The mountain environment, outdoor recreational activities, and a slower pace of life were motivating factors in the decisions of a trio of entrepreneurs who have chosen northern New Hampshire as the place where they wanted to locate and grow their businesses. These enterprising business people strongly believe in supporting and improving the regional economy by hiring local people, participating in and giving back to their communities, and serving as an inspiration for other small companies to consider doing business at the northern end of the state.

White Mountains Canning Company - Littleton, NH

Address: 69 Main St., Littleton, NH 03561

In 2012, Dan Demoras and his wife Jennifer Kelly took a trip through Pennsylvania, where they took note of the many stores and farmers markets that offered food products based on local fruits, vegetables, and meats, and made the decision to follow a similar path that eventually led to the creation of White Mountains Canning Company and a retail store on Littleton's Main Street.

Over the next eight-month period, Dan tested a dozen favorite recipes from his grandparents' kitchen and was certified to sell the pickles and jams. His first event was at the Lancaster Fair, followed by the Lancaster Farmers Market. By the time a half a dozen years had passed, White Mountains Canning products were featured at many farmers markets, trade shows, at Shaw's and other markets across New England.

Fast forward to 2025, and White Mountains Canning Company has grown from the original 12 recipes that included eight jams and four kinds of pickles to 340 items produced in the company's commercial kitchen. And the original eight jams have multiplied to 64 flavors.

Dan says he is both delighted and humbled that so many people who stop by the store or hear about the business in other ways want to share their recipes with him, recipes that were handed down to them by their parents and grandparents. White Mountains Canning was featured on both NH Chronicle and Boston Chronicle, helping to spread the news about the business.

A woman in her 80s, for instance, gave him her recipe book as she has no family to inherit the precious item. Another woman, in her 70s, living in a nursing home, sent him her grandmother's recipe for zucchini relish. She signed her letter to him, "Aloha, Sue," and Dan still hasn't found out who she is!

"It was so humbling," Dan says. "The recipe had stains and smudges," indicating it was made often and enjoyed. Hopefully, he says, she saw that recipe mentioned on one of the Chronicle shows, and knows how grateful he is for her generosity.

Day to day, Dan works with local farmers and gardeners across New England to source the ingredients for the company's products. "Whatever is in season, we try to capture that and can it," he says. This past summer in particular has been difficult in sourcing ingredients because of drought conditions.

Locals and visitors to Littleton's Main Street who drop into White Mountains Canning find a much larger operation than when the store opened eight years ago and occupied just one storefront. Now operating across four Main Street storefronts, the business expansion has allowed Dan and his wife, who handles all the finances for the company, to add additional product lines, including the very popular ice cream counter.

White Mountains Canning now has 14 employees, who are all local people, including three young people who are going to culinary school. "We call them our apprentices," says Dan.

One of the things Dan likes best about the store is that visitors can watch some of the products the company makes, like the chocolates made with pure Belgian chocolate, being made in the sparkling kitchen at the rear of the store. The store also sparks memories for visitors, seeing products they remember from their parents' or grandparents' kitchens, like bread-and-butter pickles or blueberry jam. Memorabilia from days gone by, like the huge old-fashioned cash register, also delights visitors.

"It's always been my dream to open a storefront on Main Street to create a destination experience for tourists and to employ local people," says Dan. Along with plenty of foot traffic, the store hosts around 30 tour buses each year.

Dan's grandparents emigrated from Canada to Rhode Island in 1935. As a kid, Dan camped in the White Mountains every summer with his parents, who eventually moved north in 1985 after purchasing a campground in Twin Mountain. During his early career, Dan managed the Littleton's Butson's store.

The store's high-quality canned products include jams and jellies, pickles, a wide variety of veggies, and sauces and mustards from recipes contributed by family, friends, and visitors. Depending on the product, White Mountains Canning is able to produce 700 to 1,200 jars a day in their offsite commercial kitchen in Littleton, a far cry from the eight to 12 jars Dan was canning by hand when he first started out!

Belgian chocolates and ice cream made on the premises, olive oils and balsamic vinegars, coffees and teas, and a number of other products sourced from 60 small businesses in New Hampshire and northern Massachusetts round out the inventory.

However, Dan's grandparents' recipe for bread-and-butter pickles remains a best seller, along with the blueberry, raspberry, strawberry rhubarb, and wild berry jams.

"People live here for the lifestyle and the different pace of life," he says. "I wanted to find a niche I was passionate about. We're in the right place with the right number of tourists and locals and an environment that people love."

Dan is grateful that all the pieces have fallen into place for him, and he's proud of the business he's created. "It's home. I love what I do."

Hurry Slow Hat Co. - Bethlehem, NH

Address: 2055 Main St, Bethlehem, NH 03574

A new retail shop opened on Bethlehem's Main Street on July 3 this summer, featuring hats, T-shirts, hoodies, and a number of upcycled products. The Hurry Slow Hat Co. is the creation of Littleton native Hailee Hampton, who has fashioned her life around creativity and fashion.

Hailee has been in the hat business for 4.5 years after beginning her creative venture designing bags under the All Hail Designs name. "I discovered that customers were more interested in my hats and T-shirts, so several years ago I officially rebranded and became the Hurry Slow Hat Co.," she says.

The company's motto, "Take the Slow Days for the Go Days," encourages people to "appreciate the quiet moments and use them to fuel your adventurous spirit."

Hailee's designs, which feature outdoor scenes, recreational activities, and New Hampshire landscapes, appear on her hats, T-shirts, and hoodies, and she is continually working on product designs and dreaming up new possibilities that complement her art. The company's hats and T-shirts are unisex, so they appeal to most customers. Her hats are her most popular product.

Hailee studied fashion design in New York City and has left the North Country several times, but always returns to be close to the mountains and her family.

"I love the fashion industry," she says, "but I knew that to live and work here I would also have to combine my love of creativity and fashion to make it work."

Last year, she and her husband, Luke Hampton, the company's director of sales, toured cross-country in their camper van, stopping at stores to introduce themselves and develop new markets. She now sells her hats in 40 stores in 12 states.

Hailee and Luke are enthusiastic about participating in community events like Littleton's First Fridays, the Littleton Art Show, the Wobble Gobble at the Iron Furnace in Franconia, and REI's 6^th-anniversary celebration in North Conway. Last winter, the company donated hats to local schools.

Early on, Hailee stitched all the patches on the hats, but because of health problems and the eventual volume of products she was producing, she moved production overseas. She would like to manufacture her products in the US, she says, but at this point, she isn't financially able to afford to do so as it would raise the price of her hats to an unaffordable level.

Hailee works with eight other local creatives, including a company in Stowe, VT, that produces upcycled snow gear, like ski pants turned into colorful bags. Other products include soaps made in Sugar Hill; earrings made in North Conway from upcycled bicycle inner tubes; earrings made from climbing gear; marshmallows made in Vermont; trail mixes; pottery by a Lancaster potter; hot chocolate from Massachusetts; colorful stickers; and upcycled shirts produced by a Seacoast artist.

In the future, she plans to connect and work with more artists as she wants to expand the small-business creative community and economy. A major goal is to develop relationships with companies that will feature her art on their products, such as skis with her colorful designs. 

Burgeon Outdoor - Lincoln, NH

Address: 25 S. Mountain Drive, Unit a4, Lincoln, NH 03251

"We're different than other apparel brands," says Burgeon Outdoor founder Rudy Glocker. "We're here to bring the environment to life, and that's why we make the products we do."

Burgeon manufactures world-class alpine apparel that includes mountain-tested outerwear such as base layers, T-shirts, and hoodies. Burgeon's retail store and production facility opened in Lincoln in 2019, followed by a larger production facility in Gorham in 2022. Products are sold in the store, online, in a technical apparel partnership with the Appalachian Mountain Club, and in both REI stores in New Hampshire.

Although the products are the face of the company, what Rudy has been trying to create appears less tangible, but is perhaps the most important. "I started Burgeon to help create an economically vibrant, socially rich community" where the business would provide well-paid jobs for local residents and be deeply involved in supporting community organizations and businesses throughout the White Mountains.

For instance, Burgeon pays 100 percent of employees' health insurance, contributes 5 percent of sales to community and environmental projects, supports organizations like Pemi Search and Rescue and New England Disabled Sports, and uses sustainable materials in its products whenever possible. And Burgeon tries to source its materials locally first, followed by statewide and nationally, to keep the local economy thriving.

Rudy grew up in Pennsylvania, but spent many hours of his childhood hiking and camping in the White Mountains. "As a kid, I hiked the Whites with my parents and sister," he says. "My first mountain was Mount Washington, which I climbed with my dad and my sister. We spent a lot of time in the White Mountains with its amazing peaks, great hiking trails, skiing, and so many great outdoor things to do. New Hampshire has a great heritage, lots of opportunities to spend time outside, so that's why I located my business here. If you want to live the outdoor lifestyle, this is a great place to do that."

Burgeon employs about a dozen people, and Rudy believes it's the people who make the company the success that it is. "My staff are the best ambassadors we have," he says.

Jobs at Burgeon allow employees to show off how talented they are and proficient at what they do. The stitchers, for example, are highly skilled and versatile and can turn out, with ease, a simple hoodie that requires stitching on five different machines.

In developing its products, Burgeon tries to understand what the community needs and develops those products. Colors follow fashion trends, along with consultations with friends and brand advocates. The graphic designs on the T-shirts are developed both internally and by working with artists. Currently, the bestseller is the 4,000-footer tee.

"Our products are highly functional with a unique Burgeon styling," says Rudy. "You won't find them anywhere else. We're different than other apparel brands. We're here to bring the environment to life, and that's why we make the products we do."

Rudy's future goal is to expand the production team to create more jobs and raise awareness that other people can grow their businesses in the White Mountains, too.

"The word burgeon means to flourish and thrive, and that's what we're doing in the White Mountains of New Hampshire," he says.

Eileen Alexander, a New Hampshire native, made a short detour through North Carolina before returning to the Granite State. She has a yen for old homes with character, colorful flower gardens, and expansive mountain views. 

See this article and more in the winter edition of Journey Home, Badger Peabody & Smith Realty's magazine focusing on New Hampshire real estate and local living.