8th Annual Currier and Ives Cookie Tour

Cookie tours are a delightful cross between trick-or-treating (without going through the trouble of dressing in a costume) and the thrill of house hunting (without the impending mortgage payment).

You get to tour the inside of an inn, bed and breakfast, store, library or historical society with your friends, see enchanting Christmas decorations and ideas for your home – AND you get a cookie treat (and a recipe card)! It doesn’t get any better than this.

The Monadnock Region’s Currier & Ives Cookie Tour – held this year on December 8, 2012 from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. -- takes you on a 13-stop tour through the quintessentially New England towns of Fitzwilliam, Jaffrey, Rindge, Troy, Marlborough, Peterborough and Swanzey. Tickets are $10; a portion of this year's proceeds will be donated to the Santa's House of Jaffrey, which provides toys to local children in need.

Tour Stops include:
Little River Bed & Breakfast, Peterborough*
Paper & Roses, Peterborough
Anytime Apparel, Peterborough
The Woodbound Inn, Rindge*
Jaffrey Public Library (Santa’s House), Jaffrey
The Monadnock Inn, Jaffrey*
The Inn at East Hill Farm, Troy*
Common Collections, Troy
The Fitzwilliam Historical Society, Fitzwilliam
The Troy Historical Society, Troy*
Inn of the Tartan Fox, Swanzey
Swanzey Historical Society, Swanzey
Unbridled Chocolates, Marlborough

*Tickets can be purchased at these locations from November 26 through the day of the tour. Cash or check only.

A tour map will be printed on your ticket. You can begin the tour at any location. The average time between locations is about a 10 minute drive. Make sure you bring a cookie tin or container to store your cookies.

So pack up your friends, your sense of adventure, and have a great time touring great local establishments and tasting delicious homemade cookies!  Turn your cookie tour into an overnight or weekend getaway by staying at a local B&B or inn.

Wearing Plaid for a Cause

You could say that wearing plaid is reserved for Scots … or New England hunters.

But here in the Monadnock Region we’re asking everyone to don their plaid shirts, skirts, coats and even socks and hats.

It’s just for one day, we promise. And it’s for a good cause.

Plaid Friday, which this year falls on November 23, 2013, is a nationwide effort to promote local, independent businesses in one of the most busiest shopping days of the year, “Black Friday,” where shoppers usually crowd into big box stores to get holiday deals. On this day, citizens are instead encouraged to wear plaid clothing – and shop locally -- to show support for locally owned and operated businesses.

Plaid Friday is part of a larger effort of a national “Shift Your Shopping” campaign to buy more local products and services. Locally, Monadnock Buy Local is championing the Plaid Friday effort.

“The New England economy could use a boost,” says Jen Risley, Monadnock Buy Local’s program manager. “That’s why we’re asking everyone to shift their holiday shopping to locally owned and independent businesses, local artists and craftspeople.  Doing so will stimulate the local economy and help support job growth in our community.”

To join the fun, make sure you visit one of the Monadnock Region’s Plaid Friday Hubs on November 23 … owners will take a picture of you decked out in your finest plaid, and answer questions you may have about how you can support the “buy local” movement.

Buy Local Hubs:

Howard’s Leather in Spofford
Inn at Valley Farms in Walpole
Life is Sweet Candy Store in Keene
MindFull Books & Ephemera in Jaffrey
One Stop Country Pet Supply in Keene
Pocketful of Rye in Keene
Prime Roast Coffee Roasters in Keene
Toadstool Bookshop in Keene
Walpole Valley Farms in Walpole