Issue No. 26: A Long Weekend -- Upper Valley Connections
Upper Valley Connections
Issue No. 26 · October 8, 2026
Your weekly guide to life along the Connecticut River
It's a long weekend for many of us, and the Valley has plenty to fill it: Cedar Circle's Pumpkin Festival on Sunday, a fall pie sale and the Berklee Jazz Cats at Enfield Shaker Museum on Saturday, and a new dance performance at the Hopkins Center to start things off Friday. Next week brings Indigenous Peoples' Day music and art to Hanover, autumn wreath-making at SILO Distillery in Windsor, and a potato harvest in Norwich.
-- The Upper Valley Connections Team
Upper Valley Connections is a free, independent community newsletter. If you run a local business, add your listing -- it's free to start. Have an event coming up? Submit it to the calendar. Paid tiers help keep this going.
Long weekend ahead. A number of area schools have Friday off for a teacher in-service day, and Monday is Indigenous Peoples' Day, so plenty of families are looking at an extra-long weekend. Closures vary by school and employer, so check with yours. Next week, the Hopkins Center hosts the Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band on Wednesday, and the Hood Museum's Indigenous Peoples' Fashion Show is Thursday night.
Featured This Week
Featured Event · Arts & Culture · Music · $25 members / $30 non-members
The Berklee Jazz Cats in Live Performance
Sat Oct 10 · 7:00-9:00 PM · Enfield Shaker Museum Chosen Vale Performance Center, Enfield, NH
The Berklee alumni trio returns to the Shaker museum's former chapel turned concert hall. Tickets are $25 for museum members and $30 for non-members. Earlier that day the museum holds its Annual Fall Pie Sale (11am-2pm, $20 a pie), and Sunday afternoon it hosts the Enfield 250th Patriotic Sing. We wrote about the museum and its concert series last week.
Featured Event · Arts & Culture · Education · Food & Drink · $120
Bottles & Botanicals: Autumn Wreaths
Thu Oct 15 · 6:00-9:00 PM · SILO Distillery, Windsor, VT
Another evening in SILO Distillery's Bottles & Botanicals series, this one devoted to making autumn wreaths. $120.
Tonight
Community · Food & Drink · Free
Willing Hands Fall Open House
Thu Oct 8 · 4:00-6:00 PM · Willing Hands, Norwich, VT
Willing Hands, the Norwich nonprofit that recovers fresh food from farms and businesses across the Upper Valley, holds its Annual Open House to celebrate the food shelves, health centers, meal programs, and other partners it works with. Wood-fired pizza from Tug Mountain will be on hand, and Willing Hands asks that you RSVP on its website.
Education · Literary · Free
Katherine Wolff -- Eleven Kinds of Blue
Thu Oct 8 · 7:00-8:00 PM · Norwich Bookstore, Norwich, VT
A free author event at Norwich Bookstore for "Eleven Kinds of Blue."
Music · Ticketed
An Evening with Lucinda Williams and Her Band
Thu Oct 8 · 7:30-9:30 PM · Lebanon Opera House, Lebanon, NH
Lucinda Williams and her band play Lebanon Opera House. Tickets are limited to four per order.
This Weekend
Arts & Culture · Community · Fundraiser · Music · Free
Kommuna Lux: Benefit Concert for Ukraine's Children
Fri Oct 9 · 4:00-7:00 PM · Collis Center, Hanover, NH
Kommuna Lux, the ensemble formed in Odesa that blends Ukrainian folk, klezmer, and Balkan swing, plays a free benefit concert for Ukraine's children.
Arts & Culture · Education · Theater · Ticketed
Noli Timere
Fri Oct 9 · 7:30-9:30 PM · Hopkins Center for the Arts, Hanover, NH
Choreographer Rebecca Lazier's gravity-defying dance about our interdependent relationship to the environment and to each other. It runs Friday and Saturday, with a free pre-show talk Saturday afternoon.
Arts & Culture · Kids & Family · Workshop · $5
Cardboard Costumes 2026
Sat Oct 10 & Sun Oct 11 · 10:30 AM-3:30 PM · Montshire Museum of Science, Norwich, VT
Build a costume out of boxes and cardboard, with tabletop cutting machines on hand -- for Halloween, cosplay, or the Montshire's Spooky Science event. $5 per person with membership or regular admission.
Community · Food & Drink · Fundraiser · $20 per pie
Annual Fall Pie Sale
Sat Oct 10 · 11:00 AM-2:00 PM · Enfield Shaker Museum, Enfield, NH
The Shaker Museum's annual fall pie fundraiser. $20 a pie.
Fundraiser · Music · $65-$150
Fur Ball Benefit Concert for Lucy Mackenzie Humane Society
Sat Oct 10 · 6:00-7:00 PM · Woodstock Town Hall Theatre, Woodstock, VT
A benefit concert for the Lucy Mackenzie Humane Society. Tickets run $65-$150. Details ->
Community · $10-$20
Contra Dance
Sat Oct 10 · 7:15 PM · Tracy Hall, Norwich, VT
Contra dancing at Tracy Hall. Admission is $15 general, $20+ for dance supporters, and $10 for students; under 16 is free.
Music · Ticketed
Yonder Mountain String Band
Sat Oct 10 · 7:30-9:30 PM · Lebanon Opera House, Lebanon, NH
The progressive bluegrass band plays Lebanon Opera House.
Community · Education · Food & Drink · Outdoors & Nature · By donation
Pumpkin Festival
Sun Oct 11 · 10:00 AM-3:00 PM · Cedar Circle Farm & Education Center, East Thetford, VT
Cedar Circle's annual family celebration of fall, with good food, live music, pumpkin picking, and kids' activities. Admission is by donation, per the farm's calendar.
Community · Music · Free
Enfield, NH 250th Patriotic Sing
Sun Oct 11 · 4:00-5:30 PM · Enfield Shaker Museum, Enfield, NH
A free community sing-along at the Shaker Museum, part of Enfield's 250th anniversary.
Later in the Week
Education · Exhibit · Literary · Free
An Evening at Rauner Library: In Which Pooh Turns One Hundred
Tue Oct 13 · 6:00-7:00 PM · Howe Library, Hanover, NH
Winnie-the-Pooh turns 100 this year, and this free evening at Howe Library marks the occasion. A Winnie-the-Pooh Scavenger Hunt is also running at the library on Tuesday.
Education · Literary · Free
Miciah Bay Gault in conversation with Sarah Stewart Taylor -- The Nobody Code
Tue Oct 13 · 7:00-8:00 PM · Norwich Bookstore, Norwich, VT
A free author conversation at Norwich Bookstore for "The Nobody Code."
Arts & Culture · Literary · Free
Jarvis Coffin -- Calmly on the Waters: Seasonal Essays from Monadnock
Wed Oct 14 · 7:00-8:00 PM · Norwich Bookstore, Norwich, VT
A free author event at Norwich Bookstore for a collection of seasonal essays from Monadnock.
Arts & Culture · Music · Ticketed
Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band
Wed Oct 14 · 7:30 PM · Spaulding Auditorium, Hopkins Center, Hanover, NH
Julia Keefe, a Nez Perce singer and educator, leads a big band celebrating Indigenous contributions to jazz. A fitting way to spend Indigenous Peoples' Day week.
Community · Volunteering · Free
Potato Harvest @ River Road
Thu Oct 15 · 11:00 AM-12:30 PM · River Road, Norwich, VT
A volunteer potato harvest with Willing Hands. Free -- sign up through Willing Hands.
Arts & Culture · Community · Free
Indigenous Peoples' Fashion Show
Thu Oct 15 · 8:00-9:00 PM · Hood Museum of Art, Hanover, NH
An annual event at the Hood in which Native American and Indigenous students walk the runway. Free.
Farmers' Markets
Canaan Farmers Market wrapped up for the season last Sunday. Mt Tom's final market is this Saturday, and Market on the Green ends next Wednesday:
- Norwich Farmers Market -- Saturdays 9am-1pm -- Route 5 South, Norwich VT -- outdoors through the end of October, then continuing as an indoor market for the winter.
- Mt Tom Farmers Market -- Saturdays 9:30am-12:30pm -- Saskadena Six, 247 Suicide Six Road, Woodstock VT -- final market of the season is this Saturday, Oct 10.
- Monday Mini Market at Honey Field Farm -- Mondays 4-7pm -- 55 Butternut Road, Norwich VT -- runs through October, with the final market on Oct 26.
- Market on the Green, Woodstock -- Wednesdays 3-6pm -- The Green, Central Street, Woodstock VT -- final market of the season is Wednesday, Oct 14.
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Upper Valley Connections · Serving NH & VT · uppervalleyconnections.com Details are gathered from event organizers and may change. Please confirm times, prices, and availability directly with the venue before heading out. Sponsorship inquiries: [email protected]