Downtown Peterborough is the place to be this Friday night, with the June “First Friday” event offering live music, art demonstrations, lectures, yoga, exhibits and divination, as well as shopping and dining, with shops staying open late, and restaurants all open for business.
“Summer is in the air, and this First Friday event is perfect timing for Father’s Day. Depot Square vendors will be open late on Friday night for shopping, and people will be able to find great gifts for Dad,” said Pelagia Vincent of the Depot Square Association. “There will be pastry, chocolate, garden and home items, locally made art, items for pets, antiques, clothing, accessories and jewelry.”
Live music will be provided by the Fretbenders, who will play outside Baker’s Station from 5 to 7 p.m. In case of rain, the performance will move to the Mariposa Museum.
The Fretbenders, husband-and-wife duo Bob and Diane Kordas, play folk, blues and Americana, with Diane, an award-winning songwriter, playing guitar, and Bob playing Dobro resophonic guitar, slide guitar and banjo.
“We’re a husband and wife duo; we’ve both been playing the area for a long time, and we’ve both been in different bands, but during COVID, we decided to form a duo,” Diane Kordas said. “We do anything, anything acoustic — we play Americana and everything from swing to acoustic folk rock.”
Kordas said she used to work at Monadnock Community Hospital, and the couple previously lived in Stoddard.
“We just love the area, and we’re looking forward to coming out there and seeing old friends,” Kordas said.
The Fretbenders Duo was recently featured at the Tucson Folk Festival & have played on the NH Folk Show.” For more information, go to fretbenders.com.
Blue Fern Gallery, a co-op of 18 local artists that opened in 2025, will host an open house for their new spring show, with many of the artists available to answer questions about their work. Painter Sue Ann Hum will be demonstrating her painting technique, and refreshments and snacks will be available.
At Hearth Magick, in the former Ava Marie building at the west end of Grove Street, owner and witch Jeni Archer will be providing oracle card readings.
“Oracle cards are a divination tool anyone can use. They don’t follow the story of the Tarot; they can be taken as a one-off,” Archer said. “What works best is if people come in and they’re concerned about a certain situation, or if they have specific questions or have an issue where they might need direction, I can pull a card specifically for that question and interpret the card and give them guidance.”
Archer said she won’t be doing full tarot readings as they “can be pretty lengthy.”
“The oracle card is just a quick bit of divination I can provide for people,” she said.
Archer, former owner of Gaia’s Blessing, offers spiritual supplies and services, including an aura camera, tarot readings, past life regression, energy work, and clinical hypnotherapy by appointment. For more information, go to hearthmagickshop.com.
Bass Hall on Grove Street will host this month’s “MacDowell Downtown” presentation, “Writing Forbidden Histories With Louisa Lim.” Lim, a former foreign correspondent, grew up in Hong Kong and writes and podcasts about political issues and human interest stories in Hong Kong and China. Lim, who is currently a MacDowell artist-in-residence, is working on her third non-fiction book.
MacDowell Downtown is free and open to the public, but registration is encouraged at macdowell.org/events/2026-macdowell-downtown/june-5-writing-forbidden-histories-with-louisa-lim. Refreshments will be provided. Doors open at 7 pm.
Brendon Fox, Artistic Director of the Peterborough Players, will speak on “Comic Chameleons” at 5 pm on the second floor of the Mariposa Museum, along with special guests. Fox will talk about the upcoming season at the Players. For more information, visit peterboroughplayers.org/
Tria Yoga on Grove Street invites everyone to join the 5:30 pm Flow class, which has a “pay-what-you-can ” class structure. Space is limited; participants can sign up at triayoga.com/classes to save a spot.
The Peterborough Affordable Housing Committee will present the results of this year’s “EnvisionTown” project on the steps of the Peterborough Town House from 5 to 7 p.m. The program, in collaboration with Keene State, invites architecture students to create designs for different locations in Peterborough needing redevelopment. This year, students created designs for ADUs and concepts of possible redevelopment at the site of the fire station at 16 Summer Street.
The Peterborough Town Library will host a reception for Keep the Vision 2026, a collection of acrylic and watercolor paintings by local artist Jeanne Maguire Thieme, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. in the Community Gallery. The exhibit will run through July 30.
Outside downtown
Down the road at Noone Falls, Makerspace/MAXT (50 Jaffrey Road) will host free demonstrations, tours, and chances to meet instructors and artists. For more information, visit maxtmakerspace.org/news.
The Monadnock Country Club on High Street will present the Troubadour Revue, featuring local musical artists performing on stage. Food and drink will be available, and the club has a full bar.
For more information about First Fridays in Peterborough, contact Pelagia Vincent at pelagiavincent@earthlink.net.