Where Does Light Up the Village Gather Now That Robie's Is Closed?

Last December, Light Up the Village was planned to start inside Hooksett Congregational Church, with the bell rung ten times at the top of the hour. People were to carry candles from the church to Veterans Park at Jacob Square, cross the Lilac Walking Bridge as its lights came on, and finish at Robie's Country Store on Riverside Street for the 5 p.m. lighting of the Town Tree and the village.

The fifth annual Light Up The Village is set for Saturday, Dec. 5, 2026, from 3 to 7 p.m. It will be the first one since Robie's closed in April. The committee has kept reworking this event since it started. This year it has the biggest change to work around so far.

From Friday Nights to Saturday Afternoons

The first two Light Up the Village events ran on the same schedule, a Friday night from 5 to 9. In 2022 it was on a Friday, December 9, from 5 to 9 p.m., and the New Hampshire Preservation Alliance listed a Festival of Trees, a State Grange craft fair, and cookies from the Heritage Commission decorated to look like Hooksett landmarks. In 2023 it was again a Friday evening from 5 to 9, on December 1, with the Festival of Trees at American Legion Post 37 plus fireworks and caroling.

The changes trace back to a meeting in January 2024 at the Hooksett Public Library. Volunteers went over the 2023 event, and the minutes are frank. People said the bridge stroll, storytime and concert went well. They also said one room was too crowded, nobody was sure where to park, parking on Veteran's Drive and the trolley added to traffic congestion, the temporary ramps on the bridge were a tripping hazard, and bad weather had hurt attendance and food vendors. A Saturday date came up, possibly paired with the Fire Department's Santa Parade. Holy Rosary Parish then listed the 2024 event for a Saturday, December 7. The event has stayed on Saturday since then, and the start time moved from 5 p.m. to 4 p.m. in 2025 and to 3 p.m. this year.

How Last Year's Evening Was Routed

The best guide to how the village works on event day is the plan the committee published in the Hooksett Bridge in November 2025. It was last year's plan and doesn't commit anyone to anything for Dec. 5. Still, it shows how the event uses the buildings packed into a few blocks:

1. Arrival and buses. Parking was at Donati Field, the football field, the Hooksett Town Hall Gym, Hooksett Congregational Church and Holy Rosary Catholic Church. Buses left Donati and Town Hall starting at 3:30 p.m. and dropped people at the church. Volunteers and performers parked at the Old Town Hall lot at 16 Main Street.
2. Opening ceremony. At Hooksett Congregational Church, it included a candle lighting led by Hooksett's Citizen of the Year. All day, the church also held a holiday craft fair on two floors and a bake sale and cookie room.
3. The candle walk. From Veterans Park at Jacob Square across the Lilac Walking Bridge, at about 4:45 p.m.
4. The 5 p.m. lighting of the Town Tree and the village at Robie's Country Store and Riverside Street, followed by carols and a performance by Unbound Dance Academy on the Town Tree Stage.
5. The rest of the evening, spread across Riverside and Main. Children's Story Time was at the Arah W. Prescott Library, 16 Main St., and "Bear," the Holiday Horse, led a walk there from Robie's. Bluey was at the NH State Grange Hall, 10 Riverside St., and Santa was at the Town Hall Gym. The American Legion, 5 Riverside St., had a "Fire Alley" of fire pits, kids' crafts, and cookie decorating supplied by Hooksett Kiwanis.

That plan answers most of the 2024 complaints. The shuttles and the list of lots deal with the parking confusion. Moving Santa, Bluey and the crafts into separate buildings spreads people out, so no single room gets packed. The Festival of Trees, sponsored by Beloin Family Christmas Tree Farm, grew to three days, Thursday through Saturday, in the Town Hall Gym. The committee describes it as one of its biggest fundraisers.

Robie's Closed in April

The route only works with Robie's in it. The 5 p.m. lighting happened in front of the store, the walk to the library started there, and two of the fire pits sat beside it at the end of the bridge. Food was sold at two places, Robie's and the Legion. Even the $15 collectible ornament for 2025 showed Robie's Country Store lit up.

On April 29, WMUR reported that the store had closed. It first opened in 1887, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000, and has been a stop for presidential candidates for decades. The Union Leader reported that Robie Farm of Piermont had leased and run the store since 2023. Tim Robie, part of the family's sixth generation at the farm, announced the closing and cited the distance between the two businesses. Writing on Facebook, he said he had valued serving "real food" and having conversations in the old store, and closed with, "I must be getting back to my home in the woods." The family farm in Piermont is still operating.

The building is still standing, and someone still looks after it. Robie's Country Store Historic Preservation Corp. has protected the property since 2000 and continues to maintain it, according to the Union Leader. The Light Up The Village committee still lists the Robie Store among the eight village buildings it wants to light permanently. The building is the event's landmark. A tree can still be lit in front of the porch on Riverside Street even with no one selling anything inside. Last year the Legion was the second food stop and the place with the fire pits, and this year it carries more of the evening.

The Lights Meant to Stay On After One Night

The one-night event is part of a larger goal. Its organizer, a resident-run committee co-chaired by Mary Darby and Tony LaCasse, is raising $20,000 for a Lighting Fund. The money would light key village buildings: the Congregational Church of Hooksett, Holy Rosary Catholic Church and Parsonage, Hooksett Town Hall, the Hooksett Village Fire Department, the American Legion, the NH State Grange, the Robie Store and the Hooksett Village Water Precinct. Earlier this year the committee also raised money with a Harley-Davidson Nightster raffle it called Rev Up The Village. Tickets were $100, with no more than 300 sold, and the drawing was set for July 18, 2026, at Manchester Harley-Davidson.

Village lighting also went to the town ballot. As the Hooksett Bridge described it, Petition Article 23 at the March 2026 town election asked voters to raise and appropriate $12,900 to light the village from December through March: the Lilac Walking Bridge, the Town Tree, the Historical Society, Old Town Hall and Town Hall, plus support for Light Up The Village. The petition gave an estimated tax impact of about $2 a year on a $500,000 home. It also argued that lighting the bridge makes it safer for people walking across the village after dark. The Lilac Bridge also has a holiday sponsorship of its own. Last year, $50 adopted one of its wooden flower boxes for the season, Nov. 28 through Jan. 1.

Across From the Village, a Park With New History Signs

If you come early on Dec. 5, there's somewhere new to stop nearby. The Hooksett Heritage Commission has rededicated Lambert Park as A.J. Lambert Riverside Park and put up new signs about local history, the Union Leader reported on Sept. 30. The park sits across from the village district, just south of the Merrimack River Reservoir.

The town's background material on the park ties it to the same history the village celebrates in December. Its themes are Native American history, the Dundee Mills, and the park's namesake. Alfred "Fred" J. Lambert was a longtime Hooksett conservation advocate, a New Hampshire Fish and Game commissioner, and a founding member of the town's Conservation Commission. He helped secure the old mill property for recreation. The town acquired the mill site in 1973 and rededicated the park in his name in 1982. The site is 1.7 acres, with paved parking, an open field and a boat launch.

The same commission is finishing "Flowing Through Time: A History of Hooksett, NH, 1968-2026," by Melissa Moore. At its Oct. 27 meeting, the agenda included approving the cover, a deposit for an illustrator, and ways to sell the book, such as the town website, libraries and voting day. The book covers Hooksett from 1968 through this year.

At REEN USA, Gail McCarthy works with Hooksett homeowners and buyers. Many of them care about how the village around Robie's Country Store is looked after as much as about any one property. If you'd like to talk about the village, the store, or what's happening in town this winter, Gail McCarthy is happy to hear from you. Let's Connect.