Hancock is gearing up for its annual Old Home Days celebration this weekend.
Events and activities will take place Friday, Saturday and Sunday at a variety of locations around town, and this year’s theme is “Supporting Our Neighbors.”
“Last year, 2021, was cut back a bit, but we still had a good turnout. We’re expecting this year to be even better with attendance,” said Mary Talbot-Brown, chair of the Old Home Days Committee.
The agenda includes music, art shows, a book sale, a 5K race and a parade down Main Street. On Friday, Blackfire Farm Pizza and Total Thai Food Truck will be set up on the common, and there will be barbeque and bake sale options on Saturday.
Talbot-Brown explained that planning for the celebration starts in January. It requires a lot of community involvement and organization. People from all over come back to Hancock and it’s a big weekend for locals.
This is Jess Codman’s seventh year choreographing for the Synchro Sistahs. The group will perform a synchronized swimming routine in Norway Pond on Saturday at noon, shortly after the parade.
“In May people start trading song titles [for the performance],” Codman said, then “we start meeting on the beach as soon as school is out. It’s a highlight of the summer.”
Synchro Sistahs currently has more than 20 members and has grown in the last few years.
“I think everyone has a friend who wants to do it,” Codman said. “There’s a lot of fun to be had and a lot of strength when women gather.”
There are also some new additions to the celebration this year. The committee ordered all-white Old Home Days T-shirts and added a tie-dye station so people can get creative and colorful.
Art offerings include pop-up gallery
The weekend will be full of art. In addition to the art and photography show in the vestry on Saturday and the crafts show in the horse sheds, there’s a new art show on Main Street. Kate Corr Frame has created a pop-up art gallery in the shed attached to her home near Fiddleheads, and she and three other local artists will be displaying and selling their art there this weekend. This will be their second art show in the shed.
“We thought we’d start on Memorial Day weekend,” said local artist EvelienBachrach, and “it was incredible.”
On Memorial Day, the art show raised about $850 for the children’s department of Hancock Town Library. This weekend, 20 percent of profits will go to the Moose Brook Park Project, a plan to create a boardwalk from Hancock Elementary School over to Moose Brook Park.
“We think it serves the whole community,” Bachrach said about the project.
The artists have appreciated being able to meet up and share art regularly with each other as COVID-19 restrictions have eased up.
“I think we lost that sense of community for two years,” said Corr Frame, “We were hungry to come together.”
“It’s so important to talk amongst other artists,” Kim Cunningham said.
“We are really supportive of one another,” Corr Frame added. She said it requires vulnerability to share art, but the group has offered a safe space to receive honest feedback.
“The shed is an extension of that,” she said.
Each artist has her own style and focus, from painting to print-making to ceramics.
“We have a really wide range of art in this little shed,” Corr Frame said.
Aritst Sue Callihan wanted to acknowledge a fifth member of their group, Kit Henry, who is a baker.
“Not only did we go to each other’s studios, but we went to her kitchen,” said Callihan.
In the future, the group hopes to bring in other local artists, possibly have them host demos and give lectures about their work.
“There are lots of artists in Hancock, but they seem to be in small groups,” Bachrach said .
The art show will be open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Aug. 19 to 21. They hope to have another art show this fall, but have not set a date yet.
The community is busy setting up and preparing for Old Home Days.
“My hopes for this year would be to have everyone just enjoy themselves as the weather looks to be great,” said Talbot-B rown.
Events start at 5 p.m. on Friday and run until 3 p.m. on Sunday. The parade starts at 10:30 a.m. Saturday on Main Street.
The schedule for Old Home Days can be found at hancocknh.org/old-home-day/events/53466.