More than Puffy Shirts and Bells

This is a photograph from Hillsborough, New Hampshire’s first New England Town Crier competition, held this past July and promoted by the American Guild of Town Criers. The event was covered by WBUR-FM’s curious sports show, Only a Game, with an online slide show and audio podcast.

I had occasion to look into town criers earlier this year as we were planning the reenactment of the Boston Massacre. Boston had an officially designated crier during the Revolutionary period. But he wasn’t a town employee, like the watchmen, and most of his announcements weren’t official news.

Rather, I concluded that the town crier was a man who’d won the selectmen’s approval to make loud announcements for private clients, and in particular urgent situations. Over the next couple of days I’ll share what I found.