FEATURED POP
Starry, Starry Weekend Returns
Matt Ingersoll (listings@hippopress.com)
Images: Stock Photo
A unique holiday shopping experience that supports local businesses is what Starry, Starry Weekend is all about.
The free event returns for a 13th year to the villages of Hopkinton and Contoocook from Friday, Dec. 2, through Sunday, Dec. 4, and will feature special pop-up shops, photo opportunities with Santa Claus, live music, food and more.
“Starry, Starry Weekend is definitely for anyone that wants to come celebrate the holidays,” said Annie Yonkers, co-owner of Polkadots Gift Boutique in Contoocook, one of the participating stores for this year’s event. “Some of the store owners in town originally wanted to do something special to kick off the shopping season, and it’s been growing every year since then. … Over the course of the weekend, everybody decorates their windows and make [their storefronts] bright and shiny to light up the town and make it an inviting shopping destination.”
Yonkers said several of the stores participate in their own way by offering special deals or promotions. Polkadots, for example, will have a sale on children’s clothes and will be giving out hot chocolate to visitors as they walk through the door.
“We’ll also have a custom stocking raffle,” she said. “It’s a stocking that’s valued at about $125 that people can enter to win anytime throughout the weekend.”
Other local stores have offerings of their own. Der Markt at Marklin in Contoocook will offer tours of its candle-making factory, Marklin Candle Design, for up to 15 people on Friday and on Sunday.
“We really enjoy promoting a good old-fashioned New England community Christmas,” co-owner Christine Marklin said. “We do that by flooding the outside of the front [of the store] with candles, and we take glass jars and make them into candles. … We also serve some gourmet foods that we sell and do tastings, but the thing people really love is seeing the display.”
Aside from the more than a dozen participating businesses in the area, Friday night’s events will include a “Last Chance Night” from 5 to 7 p.m. from the Hopkinton Historical Society’s annual art show, in which you will be given one last chance to buy locally made art.
Local musician Aaron Jones will perform a set on Friday at 6 p.m. at the Hopkinton Town Library, and the Brothers House of Smoke food trailer will be parked in the middle of the village of Contoocook for the duration of the night.
“A lot of people enjoy coming with their families and often on Friday night are looking for a new place to eat, so [Brothers House of Smoke] is a fun new offering for them,” said LeeAnne Vance of Indigo Blues and Co. and of Explore Contoocook, which organizes Starry, Starry Weekend.
Santa Claus will visit the event on Saturday at noon, at the Law Offices of Greenblott and Jim O’Rourke in Contoocook, where donations for new toys for Christmas will also be accepted. And from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Contoocook United Methodist Church will host a cookie walk and jewelry sale with more than 50 varieties and a special Christmas treasure table.
“There are so many things going on to get you in the holiday spirit if you aren’t already,” Vance said. “There isn’t a single shop that doesn’t have some sort of local vendor in there. … This is the place where there are some interesting items to offer that you might not otherwise find at the mall.”