You probably like to think you know New Hampshire pretty well. Furthermore, you probably consider yourself somewhat of an outdoors buff, living in the Granite State and all.
Well, it’s time to put your money where your mouth is and see who really knows their stuff the best.
Dave Anderson, director of education for the Society of the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, will be in the auditorium of the Concord Public Library next Wednesday (June 14) to present Stories from the Wilds of N.H., a fun and friendly competition of nature and New Hampshire knowledge.
The program debuted at True Brew Barista in March as Suds and Stories, but since there’s no beer allowed at the library, the name was changed to fit the venue. Either way, it figures to be a good time.
“It went over really big at True Brew,” Anderson said. “We divided the room into two teams – we told people to come with their friends to compete. I had all these images of places around New Hampshire, like the Man on the Mountain. I have various trees and wildflowers, and birds and snakes and mammals, and I’ll ask people, ‘What is this?’ ”
So it’s basically like team trivia, only every question has something to do with New Hampshire’s nature.
“We’ll award points, but like the Drew Carey show (Whose Line is it Anyway?), the points don’t matter,” Anderson said. “Basically, it’s a chance for people to kind of share their appreciation and knowledge of New Hampshire places and natural history, flora and fauna.”
Although the competition is mostly for bragging rights, winners might just walk out with a little something.
“I don’t have fabulous prizes to award, really. Maybe some stickers or something really simple,” Anderson said. “The idea is people who love New Hampshire outdoors and nature can come and participate in kind of a mock competition. It’s a chance for people to show off their chops. And toward the end of the night, we’ll do a stump the naturalist, where people can ask me anything they want.”
Anderson should be a tough one to stump. He hosts the Something Wild program on NHPR every Friday and writes nature columns for the Union Leader and the Forest Society’s quarterly magazine (he also used to write a column for the Monitor). So in other words, you better do your homework.
The event starts at 6 p.m. in the library auditorium and is free and open to the public. For more, go to concordpubliclibrary.net.
