Upper Valley Connections

• Billings Farm in Woodstock has wall-to-wall programming Fri–Sun, including Sheep & Goat Shearing and Farm Friends Play Club — good stop if you have kids and nowhere to be
• The Hop is running a full film weekend including Sinners and the Borders and Belonging documentary series
• Norwich Farmers' Market is open Saturday, 10am–1pm at Tracy Hall

Music in the Library: Blue Streak

Blue Streak brings their sound to Howe Library for a free early-evening concert — the kind of Friday afternoon that reminds you why you live somewhere with a library like this.

Hop Film: Sinners

Ryan Coogler's supernatural period thriller comes to Spaulding Auditorium as part of the Hop's spring film series. Free admission — get there early.

MOONDOGS

Late-night live music at Sawtooth. Five dollars. Need we say more.

Bruce Molsky and Martin Philip: Fiddle & Flour

Old-time fiddler Bruce Molsky and King Arthur Baking's Martin Philip team up for an afternoon of music workshops. Yes, a nationally known bread baker and a Smithsonian Folk Festival veteran in the same room. There's also a companion free session at Norwich Bookstore earlier in the afternoon.

Youth Birding Outing

An early-morning birding walk for young naturalists at Kilowatt Park South along the river in Wilder. A genuinely lovely way to start a Sunday.

Sheep & Goat Shearing

The sheep have been very patient all winter. Billings Farm hosts its annual shearing day — demonstrations run throughout the day, free for members, included with admission for everyone else.

Conversations | Tom Ferrara

AVA's ongoing 'Conversations' series welcomes artist Tom Ferrara for a studio talk at the gallery on Bank Street.

Jake Shimabukuro

Jake Shimabukuro is one of the most technically astonishing ukulele players alive — his recordings have tens of millions of views, but seeing him live is something else. Check the Opera House website for tickets.

DJ Dance Party w/ DJ Benny Shreds

Dancing at Sawtooth. $5 cover. Two nights in a row, Sawtooth delivers.

Recital Series: Tyshawn Sorey Trio

Drummer and composer Tyshawn Sorey — MacArthur Fellow, Pulitzer Prize winner — brings his trio to the Hop. An evening that will be talked about for a while.

Spiritual Dimensions of the Climate Crisis

A free public talk exploring the moral and spiritual dimensions of climate change — the kind of conversation Hanover does well, even when it's uncomfortable.

Deep Cuts Book Club — Pedro Páramo

Norwich Bookstore's Deep Cuts series tackles Juan Rulfo's Pedro Páramo — the slim 1955 Mexican novel that García Márquez called more important than anything he ever wrote. Come with opinions.

Art in the Library: Japanese Stab Binding Sketchbook

Make a hand-bound sketchbook using Japanese stab binding — a free workshop at Howe. All skill levels welcome.

Earth

A free screening at the Lebanon Opera House in honor of Earth Day. Bring the family.

Recital Series: Sally Pinkas

Pianist Sally Pinkas performs at the Hop — the second of two exceptional recital series concerts this week.

Thomas Ames Jr. with Greater Upper Valley Trout Unlimited

Fly fishing author Thomas Ames Jr. presents his Pocketguide to Eastern Hatches with the local Trout Unlimited chapter. Peak spring timing on this one.

HanUnder Arts Festival: Day 1

Dartmouth's student-run arts festival runs late into Thursday night across multiple stages at the Hop. Three sessions — all free. Show up for any of them.

"Plain and Simple": The Shakers of Enfield

This weekend, scholars and enthusiasts from across New England are gathering at the Enfield Shaker Museum on Route 4A for the 2026 Spring Shaker Forum — a multi-day event of presentations, tours, and conversations about Shaker history and material culture. It's a good occasion to step back and think about who the Shakers were, and what they left behind in this particular corner of the valley.

The Enfield Shaker community — formally known as the Church Family of the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing — was established in 1793 along the western shore of Mascoma Lake. At its height in the mid-nineteenth century, it was home to several hundred people and one of the most productive agricultural and craft operations in New Hampshire. The Shakers grew herbs and seeds for commercial sale, operated mills, made furniture, and maintained a farm that would still be recognizable today. They were, in the best sense, practical idealists.

What they left physically is remarkable. The Great Stone Dwelling, completed in 1841, is the largest Shaker building ever constructed and remains one of the most striking pieces of architecture in the Upper Valley — six stories of granite, built without a mortgage, without outside labor, and without ornamentation. The Shakers believed that beauty and utility were the same thing, that a well-made chair was a spiritual act. You can see this in every joint and dovetail they produced.

The Enfield community was also notable for the warmth of its relationships with surrounding towns. Shakers traded with Lebanon and Hanover merchants, employed outside workers during harvest, and maintained a long-running reputation for making the best cheese in Grafton County. They were separatists in theology but not in commerce, and the Connecticut River valley had grown around them in ways that made their presence felt even when it wasn't announced.

By the early twentieth century, the Enfield community had dwindled, as all Shaker communities did — their celibacy requirement made natural growth impossible, and conversion slowed with the century. The last Shakers left Enfield in 1923, transferring the property to the Oblate Fathers. Today the Great Stone Dwelling operates as an inn and museum, and the Enfield Shaker Museum maintains the broader site with rotating exhibits, programming, and an archive that draws researchers from well beyond New England.

The Spring Forum is free and runs through Monday, April 20. If you've driven past the building a hundred times on the way to Lebanon and never stopped — this weekend is as good a reason as any.

Outdoor farmers' markets across the Upper Valley are gearing up for their summer runs. We'll have a full market guide in the coming weeks — CSA sign-up season is also underway at several farms. If you're interested in a share, don't wait; spots at the smaller operations go fast.

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