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The summer Manchester NH finally got A standing Thursday night. July 9, 2026 For years, a Manchester summer week has been ad-hoc. A Fisher Cats game if the homestand landed right. A Palace show if the touring calendar cooperated. A block party the last Friday of the month if you remembered. Nothing you could set a watch to. That changes on July 9. Veterans Memorial Park now has a standing Thursday concert on the calendar every week through Labor Day, free, outdoors, and locally programmed. It is the first time downtown has a weekly, no-ticket anchor in the summer, and it quietly rewires the shape of the whole week. The Thursday that did not exist last summer. The Levitt AMP Manchester Music Series runs July 9 through September 3 at Veteran's Memorial Park. It is the first year of a three-year run funded by a multi-year grant of $112,000 in matching funds to present a free outdoor music series at Veteran's Memorial Park in Manchester in 2026, 2027, and 2028, awarded to City Year New Hampshire and produced in partnership with the City of Manchester. The lineup was revealed at the Rex Theatre on June 9. Mayor Jay Ruais, State Rep. Matt Wilhelm, and Heather McGrail, President and CEO of the Greater Manchester Chamber unveiled the roster together. Wilhelm, a City Year alum, was the lead organizer on the grant application. The Thursday lineup at Veterans Park: * July 9 - Dyer Davis * July 16 - Gentleman Brawlers * July 23 - Domenic Marte * July 30 - Kyshona * August 13 - Old Hat Stringband * August 20 - Stephen Kellogg Two things to know about how this works. First, Levitt AMP concerts nationally are 7-10 free outdoor concerts per year, injecting new life into underused public spaces and creating joyous, welcoming community destinations, which means the Manchester series is small enough that missing a Thursday actually costs you something. Second, the fundraising piece matters locally: the grant is matching, and the community campaign through NH Gives funds New Hampshire-based opening acts at each show. So the openers you see are being paid by donations from people who live within a fifteen-minute drive. The Wednesday you can already set a watch to. The Levitt series arrives on top of a rhythm that has been building for a couple of years. The Manchester Farmers and Makers Market runs Wednesdays at Arms Park all season: 6/24, 7/1, 7/8, 7/15, 7/22, 7/29, 8/5, 8/12, 8/19. Same place, same day, so the mental cost of remembering it is zero. Pairing the market on Wednesday with a Levitt show on Thursday gives downtown two weeknight anchors within twenty-four hours of each other, both walkable from Elm Street, both free. That is a genuinely new pattern for the neighborhood. If you live north of Bridge Street or on the West Side, it is now worth planning a mid-week walk downtown the way you would plan a Saturday errand loop. Homestand math at delta dental stadium. The Fisher Cats schedule shows a Double-A pattern that is easy to miss if you are not looking for it. Homestands cluster in six-day blocks against the same opponent, then the team leaves town for a week. The July and August calendar breaks down like this: | Dates | Opponent | Overlap with other events | | 6/23-6/28 | Somerset Patriots | Pride weekend 6/27 | | 7/7-7/12 | Portland Sea Dogs | Wilburys tribute at Rex 7/10 | | 7/21-7/26 | Somerset Patriots | Levitt AMP Thursday 7/23 | | 8/4-8/9 | Portland Sea Dogs | Farmers Market 8/5 | | 8/25-8/30 | Somerset Patriots | Labor Day weekend | If you have season tickets or a ten-pack, the practical planning question is which weeknight you double up. A Levitt show at Veterans Park is a nine-minute walk from the stadium. A Wednesday market is closer. On 7/23 and 8/5 you can genuinely stack them. What changed on Elm Street this year. Two Elm Street changes worth knowing about, because they affect the pre- and post-event equation: The Black Brimmer is gone. Miller's Tavern is now open. This is the second location for Miller's, with the original located in Methuen, Mass. They are open 7 days a week from 11am through last call and with the good location on Elm Street at the Corner of Lowell Street, that could last pretty late. The menu is broader than what was there before, with pizza and baked haddock in the same list. Brothers North End Diner opened last fall on the north end of downtown. It is not affiliated with Brothers Pizza or North End Bistro, two former well known Manchester restaurants, both now closed, which is worth saying because the name suggests otherwise. Breakfast to late dinner, seven days a week. Useful for a pre-market Wednesday coffee or a post-game late plate. If you want a millyard option that has held up, the anchors are still the anchors. The Foundry remains NH's largest certified farm to table restaurant, 900 Degrees keeps its deck open through the summer, and Common Man Roadside works for a fast turn before an event. The date to actually circle. August 22 is stacked. The New Hampshire Irish Festival at the Palace, the Rush tribute at the Rex, and it is a Saturday, so you get the Farmers and Makers Market that Wednesday leading in and no Levitt conflict. If you are hosting anyone from out of state this summer, that is the weekend to land them. Second choice: the July 3 Independence Day Celebration at Arms Park, which slides into the July 7-12 Fisher Cats homestand and the July 9 Levitt debut. Six days of continuous downtown programming for the price of parking. A few things that shape the summer if you use downtown daily: Veteran's Memorial Park is the Levitt site, which means Thursday evenings will bring crowds and street parking pressure between roughly 5 and 9 p.m. from July 9 forward. The park is small enough that a couple hundred people fills it visually. Plan around it if you work late downtown on Thursdays. Fisher Cats homestand traffic on Line Drive and Granite Street is predictable but heavy on Friday and Saturday nights. Arms Park sits directly next to the stadium, so a Wednesday market and a Wednesday home game do not usually collide, but check the calendar if you are picky about parking. The Levitt series has a community fundraising campaign through NH Gives to fund New Hampshire-based opening acts at each concert, which is worth mentioning because the openers are the part most likely to disappear if the match is not hit in future years. Year one is funded. Years two and three depend on local giving. What this adds up to for someone who lives here. If you have lived in Manchester for a while, you have watched the downtown calendar fill in slowly. First the Fisher Cats. Then the Rex reopening. Then a real farmers market. The Levitt series is the piece that turns those into a week rather than a list. The practical difference is small and specific. You no longer need to check a calendar to know if there is something to walk to on a Thursday between July and Labor Day. That is a new fact about Manchester, and it is the kind of fact that shapes how a neighborhood feels to the people who already live in it. For a lot of homeowners in the North End, Straw-Smyth, or the East Side, the closest analog is what happened when Elm Street got its restaurant density back. You did not move for it. But once it was there, the shape of a weeknight changed. The Thursday anchor at Veterans Park is going to do the same thing on a smaller scale, and the first summer of it is happening right now. Bring a chair. The lawn fills up faster than you think. Thinking about a move, a sale, or just curious what your Manchester home is worth in a market this active? Darcy Mantel knows the Queen City block by block and would love to hear what you are planning. Let's Connect.

City Year receives $2.5M grant from ServiceNow to power student success and build future-ready talent pipelines. * 7 hrs ago Boston, June 03, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) - City Year today announced a $2.5 million grant from ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) to expand student success and create new career pathways in an AI-driven economy. The grant will support City Year's work across six U.S. markets - Bay Area, Boston, Columbus, Los Angeles, Miami, and New York City - as well as City Year UK. The collaboration advances a shared vision: that every student has a coach in their corner and every young person has a pathway to thrive amid rapid technological change. For more than 35 years, City Year has delivered measurable results for students, schools, and communities while cultivating diverse talent through national service. City Year AmeriCorps members serve as student success coaches in 29 U.S. cities, partnering with classroom teachers to provide additional capacity in schools that need it most. Student success coaches are trained tutors, mentors and role models, helping students stay on track, engage more deeply with their learning, and graduate high school, prepared for college and career success. SharkNinja CEO: Consumer Under Pressure as Company Expands "At a moment when the future of work feels uncertain, ServiceNow's investment in City Year - and in our AmeriCorps members - is a powerful endorsement of what truly matters: potential, teamwork, critical thinking, resilience, the ability to lead through change, and helping young people believe in what's possible," said Jim Balfanz, CEO of City Year. "Every day, our AmeriCorps members serving as student success coaches show up for students navigating real challenges, building trust, and adapting in real time. Those are the very capabilities today's employers need most. Together with ServiceNow, we're helping more young people translate their service experience into meaningful careers and a future where they can thrive." "In a sea of technology-driven change, human connection is the most powerful force to shape a bright future. This partnership between ServiceNow and City Year is a direct acknowledgment that national service develops the skills people need to face the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century," said Nick Tzitzon, vice chairman at ServiceNow. The collaboration brings together three integrated components: * Student Impact: Expanded investment in City Year's evidence-based student success coaching model, helping ensure more students receive the academic and interpersonal skill development needed to stay on track and graduate ready for college and career. * Workforce Pathways: Through Discover ServiceNow, a four-day immersive experience, high-potential AmeriCorps members gain exposure to in-demand careers, build critical skills - including AI fluency, problem solving, and customer engagement - and access paid internships and full-time career opportunities. * Technology & Innovation: ServiceNow is collaborating with City Year to advance operational excellence through technology, including the exploration of AI-enabled solutions to increase efficiency and impact. About City Year City Year works to advance academic outcomes for all students and develop the next generation of leaders through national service. Research shows the more time a student spends with a City Year AmeriCorps member serving as a student success coach, the better the student outcomes - academically, interpersonally and in terms of attendance. A public-private partnership, City Year is a proud member of AmeriCorps, operating in 29 U.S. cities with international affiliates in the U.K. and South Africa. Today, 40,000 alums continue to lead and serve where they live and work. Learn more about City Year's impact: www.cityyear.org, Facebook, X and LinkedIn. Joe Zappala, SVP of Communications City Year, Inc. 607.339.1098 [email protected] Media gallery