Rudi Rudell, Doug Perkins and the Sidewinders, Beth Monroe and Sleepy Weasels, and Jennings and McCombe. Plus workshops, The Arts Bus, and food vendors including Sustainable Eats, The Box, Schatzi's Pizza, Chicken Wiggle Farm, and Aunt Donna's Baked Goods.
Lebanon Rotary Brewfest in Colburn Park. Over 35 craft beer vendors, plus food and live music, from noon to 4 pm. You can get tix in advance or at the gate. 21+ only, with ID shown at the entrance. And just to reiterate, the Rotary writes, “No babies or children of any age are allowed if they are not 21 years of age or older.”
The Plymouth Folk & Blues Festival gets going at the Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site in Plymouth Notch, VT. Things kick off at 2 pm Saturday with Grace Morrison, then continue with Tom Pirozzoli, and Joseph Parsons on Saturday, and KeruBo, Sister Speak, and The Kennedys on Sunday, everything 2-5 both days. All concerts are free, but, they write, “cash donations to support the artists are appreciated. We are also taking food donations of unexpired non-perishables for the Vermont Food Bank.”
Opening reception for “Community Through Quilting” at the Howe Library in Hanover. The Northern Lights Quilt Guild is sharing “a small sampling of their quilts and the creativity of the long practiced artform” at the Howe through Oct. 28. The opening reception is at 2 pm Saturday on the upper level in the Ledyard Gallery.
The Baker Bells at 3:47 pm. Saturday marks the 121st anniversary of the signing of the treaty ending the 1905 Russo-Japanese War. The signing took place at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and, writes Stephanie Seacord, “Research shows that when the formal negotiations broke down, local people hosted dinners, concerts, picnics -- everything imaginable to keep the diplomats 'at the table.'“ The 3:47 pm signing is commemorated in NH spots connected to the treaty, and Dartmouth is one of them: grad student Kan'ichi Asakawa, who wrote a book on the war’s causes, was there. Hence the bells’ playing of “Dear Old Dartmouth” Saturday afternoon.
Pizza Night at Crossmolina Farm in W. Corinth. Pizzas start rolling out at 5 pm, music with Nora & Eliza—“Burlington’s (self proclaimed) hottest old time fiddle and banjo duo!”—at 6. Reservations are a must.
Taco Night at Flying Dog Farm in Tunbridge. A range of street tacos, ice cream from Kiss the Cow, and music from Strafford(ish)-based Moovus Wayopus. 5-8 pm.
Sunday, Sept. 6
The New World Festival. The Chandler’s 34th annual day and night devoted to Celtic and Québécois music gets going at noon with five stages—inside venues or in tents—arrayed around a stretch of downtown Randolph. A glittering array of bands from near and far—Cantrip, Mélisande, Genticorum, the Pine Tree Flyers, The Reel McCoys, and many more—plus dance and music workshops, food, and enthusiastic crowds. Runs until 10 pm.
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.
The final Sunday Summer Soirée at Loch Lyme Lodge. With guitarist and singer Thomas Chapin. You’ll need reservations.
Labor Day Monday, Sept. 7
The Post Mills Labor Day Parade and Barbecue. As Thetford’s Charlie Buttrey writes, “It is, by all accounts, the oldest continuously run Labor Day parade in Vermont. It starts at 11 am, and wends its way along Route 244 from its intersection with Route 113, and ends at the Post Mills airport with a chicken barbecue and live music. Floats, tractors, jugglers, animals, community groups, youth sports teams, antique cars, fire trucks? Check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check.”
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Written and published by Rob Gurwitt
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