(DURHAM, FEBRUARY 11, 2016) — No one knows your hometown like you. And New Hampshire Public Television is coming to Stratham this spring to gather stories about what makes that community special.Stratham will be the third episode of the Our Hometown series, which premiered in 2015 with episodes about Peterborough and Colebrook. The premise of NHPTV’s Our Hometown series is that each New Hampshire town and city has a unique story to tell, and the people who live there are the best storytellers for their hometowns. The series will explore the culture, commerce, history and people of New Hampshire's 221 towns and 13 cities.NHPTV producers will host an Our Hometown: Stratham Storytellers Meeting on Saturday, March 5 from 1 – 3 PM and Thursday, March 17 from 6 – 8 PM at the Stratham Town Municipal Center. NHPTV encourages residents of Stratham to come and find out about the program, learn how to tell a story for television and prepare for production day. Our Hometown: Stratham will air in June on NHPTV and be available online.Produced in partnership with the community, each Our Hometown program engages residents in telling their stories, which are then taped and edited into a 30-minute television program for broadcast on NHPTV. The program and all the interviews are posted on the program’s website,
nhptv.org/hometown. The series is hosted by New Hampshire native, author and storyteller Rebecca Rule. The Our Hometown storytellers meeting encourages people to share stories that define their town, stories that are part of a town’s identity, and personal stories that explore their relationship with the town. These could be stories about the town in the present, from the past, or ones that reflect hopes for the future. “You might tell us about the iconic businesses, organizations, or landmarks and what they’ve meant to you,” Rule suggests. “Whether we know it or not, we all have remarkable stories to share,” said Rule. She recalls talking to a woman in the North Country from a logging family. “She told me she didn’t have an interesting life, or stories to share. Then she paused and asked, ‘Would you like to hear about the time I saved a man’s life?’” In January, NHPTV producer Carla Gordon Russell met with Stratham officials, businesses and organizations to learn more about Stratham and the region, and to prepare for the public Storytellers Meeting. "Think of collecting all of your hometown's best stories and sharing them with everyone," explains Russell, about the series. "That's what the Our Hometown series is about.”Why is NHPTV on this storytelling journey? “Our mission and passion is to connect with the people and places that make our state a wonderful place to live, work and raise a family,” said Peter Frid, NHPTV President and CEO, about the state’s PBS network, which covers 98% of the Granite State. “The Granite State spirit speaks not only to our history but to the remarkable things that we accomplish every day.”Are you ready to share your stories about Stratham? Come to the Storytellers Meeting or email us at
hometown@nhptv.org.