Hopkinton residents will get the chance to make the Fourth of July an all-day festivity, as the town’s Recreation Department will sponsor events throughout the holiday, beginning at 9 a.m.

The day will kick off with a 5K run and walk, which begins in front of the Contoocook Village Fire Station at 9 a.m. Runners, who are asked to wear red, white and blue, can register beginning at 8 a.m.

Also in the morning will be the canoe and kayak race, which begins at 11 a.m. at Multi Weld on Riverside Road. There is a $15 fee for the event, and racers can register beginning at 9:30 a.m.

Hopkinton youths will have their chance to parade around town, at the Kids’ Parade at 11:30 a.m., after assembling near the gazebo at 11 a.m. Preschoolers through third-graders are invited to dress up and decorate their bikes for the event.

Soon after the Kids’ Parade will be the annual Fire Department- sponsored Independence Day Parade, which will start at Hopkinton High School and end at the Contoocook Village Cemetery. The parade will kick off at noon, moving down Park Avenue through the village and toward Penacook Road.

Hopkinton’s celebration will culminate at Houston Park for a second consecutive year during the Fourth of July Family Fun Day, including food, a variety of games, music and other activities.

“The whole day is going to be great,” said Justin La Vigne, Hopkinton Recreation director. “From the start, with the road race and canoe race to then end it at Houston Field with food, festivities and music, it’s going to be a blast for everyone.”

According to La Vigne, the event should receive a large turnout, despite the holiday landing on a Friday.

“Last year, I was here for the event and saw it. It blew me away to see the community come out,” he said. “We’re expecting hopefully 1,000 people again, like we did last year. It’s a great thing, and a great thing for the community while trying to keep it at a low cost.”

State workers have begun work on Route 202/9 in Hopkinton and Henniker, starting a project that will make the road safer and more convenient for drivers.

Chuck Davis, New Hampshire Department of Transportation contract administrator, said the project will cost about $3 million and needs to be completed by Oct. 17.

Workers started grinding the road, and the first phase will include paving about 4 miles. In total, the project will consist of work on 7.3 miles of road from Exit 5 on I-89 to Rush Road in Henniker.

The second phase of the project will include widening the road, guardrail improvement, turning lanes, and slope and drainage work.

Davis said the final product will lead to happier drivers.

“It’s a little of both (safety and convenience). We’re adding the turn lane that should make traffic go more smoothly and be a safety improvement,” said Davis. “The rest is routine maintenance. We’re going to put in shallower rumble strips so they’ll be less noise as well.”

There will be four turning lanes added by the time the project is completed. The first will be on Stumpfield Road, next at the intersection of Route 127 and Old Concord Road near the Golden Pineapple and Contoocook River, the third at Old Concord and West Hopkinton roads, and the final at Foster Hill Road.

“We’ll impact the commuters in the morning and afternoon commute, but we’re trying to minimize that,” said Davis. “The best option is to use an alternate route, such as 127 and Exit 6. We’ll try to keep commuters in the loop with what we’re doing.”

Although the project needs to be completed by the pre-set Oct. 17 deadline, Davis said the project is slightly ahead of schedule, targeting an Oct. 12 completion.

A group of Maple Street School students wanted a swimming pool, even if they may never set foot in it.

Fourth- through sixth-graders at the Hopkinton school organized a fundraiser for the Make-a-Wish Foundation, specifically for a 9-year-old cancer patient, Samantha.

Samantha’s wish is to have a pool she can swim in for the summer, and to have it built by the beginning of July.

Maple Street guidance counselor Mary-Chris Duncan and her group of peer leaders wanted to find a way to donate to Make-a-Wish, but with a personal connection.

The foundation’s Manchester branch led Duncan to Samantha’s wish, and the school began fundraising in the beginning of May.

“We knew we couldn’t come up with the funds for the whole pool, but we said we would raise as much as we could and have it matched by some corporate sponsors,” Duncan said. “We raised some money with daily donations.”

Students made donations in each classroom and for three Tuesdays during the month, Duncan helped organize a table at the school with healthy snacks and treats for sale.

A parent of one of the students involved with the fundraiser agreed to match whatever the students raised during the “Tuesday Treats” sales, bringing the total to about $300.

In total, the school raised $800 to donate to Samantha in about three weeks of work.

“It’s very heartening. The kids were very enthusiastic about this,” said Duncan. “It’s a very busy time of the school year and, quite frankly, I wasn’t sure how a fundrasier would go in May.”

The peer leaders were also joined by the Friends of Rachel Club at the school, with the two groups heading the fundraising efforts.

For every $5 students donated, Duncan added a paper link to a chain that began in her office and stretched down the hallway. Each piece signified a positive chain reaction of kindness and was decorated with a personal message from a student.

“They would check and count the links, and it was also like a math thing.,” Duncan said. “Even kids not part of the fundraiser would check the links. The kids in the school were excited to do something for Samantha.”

Duncan said the fundraiser affected more than one child.

“I think any time you allow kids to help out someone else, particularly another child, that’s huge. For them it’s very positive and very powerful. Kids like to help others and give back,” she said. “It was something that created a lot of positive energy in the school.”

While other squads competed against fellow Class M-S programs, Hopkinton track and field traveled the state – often with head coach Rick Welch driving one of the buses – and faced some of the top competition from Class I and L schools with student bodies sometimes two or three times larger.

“And they held their own,” said Welch. “It’s not a whole lot of strategy. If you get invited to a big meet, why not go?”

Calculated or not, when the Class M-S championship finally arrived, even the fog enveloping Gilford High School couldn’t mask the clear result of Hopkinton’s arduous schedule.

The Bow and Hopkinton school districts both had blemishes on their adequate yearly progress reports recently released by the state.

Bow Elementary School did not meet the state’s criteria in the reading category, while in Hopkinton both Harold Martin and Maple Street schools fell short in reading.

Students across the state in grades 3 through 8 and grade 11 were given the NECAP test in fall 2007. Students’ progress at the school and district level is measured based on the results and students are broken into different subgroups, including special education and economically disadvantage, for analyzing the performance of particular groups of students.

If one of those subgroups fails to meet the bar in a particular subject area, the entire school is considered not having made adequate yearly progress. If a school fails to meet those standards for two years in a row, it earns a “school in need of improvement” designation. Such a school needs to make adequate yearly progress for two years in a row to exit that status.

High school students across the state were not tested last year to allow a transition from spring to fall testing, but high schools retained whatever status they earned from the prior year’s adequate yearly progress results.

In most cases, school officials say, the special education subgroup caused the school to miss the mark, which was the case in Bow and Hopkinton.

“We were disappointed that the elementary school didn’t pass AYP. We’re not panic-stricken yet,” said Bow Superintendent of Schools Dean Cascadden. “We have a number of initiatives we’ve been putting on. In the budget this year, we put an additional special education teacher, so we’ve had our eye on this area. It’s an area we’re going to pay attention to and have a response plan we’re ready to put into place.”

Hopkinton Superintendent of Schools Brian Blake said the district will analyze the results, but is cautious not to overreact.

“Overall, I don’t place a ton of weight in the results. That’s one assessment of several that students take,” said Blake. “We’re looking at the results, and looking to further help the students who didn’t do as well as we had hoped.”

Blake said there are several areas the school looks at to assess student performance.

“We look at not only the NECAP, but student grades in the courses they’re taken, the assessments given by students’ reading inventory,” he said. “We look at all of the data in terms of how we can help our students learn the information better.”

None of the schools are designated as a “school in need of improvement” because it was the first time coming up short on the test for each.

Cascadden said he is pleased to see Bow Elementary students improved in math over last year’s results.

“This year, their math scores were a definite increase. You have an issue, you look at it, and, hopefully, you get a good response. Our score increased significantly because we’re paying attention to it,” said Cascadden.

“No one wants to not make AYP, but if it’s an area we need to work on we’ll put a plan together, pay attention to it and we’ll be tested again this October.”

When Barack Obama was running for president in the New Hampshire primary, Hopkinton’s Erin Thesing devoted hundreds of volunteer hours to help his campaign.

This summer, she will support him in a different way – as an Obama delegate from New Hampshire at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver.

It’s heady stuff for a 20- year-old University of New Hampshire sophomore involved in her first presidential campaign.

“I’m blown away, really,” said Thesing. “A year-and-ahalf ago, I would never have thought I’d be doing anything like this or be this involved in the campaign.”

Soon after the Illinois senator declared his candidacy in February 2007, Thesing became a devoted Obama supporter. She telephoned voters, help at events and canvassed homes – all part of the unglamorous but necessary “grunt work” of a presidential campaign.

At UNH’s Durham campus, she devoted 10 to 15 hours a week. As an intern in the campaign’s Concord office, she put in long days leading up to the Jan. 8 primary.

“I have a tendency to give 100 percent to things,” she said.

Obama lost the primary to Hillary Clinton, but in Hopkinton he beat her 898-526, and in Durham, he finished well ahead of her, 1,302 to 806.

“I love how committed this kid is,” said Susan Covert, headed of the Obama campaign in Hopkinton. “She put her heart and soul on the line to make a difference.”

Covert said Thesing’s involvement embodies what Obama is all about – getting people excited and drawing them into politics.

“He inspired this young woman and she worked her heart out for him,” she said.

Thesing will be one of 30 delegates and four alternate delegates from New Hampshire at the convention.

Within the delegation, 13 members, including Thesing, include: At-large – former Ambassador Terry Schumaker of Concord (for Hillary Clinton); former state Rep. James Demers of Concord (Barack Obama); Sen. Lou D’Allesandro (Clinton); and Edgar Helms of Concord (Obama). District level delegates – Carol Moore of Concord (Obama); Ann Kuster of Hopkinton (Obama); and Senate President Sylvia Larsen of Concord (Clinton). Among the alternate delegates is City Councilor Rob Werner of Concord (John Edwards).

Superdelegates – Congressman Paul Hodes of Concord (Obama); and Gov. John Lynch (unpledged).

Among the Pages are Whip, Gerri King of Concord; and assistant delegation chairman/liaison to elected leaders, attorney Martin Gross of Concord.

As an at-large delegate, Thesing will gather with thousands of other Democrats in Colorado. There, the party will make history, nominating a woman or black man to run in the 2008 presidential election.

Obama is in a tight race for delegates with Clinton, but Thesing thinks he’ll have secured the party’s nomination by the time the convention opens.

The closest thing to a national convention that Thesing has ever been to was a mock convention four years ago at Hopkinton High School, when she had been assigned to be a delegate for John Edwards.

Prior to Obama entering the 2008 presidential race, Thesing had been passionate about several issues, including environmental protection, but wasn’t enthusiastic about politics. Obama changed that. She likes his position on key issues, such as opposing the war in Iraq and making the fight against global warming a national priority and admires his ability to bring people together to solve problems.

“He’s really been able to engage people, and bring people into the process who’ve never been involved before,” said Thesing, who early in the campaign was impressed as she watched Obama at a roundtable discussion on health care.

“It takes something more than just being a leader and changing policy and pushing through certain legislation. It takes, I think, a fundamental change in our country and in its people to be able to bring about a progressive change,” Thesing said.

At UNH, Thesing displays an Obama campaign button on her book bag and jacket, and campaign signs in her dormitory room. She was one of about 35 UNH students who helped the campaign, and one of their key accomplishments was getting more than 300 out-of-state students to register to vote.

It was frustrating for her to encounter students who were apathetic and weren’t planning to vote. Thesing’s support for the campaign isn’t limited to New Hampshire as she has worked in Massachusetts and Maine, and will soon be helping in Oregon.

Even while devoting hours to the campaign, Thesing has continued to earn high grades at UNH. Volunteering didn’t leave much time for a social life and came with some financial sacrifices.

But Thesing appreciates the unique role New Hampshire plays in the presidential race and the affect she has had.

Thesing is studying anthropology and French, but doesn’t know what she’ll do after she graduates in two years, but hopes to be involved in public issues.

“I think the campaign has made me a life-long activist,” she said.

As Pope Benedict XVI lit a prayer candle at Ground Zero in Manhattan, Martin Marklin felt a sense of peace and solidarity, but he was also keeping an eye on the candle’s performance. That’s because his family-run business, Marklin Candles, was selected to make the handcrafted wax pillar – with a red, blue and gold inlay of the Pontiff’s Coat of Arms – that burned as Pope Benedict prayed for peace on Sunday, April 20.

“We are a family that believes very much in peace,” said Marklin, as he prepared the Papal candle to be shipped to New York.

A company that specializes in custom-made, hand-decorated liturgical candles, Marklin also made the 62-inch tall Paschal candle used during the Pope’s outdoor Mass at Yankee Stadium on April 20. That candle required the extra engineering of a special wick and a wind-resistant chimney to shield the flame, Marklin said.

Although contributing one of his candles to such a large-scale Papal event was an honor, Marklin said, seeing the Pope light a Marklin candle at Ground Zero held special significance for his family.

“My mother and father-in-law were in the Empire State Building when it happened,” he said of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. “So we have a personal connection there.”

Marklin’s wife, Christine, who helps run the candle business, said her father was working in the Empire State Building and her mother had just stepped out for a cup of coffee when the attacks occurred.

“There’s going to be a silent power and a quiet intensity to the World Trade Center, in terms of calling people to think about peace in today’s times,” said Martin Marklin.

The manufacturing process at Marklin Candle is more typical of a century ago. It relies on “The Mark of the Human Hands,” the company’s trademark, to furnish a truly handcrafted candle. Workers at the Marklin production facility and retail showroom in Contoocook hand-dip the candles using 51 percent beeswax, a specification that was once required for all liturgical candles. An artist then uses an Exacto knife to carve intricate, custom designs on the candles. Hot colored wax is poured into the grooves and adorned with genuine silver or 24-carat gold leaf.

“By infusing hot molten wax into the candle, we’ve developed a unique inlayed wax process,” said Marklin, who started his company 23 years ago in the basement of his parents’ St. Louis home.

Marklin, who also made candles for a visit by Pope John Paul II to the U.S. in 1995, said he believes his company’s “liturgical awareness” and dedication to fine craftsmanship have led to its selection for the Papal events over his six U.S. competitors, some of which are based in New York. Having grown out of a childhood curiosity about the decorated candles Marklin saw in church around Easter, Marklin Candles has now branched into retail sales, making custom commemorative funeral and birth candles.

The company also has produced smaller versions of the Pope Benedict’s papal candle for those who couldn’t make the trip to see him in person.

“There’s a sense that perhaps these people who can’t get there can experience union with him through these candles,” said Marklin. “It’s a way of doing a virtual pilgrimage.”

It may not yet be apple season, but visitors will soon be returning to Contoocook’s Gould Hill Orchard as the Little Nature Museum will be opening for the season.

The museum, run completely by volunteers, gives visitors a chance to learn about science with a hands-on focus.

“We started with a bunch of collections, and that can be pretty boring,” said Little Nature Museum Director Sandra Martin. “I like to remove things from the collections and have something to engage the visitor, instead of just reading the label.”

Although the museum is closed from the end of fall to the beginning of spring, Martin keeps busy planning the season’s programs.

One thing Martin hopes to improve for this season is to get more visitors to visit the museum before late summer.

“What I’d love to have is more visitors come earlier in the season. They all come during the apple-picking season, and they don’t get the most out of their visit,” Martin said. “That type of individual one-on-one experience is more likely to happen earlier in the season.”

Martin became interested in science while at the Museum of Science in Boston, where she learned to convey her passion for the subject.

“The Museum of Science is what got me inspired, and it was a hands-on experience. It got me to want to go into the field of science, and to start my own nature center,” she said. “The hands-on experience that I’ve had stayed with me all my life.”

Hopkinton’s Little Nature Museum may be smaller than some of the other area museums, but Martin said she would put the experience at her venue up against any other in the state.

“There aren’t too many places where you can get the experience that you can get here,” she said. “I don’t like the idea of having a one-size-fits-all museum.”

The status of Gould Hill Orchard is somewhat up in the air, Martin said she hopes the Rotary’s plan to sell shares could lead to one of the busiest summers the museum has seen.

“This year is going to be different. We’re trying to get a number of organizations to have different set ups for our Naturefest (in the fall). I hope by that time, the Rotary will be in the process of selling shares,” said Martin. “The number of visitors may surpass anything we’ve had in the past, maybe just out of curiosity.”

Until new programs begin, children can learn all about archeology on Saturday, April 19, from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m., when the Hopkinton Library hosts “Dig into the Past: The Mystery of the Sites.”

Sheila Charles, historic and archaeological research consultant and Strawbery Banke archeologist, will present a hands-on children’s program.

In addition, the museum is taking part in “Discover Wild New Hampshire,” at Fish and Game on Hazen Drive, Concord, on Saturday, April 26, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

For more information, visit www.littlenaturemuseum.org or call 746-6121.