Run for the Fallen NH Back Again This Year

A runner from last year's Run for the Fallen NH (courtesy photo)

“Together in Gratitude” trolley ride for last quarter mile

By C. Ayn Douglass

Staff Columnist

RYE -

Inspired by her participation three years ago in the Ogunquit to Portland Run for the Fallen in Maine, Hampton Falls resident Julie Hurrie discovered there was not a similar event in New Hampshire and decided to spearhead the effort to honor the memory of military men and women who have fallen in combat on foreign soil since 9/11.

With no military background of her own, the mother of four-year-old twins said, “I like to think this particular event crosses all divides because without these brave men and women, all the other things that we're passionate about in our daily lives wouldn't exist.”

This year, the second consecutive year the event has taken place, the rain-or-shine twelve-mile run will take place on Sunday, September 16, at Odiorne State Park in Rye. The course will feature posters of the sixty-five men and one woman who died in military action from all over New Hampshire. The number has increased by eleven since last year.  Members of the families of these men and women will be at each poster, and Hurrie said she expects 174 family members to be in attendance thanking the runners as they pass by. Hurrie said family members are coming from as far away as Virginia, Maryland and Delaware.

“Although this event is on the Seacoast, it honors Heroes from all over the state,” she said.

The day will start at 8 am at the main parking lot at Odiorne and will open with the reading of the names of the fallen, a 21-gun salute and the National Anthem. Runners will then proceed along the marked course for twelve miles and at 10:45 am board trolleys supplied by York Trolley Company and Seacoast Trolley Company to walk or run the last quarter mile collectively in a procession called “Together in Gratitude.”

Hurrie is expecting an uptick in participation from last year when approximately 250 runners and walkers completed the course.

“We're hoping for 500 this year,” she said. “We need runners. As many people who can get out for this. It's open to everyone including families with children.”

She stresses that it's not necessary to complete the entire course on foot. “People can walk for a ways and take a break on one of the trolleys that will be along the course and continue if they want to,” she said.

Along with approximately 120 volunteers who assist at registration and at the water stations, Hurrie is supported by three main staff members, Fran Lefavour and Nic Ayotte of Newmarket and Cindy Blodgett of Hampton. None have military backgrounds, but Hurrie describes them as three people “who really appreciate our freedom.”

Hurrie said she and her staff members are dedicated to a continuation of the event and hopes that, as it attracts more participants, the New Hampshire Run for the Fallen will be able to assist military families in other ways.

“We are in our infancy and are able to pay for expenses (for the Run) but hope that in the future we can assist families with their needs. What's nice about this is while writing checks is good, this is an emotional 'check' and sometimes families need that more than money.”

At the end of the course, Carrabba's Italian Grill will be catering the food for “The Hero's Lunch” and the Afterburners – the USAF Band of Liberty from Hanscom Field will be furnishing the musical entertainment.

Hurrie said she is grateful to the corporate sponsors of the event which include the Rotary Club of Hampton, Exeter Events and Tents, Devine/Millimet, Leddy Group, Hannaford, Globe, as well as the two trolley companies and Carrabba's.

Anyone wishing to participate in the event can get more information or register at: www.runforthefallennh.org.

Tickets Now On Sale For Dover’s Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest will take place in Dover on Saturday, September 15.  Tickets are now on sale at fifteen area restaurants and at the Greater Dover Chamber of Commerce.” (courtesy photo)

 

DOVER –

Downtown Dover restaurants will be opening their doors on Saturday, September 15, from 12 to 5 pm for their annual Oktoberfest celebration. This year, fifteen Garrison City restaurants will be participating.  Tickets are available for purchase at all participating restaurants for $15 ($20 day of event).  Ticket purchasers will be given a green wristband that will give them access to a free German appetizer at each restaurant, as well as an opportunity to win prizes and giveaways courtesy of event sponsors, Samuel Adams and 100.3 WHEB.

Those restaurants participating include: Asia, Christopher’s Third Street Grill, Cartelli’s Bar & Grill, Blue Latitudes, Kelley’s Row, The Spaghetti Stain, Central Wave, The Dover Brickhouse, Orchard Street Chop Shop, Barley Pub, LaFesta Brick & Brew, Fury’s Publick House, The Farm, Castaways and Harvey’s Bakery & Coffee Shop.

The Greater Dover Chamber of Commerce, at 550 Central Avenue, will also be a ticket selling location.  For the third consecutive year, Oktoberfest will be donating 80 percent of all proceeds generated from ticket sales at the Chamber of Commerce to City Lights, a volunteer Dover committee that illuminates the downtown area during the holiday season.  Over the past two years, Oktoberfest has donated more than $6,000 to City Lights.

“Oktoberfest is a great event for bringing people out to downtown Dover,” said Oktoberfest coordinator Brian Kelley, owner of Kelley’s Row. “It is also great that we are able to give a portion of the proceeds to City Lights every year.”

In 2011, more than 1,700 Oktoberfest tickets were sold.  Kelley expects more than 2,000 people at the event this year. Attendees are encouraged to buy their tickets early as the first 500 purchasers will receive a Samuel Adams beer stein and Oktoberfest t-shirt.

For more information, visit www.octoberfest.weebly.com or call the Greater Dover Chamber of Commerce at 603- 742-2218.

New Fairy House Trilogy in Time for 8th Annual Tour

Children showing off their fairy house. Visitors can make their own, and check out more than 400 houses at the Fairy House Tour, in Portsmouth next weekend. (courtesy photo)

Tracy Kane, author & illustrator, talks about her work

 

By Timothy Gillis

Staff Columnist

PORTSMOUTH -

Just in time for the 8^th annual Portsmouth Fairy House Tour, author and illustrator Tracy Kane has released a trilogy of her popular books. As kids of all ages get ready for the tour, they can peruse more than 140 pages of pictures of fairy houses from the illustrated books “Fairy Houses,” “Fairy Boat” and “Fairy Flight” now available in one volume.

The author will be at the tour in Portsmouth next weekend, September 15 and 16, signing books and meeting fans. “I’m pretty busy for the two days, but it’s a lot of fun,” she said.

Though it’s her busiest time of the year, she took time out this week to discuss the fairy house craze, a New England phenomenon that is spreading across the country.

“The first books came out in 2000,” Kane said. “I was inspired by visiting Monegan Island, off the coast of Maine, where they have a tradition of building fairy houses in the Cathedral Woods. I was inspired by it to come up with a children’s book.”

Kane was working as an artist for New Hampshire Public Television at the time, and had no idea the book series, and the tour based on it, would become so popular.

“This is the eighth year they’ve been doing this. It started out as a tour of gardens with fairy houses in them, and 1200 people showed up first year. Now it’s close to 5000, focused mainly in Prescott Park and Strawbery Banke, which is the hub of it,” Kane said.

A ticket to the Fairy House tour will also gain you admittance to the historic houses in the area, so the weekend event offers something for everyone.

“All the money gets divided to help neighborhood non-profits,” she said. “It’s great family fun. The thing about fairy houses is that it’s an activity enjoyed outside by families. There’s a real movement in the country to get kids outside, with computers and video games so popular with kids.”

Kane just returned from a fairy houses event in Colorado, so it’s starting to spread across the country, she said, and offer more of a national appeal. “Portsmouth is more elaborate in that they have children build houses and then people can take tours,” she said.

Kane does not have children of her own. “By the time I went to art college, I was ready for a career so I went that direction. It’s kind of a Peter Pan thing though. I have so much fun meeting children, and I feel like one myself,” she said.

An earlier book, released this June, is called “Fairy Houses… Unbelievable!” offers lots of photographs of the various tours.

“It shows how they have developed over the years, you see everything from rustic to mansion in terms of style,” she said.

The Fairy House Tour  takes place Saturday, September 15, from 9 am to 1 pm and Sunday, September 16 from 11 am to 3 pm on the grounds of Strawbery Banke, the Governor John Langdon House, Prescott Park and Peirce Island in Portsmouth. Visitors are encouraged to make note of the new times this year.

Inspired by Kane’s Fairy Houses series, and produced by Friends of the South End with the assistance of Canoe Harbor Consulting, the Fairy House Tour takes place in the South End of Portsmouth. The annual event attracts an estimated 4,000 families and fairies each year. On display will be dozens of fairy houses built by artists, florists, garden clubs, businesses, families, students and others with vivid imaginations and a keen understanding of what attracts fairies.

Proceeds from ticket sales and sponsorships are donated to the nonprofit organizations, schools and civic groups that participate in the tour. Since the Fairy House Tour began, nearly $125,000 has been returned to the community.

Kane gives fairy house workshops at schools, libraries, garden and nature centers and other venues related to the “No Child Left Inside” initiative, an endeavor to get kids back to nature.

“The thrust of the book is to use the allure of building a fairy house to get kids to spend time in nature. Visitors from nature to a fairy house are based on the items used in making it,” she said. “At the end of the tour, families that participate are invited to build a house. There will be about 400 houses on Peirce Island by the end of the weekend.”

For more information on fairy houses or on The Fairy Houses Series of books and video, visit www.fairyhouses.com.