Keeping the community up to date on community topics
RUMMAGE/FOOD/WHITE ELEPHANT SALE
Saturday, May 31
9 am to 1 pm
$5/bag sale starts at noon
First Congregational Church (on the Common), Walpole, NH
We will accept items of clean, gently used clothing and tag sale items (no cords, please, and no furniture or shoes) on Tuesday, May 27, Wednesday, May 28, and Thursday, May 29 from 10 am to 6 pm
For more information, call 603-756-4866.
Help Our Trails (HOT)
Saturday, May 17, 2025, 9 am – 12 pm
This is a reminder that the Walpole Trail Committee’s 3rd Annual Help Our Trails (HOT) Day is this Saturday, May 17. Volunteers should meet at Town Hall between 8:30 and 9 am. There will be donuts and coffee. Our Trail Committee members have identified a number of HOT Day projects throughout the Town. Volunteer trail workers will divide into small teams and go out to tackle these maintenance projects on Walpole’s trails.
Please dress for trail work and bring your own water, bug repellent, work gloves, and hand tools (clippers, loppers, hand saws, etc.) if you have them. Metal rakes, shovels and hoes will be needed for some projects. Do not bring chain saws or power tools. Litter bags will be provided. There will be trail work available for anyone who comes to Town Hall Saturday morning.
However, if you haven’t signed up yet and plan to attend, it is recommended that you RSVP to walpoletrailhelpers@gmail.com, so that you will receive any last minute information.
Bring a raincoat so you can work on Saturday if there is occasional light rain. Those who’ve signed up will be notified if HOT Day is postponed to its rain date, which is Sunday, May 18.
We look forward to seeing you on Help Our Trails Day!
Wendy Grossman
Walpole Trail Committee
Tuesday, May 20, 7 PM
Walpole Town Library
Sierra Leone is often sensationalized as a place of extreme violence and suffering—of blood diamonds, child soldiers, war amputations, and Ebola and now the highly addictive drug Kush. Before Before captures daily life in a different country, one Betsy Small first encountered as a Peace Corps worker between 1984-87, and then rediscovered when she returned decades later with her daughter. Living in Tokpombu, a remote community of forty rice-farming families, the author faced struggles that changed her forever and witnessed the growing tensions in this rainforest village—between the young and old, between the traditions of oral history and honoring the ancestors valued by the elders and the siren call of the illicit diamond mines faced by the youth.
Before Before offers a rare portrait of everyday people, with particular focus on the lives of women and girls, before the brutal war of 1991 tore the country apart. Through Small’s account of immersion in another world as she witnessed injustice and was welcomed as a friend, readers are invited to explore the shared ground of our humanity.
From Nancy Guzik, President, Richard Schmid Fine Art Foundation:
Second Annual Putney Painters & Friends Paint Walpole
(Walpole Common) Walpole, New Hampshire, June 14th
Walpole, New Hampshire — The Richard Schmid Fine Art Foundation invites art lovers, families, and community members of all ages to its Second Annual Putney Painters & Friends Paint-Out, on Walpole Common. This celebratory art event will take place on Saturday, June 14, 2025, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and will be followed by an evening art exhibition and sale, at St. John’s Episcopal Church Parish Hall, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Both events are free and open to the public.
Putney Painter’s Paint-Out: Celebrating the legacy of renowned Walpole, NH artist Richard Schmid, this event will feature many of the artists that Richard influenced throughout his life, especially his beloved Putney Painters. Attendees of all ages can enjoy watching this group of professional artists demonstrating their plein-air painting skills live throughout the day.
Children and Teens: Children and teens are invited to join in some hands-on artistic fun! Scheduled activities include a dedicated area for children and teens to create their own original artwork, make Father’s Day cards, also take part in face painting. Complimentary art supplies will be provided by Richard Schmid Fine Art Foundation. Children age 10 and under must be accompanied by an adult.
Art Exhibition, Reception & Sale: From 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., art enthusiasts, collectors, and families are welcome to attend the exhibition and sale at St. John’s Episcopal Church Parish Hall, located directly across from the Walpole Common. The exhibition will showcase the paintings created by the artists including some of the children and teens artwork. This is a perfect opportunity to take home an original painting and help to support the local art community!
Our Gift to Walpole: The presentation of a $2,000 donation from the Richard Schmid Fine Art Foundation will take place at St John’s Parish Hall and will help support the Art After School program located at the corner of Elm & Westminster Streets, Walpole, NH.
In addition, 10% of all painting sales will be a shared benefit of Art After School programs located at St. John’s Parish Hall and River Valley Church. Event attendees can also participate in a raffle drawing, the winner will take home one of Richard Schmid’s Landscape prints signed by the renowned artist.
Participating Artists Include: Putney Painters: Penelope Simpson Adams, Kathy Anderson, Carol Arnold, Stephanie Birdsall, Jo-Ann Denehy, Nancy Guzik, Charlie Hunter, Susan Jositas, Johanne Mangi, Cat Nunn, Julie Rosa, Madeline Ullrich, Dalan Wells and late artist member, Tim Thies. Artist Friends: Grace DeVito, Catherine Hafer, Dianne P Miller, Judy Stach, and Jon Traynor.
Date: Saturday, June 14, 2025 (Rain date, Saturday, June 21st)
Day Event Time: 10 AM – 4 PM | Location: Walpole Common, Walpole, NH
Evening Event Time: 5:50 PM – 7:30 PM | Location: St. John’s Parish Hall—Corner of Elm & Westminster Streets, Walpole, NH
Cost: FREE and open to the public.
• Teens and children are welcome! Children under the age of 10 must be accompanied by an adult.
• The 2025 event is being sponsored by Richard Schmid Fine Art Foundation, a private 501(c)3 non- profit organization. Richard Schmid’s mission is: Art Has the Power to do Good!
Above: Raffle ticket winner will receive the signed lithograph by Richard Schmic titled, CHIPMUNK (DIANA’S MAPLE), oil, 12 x 20, 2002, painted in Vermont.
One Week from Today!
“Great Decisions” Welcomes Stapleton Roy as Moderator
The “Great Decisions” discussion group will meet again on Monday, May 12, at 6:00 p.m. in the Walpole Town Library. Our topic is “U.S.- China Relations in Tense Times,” and we are most fortunate to again have Career Ambassador Stapleton Roy join us via Zoom to moderate the discussion. (Career Ambassador is the highest rank in the U.S. Foreign Service.)
Stapleton Roy began his diplomatic career in 1956 and rose to become a three-time United States Ambassador, serving in Singapore, the People’s Republic of China, and Indonesia. Subsequently he joined the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States at the Wilson Center in Washington. He was a Trustee of the Asia Foundation and the Carnegie Endowment for Peace. I assure you that a conversation with “Stape” is delightful and unforgettable, his depth of understanding is unparalleled – this is a rare opportunity not to be missed!
The relevant reading from the Foreign Policy Association is “Competition, Cold War, or Conflict? Navigating U.S.- China Relations in Tense Times,” by Thomas J. Christensen, which is available at the Walpole Library. A copy of this article can be emailed to you upon request by contacting Jane Malmberg, Library Director: jmalmberg@walpoletownlibrary.org
All are welcome at 6:00 p.m. on Monday, May 12, in the Hubbard Meeting Room, Walpole Town Library. We begin with a Master Class video prepared by the Foreign Policy Association which cannot be shown over Zoom. Those of you joining via Zoom, please join at 6:30 p.m. For the Zoom link, please contact Jane Malmberg in advance of the meeting.
Help Our Trails (HOT) Day
Saturday, May 17
Attention all prospective Walpole trail work volunteers: The Walpole Trail Committee will host its 3rd Annual Help Our Trails (HOT) Day two weeks from tomorrow, on Saturday, May 17, 2025, from 9 am to 12 pm. It’s time to sign up now!
On Help Our Trails Day, volunteers come together to help maintain and improve Walpole trails, including those at Mill Pond, Fanny Mason Forest, and the Cheshire Rail Trail. HOT Day participants should gather at the Walpole Town Hall, 34 Elm Street, before 9 am. Please dress for trail work and bring your own water, work gloves, and hand tools. Useful tools include clippers, loppers, hand saws, shovels, and rakes. Do not bring chain saws or power tools. No dogs, please. Working in small teams at various locations, trail workers will help clear fallen branches, trim vegetation, maintain drainage, pick up litter, and undertake other selected trail improvement projects.
We strongly encourage all Help Our Trails Day volunteers to sign up in advance by sending an email to walpoletrailhelpers@gmail.com. This will enable us to plan the trail work and to contact you with additional HOT Day details.
Please join us on Help Our Trails Day, Saturday, May 17th, from 9 am to noon. Rain date is Sunday, May 18th.
Wendy Grossman
Walpole Trail Committee
Wednesday, April 23 @ 7pm, Walpole Town Library
The Walpole Town Library is delighted to host a reading with poets April Ossmann and Lesle Lewis.
Please come prepared to share. WE seeks what unites us, how to change our perceptions to heal families, friendships, and country of incivility and villainization by practicing greater compassion, by seeing past egos to souls. April will read from WE, share stories of being a bridge, and invite audience participation with short (2-minute) personal stories of positive interactions with people you know or met: fellow shoppers, travelers, service providers, neighbors, etc., whose politics may differ from yours, but with whom you shared a moment of mutual humanity. April is the author of We (Red Hen Press, 2025) and Event Boundaries and Anxious Music (Four Way Books), recipient of a Vermont Arts Council Creation Grant, and former executive director of Alice James Books. She is an independent editor at: www.AprilOssmann.com; and has taught at the low-residency MFA in Creative Writing Program at Sierra Nevada College.
Lesle Lewis will read from her forthcoming chapbook, Hydrogen, as well as a few poems from previous books. Her poems do not genreally tell good-feeling stories or stories of any sort; she likes to think that by putting disparate things together and favoring inclusivity, the new sense in her poems might be useful. Why should we deny contradictions and juxtapositions and why should we not give each other everything? She is the author of five poetry collections: Small Boat (2003), Landscapes I & II (2006), lie down too (2011), A Boot’s a Boot (2014), Rainy Days on the Farm (2019) and the chapbook It’s Rothko in Winter or Belgium (2012). Lesle lives in Alstead, New Hampshire. Her website is www.LesleLewisPoetry.com.
3rd Annual
Help Our Trails (HOT) Day
Saturday, May 17, 9 am – 12 pm
For the 3rd consecutive year, the Walpole Trail Committee is inviting the public to help us prepare our town’s trails for the upcoming hiking season. This year’s Help Our Trails (HOT) Day will take place on May 17, 2025, from 9 am to 12 pm. Due to the chilly weather and slow vegetation growth so far this spring, we have postponed HOT Day by two weeks from the date announced in the April Clarion.
Volunteers will meet at the Walpole Town Hall, divide into small teams, and go out to work on trail maintenance projects at designated locations around Walpole. HOT Day trail work will include clearing fallen branches, trimming vegetation, maintaining drainage, picking up litter, and making selected repairs and improvements on trails at Mill Pond Sanctuary, Fanny Mason Forest, the Cheshire Rail Trail, and elsewhere in Walpole.
Please dress for trail work and bring your own water, work gloves, and hand tools (clippers, loppers, hand saws, etc.) if you have them. Do not bring chain saws or power tools. Litter bags will be provided. No dogs, please.
To sign up or to get more information, please email walpoletrailhelpers@gmail.com. Advance sign-up is strongly recommended.
This is a great chance for Walpole trail users to help our trails while having fun together. Please join us for the 3rd Annual HOT Day, Saturday, May 17th, from 9 am to noon. Rain date is Sunday, May 18th.
Wendy Grossman
Walpole Trail Committee
The Walpolean 
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