I only was able to get to the Pumpkin Festival that Milford NH holds annually on Saturday afternoon, but I good a good look at the different vendors and events that were going on there.
If you’ve never been to the Pumpkin Festival, I highly encourage going. Milford is a small town with a large sense of community, and they take the entire weekend of the festival to strengthen those ties while bringing in a local fair type of atmosphere. I saw all the local vendors around the Milford Oval out displaying their wares, and many more local artisans than I expected the town had. There were even carnival-type games like a kid-sized High Striker.
One thing that I did expect to see more of were the local health institutions. I saw one massage therapist out giving chair massages, and a booth for the local Medical Reserve Corps. Inside the town hall there was a stack of business cards for the Physical Therapy Center of Milford, but the stack of business cards was not associated with a booth or, as far as I could tell, even a particular person. The lack of medical professionals was rather surprising. Milford has quite a few local massage therapists, not to mention some community retirement centers and nursing homes all within about 2 miles from the Oval. I have yet to determine if the sparsity of professionals is because of a restriction by the town, a characteristic of Milford’s view about health, or if all the local professionals have just decided to put their time elsewhere.
At any rate, keep an eye out for me next year. I’m only five minutes away from the Oval down Rt. 101A, and I saw many people in need of care who would benefit from an acupuncturist.