If you have additional questions, please contact Margaret Brender by email or Old Home Days Committee chairperson Kat McGhee by email or 603-465-2033.
Hollis ice house photo courtesy of Della Huff

Photos courtesy of Susan Geddes-Hall, Hollis Brookline Journal, and the Hollis Brookline Rotary Club

Welcome to the online home of Hollis Old Home Days!  For other information about Hollis, New Hampshire, please see the town web site.

Please join us for Hollis Old Home Days 2010.  This year's theme is "Treasures of Hollis."  It will take place on Friday & Saturday, September 17-18, at Nichols Field on Depot Road.  There will be fun, food, and activities, including the barbecue, music, parade, amusement rides, balloon rides, booths, pet parade, fireworks, crafts, and much, much more.  It is always a terrific time and a truly great community event!

Please see below for details of Hollis Old Home Days, or click on the Highlights below:

Fireworks Parade Pet Parade Booths Field Day Events Barbecue Amusements Balloon Rides Demonstrations Cow Pattie Bingo Apple Pie Contest

Please see below for details of Hollis Old Home Days:

Fireworks have always been an important part of Hollis Old Home Days.  They take place on the Saturday of Hollis Old Home Days, after dark.  It is the only time during the year when Hollis has its own fireworks.  Good viewing areas are Nichols Field on Depot Road or the field in front of Hollis Brookline High School on Main St.

Until a few years ago, the town itself was able to fund the fireworks, but these days we need private donations each year to put on the fireworks display.  We are very grateful to the many people who contributed to the fireworks in 2008 and 2009.  We met our fund-raising goals, and the fireworks were spectacular.  We will soon be starting our fundraising drive for the 2010 fireworks at Hollis Old Home Days.

The annual Hollis Old Home Days Parade takes place on the Saturday morning of Hollis Old Home Days.  The parade runs rain or shine — there is no rain date.  The parade starts at Hollis Brookline High School, goes along Main St., past the Town Common, and ends at Hollis Nichols Field on Depot Road, the site of Hollis Old Home Days.  With marching bands, themed floats, antique cars, antique tractors, horses, fire trucks and more, this festive event with families lining the parade route is the exciting start of a full day and evening of Old Home Days activities and fun.

If you have questions about the Parade, please email parade@hollisoldhomedays.org.

Please consider having you and your pet participate in the Costumed Pet Parade at Old Home Days.  Fun for the whole family!  Fun for pets of all sizes!  (No horses please; miniature ponies OK.)  Bring your pet in costume and compete for prizes!  Prizes awarded in the following categories: Largest Pet • Smallest Pet • Funniest Costume • Most Creative Costume • Grand Finale People’s choice award!!  The Pet Parade takes place on the Saturday of Hollis Old Home Days.

Volunteers needed for the Pet Parade!  Please phone Martha Goodwine @ 465-5658 if you're interested.

The booths at Hollis Old Home Days are always much anticipated.  Spend fun-filled hours with your family at the Old Home Days booths at Nichols Field on Depot Road on the Saturday of Old Home Days.  There will be a great variety of demonstrations, activities, displays, games, food, shopping, music, and much more, from Hollis area groups, organizations, and businesses.  Some of the booths are also open on the evening of Friday of Old Home Days.

If you have questions about booths at Hollis Old Home Days, please email booths@hollisoldhomedays.org.

FREE!  Join some old time fun at the Old Home Days Field Day Events at Hollis Old Home Days in 2009.  They are FREE and take place on the Saturday of Old Home Days.  See the Field Day Events page for details on the Field Day Events we had in 2009.  Teams of all ages are welcome!  Please join us!  The Field Day Events for 2009 were:

Potato Sack Relay (all ages)
3-Legged Race (all ages)
Wheelbarrow Race (all ages)
Corn Toss Tournament (ages 12 and up)

Children ages 4-12: Please come participate in our Firemen's Muster before the Field Day Events, in the same location (inside the oval track).  Hope to see you there!

If you have questions about the Field Day Events at Hollis Old Home Days, please email Wayne Ciarcia at fieldday@hollisoldhomedays.org.  We look forward to seeing you at the Field Day Events!

The Chicken Barbecue is a long-standing tradition of Hollis Old Home Days.  It takes place in the Barbecue Tent on the Saturday of Old Home Days.  The menu is typically one-half of a barbecued chicken, potato salad, green salad, baked beans, roll, watermelon, and a cold drink.

Volunteers are needed to help serve the barbecue.  If you can help, please call Nancy at 465-7822.

Come enjoy one of the most anticipated features of Hollis Old Home Days each year, the amusement rides!  The rides, for young and old, are at Nichols Field on Depot Road.  Here is a small sampling of the rides that were at Hollis Old Home Days in 2009:

• Ferris wheel
• Children's train ride
• Spinning apples
• High-flying swings
• Fun house

...and many more!

The amusement rides are open on Friday evening of Old Home Days and all day Saturday.

There are two ways to enjoy balloon rides at Hollis Old Home Days.  First, you can ride the RE/MAX tethered balloon.  It goes up in the air a short distance, tethered to the ground, and gives you a beautiful view of Hollis.  For the more adventuresome, untethered hot air balloons will depart early in the morning on Saturday of Old Home Days from the center of town and float high in the air, to land elsewhere.  If you want to see the balloons and take pictures, don't forget the kids, they love to see them, too!

In the Demonstrators' Tent at Hollis Old Days, see craft demonstrations that help remind us of the small, special, historic town in which we live.  The craft demonstrations at Hollis Old Home Days 2009 were:

• Garry Kalajian demonstrated his techniques at a working forge as a blacksmith.
• Bill Burton worked with his portable saw mill.
• Karen Johnson was weaving baskets of various types.
• Becky Crowther was showing her needlework skills.
• Paula Furlong was making pottery.
• Denis and Debbie Gleeson of Second Nature Academy ad sheep and other farm animals, showing how wool is shorn and processed until it is ready to be woven.
• Rosemary Mezzocchi was spinning wool.
• Jane Hemmingsen had children weaving using various methods.
• Marty Frasier and Sue Flaherty exhibited their beautiful quilted pieces of work.
• Members of the Hollis Art Society showed, demonstrated, and talked about their forms of art.  Included in the art forms were felting, fabric painting, oriental painting, polymer and clay jewelry, photography, and painting with water colors, oils, and pastels.
• Kenneth Cleveland demonstrated his prowess in bike trials, a little known sport requiring balance, concentration and skill on a specially constructed bike and obstacles

If you would be interested in demonstrating your craft at Hollis Old Home Days, please contact Carolyn Madden at demonstrations@hollisoldhomedays.org.
 

Join in the fun of the highly fun and unusual Cow Pattie Bingo at Old Home Days, hosted by the Hollis Brookline Rotary Club!

The mechanics of the game are simple:

• Come to the Rotary Booth at Old Home Days to purchase your Cow Pattie Bingo tickets, or buy them before Old Home Days from any Rotary Club member
• Players purchase tickets from a batch of 1600 sequentially numbered tickets (in 2008 and prior years, the number was 2500)
• Prices are:
  • $5 per ticket, or
  • $4 per ticket in packets of 5 for $20
• One, or possibly more, winning ticket(s) is/are chosen – by a cow!
• The holder(s) of the winning ticket(s) receive the prize of $1,000:
  • The prize money is divided equally among all winning-ticket holders
  • Most often a single winner receives the full $1,000 (previously $2,000)

The winning ticket selection process:

• A fenced portion of Waugaman Field (next to Nichols Field) is marked out in a 40-foot by 40-foot square (previously 50 by 50)
• Each one-foot square is associated with one of the 1,600 ticket numbers:
  • A mathematical randomizing process assures that every sequential block of ticket numbers represents squares that are scattered throughout the 40 by 40 grid
• On Saturday of Hollis Old Home Days, one or more cows are introduced onto the grid
• Sooner or later, a cow, by the normal operation of its digestive system, makes a deposit in one of the squares, thus selecting the winning ticket number
• Each square that receives a major portion of the cow’s deposit is deemed to be a winner, and all share equally the $1,000 prize
  • The judges’ decision as to what square or squares have been selected is final

What it supports:

• Cow Pattie Bingo, first of all, supports Hollis Old Home Days with a contribution of $500
• One major beneficiary of the remainder of the proceeds from the game is the Rotary effort to eliminate polio throughout the world
  • All Rotary Clubs, worldwide, are joined in an effort to match the $200 million that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has contributed toward this goal

Calling all pie bakers!  At Hollis Old Home Days, it's time to get out your best recipe for apple pie.  Even if you have entered before, we welcome you back to challenge new bakers and hopefully to claim the title of "Best" in your age category.  The apple pie contest is sponsored by the Hollis Evening Circle of Home and Family (CHF).  The following rules apply for all entrants:

1. Only one entry per person.
2. All entries must be submitted by the deadline on Saturday of Old Home Days for judging.
3. Entry must be a home-prepared, 2-crust apple pie — no mixes.
4. Recipe must accompany the entry, specifying the variety of apple(s) used.
5. There is no fee to enter, but entrants will be asked to fill out an entry form.
6. All pies will become the property of the CHF and will be cut and sold by the piece following judging.  Winners agree to have their recipes published in the local newspaper.
7. Decision of the panel of judges will be final.
8. There will be two entry divisions: (1) children through age 12, and (2) students and adults, ages 13 and up.
9. First, second, and third place prizes will be awarded in each division.