Upstairs Downtown
The Upstairs Downtown Walking Tour group will meet on Sept. 15 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. for a tour of downtown Concord. The tour covers five historic destinations and exclusive vantage points of downtown and the NH State House. This year’s tour combines fan-favorite locations from 2019 and new stops to behold and explore: the Sheraton Building and the Eagle Hotel, the Concord Public Library, the SMILE Building, and two locations that are to be determined. There will be a reception to follow with drinks and appetizers at The Hotel Concord. Tickets are $40 per person which include appetizers and a guided tour. Proceeds for this event go to Intown Concord’s Facade Grant Program. This is a physically demanding tour with vast amounts of walking and climbing. Please dress appropriately in proper footwear: no open-toed shoes, heels, or sandals.
Lesson on grief
Author E.B. Bartels visits Gibson’s Bookstore to share her heartfelt book, Good Grief: On Loving Pets, Here and Hereafter on Sept. 13 at 6:30 p.m. An unexpected, poignant, and personal account of loving and losing pets, exploring the singular bonds we have with our companion animals, and how to grieve them once they’ve passed.
Masks are strongly encouraged but no longer required for vaccinated attendees. We can’t predict the future course of the pandemic, so Gibson’s reserves the right to institute masking and/or vaccination rules for this event as circumstances dictate.
E.B. Bartels has had a lot of pets — dogs, birds, fish, tortoises. As varied a bunch as they are, they’ve taught her one universal truth: to own a pet is to love a pet, and to own a pet is also — with rare exception — to lose that pet in time.
But while we have codified traditions to mark the passing of our fellow humans, most cultures don’t have the same for pets. Bartels takes us from Massachusetts to Japan, from ancient Egypt to the modern era, in search of the good pet death. We meet veterinarians, archaeologists, ministers, and more, offering an idiosyncratic, inspiring array of rituals—from the traditional (scattering ashes, commissioning a portrait), to the grand (funereal processions, mausoleums), to the unexpected (taxidermy, cloning). The central lesson: there is no best practice when it comes to mourning your pet, except to care for them in death as you did in life, and find the space to participate in their end as fully as you can.
Punctuated by wry, bighearted accounts of Bartels’s own pets and their deaths, Good Grief is a cathartic companion through loving and losing our animal family.
Friends Program celebration
Join the Friends Program for a celebration of their work as they build positive connections and solutions for at-risk youth, families, and seniors.
The 2022 Celebrate with Friends reception is Saturday, Sept. 10 from 5 to 7:30 pm.
The evening will feature inspiring stories and plans for the future. Volunteers will be recognized with awards for exceptional service and dedication to the Friends Program.
The night will include hearty appetizers and sweet treats, cash bar, silent auction and raffles.
Please visit friendsprogram.org for more information about the Friends Program, the event, becoming a sponsor or to offer donations of any size.
