Hanover, NH (USA)

Hanover Appalachian Trail Magic Day 2025!  For the third year in a row, my happy hour friends and many of my neighbors pitched in to host a hiker feed in our Trail Town.  This year's installment required me to take most of the day off from work because the event has gotten bigger each year.  After teleworking for a few hours (0600 to 0900), I drove down to the Richard W. Black Community Center and met up with Denis.  He had brought all the food for the grill and had planned to fill in for me if I couldn't make it in time.  Before the rest of our team arrived, I coordinated with the Black Center staff (primarily Steve) to get a tent, table and sandwich board for our "Trail Magic" sign.  Just before 1000, the rest of the group (Ed, Bruce, Monte, Bob, Bill and Wren) arrived to get the grill going, ice the drinks and start hosting the initial group of hikers.  We’ve typically had about 30 guests during these events but the Thru hiker numbers are down this year - mostly due to trail damage from Hurricane Helene (2024).  Still, during the next five hours, our hard working crew handed out burgers & hotdogs, lots of high calorie snacks and fruits/veggies to 25 hikers.  There was almost an equal number of NOBOs and SOBOs and we met folks from the USA, Canada, Japan and Scandinavia.  Everyone left with a full belly and snacks for later (on the trail). For the first time since we started these Trail Magic events in Hanover (2023), it rained on us (for only about 20 minutes).  But nothing could bring down our high spirits!  My friends all told me afterwards how much they'd enjoyed the event and talked about all the interesting young people they'd met.  After cleaning up, we adjourned to Jesse's Steakhouse for our typical Happy Hour.  I treated everyone to the adult beverages of their choice and even had dinner with Ed before I departed.  Felt very good (and I told everyone so) that my friends in Hanover have been so willing to do service projects with me.  Even though I won't be living here, I hope we can host another Trail Magic in 2026!