Ask Nicole Ruggiero about the tattoo on her left forearm and you quickly learn how much it means to her.
It’s a portrait of her late mother Linda, and there’s a good reason why she put it where she did.
“I wanted to see her all the time,” Ruggiero said. “I wanted everyone else to see her too.”
It’s been almost nine years since the 33-year-old owner of Marty’s Driving Range in Mason lost her mother to cancer, but after taking over the family business, she sees reminders of her mom everywhere she looks.
She never expected – nor wanted – to own a business made up of golf (a game she doesn’t play) and seafood (which she doesn’t eat). But with her mom gone and her dad Marty not looking to continue as owner, Ruggiero had a decision to make. Come home from her “gypsy” lifestyle that had her living just about anywhere other than Mason and take over the family business, or watch her what her parents built left in the hands of someone else.
“It was one of those things to keep her legacy alive,” Ruggiero said.
It wouldn’t be her first choice of a business to own, but it’s hers and she works more in six months than she cares to admit. It’s the customers and the staff that keep her going. It’s not easy owning a seasonable business in a small New Hampshire town, especially for someone who is always looking for her next great adventure.
The last day of the season is Sept. 29, and Ruggiero says she is ready for a little break. She never really escapes the business, but not being open can create a lot more flexibility.
She started working at the range when she was 9 and by the time Ruggiero reached the age of 16, she was ready for something different. Being away so long left made it hard to come back. That and having never run a small business, which her mom did just about everything for.
“A degree can only do so much when you’re thrown into a situation,” Ruggiero said.
But over the last 9 seasons, Ruggiero has figured it out and put her own spin on the family business.
“I realized I needed to do something to keep my interest,” Ruggiero said.
And as a lover of live music with a great spot for it, she figured why not hold some concerts. It was going great for a while, hosting local bands under a big tent, but it eventually led to a lengthy discourse with the town of Mason about what would be allowed.
“I did it to drum up some business,” Ruggiero said. “I had no background in promoting events so I just kind of wung it.”
Eventually she was given the OK to build a large stage and host more destination type shows. And this year was the best one yet. She had her first major act in The Wailers come to Mason this June. Marty’s took over as the host site for Uplift Music Festival in July and last month, Pink Talking Fish headlined a show. To cap off the season, local favorite Roots of Creation will grace the Marty’s stage on Saturday.
“This could be something really great,” Ruggiero said. “And for a lot of people this already is something great.”
While the golf, food and ice cream are the staples, Ruggiero has tried to add other events – with music – to entice others to make the drive. There’s Taco Tuesday, Cruise Nights on Thursdays and Sunday BBQ with the blues.
“It’s hard running an ice cream stand and driving range in the middle of nowhere,” Ruggiero said.
Ruggiero admits Marty’s is a labor of love, not taking much in terms of salary, and sinking all she can back into the business.
“I get paid in appreciation from my loyal customers,” she said.
And Ruggiero believes her mom would like the changes she’s made – considering the two of them went to the Led Zeppelin reunion show in London in 2007.
Two days after she closes for the season, Ruggiero is off on yet another adventure, this time jetting off to Nicaragua. Last winter, she took a solo trip to Costa Rica.
“That’s how bad I need a vacation,” she said.
This summer she bought a dirt bike, has been sky diving five times, as well as bungee jumping.
“Pretty much anything I can risk my life,” Ruggiero said. “Anything out of my comfort zone drives me.”
She knows life is short, learning that the hard way from her mother’s passing at the age of 51.
“So I have every intention of meeting new people, seeing new places and trying new food,” she said. Add craft beers to that list too.
Ruggiero has lived in Colorado and Utah, Cape Cod and Vermont. She would love to see New Zealand and Australia, travel through Indonesia and visit Lake Louise – and of course, wander through Alaska.
But no matter where she goes during the fall and winter, Ruggiero knows she has a business to run.
She takes online classes in the winter through Berklee College of Music in its music venue management program because she always wants to find ways to improve how she runs things.
“You can never learn enough. You can always better yourself and grow, and I have every intention of that,” Ruggiero said.
It wasn’t long after Linda passed away, that Ruggiero wanted to give back to an organization that helped her mom at the end. So she signed up to be a hospice volunteer with Home Health & Hospice Care in Merrimack and got certificated a year later. Ruggiero figured she’d answer phones or do laundry, but instead she was thrust into a role as a member of the vigil staff, where she visits with patients going through hospice care.
“The first woman I got was in her 30s with cancer. I was in my 20s and it was life-changing,” Ruggiero said. “It puts a lot into perspective.”
She also helped with the Good Grief program, working with bereaved elementary and middle school children, ages 4 to 13, and is a Reiki master.
In the spare time that she does have, Ruggiero likes to read and is crazy about Sudoku.
The portrait of her mother was done by an artist in Michigan, because as Ruggiero put it, not just anyone can put your mom’s face on your arm. There are also roses on her left arm because her dad told her that’s what his mom liked and birds that add to the memorial piece.
Ruggiero gets a new tattoo each year, although she hasn’t added anything in 2019 and admits she’s just about done.
It’s a balancing act for the 33-year-old who wants to be off seeing the world and experiencing all the things she has yet to try, while having the responsibility of owning a small business – and keeping her mom’s legacy going.
But that’s just the life that Ruggiero leads, one summer at a time.