Valentine’s Day events offer something for every desire

Cultivate a love of apples at Nature Museum event

Diana Lischer-Goodband and Ezekiel  Goodband will share their love and knowledge of heirloom apples.

Enjoy a family Valentine’s Day celebration with The Nature Museum at Grafton at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 14 at the News Bank Conference Center at 352 Main St. in Chester.

Ezekiel Goodband, orchard manager of Scott Farm in Dummerston, and his wife, Diana Lischer-Goodband, will share their love and wisdom of heirloom apples. The workshop covers pomological history and poetry, as well as professional advice on growing, grafting and pruning apple trees.

Light refreshments will be served. Questions are encouraged. The event is designed to be an interactive and educational celebration for apple lovers of all ages.

Having grown apples ecologically for over 30 years, Goodband has earned his title of “apple guru.” As a representative of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, he has traveled as an educator to Kazakhstan, where the apple originated.

Diana Lischer-Goodband is an author, whose poem “Dreaming of Apples” won the Ralph Nadding Hill Literary Award in 2012. Lischer-Goodband is also on the board of Land for Good, a regional non-profit dedicated to helping farmers gain farm land, and is a grant writer for the Student Conservation Association.

Geared toward adults and children over 10, early bird tickets are $8 available at www.nature-museum.org. Tickets sold at the door are $10. For more information, call 802-843-2111.

More information about other upcoming events can be found on The Nature Museum at Grafton’s Facebook page.

From left: Luz Elena Morey, Tomal Hossain, Rupa Cousins, Prachi Dalal

Indian buffet kicks off concert of world poetry, music

Valentine’s Day is celebrated worldwide as a day for love and romance and this year Yagna Inn of Rockingham presents a concert exploring love poetry from around the world. The concert will explore the dichotomy in poetry from mystic Hindu, Sufi, Christian, Jewish and Afro-Caribbean traditions explored through dance, music and poetry reading. Celebrate Valentine’s Day that will go beyond roses and chocolates and warms your heart and spirit.

The event begins at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 14 with a dinner buffet of Indian food catered by the Greenfield, Mass.,  Clay Oven restaurant. The Yagna Inn is located at 61 Williams Road in Rockingham. Bring your favorite poems and songs on love to share in an informal and intimate setting.

The evening’s entertainment includes author and performing artist Luz Elena Morey, dancer Rupa Cousins and musician Tomal Hossain with Max Armen on tabla.

The concert price is a suggested donation $15. Reservations required. Advance dinner tickets $20 + tax per person if purchased by Feb 12. For more information or to make reservations, call 802-463-1405 or prachi@somaiya.com.

Ida Mae Specker, center, and the Honest Mistakes

Local musicians charm at Hapgood

J.J. Hapgood General Store & Eatery is hosting a Valentine’s Day event from 6 to 8 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 14 at 305 Main St. in Peru. Local musicians Ida Mae Specker & The Honest Mistakes will provide the night’s entertainment.

Bring your sweetheart for a Valentine-themed prix fixe dinner, or sip a glass of wine or a craft beer and enjoy the music and conversation. Dinner reservations are required, and general admission is free.

Specker is a third generation fiddle player with an American folk and roots music background. She’ll be joined by the Honest Mistakes, which is singer-songwriter Faith Wood on guitar and harmonica, and Rio Mueller on a homemade washtub bass. With tight vocal harmonies, the trio plays a fusion of original and traditional music. Their show synthesizes their diverse influences and features contemporary lyrics set to old-time melodies.

For the complete Valentine’s Day menu, details, and more information visit http://idamaespecker.com or http://jjhapgood.com. For dinner reservations call 802-824-4800.

Aphrodite’s Arts Arrows land at Helmholtz

Aphrodite’s Arts Arrows  opens to the public from 5 to 7:30 p.m. on Valentine’s Day, Saturday, Feb. 14 at Helmholtz Fine Art in Manchester.

The exhibit, which celebrates the idea of love, will feature new works from a variety of artists including: Elizabeth Torak; Louis Guarnaccia; Mark Wilson Meunier; Thomas Torak; Margot Nimiroski; Kathryn Jaliman; Lisa Cueman and Douglas Flackman, as well as works from guest artists. Special guest, mixed media artist Jennifer Contini Enderby will be exhibiting “Live Your Life,” a large work completed in 2014.

Celebrate the art of love on Valentine’s Day.

An art performance with live models posing as Aphrodite and Adonis, spirits, wine, sweet delights and entertainment including some of the best love songs of all times and a Valentine’s Day photo booth will be featured at the event.

Helmholz Fine Art is located at 203 Depot Street in Manchester Center. Its hours are Tuesday to Saturday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m. and Sunday, 11 a.m.–4 p.m.. For more information contact Lisa Helmholz-Adams at 802-855-1678 or send an email to lisa@helmholzfineart.com. You may also visit the website at www.helmholzfineart.com or follow “HelmholzFineArt” on Facebook.

Cavendish Mardi Gras 2015  benefits conservation group

Chase away winter blues by dining and dancing with the Cavendish Community and Conservation Association at its sixth annual Mardi Gras celebration. The event is a fundraiser for the association. The festivities take place on Saturday, Feb. 14 at Crow’s Bakery and Opera House Café on Depot St. in Proctorsville.

Doors open at 6 p.m. and dinner begins at 6:30 p.m. Yankee Chank with Cavendish fiddler Bob Naess will entertain during the evening. There will be a prize for the best and most creative homemade Mardi Gras mask.

A New Orleans Cajun-style buffet dinner will be served including a choice of pulled pork or vegetarian po’ boys, corn bread, coleslaw, Seymour’s Famous shrimp étouffée, red beans and rice, cupcakes and other desserts and beverages.

Tickets for the dinner and dance are $40 per person but are limited to 30 people. For those who would like to just enjoy the music and dancing, tickets are $10 at the door starting at 7:30 p.m. Dinner tickets are available at Crow’s Bakery or by calling 802-226-7736. Call early to reserve tickets.

Dr. T and the Versatiles’ horn-driven sound will be featured at Pingree Park Valentine’s  Day fundraiser

Valentine’s dinner-dance a fund-raiser for Pingree Park

From 8 to 11 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 14, Magic Mountain, 495 Magic Mountain Access Road in Londonderry, is hosting a dance featuring Dr. T and the Versatiles and their ’60s and ’70s rock, rhythm and blues and soul music at Base Lodge.

Admission will be $8 per person or $15 for a couple. Tickets may be purchased at the door. Food and drink are not included in admission but The Black Line Tavern’s bar and restaurant will be open for dinner.

The Londonderry Town Parks Board sponsors the event for the benefit of the Pingree Park Revitalization Project. Raffles prizes will be awarded throughout the evening.

–Compiled by Susan Lampe-Wilson