Adelle’s opens in Dover

Although the business had been open for less than two weeks, a handful of patrons seemed very much at home in Adelle’s Coffeehouse on a recent afternoon. A group of three chatted amiably while seated at the counter. A man typed on his laptop at a nearby table. A couple of others sipped coffee in an adjacent room.

The new shop in downtown Dover is named after Adam and Anna Clark’s 15-month-old daughter. The couple had long toyed with the idea of starting their own business in the city they’ve called home for seven years. It all came together when Top Shelf Cigar vacated its storefront at 3 Hale St. and moved around the corner on Central Avenue, leaving behind a prime space beside Dos Amigos Burritos.

Chef Mike Shea pounced at the opportunity to start his own café in Rollinsford. The Kittery, Maine, resident graduated from the Atlantic Culinary Academy in Dover and had been working for a catering company until he got laid off in February. As he was considering his next move, he noticed a posting on Craig’s List advertising a space in the Salmon Falls Mills. Shea acquired the space, and Figtree Café & To Go was born.

The new café on the first floor of the lower mill building on Front Street officially opened in June. The kitchen and small dining area have a much brighter appearance than Mill River Pail Café, which closed at the same location this spring. Shea painted the rear wall a florescent green color and hung some artwork over a pair of chic tables with black tops and silver legs, accompanied by matching chairs with low backs.

It’s been a near sleepless summer for Laurie Adelmann as she gears up for the first ever Front Street Market event in Rollinsford. Adelmann has been soliciting area growers, artists and performers to provide food and entertainment at the Salmon Falls Mills every weekend through the summer. Front Street Market will first present its Sunday at Salmon Falls series on July 20.
“We’ve had so many people interested in this. It’s marvelous,” Adelmann said. “It’s a morning out for the whole family.”

Beginning at 9 a.m., local food producers will open shop in the parking lot in front of the upper mill building. Breakfast and lunch optoins will be grilled under a circius tent running parallel to the street. A temporary stage will be erected in the same lot, offering music, dancing and other live entertainment until about 3 p.m.
Many artists with studios at the mills will sell artwork, fine crafts and photography, and a raffle will raise money for local charities.

soft drink zealots kick off summer lecture series in Wolfeboro

It’s not hard to find the Wright Museum in Wolfeboro. It’s the only building on Central Avenue that has a World War II tank crashing through its brick façade.

But visitors last Tuesday had the advantage of an extra landmark to help them find the World War II museum. Parked outside the building on June 24 was a 1928 LaSalle Chassis with a white horse mounted on it and a Moxie insignia emblazoned on its side. 

“We’re old enough, we remember when those things were driving around,” said one man as he admired the automobile, recalling the days when “Moxiemobiles” rolled along New England streets to advertise the quirky soda.