Sean Hurley

The people of Littleton New Hampshire celebrated Pollyanna Glad Day this past Saturday. The June 8th event also marked the publishing Centennial of the bestselling children’s classic about the little girl who always looks on the bright side. While a dubious meaning shadows the character name in popular culture, Sean Hurley reports that the residents of Littleton believe they know the real Pollyanna.  A hundred people opened and closed their umbrellas in the rain and shine that came and went throughout Pollyanna Glad Day.

The 3rd Annual Alton Weagle Unusual Ascent Day took place this past Monday on Mount Washington.  With fresh snow closing the summit, participants still gathered at the base of the Auto Road to walk, ran, paddle and roll their way to the snowline.  As NHPR’s Sean Hurley reports, it’s an event that blends the difficult with the whimsical. 

75 year old Otok Ben-Hvar stares at the white powder top of Mount Washington. He’s about to go rolling along the Auto Road in a shambling contraption of five inner tubes.  

Animals have long played a part in human therapy and healing; from dogs trained to assist the disabled, to all manner of animals making visits to hospitals and nursing homes. For one Vermont woman, it’s a horse that’s helped her heal; not from physical ailments, but from the emotional and spiritual scars of abuse. Sean Hurley brings us her story.

While most newspapers are downsizing, outsourcing, assimilating or outright folding, there’s a newspaper in the North Country that’s flourishing. Two weeks ago the Colebrook Chronicle opened a new business office in downtown Colebrook. As Sean Hurley reports, business at the Chronicle has never been better.

It was ten years ago Friday, that the state lost the Old Man of the Mountain. A celebration at Profile Park marked the anniversary.

  A lone bagpiper approached the shore of Profile Lake to set the tone of the morning. Throughout the ceremony, eyes and cameras hunted the jagged spot where the Old Man’s face once was. John DeVivo, General Manager of the Park said you can’t help but look:

In 2005, photographer Thea Dodds was hired to shoot a wedding in Massachusetts. She spoke to the prospective bride on the phone and drove down to meet the happy couple.

Dodds: I went and met them and it was two women (laughs). So I didn’t even know before I met them that it was a same-sex wedding.

That two-brides no groom job led to other same-sex weddings. And as she gained more experience, Dodds began to realize that she was falling into the same trap.

Maple Weekend begins Saturday in New Hampshire, and that means Sugar Houses in the state are open to the public with boiling sap and sweet syrup to sample.  And syrup producers around the state say they are hoping for a strong season this year.

Paul Weeks would rather be in his sugar orchard checking sap lines for leaks or adjusting the boil on his evaporator.  But today’s bitter chill has given him an unwanted break.  

This weekend, the stage version of “To Kill a Mockingbird” premieres at the Rochester Opera House. Reporter Sean Hurley introduces some of the cast and crew members to us in an audio version of a playbill.  In this case, their stories go a little deeper than the blurb in an average program.

The Museum of the White Mountains had its Grand Opening this past weekend in Plymouth. Correspondent Sean Hurley spoke with Director Catherine Amidon and sends us this story.

This is the time of year many of us love to head out on the ice to do some fishing or play a pick-up game of hockey with the kids. NHPR's Sean Hurley decided to try something a little different - he went Nordic.

Sometimes, to make a surprising discovery, all you've got to do is strap on your snowshoes and step outside. That was the case when correspondent Sean Hurley ventured out to some familiar trails this past week:

The Sidehiller snowshoe race in Center Sandwich is the oldest snowshoe race in New Hampshire…a remarkable distinction for an event that began in 2005. We sent correspondent Sean Hurley on a radio field trip to learn  more about the fast-growing winter sport.