Upper Valley Connections

As I drive the roads I spot specks of color appearing everywhere. Little spots of green taking over the dull branches of my apple tree. The first outdoor farmers markets of the season open this week. Norwich kicks off on Saturday, May 2nd. Lebanon’s Thursday evening market at Colburn Park starts May 14th, and Hartland’s beloved Friday market on the library lawn returns June 5th. We’ve got a full roundup of every market, day, and location at the bottom of this issue — consider it your warm-weather field guide.

Glitter & Gold Gala

The Montshire doesn’t open this kind of evening very often. Dress up, bring a friend, and help support the museum that has been running school groups into the woods and along the river for decades. One of the Valley’s better excuses to get dressed up.

SPRINGles Night!

Sawtooth’s first Friday of May celebration. $5 cover. Need we say more.

RPG Weekend

Three days of tabletop roleplaying at The Fourth Place. Drop in for an hour or settle in for the weekend — no commitment required, adventuring experience optional.

Dartmouth Baseball vs. Manhattan — Kids Run the Bases & Postgame Autographs

The Big Green host Manhattan for a doubleheader, and the afternoon game comes with postgame autographs and a chance for kids to run the bases. Free admission, fresh air, and a genuine summer-preview energy.

SPRING FABRIC SALE

rePlay Arts is clearing out its fabric stash. Whether you quilt, sew, patch, or just have good intentions, this is worth a trip down to Maple Street. Proceeds support the studio.

Hood Highlights Tour

A guided tour of the Hood’s collection highlights — a good entry point if you haven’t been in a while, and a reliable Saturday afternoon.

Upper Valley Traditional Music Jam

Bring your instrument, or just bring your ears. The traditional music community gathers monthly at Howe, and May’s jam is a fine way to shake off the last of winter.

55+ Art Show — Opening Reception

The annual show celebrating artists 55 and older opens this weekend. Come for the reception, stay to see what your neighbors have been making.

Shakespeare Unrehearsed! — Much Ado About Nothing, Acts IV-V

The Unrehearsed Shakespeare series wraps up Much Ado this Sunday. Scripts in hand, comedic chaos on stage, and free admission. A good way to end a weekend.

SAWTOOTH TRIVIA NIGHT!

Monday trivia at Sawtooth. Gather your team, defend your honor, eat something good.

Scudder H. Parker & Kerrin McCadden — The Poem of the World & American Wake

Two Vermont poets — Parker and McCadden — read from their new collections. McCadden’s American Wake has been one of the more talked-about poetry debuts from the region this spring. A quiet Tuesday evening well spent.

Historic Preservation Through a Garden Lens

A talk on the intersection of garden history and historic preservation — more interesting than it sounds, especially if you’ve ever wondered who planted what around the old houses on your road.

Inviting Everyone Into Nature

A talk on accessibility and the outdoors — making trails, parks, and wild places genuinely welcoming to everyone. Worth an hour on a May evening.

Beginners Yoga

Free yoga for beginners at Kilton Library. No mat required. Show up and see what happens.

Colors in Renaissance Florence

A lecture on pigment, paint, and the visual culture of the Italian Renaissance — one of those Hood programs that draws a quiet, serious crowd and sends you home thinking.

Yannick Murphy & Victoria Redel — Things That Are Funny on a Submarine & I Am You

Two novelists, two new books, one bookstore on Main Street in Norwich. Yannick Murphy’s new title alone earns its seat on the shelf.

FLIGHT ATTENDANT — Live at Sawtooth

Sawtooth closes out the week with a live set from Flight Attendant. $10 at the door.

The Market Season Is Coming — A Field Guide to Outdoor Farmers Markets in the Upper Valley

It starts with a table, a canopy, and someone carrying a flat of seedlings across a damp parking lot at 7 a.m. before most people have made coffee. It ends sometime in October, when the last of the winter squash has been sold and the maple vendors have packed up for another year. In between, the outdoor farmers market season is one of the defining rhythms of Upper Valley life — a weekly calendar of places to be, people to see, and vegetables that taste like they were picked yesterday because they were.

The Valley has always been farm country on both sides of the river, and its markets reflect that. What you find at Norwich is different from what you find at Hartland, which is different again from the Thursday evening energy of Colburn Park in Lebanon. Each market has its own character, its own regulars, its own particular smell on a warm June morning.

Norwich (Saturdays, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m., Route 5 South) is the anchor — the one people mean when they say “the farmers market” without specifying. More than 50 vendors, live music, a POP Club for kids, and a rain-or-shine commitment that has made it a genuine year-round institution. It runs from May through October outdoors, and moves inside to Tracy Hall in winter. If you’ve never been, what are you waiting for?

Lebanon (Thursdays, 4 – 7 p.m., Colburn Park, running May 14th until September 24th) runs at a different pace — an evening market in the center of a working downtown, with live music every week and a crowd that skews toward people stopping in after work. The city’s waste reduction program means most prepared food comes in compostable packaging. The combination of a green park, live music, and local produce on a warm Thursday evening is hard to beat.

Hartland (Fridays, 4 – 6:30 p.m., Hartland Public Library fields, Route 5, starting June 5th) is smaller and quieter — a neighborhood market on library grounds that draws a loyal local crowd. If you live between White River and Windsor and haven’t made it a Friday habit, this is the year to start.

Mt. Tom Farmer’s Market (Saturdays, 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., Saskadena Six parking lot, South Pomfret, starting mid-May) bills itself as the oldest open-air market in the Woodstock area, and it earns the distinction. The views alone — shopping in the shadow of Mt. Tom while the valley spreads out behind you — are worth the drive up.

Woodstock Market on the Green (Wednesdays, 3 – 6 p.m., Village Green, starting June 3rd) brings the evening market format to one of the Valley’s most scenic settings. Focusing on local vendors — easy dinner for Wednesday evenings.

Canaan (Sundays, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., Williams Field, Route 4, running May 17 – October 4th) is a vibrant farmers and artisans market near the base of Mt. Cardigan, passionate about bringing the best local producers to the lovely town common.

Newport (Fridays, 3 – 6 p.m., Town Common, North Main Street, starting late May) rounds out the NH side with live music on the gazebo, a family-oriented and pet-friendly atmosphere, and a strong showing of local farm products and arts and crafts. Updates on their exact 2026 opening date are still forthcoming — previous years they’ve started the last weekend of May.

What these markets share, beyond the obvious — the poduce, the maple syrup, the baked goods, the goat cheese — is a social function that is harder to name. They are one of the few places left where you are likely to run into someone you haven’t seen since last October, where a conversation about fennel can turn into a conversation about anything, where the passage of the growing season is made visible week by week.

The first outdoor markets open in the next few weeks. If you’re keeping track: Norwich May 2, Lebanon May 14, Mt. Tom mid-May, Canaan May 17, and Hartland and Newport near the end of May.

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