This story by Marion Umpleby was first published in the Valley News on June 29, 2026.
STRAFFORD — Town officials believe that fans of Noah Kahan, the singer-songwriter turned global superstar, have been stealing the sign for a road mentioned in one of his songs.
“Past Alger Brook Road, I’m over the bridge/A minute from home but I feel so far from it,” go the lyrics to “The View Between Villages” off “Stick Season,” the breakthrough album that earned the Strafford musician a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist in 2024.
The sign for Alger Brook Road, which intersects with the Justin Morrill Memorial Highway, next to Huntington Farm, has been stolen multiple times, Selectboard Chair Jason Schumacher said in an interview, though he wasn’t sure of the exact number of thefts.
The most recent theft occurred about a month ago.
There also have been “other road signs stolen that aren’t Noah Kahan-related,” Schumacher said.
Town Clerk Lisa Bragg said it usually costs between $70 and $150 to replace town street signs.
At the selectboard meeting June 11, members discussed ways to keep people from stealing the sign in the future.
Ideas included altering the wording on the sign, such as abbreviating the word “Brook,” to make it less appealing to thieves, installing a less expensive sign or a beefier one with tougher bolts, and erecting a monument for fans to pose with.
Setting up an electric fence or a trip wire were among the more light-hearted solutions discussed.
The selectboard eventually opted to replace the sign and discuss possible solutions with the town’s road foreman, Paul Hardy.
Hardy did not respond to multiple requests for comment by deadline on Monday. That morning, the sign was still missing from its metal stake.
In a social media post June 26, Kahan urged fans to stop stealing the Alger Brook Road sign.
“It is a total disrespect to the folks who live on that road and a headache for the town to deal with,” he wrote in an Instagram story broadcast to his 4 million followers.
“I used to live on Alger Brook Road. I hate that, because I put the road name in a song, that some people have taken that as an invitation to disrupt the lives of the hardworking and kind folks who frequent it,” the statement continued.
He encouraged town residents and selectboard members to “get in touch with me or my amazing mom, and I will pay for any replacements and hear out any potential solutions you can think of.”
