For your holiday entertainment, you could track down the latest viral video of a shopping brawl at the big box store, or you could make plans to visit downtown Concord on Dec. 6 for the annual Midnight Merriment celebration. Be advised, one of those two options features decidedly more black eyes.
We recommend selecting Intown Concord’s Midnight Merriment, the night when downtown Concord is aglow with shopping and dining and general holiday goodness, including an appearance by Santa Claus. The festivities begin at 5:30 p.m and run until (spoiler alert) midnight, giving Concordians an opportunity to shop local and check items off their Christmas lists all at the same time.
“It’s just festive, that’s the main thing,” Liza Poinier of Intown Concord said. “It’s just so cool to have a chance to shop in the evening, after work, and have so many people crowded into the shops and onto the sidewalks during the same time. It looks beautiful. It’s just a great way to get into the holiday spirit.”
That spirit is alive up and down Main Street, with many restaurants available and “the vast majority of retailers” staying open until midnight, Poinier said. And there’s a little something for everybody, except perhaps the Grinch.
The evening includes strolling caroling groups, an appearance by Santa in the Eagle Square Atrium (from 6 to 7:30 p.m.), a chance to drop a letter in Santa’s letterbox in Bicentennial Square and children’s stories read by “local celebs” at Orange Leaf Frozen Yogurt from 6 to 8 p.m.
There’s also a Lights of Life Remembrance Ceremony at Merrimack County Savings Bank at 6:30 p.m. and a theatrical adaptation of the poetry of Robert Frost by Open Door Theatre at New England College’s new location at 62 N. Main St.
And of course one of the annual highlights is the Concord Arts Market’s Giftopolis, featuring more than 20 fine art and craft vendors on two levels in the Eagle Square Atrium from 6:30 to midnight.
“It’s become a really cool tradition, both for kicking off the holiday shopping season but also just as a community event for neighbors to see each other and various downtown organizations and businesses to throw a little party,” Poinier said of the event, which she guessed has been around for about 20 years.
“It’s shopping and eating and seeing your friends,” Poinier said. “It’s just a fun night.”
For a complete updated schedule, visit intownconcord.org/events/midnight-merriment or check Intown out on Facebook at facebook.com/intownconcord.
