Dave Cook

Winning the Rising Star Award would mean more to me than simply adding another award to the wall.

Barn Door started as a pipe dream. I had an idea for what hospitality could look like in a small New Hampshire town, and I took a chance on it. Over the years, that little idea has grown into something I never could have imagined—not just a successful business, but a community, a network of relationships, and a place that has brought people from around the world to Rumney.

I've been fortunate to be nominated for this award before, and being named a top-three finalist in 2023 was an incredible honor. But I've never quite made it across the finish line.

This is also my final year of eligibility. I'll turn 40 on September 18, 2026.

So, yes, winning would be incredibly meaningful to me personally. It would feel like a recognition of the years of risk, hard work, mistakes, long days, sleepless nights, and stubborn determination that went into building Barn Door.

But more than that, I think it would validate something I've come to believe very strongly: that hospitality is bigger than the property you operate.

The work I've done with the Northeast Hostels Network, NAHA, NHLRA, the Rumney Climbers Association, Granite Outdoor Alliance, the Central New Hampshire Chamber of Commerce, Mountain Village Charter School, and countless local businesses has all come from the same place—the belief that we are stronger when we build something together.

If I won, I wouldn't see it as an award for me alone. I'd see it as an acknowledgment of everyone who helped turn Barn Door from an idea into a reality: my staff, my community, the businesses we've partnered with, the organizations that have trusted me, and every guest who has walked through our doors.

And, honestly, after being nominated so many times and coming close before, I'd be lying if I said I didn't really, really want this one.

The Rising Star Award represents the future of New Hampshire hospitality.

I'd be incredibly proud to be recognized as part of that future—and even prouder to spend the next chapter trying to live up to it.