Cabaret For A Cure
September 8 At The Scenic Theatre
Submitted By Meggin Dail

A few years ago Katelyn Parker came up with this wonderful idea: sing your heart out for a cure for breast cancer. Katelyn works for the American Cancer Society and her own mother has struggled with the disease. This May I had the opportunity to see Katelyn in action at her Cabaret for a Cure at Boynton’s Tap Room in Manchester and decided I needed to talk to her about bringing her show to the Scenic Theatre in Pittsfield.

As many of you know, my mother has also struggled with the disease and once I started talking to Katelyn, I realized the two of us have more in common than that. Both of us have Making Strides teams that we raise money for each year culminating in the Making Strides walk in Concord in October. Both of us have a deep love of theatre. We both feel music is a great way to get a message across and we both believe that humor as well as empathy, not sympathy, is the way to work through whatever life throws your way… like cancer.

Cabaret for a Cure is an evening of music, inspiration and fun. The evening will start with “mocktails” and refreshments at 7 pm while the crowd finds the best seats in the house (because at the Scenic, there’s never a bad seat). At 7:30 the lights will go down and the first half of the show begins: “Let go of thinking you are anything but beautiful, let go of thinking you can do this on your own,” from Like Breathing from the musical, Edges. 

The first act will focus on breast cancer awareness and raising funds for research and uses both humor and personal stories that, yes, will bring a tear to the eye and, yes, may surprise you. Besides “Secret of Happiness” from Daddy Longlegs, “Bravest Individual” from Sweet Charity and “The Money Song” from Avenue Q the show will feature “Cancer Sucks” by Kathleen Hill and “What Am I?” by her daughter, Jeanne Puglisi both of The Village Players and inspiration from Bea Douglas from The Pittsfield Players and more.

The second act is all for the fun of it, with some audience participation, because that’s something else Katelyn and I have in common, working the audience and making them a part of the show. With songs from Chicago, Wicked, Guys and Dolls and Jekyll and Hyde, you’re sure to hear a favorite.

Tickets are $10/each (cash or check made out to The American Cancer Society) and 80% goes to ACS’s Making Strides, 20% to The Pittsfield Players Sprinkler Fund. So get your tickets now by calling Meggin Dail at 736-8073 and leaving a message. Seating is not reserved and is on a first come first served basis, so come early and have a “Pretty In Pink” mocktail!

Letter To The Editor

Dear Editor:
I have recently learned that Joey and Jimmy Darrah mowed Pittsfield Youth Athletic Park this year free of charge. The whole community owes them a debt of gratitude and I sincerely thank them. Also this summer Tony Scopa and Mike Brewster spent hours completing the storage shed which is built to perfection. Thank you guys.

I would also like to thank everyone who helped at the Park Saturday morning: Jim Parker for his expertise and the donation of a granite post for the parking lot (now called Provencal’s Pole!), Richard Foss for providing his ideas and materials for the foul pole bases, Joey Darrah for digging the base for the new donors’ monument, Mike Brewster for his labor, and Jimmy Darrah for mowing and weed-wacking the entire upper area around the concession stand. Sue and I would also like to thank the gang that spent hours weeding the walkways and mulch areas: Joey Darrah, Jessica Beaulieu, Sydney Booth, Tyler Booth, and Tony Scopa.

Finally, we would like to thank Joey and Jimmy Darrah, Jacob Whittier, and Darrell Wages for spending most of Sunday removing two huge trees and many others along the right side of the park. It is wonderful to see so many people volunteer their time to care for the park.

Larry Berkson

Pittsfield Circle Of Home And Family Announces Raffle Winners

The Pittsfield Circle of Home and Family group would like to thank everyone who purchased tickets for the annual Hot Air Balloon quilt raffle. The winners were:  Hot Air Balloon Quilt - Tracy Demers; Knowles Collection “Peter” China Doll - Elaine Coffey; Hand Woven Basket - Trudy Pride; Quilted Table Runner- Toni DeRuntz; Hand Made Pillows-set of 2- Carolyn Davis; Hat and Tote Bag set- Lillian Wheeler; Set of Anna Lee dolls - Terry Riel; Hand Painted Beach Scene Slate - Lucas Fries; Hot Air Balloon T-shirt - Tracy Demers; Herbal Relax Pack - Doug Towle.

The Pittsfield Circle of Home and Family group is a women’s group that meets once per month on the 4th Thursday at 7 pm at the Community Center. Our meetings typically consists of some kind of a program - a guest speaker, making a craft, cooking demonstrations and we always have refreshments! Many of the program topics are geared towards women’s health, finances, and heritage arts.  New members are always welcome. 

Please call Andi Riel at 435-6346 or email at [email protected] if you’d like more information.

In the Good Olde Summertime
Pittsfield Old Home Day, 2012

I don’t know about you, but I think Pittsfield’s Old Home Day held on Saturday, July 21st was absolutely wonderful! The weather was perfect, and people just seemed to be in a great mood. The theme of the day was “In the Good Olde Summertime” and there were lots of summertime activities to partake in. Many thanks are due to lots of groups, organizations, businesses and individuals that make this event possible.

Parks and Recreation sponsored the movie, “Gnomeo & Juliet” on Friday night. Kids and adults enjoyed the show.

We’d also like to take this opportunity to thank the Pittsfield Players Encore group for the many years of involvement in Old Home Day. They were unable to participate at Old Home Day this year but we truly appreciate their past performances.

The Park St. Baptist Church served a delicious breakfast on Saturday morning to start the day.  Thank you to all the cooks!  Many thanks to Tammy Colby who organized the craft fair. The free craft table for kids was manned by Carol Grainger, Michele Karwocki, Nicole Grainger, Kathy Bleckmann, Tara Ash, Lily Edmond, Katie Steeves, Kellie Vien, Amber and Jocelyn Ash and Eileen Manteau; many thanks to all of you!  Simplicity The Clown provided balloon “art” for the kids – free! Thanks to PYW for manning the jump tent and carnival games and the Cubscouts for sponsoring a dunk tank.  A big thank you to Judy and Ray Webber for creating the fun summertime backdrop for the photo op area, and a huge thank you to Bob and Eileen Legg for taking the photos and posting them on the town website. Thank you to the Lions Club for bringing back the memories of the old penny counter!

Thank you to Stephanie, Phil and Marilyn Joyce for providing music and singing at Dustin Park all morning. Thanks to the Historical Society for opening their doors to show off the awesome Pittsfield memorabilia and for having the time capsule available.

The annual cook-off was “Any Berry or Fruit Pie” this year. Thanks to all the participants. The winners by popular vote were: 1st-Kianna Vincelette (#6), 2nd-Kathy Bleckmann (#2), and tied for 3rd-Heather Dunagan (#7) and Corine Miller (#8).  A very special thank you to the Victory Workers 4-H Club for organizing and manning the booth.

Thanks to all the kids that participated in the Bike Parade. It was great to see so many decorated bikes! Thanks to our judges Carol Grainger, Ross Morse and Bekah Adams and to Appleview Orchard for the ice cream certificates.

Pastor Dave Stasiak provided the invocation before the parade; thank you for joining us on Old Home Day.  A special thank you to Ms. Stephanie Joyce for her beautiful rendition of the Star Spangled Banner and a big thank you to Stan Bailey for providing announcing duties for the parade. We’d also like to thank Granite Image for providing all the flyers, posters and program printing for the day.  Thank you to the Suncook Valley Sun for printing all of our articles, ads and the day’s schedule. Thanks, also to our website committee for posting all the events and information on our town website www.pittsfield-nh.com and to all the local businesses that posted flyers for us.

Congratulations to Ray Webber, III on being named Pittsfield’s Citizen of the Year! Thank you so much for all you do and have done for our community.  Thanks to Sandy Adams for providing the “ride” for our Citizen of the Year and to Heath’s Flower Shoppe for providing the boutonniere.

Thank you to all who participated in the Parade.  You are the ones who make the parade what it is. A Huge thank you to NH Motor Speedway for the use of their “People Movers” and to Jon Ward for hauling it. They worked perfectly for the band in the parade.  Another huge thank you to all the volunteers who helped the Police Dept. with traffic duty during the parade. It was very much appreciated!

Parade Winners

The Judges Award went to the Pittsfield Players and Pittsfield Rotary Club (pulled by the Appleview Orchard tractor). 

In the Youth Division, first place went to the Victory Workers 4-H Club, followed by Cub Scouts Pack 84 in second and the Pittsfield Police Association in third.

The Open Division was won by the Family Float (Wolfe, St. George and Johnson families), second place went to The Jones Family Farm and third place was the Suncook Valley Area Lions Club.   

The Glass Shop won a trophy for the Best Truck; Jordon Roode won a trophy for the Best Car (’55 Chevy in memory of Carroll Hodgdon) and Zack Thoroughgood won for Best Custom Car.

The afternoon festivities moved to the F.B. Argue Recreation Area. A Duck Race (sponsored by the PMHS Boys Basketball team) was held and was a great success with over 300 ducks tossed into the water.  Thanks to Jay Darrah for coordinating the duck race.  Congratulations to Eleanor Joyce for purchasing the winning duck! Many thanks to Parks and Recreation (especially Minni Plante and Nick Abell) for running all the olde time summer games. There was also a pie eating contest (thanks to our own Louie Houle for organizing this) and musical chairs for adults.  Music was provided in the afternoon by Bill Parker, the One Man Band. Thanks to Stand Up Paddle Boards NH for allowing people to try a paddle board. Thank you to the South Pittsfield Community Club for putting on a delicious chicken barbecue – with all the fixings!

The day ended with a fabulous fireworks show.  A huge thank you to all the donors who made this show possible.  Thanks to PMHS for the use of Drake Field and the committee would especially like to thank all the volunteers and Joe Darrah’s crew – Phil Carpenter, Tyler Booth and Jimmy Darrah who came to Drake Field on Sunday morning to help clean up the fireworks debris. We really appreciated all that help!

The Old Home Day Committee would like to thank the Pittsfield Police, Fire and Highway Departments; Parks and Recreation Committee and the many extra volunteers who helped at any of the events. A lot of planning and work goes into this day and it takes a lot of people to make things happen… so, thank you!

We hope you enjoyed the day! Please feel free to call Andi Riel at 435-6346, by email at [email protected] or Louie Houle at 435-6938, by [email protected] if you have any suggestions, comments or if you’d like to volunteer next year.

F.B. Argue Recreation Area Closing

On Saturday, August 25, 2012, the FB Argue Recreation Area will close for the 2012 season.

We will be opening on that day at 12:00. We will be doing some activities from 1:00 to 3:00. The activities will include water balloons, duck hunt, sack races, and beach ball fun. We will also be choosing a Mr. and Miss Pool again this year. Please join us for these fun activities.

Swimming will end at 4:00 to give the staff time to clean up for the season.

We would like to thank the parents and patrons for their support during this swimming season.

The Pittsfield Parks and Recreation Committee is presently working on the permit for dredging so that the work can hopefully be completed this fall and we will have our diving area back for next year.

Thanks to the life guards, gatekeepers for another great season.

Laura Grattage

Laura Grattage, 85, of 67 Main Street, died August 17, 2012. Born in Barnstead, she graduated from Pittsfield High School in 1945.

She was pre-deceased by her husband, Wanton Grattage.

She is survived by her son, Allen W. Grattage of Pittsfield; her daughter, Cindy Bousquet and husband Richard of Pittsfield; grandchildren, Jesse Bousquet of Barnstead; Joan Tabitby and Mike Sammon of Pittsfield; Cassie and Brian West of Loudon; Adam Bousquet and Karen of Pittsfield; Lori and Terry Lambert of Laconia; Denise Grattage of Pittsfield; Joseph Camley of Manchester; and four great grandchildren.

There will be no calling hours and services will be private.

Arrangements are by Perkins and Pollard Funeral Home.