At the Connecting the North Country & NEK Winter Workgroup Gathering held on the snowy evening of January 9th, 2025 at the Canaan School in Canaan, VT, we were able to gather 50 community members to discuss top issues of interest in their communities. About...
Hub Happenings in the Canaan / Colebrook / Stratford Region
Previous Events
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...
CBH December Happenings – up North!
In Canaan, VT we have been working closely with the organization, Canaan Naturally Connected, as their activities align well with our community building efforts. We were glad to help empower and connect a new member of the group to lead the planning of a new series...
Halloween Window Painting Project in Colebrook
The week prior to Halloween 2023, five of Colebrook’s Main Street businesses were adorned with colorful window paintings depicting Halloween and fall scenes. This is a project that used to happen in Colebrook many years ago, which the Community Builders Hub helped to...
Children’s Playgroup in Stratford
All are welcome to join this fun, free program! Friday mornings from 9:30 to 11:00 a.m., we created a new children’s playgroup at the Stratford Public Library on Main Street in Stratford. In talking to community members at events, parents and caregivers often...
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 Canaan Recreation Park on a sunny Wednesday evening in August. This event involved a ribbon cutting for the new splash pad that the Rec Park committee had installed (which in and of itself was a great showing of collaborations and community support), and we also gave out 100 cups of free ice cream, sponsored by April’s Maple, a local maple syrup business. The event brought together a wide range of community members, for a fun celebration at the park. I saw people visiting, kids playing and lots of happy smiles, enjoying their place. We were delighted with the turnout and the outcome of this event.
In September, I helped organize a Day of Caring in Colebrook, in partnership with Granite United Way. Together we reached out to identify community service projects that needed help, and rallied volunteers to join in. Our hard-working team of 29 participants completed four clean-up projects in one day, reviving and beautifying two garden spaces on Main Street, removing large debris from Beaver Brook Falls and clearing out the River Walk trail to make it more accessible. Everyone was provided free meals, t-shirts and supplies in exchange for their time and energy. The impact to community morale was clear with these visible improvements being done, as passersby thanked us for what we were doing.
This could not have been possible without the help of major groups such as the Kiwanis Club of Colebrook, the Colebrook Key Club, and the Coos County Department of Corrections. The Corrections Department provided a crew of trustee-level inmates to help with removing and hauling away debris. It’s important to pull in individuals who may not usually be involved, but have something to offer. It ended up being a very positive experience for all.
Sometimes it’s smaller ways of thinking outside of the box to support community events and efforts, that are just as impactful. I helped to sponsor and operate the kids corner activities at Stewartstown Day, which allowed more families to play and enjoy the event. In Errol, I supported their 250th Celebration by creating a guest book with attendees and the planning committee, for the town to have as a keepsake. In Colebrook, I brought refreshments to add to a ribbon cutting celebration & dedication of a new basketball court. I also volunteered for the Moose Festival, to bring energy, ideas and man-power where it was needed. All of these are run by handfuls of volunteers, who need more help to keep going.
When we take the time to listen deeply and build relationships, we are able to find how we can help our communities, to develop fruitful partnerships and a circle of reciprocity, where neighbors are happy to support each other and their towns. It’s so important to take the time to celebrate the great assets and people in our communities, to have fun with each other, enjoy meals together and recognize one another’s humanity. We all have something to give.
The Day of Caring crew of volunteers that worked together to clean up Beaver Brook Falls.
Community members enjoying the Splash Pad Social in Canaan, VT.