The Bennington Recreation Committee has been officially been relaunched by three volunteers: Melissa Clark, Justin Drew and Shelley Griswold.   

Clark, who grew up in town and is now raising her family in Bennington, reached out to the Select Board about officially restarting the committee over the summer. 

“The Select Board was totally supportive and very happy for us to involved,” Clark said. 

The group has met twice and discussed reviving some Bennington traditions such as the town’s haunted hay ride, well as continuing new ones, like the trunk-or-treat and Easter egg hunt events at Newhall Field. Both events were organized by a group of parents the past few years.

The new committee’s first event was an end-of-summer celebration that took place at the town beach at Whittemore Lake on Sunday. 

Clark has fond memories of the Bennington Haunted Hayride, which was a town tradition in the 1990s.

“Locals remember the haunted hay ride as a huge thing in the ’90s. It used to go by all the cemeteries,” Clark recalled. 

The Recreation Department will hold a planning meeting for this year’s haunted hayride on Tuesday, Sept. 4, at  7 p.m, upstairs in the  Bennington Town Hall. All Bennington residents are encouraged to attend. 

“A huge part of the hayride was people doing skits on the trail, and the scenes as you drive by. It’s always a lot of fun,” Clark said. “We’re still figuring it all out and are really excited for people to get involved.” 

The Recreation Committee is still finalizing the route of the hayride, but hopes to include the rail trail along the Contoocook. Clark said the committee will probably also organize this year’s trunk-or-treat Halloween event, which was put together spontaneously by a group of parents in 2023.

The committee is also planning to take on the organization of Bennington’s annual holiday parade, the town tree-lighting and the traditional live Nativity, complete with sheep and small children, which takes place in front of the Bennington Congregational Church.

Clark, Drew and Griswold are “full of ideas” and excited to take on Bennington’s community events. 

“We have a new fire truck, so we would like that to be a part of the Christmas parade, maybe get people over to the fire station. We have a ton of ideas and we’re excited to get people involved and make things happen,” Clark said. 

Bennington Historical Society hosts ice cream social

Members of the Recreation Committee, including Clark, will also be helping out at the Bennington Historical Society ice cream social on Sunday, Sept. 1, from 5 to 7 p.m., at the Bennington gazebo, across the street from GEP Dodge Library at 2 Main St. The event includes an ice cream truck. 

“This will be a really nice community event with great music,” Clark said.

Residents are encouraged to bring their own chairs to the gazebo lawn for music by the White Mountain Rounders, with Dave Blanchard on vocal and guitar, Ramblin’ Red on vocals and bass and Roadhouse Rudy on vocals and mandolin. 

For information on the Bennington Recreation Committee, visit its Facebook page at Bennington NH Recreation.