With the start of a new year, it’s natural to want to look ahead at what’s to come, what’s to be expected. 2015 was a big year in Concord, but that doesn’t mean the capital city’s 251st year can’t be just as cool, if not better, than its 250th.
We thought long and hard about some of the notable events (or expected notable events) coming up this year, and decided to fill you in early – way early, in some cases – just so you can start filling up your calendar now before it’s all booked.
We also thought about some things that we’d like to try in the new year. We sort of feel we left a lot on the table in 2015, so we’ve set some goals for ourselves for 2016 to try to become better than ever.
So without further ado, here is your handy-dandy 2016 planner, plus some resolutions of ours.
Elections
Here marks our first and last attempt at covering politics. We generally do everything we can to stay out of this stuff at all costs around here, but it’d just be downright irresponsible of us not to mention the first-in-the-nation primary and the general election that will follow.
On Feb. 9, Granite Staters will be the first primary voters to cast ballots. If you’re not big on front-runners Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton (or any of the other candidates, for that matter), feel free to write in either of us Insiders. Heck, write us both in. See what happens. The two of us run this whole paper like a Navy nuclear submarine, so how hard could it be running the country? We’re up for the challenge.
Sewalls Falls Bridge
So the Sewalls Falls Bridge is now in several pieces and undoubtedly uncrossable, but it won’t stay that way forever.
Luckily for East Concord residents (and Monitor and Insider employees), the new bridge should be open to traffic by October.
This is very important because once it’s finally open, my ride to get lunch at Constantly Pizza, Donatello’s or Asian Taste, among other places, will be cut by a third. So that should be good.
Market Days
Intown Concord’s annual Market Days festival always draws a big crowd of vendors and shoppers downtown. Last year’s event was held a few weeks earlier than usual – in June instead of July – and most vendors reported doing much better in that time slot. The weather was a bit milder and kids had just gotten out of school and hadn’t taken off on long, faraway vacations yet.
But it’s not set in stone yet when the 2016 festival will be – probably because people stopped chiseling into stone as a way of recording basic facts many moons ago. There’s also some planning that needs to be done to work around the South Main Street construction schedule.
But whether it’s in June or July – or February for that matter (but please don’t let it be February) – the masses will no doubt turn out again, because how can you resist a street festival in a city like this?
South Main Street
North Main Street has been finished for a little while now, and it looks pretty good. But of course, “Main Street” (there actually is no plain old Main Street in Concord) consists of two halves, and the southern half is still old.
But not for long.
Once it gets warm enough to work, crews will begin transforming the old South Main Street into the new South Main Street. With a little cooperation from Mother Nature, they expect to be done around November.
Maybe for the south side, instead of “uplighting” for the trees, there will be “downlighting,” in keeping with the South theme. Maybe they’ll even add a train station, called South Station, that will rival Boston’s. Hey, crazier things have happened.
State House dome
One of Concord’s most iconic images – perhaps the most – is the State House dome. Well, it once was. Now the gold is all flaked off on one side and it’s starting to look tired.
But that, too, is on the agenda for 2016. Tim and I decided to be nice and give the Legislature the $2.4 million it will need to finance the project. We even offered to paint it ourselves at no cost, but the government big-wigs said they’d prefer to leave that to the pros. Something about insurance and liability.
Look for the dome to be shiny and bright again by late fall, when it’s expected to win back its title of most iconic Concord image from the interim titleholder, the Insider pod.
Merrimack River Greenway Trail
As evidenced by our Trails Issue, we kind of like to take scenic walks around the city. But one thing we hate is having to leave one trail, get in the car and drive a few miles to pick up another one. But that problem could be solved as early as this summer with the advent of the Merrimack River Greenway Trail.
As proposed, the greenway would run 14 miles from Pembroke to Boscawen, connecting with other trails as part of a continuous, multi-use path from the Massachusetts border up to Hanover, Monitor staff writer David Brooks reported in September.
It’s a project that’s been talked about for a long time, but the wheels are in motion. There is no exact timetable for the construction of this phase, which would complete about a mile of the trail on city-owned property.
If it does open at any point in 2016, maybe we’ll check it out and tell you about it . . .
Our 2016 resolutions
So we’ve been feeling a bit guilty lately around here for not quite living up to our own expectations in 2015. I failed the Taco Gigante Challenge, we came in fourth in the gingerbread house contest and the Monitor/Insider wiffle ball team was emphatically defeated.
But all that was last year, and we want to do better this year.
So here’s hoping we both finish our huge tacos this year, and in a time that would make firefighters jealous.
Oh, and here’s to finding way more eating contests in general – we’ll eat whatever.
Here’s to committing ourselves to the craft of gingerbread house making to take home top honors next year.
Here’s to hitting the gym hard and coming out in top wiffle ball shape, good enough to dominate the tournament. (And here’s to Tim joining the team in 2016 – we need his bat and competitive spirit!)
And most important of all, here’s to bringing you, our faithful readers, another year of award-winning, awe-inspiring, jaw-dropping, hard-hitting, compelling, engaging journalism, as you have come to expect from us. Thanks for a great 2015, everyone, and let’s make 2016 even better!
