Nearly three years into this community building work, positive momentum is building in our communities, and it’s all from working together. It starts with being observant, knowing the landscape, meeting people where they are at and identifying the gaps. It grows...
Hub Happenings in the Canaan / Colebrook / Stratford Region
Previous Events
Summer 2025, July-August: Big things are happening!
Some big things happened for community building this summer in the North Country, with the progress at the North Country Community Recreation Center and the success of the Firefighter Appreciation Day we helped to plan. But the small things matter too, sometimes more...
Spring 2025- Unleashing Community Power!
Looking back at what took place from late March to the end of June in the Stratford/Colebrook/Canaan area, here are some highlights in community building work that come to mind: The 2nd Ann. Coffee & Muffins before Stratford’s Annual Town Meeting was a positive...
Community Building Recap – Building Relationships & Aligning Goals
Community building activities and events from this past fall and winter in northern Coos and northeastern Essex County have truly served to strengthen community ties and align goals. Energy is building around common issues of importance, and community members are...
Summer Event Highlights up North
This summer was very busy, but a couple of events I was heavily involved in stood out as truly embodying the work we are doing in community building. After several months of planning with local partners, we pulled together a very successful Splash Pad Social at the...
Strengthening Our Communities – Stratford Rising
Stratford is definitely on a positive up-swing, and the community is making that happen together. As a Community Steward I meet a lot of people and hear about a wide range of needs and goals in the area I serve. The challenge is to find and prioritize common threads...
Summer Picnic & Play Series!
We are teaming up with the Family Resource Center to host a series of three “Picnic & Play” meet-ups on Fridays at parks in the North Country this summer. After listening to what families we were looking for, we came up with fun offerings at three different...
Stewartstown Student Showcase
The classroom showcase will be from 5:00 to 5:30 pm. Pizza will be available from 5 to 5:45 pm The concert will begin at 6:00 pm We are excited to be partnering with the Stewartstown Community School on an event on May 30th, starting at 5 p.m. at the school. As a way...
Stratford Community Pre-Town Meeting Social
On the morning of March 16th, residents of the Stratford area are invited to the Fuller Town Hall, located at 1956 US Route 3 to visit prior to the town meeting. The Community Builders Hub is providing free coffee, and the Stratford Grange 238 will be offering...
Sunday Funday at “The Tilly”
Families are invited to come play board games at the Tillotson Center for the Arts in Colebrook, from 3-5 p.m. on January 21 and 28. We will have tables set up for families to sit down and choose a board game to play together for the afternoon, as well as...
Community Pride & Purpose
When you think about what it takes to really feel a part of a community, to value where you live and be fully invested in it, pride and purpose come to mind. When one feels proud of the community they live in and feels a sense of purpose in life, it contributes to their personal well being and the vibrancy of the community overall. I’ve noticed this shift in many people this spring, as they find their place and part of the big picture. Noticing who might need to be invited in, and making sure they feel welcome is important, and leads to more participation.
It doesn’t take much sometimes. Paint and flowers can do wonders! It is incredible to see how adding a fresh coat of paint or flowers to public spaces can shift the morale of a community. A visible boost and sign that we all care about the place we call home and are proud to be a part of making it what it is. The Busy Bees Gardening Group that we help to coordinate is making a big impact on the downtown Colebrook area, sprucing up garden beds and adding hanging flower baskets to line the Main Street, for the second year in a row. Support for this group is amazing, as was seen at their recent successful Spring Plant Sale fundraiser and with the group receiving the Citizens of the Year award at the town’s Annual Meeting.
Meanwhile, teens have been working hard to spruce up a shed at the North Country Community Recreation Center, with help from many community members, to make it into a snack shack called the “Munch & Mingle”. They cleaned, painted and planned a mini business to serve as a fundraiser to benefit the pool re-opening. With many people giving of their time and talents on this project, we were sure to recognize those contributions and work collaboratively with partners to reach the end goal of opening on June 6th. The teens came up with the concept and were supported through every step of developing it. We all couldn’t be happier with the experience and the result. The community is beaming with pride at their generosity and vision, as they run this on volunteer power for the betterment of their community!
In Stratford, the Grand Welcoming to the revitalized Backstreet River Recreational Park brought together a dynamic team of 16 core volunteers and town personnel, as well as the contractors working on the project to showcase a fabulous new asset for the whole region to enjoy. A large turnout of the public on a sunny day added to the idyllic setting, bringing together neighbors from all walks of life, to appreciate improvements to their community spaces. Stratford pride was in full swing. Check out a video recap of the event here.
People are gradually finding where they fit into this puzzle of the North Country, and it is so great to see them find their groove. Doing good, feels good. As one hard-working community volunteer put it, “I like to make people happy.”