32nd Annual Somersworth International Children’s Festival

SOMERSWORTH –

(photo courtesy of Metro Creative)

The celebration kicks off the weekend on Friday, June 15, at 6:30 p.m. at the Festival Pavilion located at Somersworth High football field. This year, they feature T- Bone and the local popular band Gazpacho. The evening will also have more than thirty vendors with an excellent variety of foods, games, activities, and a large fireworks display. The evening will be sponsored by the City of Somersworth to promote the pride of Somersworth.  

The enjoyment continues on Saturday, June 16,  as the Main Street of Somersworth and the Noble Pines Park become an area of entertainment. With three stages on Main Street of continuous acts, you can enjoy kids’ entertainers to adult entertainment from blues to rock and roll music. Also, they will have lots of ethnic entertainers.   There will be a large variety of kids’ activities - for example the Expo Tent will have pine wood derby racing and exotic animals from the Zoo Encounters. You can actually hold a snake! They also have an early childhood play area where the tiny ones can make bubbles and play in the sand or finger paint. There will also be a variety of all American and ethnic foods. More than eighty crafters will bring their wares for you to buy.

 Take a trip around the world and visit the World Cultures area, which will feature many countries. This area includes groups from Brazil, Poland, China, Rwanda, Indonesia and many other countries with different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. They will demonstrate aspects of their heritage. As children learn about a country, they will have a passport stamped for that country. When they have stamps from all the countries represented, they will be entered into a drawing for a bike and many other  great prizes. In this area, many of the countries will offer foods from their native lands.

Then take a bus up to the Noble Pines Park. There will be pony rides, a free petting zoo, llamas, food vendors and another stage of entertainment to amuse the children and the young at heart. There is even a water slide done by the fire department.

The festival has a large variety of more than 200 vendors, crafts, activities and food for the young and old alike. For more information, call the Somersworth Festival Association office at 603- 692-5869.

Pulitzer-prize Winner Speaks about Her New Book

NEWINGTON & PORTSMOUTH -

(courtesy image)

As part of a pre-Father’s Day event, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Barbara Walsh will speak about her new book, “August Gale: A Father and Daughter’s Journey into the Storm” Friday, June 15, at the Newington/Portsmouth Barnes & Noble from 4 to 7 p.m.

In “August Gale,” Walsh - who has interviewed killers, bad cops, and crooked politicians in the course of her career - faces the most challenging story of her lifetime: asking her father about his childhood pain. In the process, she takes readers on two heartrending odysseys: one into a deadly Newfoundland hurricane and the lives of schooner fishermen who relied on God and the wind to carry them home. The other, into a squall stirred by a man with many secrets, a grandfather who remained a mystery until long after his death.

A New Hampshire native and University of New Hampshire graduate, Walsh is also the author of “Sammy in the Sky,” a children’s book illustrated by painter Jamie Wyeth. She will also sign her children’s book at the event.

Walsh has worked at several newspapers during her career, and at the Lawrence Eagle-Tribune in Lawrence, Massachusetts, she worked on a year-long series about first-degree killer Willie Horton and Massachusetts’ flawed prison furlough system. The story won a Pulitzer Prize and affected the 1988 presidential election.

For more information, contact Barnes & Noble at its 45 Gosling Road store 603-422-7733. Read more about Barbara Walsh at http://barbarawalsh.net.

Local Sunday Schoolers Become Environmentalists, Raise Funds to Protect Trees

Anna Boudreau of the Strafford Rivers Conservancy accepts a generous donation from Kristin Forselius' 2nd and 3rd grade Sunday School Class at Durham Community Church. L to R: Jack Lilly, Lucy Rainer, Liam Ashburner, Madison LaForce, Ailla Cross, Jack Glutting Gilsdorf, Kyra Langley & Mia Hricz. Kneeling: Evelyn Ashburner and Emma Hall. 

(courtesy photo)

DURHAM & ROLLINSFORD –

Kristin Forselius is very proud of her 2nd and 3rd grade Sunday school class at Durham Community Church. On Sunday, June 3, the class presented the Strafford Rivers Conservancy, a nonprofit land trust, with a donation of $597.08 which was the result of the fundraiser portion of their “give back” project. Last fall, the class decided to focus on a community service project that would help in the preservation of trees and launched a ten-week endeavor to carry out their goal.  The project incorporated two elements, an educational piece and a fundraiser.  With the help of Chris Hall and Brenda LaForce, the children made 558 flower seed balls to sell and raise money for the tree preservation work of the Strafford Rivers Conservancy (SRC). For the educational component, the students wrote the play called “Should We Plant a Seed?” and performed it at the Durham Community Church on Sunday, May 20.  “Their goal for the play,” said Forselius, “was to spread the word about why we should appreciate and preserve the beautiful trees we are blessed to have around.” When  asked what their favorite part of the project was, 2nd grader Evelyn Ashburner said, “Getting messy and putting the seed balls together!” Mia Hricz said “The most fun part for me was thinking about helping someone else and knowing that we’re helping save trees.”  Anna Boudreau, executive director of the SRC was on hand to receive the generous donation from the beaming children. “I wasn’t expecting this,” said Boudreau. “This is amazing. You’ve all done such a great job. Thank you.”  Ms. Forselius pointed out how “one person, or in this case, fourteen of you put together, can make a big difference.”  “It’s just like the seed!” said Liam Ashburner, as he and fellow classmate, Jack Glutting Gilsdorf, jumped up to recall the final words of the play, “It may be small, but seeds grow into something big!” For more information about how you can support the Strafford Rivers Conservancy, contact Anna Boudreau at 603-516-0772, via mail at the SRC, PO Box 623, Dover, NH 03821 or visit them online at www.StraffordRiversConservancy.org.