Way Back: Remembering the early sleigh parties of Concord’s past
There was a time when the sound of the falling snow was as audible as the wind between the bare branches of each grand tree around our little town of Concord. More than a century ago, contrary to common thoughts, we find our local merchants welcoming the deep snow to the hills and valleys surrounding our beloved Concord. Each storm would deliver joy in the form of profits and pleasure to our ancestors as the young and brave embarked...
This Week in Concord History
Dec. 18, 1995: Concord’s Bob Tewksbury signs a one-year contract with the San Diego Padres for $1.5 million. Dec. 18, 2000: For the first time in anyone’s memory, a crowd gathers at the State House to watch the casting of votes for president by New Hampshire’s four members of the Electoral College. The electors all choose George W. Bush, doing their part to ensure his narrow victory over Al Gore. Dec. 18, 2001: David Rayment, a lawyer...
Last-Minute Gifts: This holiday season, gift experiences to your loved ones
It’s a fascinating time to be alive right now. With the ever-accelerating pace of technology, the very nature of gift-giving is changing before our eyes. It used to be that you’d head to the mall to hit a handful of shops, then run to another town to go to a different store, then head to yet another town to grab another item and so on.Today, it’s basically: go online, click buttons, wait for package to arrive in the mail. Sadly, this...
There’s still time to make someone a gift for the holidays
While buying something is generally easier than making something, there’s something extra special about a handmade gift. When you’ve made something all by yourself using your own hands, the recipient knows there’s a lot of thought and care that went into that. In Concord, there’s no shortage of venues you can go to if you’re looking to make something special for someone special on your shopping list this year. Many of these options...
Ocean State Job Lot Adventure Shopping: Christmas shopping edition
In honor of the Last-Minute Christmas Gifts issue, we knew we had to make a trip to Ocean State Job Lot, a treasure trove of last-minute gift ideas from practical to completely unnecessary. If there’s one truth in life, it’s that you can find something for everyone at the Job Lot.
Concord Young Professionals Network’s Young Professional of the Month is Adam Berthiaume
The Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce’s Concord Young Professionals Network introduces you to our “Young Professional of the Month,” Adam Berthiaume. Each month the CYPN Steering Committee recommends a young professional in the community it thinks readers would enjoy getting to know better.How old are you? 29.Where do you live? Concord.Where do you currently work? I work for Grappone Automotive Group as the marketing manager.What’s...
Concord doubles down on winter farmers markets
This year, shoppers looking for locally made food products can choose between two farmers markets. The long-running market at Cole Gardens is already up and running. And on Saturday on the other side of town, the Downtown Concord Winter Farmers Market will hold its inaugural shopping day in the Eagle Square Atrium. Both will be open Saturdays at 10 a.m. The downtown market plans to run until 1 p.m. The Cole Gardens market runs a bit...
Entertainment: Enough music, plays and movies to keep you busy all week
As we continue to make our way through December, the volume of holiday-themed shows keeps going up, with three more Christmas plays in Concord this week. There’s also plenty of live music and an especially heavy movie schedule at Red River. Have a look: Music Tuesday Dan Weiner at Hermanos Cocina Mexicana at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday Paul Heckel at Hermanos at 6:30 p.m. Thursday Richard Gardzina at Hermanos at 6:30 p.m. Llava Llama...
Bulletin Board: Blue Christmas in Bow; 4 Local Baskit events
Blue Christmas service in Bow A Blue Christmas service will be held on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Bow Mills United Methodist Church, 505 South St., Bow. This will be a time of a quiet service of prayer, reflection and candle lighting for those having difficulty during this season due to grief, illness, depression, stress, family situations or other struggles. This will be a time to acknowledge our feelings of sadness and concern, to...
City Manager’s Newsletter: Leaf collection ends, more construction work and other city updates
The city of Concord’s public information officer, Stefanie Breton, sent out the City Manager’s Newsletter last Friday. The newsletter contained too much information for us to fit into this spot, so we’re just printing some highlights here. For the full newsletter, go to concordnh.gov and click the “Newsletter” button on the home page. Leaf collection is over for the year Last Friday was the last day for Concord Fall Leaf Collection....
Concord Community Music School students hit high notes with top honors
Concord Community Music School voice students hit a high note this fall, receiving five out of six top honors in musical theater performance at the N.H. State NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing) Auditions hosted by the music school on Oct. 20.Rachel Revellese, student of Ellen Nordstrom, won first place in the Upper High School Musical Theater Division. Allison Leger and Maya Fabozzi, students of Hannah Murray, took...
Kimball Jenkins secures $200,000 grant for roof work, other repairs
Kimball Jenkins, a prominent and cherished Concord landmark, has received a $202,000 matching grant award from the N.H. Land and Community Heritage Investment Program to support restoring the roof and upper woodwork of its 1882 brick High Victorian Gothic mansion. Kimball Jenkins’s LCHIP award is the largest historic resource project grant of the year. It follows close on the heels of the 2017 grant the nonprofit received for its...
Book of the Week: ‘How to Be a Good Creature’
How to be a Good CreatureSy Montgomery2018, 200 pagesNonfiction Author, naturalist and adventurer Sy Montgomery explores her relationships with a variety of animal friends in this “memoir in thirteen animals”. Readers will briefly meet Christopher, her charismatic 750-pound pet pig; Octavia, a fascinating giant Pacific octopus she befriended at the New England Aquarium; Clarabelle, a tarantula found in her lodgings in French Guiana;...
This Week in Concord History
Dec. 11, 1999: Two Catholic priests whose recent marriages disqualify them from clerical service in the Roman Catholic Church become Episcopal priests in a liturgy at St. Paul’s Church in Concord. The service marks one of the first such clerical conversions in the state’s religious history. Dec. 11, 2000: An early-morning fire at the Royal Garden Apartments in Concord leaves 37 people homeless. The community will respond with offers...
Midnight Merriment to brighten the capital
It’s the most wonderful time of the year in downtown Concord. Not Christmas, but Midnight Merriment, the all-night shopathon which sees downtown retailers stay open until midnight, giving people a chance to do some late-night holiday shopping at local businesses. If Black Friday – or Black Thursday, or Cyber Monday, or any of the other designated “shopping holidays” – aren’t your style, Midnight Merriment, to be held Friday, is the...
Get elevated at Altitude Trampoline Park at Steeplegate Mall
Don’t believe anyone who tells you malls – especially the Steeplegate Mall – are a relic of the past.On the contrary, Concord’s (mostly vacant, to be fair) mall continues to reinvent itself as the retail landscape changes nationwide, shifting the focus away from buying items and onto buying experiences. The latest example of this trend is Altitude Trampoline Park, which opened Nov. 2 at the former Circuit City storefront at the mall....
Entertainment: More holiday stage shows on the docket this week
At the time this piece was assembled, it was the last day of November. If you’ve been following these things for a while now, you’ll know that the end of the month is the worst time for compiling entertainment listings since most venues don’t post their monthly schedules until it’s actually that month. It would be great if more venues could publish their listings sooner, so we can get the word out about their shows, but it is what it...
Tune in to the 45th annual Boys and Girls Club’s TV Auction this Saturday
What better way to spend a Saturday than by sitting in front of the TV for 10 hours straight and calling in to buy things that strike your fancy?We’re not advocating for becoming addicted to the home shopping network, but we are advocating for tuning in to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Concord’s 45th annual TV Auction this Saturday. In what has become a holiday tradition for many families, the auction is an all-day fundraiser...
Help change women’s lives at the Zonta Club of Concord’s 28th annual Holiday Auction
The Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Concord isn’t the only organization that knows a thing or two about running an auction – the Zonta Club of Concord has also been at it for more than two decades, and their 28th annual Holiday Auction is this Wednesday. The Zonta Club of Concord is part of the larger Zonta International organization. The club’s mission is “empowering women through service and advocacy,” and the Concord chapter has...
City Manager’s Newsletter: Winter reminders, Parks and Rec updates and more
The city of Concord’s public information officer, Stefanie Breton, sent out the City Manager’s Newsletter last Friday. The newsletter contained too much information for us to fit into this spot, so we’re just printing some highlights here. For the full newsletter, go to concordnh.gov and click the “Newsletter” button on the home page.Winter operations, parking remindersThe snow has arrived and the City of Concord has already issued...
Food Snob: The Giant roast beef sandwich from Beefside
Somehow, we hadn’t done a Food Snob since the end of September. This is a tragedy that hopefully never happens again.There’s one place in town that has always been on the Food Snob to-try list, but for one reason or another we had never gotten there – until last week. Beefside, the place on Manchester Street with the big cartoon steer on the sign, is pretty popular with elite athletes. NBA champion Matt Bonner once famously ordered 45...
Tasty Brews: Cherry Bomb from Lithermans Limited
After years of only really liking darker, malty beers, I transitioned to the IPA lifestyle about a year and a half ago and never looked back. Something about the crisp bite of hops just brings me more satisfaction than the mellow smoothness of a porter or a stout.Lately, I’ve been in search of even more of that tart, sharp flavor and texture, which has led me to sours. Not even a year ago I would’ve cringed at even the thought of a...
Authors Stout, Johnson to present ‘The Pats’ at Gibson’s Bookstore
Sports historians Glenn Stout and Richard Johnson will sweep in to the Gibson’s Bookstore end zone on Wednesday to share their collaboration, The Pats: An Illustrated History of the New England Patriots, the definitive, lively and robust history of the New England Patriots, from Billy Sullivan to Bill Belichick and everything in between. (Are you planning ahead for holiday gifts yet? A signed books makes a great gift.)The New England...
Concord’s Rose Baker nominated for honor of ‘America’s Favorite Crossing Guard’
Rose Baker spends her days trying to make people smile. She said there are too many people who go to work or school looking tired, or unhappy. The Concord crossing guard said she sees the two hours she stands outside Concord High and Rundlett Middle School each morning and afternoon as a chance to change the course of someone’s day – to show them they’re cared about. “If I can make someone happy, or turn their day around, then it...
Look beyond Concord’s Christmas tree and think back to 1892
The next time you travel down our Main Street and glance over at the State House Plaza to enjoy the beautiful Concord Christmas tree and manger, I hope you find peace, joy and contentment.Please look beyond the tree and think back to the month of July, 1892. This was the date that our Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch was dedicated on the plaza. This memorial arch was constructed by the city of Concord at a cost of $20,000 126 years...
Emergency Winter Shelter to open soon with 40 beds
Now that the most vulnerable people experiencing homelessness in Concord are assured of having shelter during frigid winter nights, the coalition that built the facility is eager to turn its attention to more-permanent solutions.The Emergency Winter Shelter, built by the Concord Coalition to End Homelessness at 238 N. Main St., will open Dec. 17 with 40 beds. CCEH and Thrive Outdoors will manage the shelter.“The completion of the...
On the Road: Wednesday Wanderers bring the ‘Insider’ to Oak Hill
From mid-January until early November, the Wednesday Wanderers can be found traipsing through the trails in and around Concord. On this particular day in October (yes, it’s a little late now, but there was a serious backlog!) they were headed up Oak Hill from Shaker Road. Thanks for bringing us along, Wanderers. And you chose the perfect issue to bring, too!
Missed Connections: ‘Coffee rebel’ tries to connect with counterpart
It had been a while since we’d last plunged into the bowels of Craigslist to dig up some Missed Connections, but, alas, the time has come. The last time we ran them was in the beginning of October, and as you’ll soon see, there has been many a missed connection in Concord since then – many of them, interestingly enough, at either Walmart or a gas station of some sort. As usual, these listings are printed completely unedited – spelling...
This Week in Concord History
Dec. 4, 1999: A member of the Republican National Committee evaluating the way presidential primaries are scheduled says he supports New Hampshire’s position as first in the nation. “In every conversation I’ve had,” says Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, “the principals agree that New Hampshire’s role should not be touched.” Dec. 5, 1866: The Monitor reports: “A man who had assisted to empty several bottles of wine afterward took a walk....
Book of the Week: ‘The Thing Around Your Neck’
The Thing Around Your NeckChimimanda Ngozi Adichie2009, 300 pagesFiction (short stories) The Thing Around Your Neck is a collection of 12 stories by Chimimanda Ngozi Adichie, the influential Nigerian author of Purple Hibiscus (2003), Half of a Yellow Sun (2006) and Americanah (2013). The trials and tribulations of otherness are continually investigated throughout Adichie’s works, and this collection makes no exception.Set variously in...
