Things to Do in Lebanon

Offering a menu of inventive American cuisine with seasonal ingredients, SugarToad's kitchen at the Hotel Arista excels at bold flavors. The chef sources the freshest ingredients possible, including produce plucked from his own Chef’s Garden right outside the door. The rotating menu changes to match the calendar, with past entrees including pork tenderloin with dried-apricot chutney, sweet-potato mash, and napa cabbage, and Slagel Family Farm beef burgers with sun-dried-tomato relish. Willis also serves an ever-changing roster of organic brunch entrees, which may include smoked-salmon benedicts and caramel-banana french toast with candied walnuts and maple syrup. Between bites of tot-sized brunch boxes with fresh fruit and housemade twinkies, children may sip milk flights of chocolate, strawberry, and banana flavors while caregivers sample cucumber-cantaloupe mimosas, french-press coffee, and the sweet, fleeting silence of a tear-free breakfast.

A pencil peeks out of hole in the lid of a shiny red apple, bits of yellow and black fleck a butterfly's wings, and blue and green glass curves to catch the light from the candle it holds. These are just a few of the projects invented at Busy Bees Pottery and Art Studio, where visitors can paint bisqueware, sculpt clay, or fuse glass to make homes or city-bus windows more beautiful.

Long tables sprawl across the studio's checkered floor, and plates bearing pastel treats and serene landscapes polka-dot the walls for inspiration. A paint bar arrays samples of tiles painted in each color so artists can preview their ceramic's finished looks.

The walls of an old, repurposed church reverberate with the sounds of joyful singing, strumming guitars, rhythmic tap shoes, theatrical monologues, and whirring pottery wheels. As part of a nonprofit organization, ACPPA Community Art Center's instructors kindle sparks of creativity in the community through youth and adult programs in studio and performing arts, fitness, and dance. A jam-packed calendar keeps families busy with art exhibitions, Mommy and Me pottery-painting classes, and community mural projects bring that residents together to beautify local spaces or paint over typos on the town's welcome sign.

Two former Air Force officers with a passion for teaching children put their minds together to create Bricks 4 Kidz. The lab integrates scientific play with LEGO projects that vary by week. Depending on the week's theme, kids might build and program a satellite, model the Empire State Building, or create an alligator whose mouth snaps shut any time mom tries to feed it peas. Each project combines the fundamental principles of science, architecture, technology, and engineering, thereby supplementing what children learn during the school day. When children complete their project, they transition to free play, tapping into their imaginations or imaginary friends to built whatever they want.

Throughout the week, Live Learn and Play abounds with youngsters of all ages, genders, and special needs, frolicking among inflatable obstacle courses, therapeutic swings, and ball pits under the supervision of childcare professionals. During youth classes and camps certified instructors lead classes in art, dance, and music, enriching kids' bodies and minds while distracting them from plots to age. Meanwhile, in the parent-resource center, adults attend childcare-training workshops and an abundance of classes, including kickboxing, nutrition, and yoga. The center even offers mild hyperbaric oxygen therapy, which utilizes healing oxygen treatments in an effort to improve conditions such as autism, arthritis, and allergies.