Things to Do in East Concord

For nine years running, New England Brewfest has assembled a coterie of craft breweries to get more than 100 taps flowing with their unique creations. This year, the event includes 30 breweries, and each of them will treat every guest through the gates with complimentary samples of small-batch beverages and reasonably priced high-fives. Exhibitors range from Magic Hat and Peak Organic Brewing Company to Angry Orchard Hard Cider and Twisted Tea. You can also take in brewing demonstrations and learn about the creation of items such as beer-infused jelly.

Organizers require that guests present ID at the entrance, and recommend bringing a folding chair and comfortable dancing shoes. These items come in handy when absorbing the sweet rhythms of live music acts such as the Rustic Overtones and Air Traffic Controller.

Adventurers glide past pine and deciduous trees, navigating branches at 200 feet above the ground. As they reach a treetop platform, guides wave them along onto a bridge that swings high above the forest floor. This nerve-racking scene is the norm at Alpine Adventures, where professionals have led guests soaring through the woodlands of New Hampshire's White Mountains since 2006. Today, in addition to leading guests on three distinct canopy tours, each testing adventurers' courage with swinging bridges and fast speeds, they captain off-road adventures in six-wheeled Swiss Pinzgauers. Up to 11 passengers sit protected by seat harnesses and an overhead roll cage as guides narrate and charge through fall foliage, winter flurries, or summer volleyball games. An aerial park invites thrill seekers to explore cargo nets, rope ladders, ziplines, a treehouse, a climbing tower, and many other elevated obstacles.

With access to thousands of acres of forests and fields, Carousel Horse Farm's expert equestrians take riders of all skill levels on scenic jaunts through the Maine countryside. Private or group trail rides in Casco explore the local woods, hills, and fields, sometimes including stops to fetch ice cream or to wipe down horses' windshields. Horse-drawn carriage rides, offered from Memorial Day through Labor Day, provide an opportunity to admire Old Orchard Beach in the summer. Guided beach horseback rides are also available from October 15 through April 30.

A former art teach of 30 years, owner Patti Spinelli welcomes students of all ages into her studio to superimpose colorful imagery upon three-dimensional figurines and placards. More than 100 unique pieces beckon to painters, who are encouraged to don aprons, brushes, and paints to festoon pottery pieces with colors they draw from a vivid palette or channel through a past life as a kaleidoscope. The studio's lively instructors roam the workspace doling out encouraging words and helpful techniques. Patti also hosts intimate art classes, opens her studio to group parties, and stocks traditional canvases for those who prefer rendering still lifes or globes from a time when the Earth was flat.

Situated on 25 wooded acres located next to the Taylor River, Taylor River Farm uses its beautifully bucolic space as a school for teaching students correct horsemanship and riding form. The Lesson Academy offers individualized instruction to students of all ability levels under the guidance of head instructor Kristin Farley, who has trained numerous world champions over a riding career that has spanned more than 25 years. The barn's heated indoor arena features a viewing room from which spectators can view a pupil's lessons in Hunt Seat, Saddle Seat, or Western. In addition to riding properly, students learn how to groom and tack up their lesson horse, as well as how to communicate with the horse telepathically.