Seacoast Stories

**Seacoast Stories is celebrating last week's 50th episode with a Portsmouth West End Bar Crawl this Friday! ⁠⁠⁠⁠Snag your FREE tickets today.⁠⁠

In a special bonus episode, one of Troy's favorite people Miss New Hampshire Emily Spencer returns to the show! The two are also joined by 16-year-old Miss Inspiration winner Avery Byron, a little person (or dwarf) who hails from Londonderry, N.H.

From the West End of Portsmouth, Miss New Ha...

**Seacoast Stories is celebrating last week's 50th episode with a Portsmouth West End Bar Crawl this Friday! ⁠Snag your FREE tickets today.⁠

Tom Bath remembers his first sip of craft beer like it was yesterday.

In the 1990s, the Pacific Northwest was at the epicenter of the craft beer explosion. And Tom, stationed in Seattle with the Navy at the time, soon fell in love with not only the beverage, but the culture surrounding it.

So...

**Seacoast Stories is celebrating today's 50th episode with a Portsmouth West End Bar Crawl on 4/25! Watch here for more details and snag your FREE tickets today.

Book 'N Bar, Ten Thousand Villages, Life Is Good, Colby's, Earth Eagle Brewing, Litherman's Brewing, Stroll Cafe.

The last year in Portsmouth has been a business bloodbath. Why are so many beloved downtown Portsmouth businesses closing their doors, and what can be done to g...

Max Pruna had never tasted specialty coffee.

But one day at Northeastern University in the mid 2010s, craft coffee pioneer George Howell poured Max the cup of coffee that would change his life.

Inspired by this one sip, Max then dedicated his life to learning everything about craft coffee, eventually leading him to open La Mulita Coffee in Rye, N.H., now one of the most beloved shops on the Seacoast.

From La Mulita, Colombian native M...

Gabbie Kelly ran away from her home in Auburn, N.H.

In her 17-year-old mind, it was the only way she could begin to create the fiercely independent life and career she sought for herself.

She wanted a fancy title in accounting, and then a husband, house, and a baby ... all before the age of 30. And she got all of that and then some.

Today, at 35 years old, Gabbie Kelly is "The Profit Mama." No longer working 50 hours per week in accou...

Alyssa Pine felt like a fraud.

While running the first Live Freely Fest at Smuttynose Brewing last fall, Alyssa was quietly closing her own shop, a storefront in Hampton where she sold her Live Freely merchandise.

But after seeing the success of the market, one of the most boomin' business days in Smuttynose history, Alyssa had accidentally stumbled upon her next project: The Live Freely Market.

The Market, which has quickly garne...

Ashley Ryall wanted to get the f*ck out.

A native of the small town of Weare, N.H., she dreamt of escaping small-town life as soon as possible. When college in Connecticut offered that opportunity, she took it and ran with it. And after studying abroad in Australia, an experience that completely opened up her worldview, Ashley vowed to live a life of adventure from that point forward.

Except it didn't pan out that way.

From the Po...

Alexis Morton wanted to get together with other women on the Seacoast.

However, as a stay-at-home mom during the pandemic, she couldn't find any groups of women who wanted to partake in fun Seacoast activities.

So she started that group herself: Well Lived Women, a Seacoast-based women's group that's attracted nearly 1500 attendees since 2022. In this group, women of all demographics gather at various Seacoast businesses to support l...

Kira Lew wanted out of radio.

After working in an environment that didn't bring out the best in her, she considered leaving the industry she had fallen in love with a few years prior.

But she decided to stick it out. And then everything started falling into place. A few years later, Kira made history by becoming the first female morning show lead in the 54-year history of WOKQ, the Seacoast's No. 1 country music station. Alon...

Will Myska always wanted to be an executive chef.

But with three kids at home, he doubted whether he'd have the ability to go all in on the restaurant of his dreams. So instead, he stayed the course, choosing to work and learn under some of the top chefs on the Seacoast perhaps longer than he needed to.

Until one day, chef David Vargas (Vida Cantina) sat Will down and asked him, "What's next for you?"

And that was t...

Ankati Day gave up the blueprint.

After years spent searching for her purpose in the deep woods of The White Mountains, the open fields of Missoula, Mont., and the jungles of Costa Rica, the now-yoga teacher eventually returned home to Maine with the realization that the linear path society bred her to take was simply not for her.

From Shiloh Farm in Eliot, Maine, host Troy Farkas⁠ sits down with Ankati to candidly discuss her many l...

In this special Valentine's Day bonus video episode, host Troy Farkas welcomes Dover's own Kelly Anderson of the "Significant Lovers" podcast to talk all things love, dating, breakups, relationships, and of course, Seacoast coffee shops.

From the cozy confines of the Portsmouth Public Library, the two discuss:

• Seacoast networking (00:00)
• Why we LOVE love (02:40)
• Why breakups suck (07:24)
• Dating red flags (12:...

Nissa Bagelman grew up in the book business. In fact, she spent many childhood days at a popular indie bookstore, Reedmor Books, in Center City Philadelphia in the early 90s.

It was the family business. Her great grandfather opened Reedmor in 1928, and he passed it down to generations of Bagelmans.

But when buying books online became commonplace, the Reedmor business suffered. In the early 2000s, the Bagelmans made the difficult deci...

Paige Lindsey is ... a lot.

(Those are her words.)

The 34-year-old, who has nearly 18,000 Instagram followers, is a self-described member of Gen Z trapped in a millennial body. She's full of energy, feels deeply, loves intensely, and is unlike anyone you've ever met before.

And on today's episode, the Exeter-based artist tells host Troy Farkas about the rollercoaster that's led her to become one of the most popular ...

Jay Collins left his house every morning at 2:45 to get to work.

In his eyes, that's what obsessed people do.

And it's that grit and dedication which led him to create MaxEdge Fitness, a beloved Seacoast gym that lasted 11 years before the pandemic wiped it away.

Then, standing in the ruins of the business he and his family poured everything into, Jay emerged from the pandemic with a vision. A vision that was bigger and better...

Mackenzie Logan vowed to never open a restaurant.

A veteran of the hospitality industry, she understood the extremely taxing nature of the business. She knew she wanted to run her own business one day, but she promised she'd wait until the Universe presented her with the right opportunity at the right time.

That opportunity came during the throes of the pandemic, when Mackenzie finally found the business idea she'd been se...

Evan Hennessey wanted to come back home.

After working in some of the most famous fine dining restaurants in New York City and Chicago, the Dover native felt the Seacoast pleading with him to return to the place that raised him.

And when he returned in 2012, he opened a restaurant unlike anything Dover had ever seen before.

Stages, located at One Washington in downtown Dover, offers a progressive tasting menu experience that showca...

In front of a SOLD OUT crowd at The Press Room in downtown Portsmouth, it's the first episode of Season 2, and the first podcast in the history of one of Portsmouth's most beloved locations. In this very special episode, host Troy Farkas opens the show by speaking to past guests Rae and Ryan Lambert about the Seacoast dance community, people's intense desire to connect with one another, trying to contact MrBeast, and more.

Then, i...

*UPDATE* If you don't have your ticket yet for Thursday's LIVE podcast at The Press Room, please arrive at 6 p.m. when the doors open to try to get a standing room-only spot.

For the first 20+ years of her life, soccer was all that Katy Marshall knew. It was her entire identity.

But when reality set in that she wouldn't play professionally, panic ensued. What was her purpose without sports, and where should she go to find it?

Over...