There are two renditions of the Nutcracker this weekend
It just wouldn’t be the holiday season if you didn’t catch a performance of The Nutcracker, now would it? So you’re in luck. There just so happens to be four performances of the famed ballet, at two different Concord locations this weekend. The St. Paul’s School Ballet Company will present The Nutcracker: Act II, free of charge for anyone who would like to go – assuming there are seats available. This abridged version of the ballet,...
Food Snob: Trying a beef kebab wrap from Aissa Sweets
It can be a gamble when a company well-known for doing one thing very well tries to branch off into a different area. Some of these ideas inevitably tank – The Chevy Chase Show or the XFL, for instance – but some of the best can pull it off. Yamaha makes great keyboards, percussion instruments, sport motorcycles and speedboats, among a slew of other things.And then there’s Aissa Sweets.You might remember this place as a Middle Eastern...
Catching up with the new Intown Concord duo
If you’re not up to date with the happenings over at Intown Concord, there’s been a bit of a transition going on. Okay, well kind of a big transition.The two-person team of Liza Poinier and Susan Sokul decided to say their goodbyes, opening the way for Michelle Motuzas Johnson to take over as executive director and Kate Fleming to become the new events and outreach coordinator.Both began work in October and since they’ve had a little...
Sign up to make your famous mac and cheese
Do people rave about your macaroni and cheese when they come over for dinner? Have you spent hours in the kitchen perfecting the right combination of cheeses? Do you have a bread crumb/ cracker topping that’s just to die for? Well, you might want to consider testing your recipe against other home cooks for the right to be named New Hampshire’s grand champion of macaroni and cheese.New Hampshire’s own Macaroni and Cheese Bake Off is...
Where the Insider Goes
In September, the Insider set sail on a seven-day cruise out of San Juan, Puerto Rico, to St. Martin, Bonaire, Curacao and Aruba with these lovely ladies, (from left): Rita Faretra, Jean Chase, Beverly MacInnis and Diana Merrill. Thanks for taking us on the sweet cruise, ladies!
Missed Connections
We took to Craigslist last week to see who had been posting on the missed connections pages in our neck of the woods during the month of November. And lo and behold, we found all these great entries to share. So here’s a sampling of what we found and could print, unedited, of course. Target Concord – m4w (Concord) – Nov. 30 I thought you were so cute but I didn’t have the courage to ask if you were single. We kinda...
Bulletin Board
Holiday pickleball tourney Dec. 23 Concord Parks and Recreation is hosting a Jingle Bell Pickleball Tournament on Dec. 23 at the Green Street Community Center from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The tournament is a mixed doubles, round robin format, and cost is $12 per team. There are 60-plus (9 a.m. to noon) and 50-plus (12:30 to 3:30 p.m.) age divisions. Registration deadline is Friday. There will be a limit of 10 teams per age group. Members...
Book of the Week: ‘Stalking Ground’
Stalking Ground: A Timber Creek K-9 MysteryMargaret Mizushima2016, 310 pagesGenre: Mystery, set in rural Colorado Deputy Mattie Cobb and Robo, her K-9 police dog, have just finished up a training exercise in Denver when they are called back home to help find a missing person. Robo’s tracking skills are needed for the rugged terrain. The search is not going well until they receive an anonymous tip that the missing person is near Tucker...
This Week in Concord History
Dec. 6, 1963: Concord Alderman Eugene C. Struckhoff urges that the city lead the battle against a Boston & Maine Railroad plan to end passenger service to New Hampshire. Dec. 6, 1963: Dr. Thomas Ritzman, a Concord obstetrician and a backer of Barry Goldwater’s presidential campaign, tries to undo the damage he did the day before with a statement to an Associated Press reporter. Ritzman told the reporter that President...
Need a tree? Here are some places to get one
Now that Thanksgiving is over, it’s time to get down to business. By that, we mean it’s time to start really getting ready for Christmas, the main course of the holiday season.Christmas rivals Halloween in terms of the holiday with the most accompanying decorations, and while the pumpkin may be the centerpiece of the Halloween spread, the king of the Christmas display is, of course, the tree.If you’re one of the many out there who...
Go Try It: Cut down a Christmas tree at Rossview Farm
Picking out the family Christmas tree is a big deal. One wrong move and it could be coal in your stocking – and you’ll be the family pariah around the holidays, and nobody wants that.If you want to make sure you don’t end up in the Christmas dog house, go to Rossview Farm and cut down your own tree.When you buy a pre-cut tree, there are some advantages, like not having to cut it down, for one. But you also don’t know much about the...
Adults: We want your lists
Why should kids get to have all the fun around the holidays? After all, it’s the grown-ups who do all the hard work, right? Luckily, we here at the Insider know full well that adults like to have fun, too. That’s why we’re opening up our inboxes for some adult letters to Santa. Now before your imaginations get carried away, let’s go over a couple of things first. By “adult,” we don’t mean “adult” as in the film genre – let’s try to...
There are lots of holiday performances to see
When this time of year rolls around, there’s a different feel to the entertainment world.It seems like every performance, concert and film is geared toward Christmas, snow and some good old holiday spirit. So with this being the “gets ready for the holidays” issue, we figured why not see what the local spots for entertainment had in store for the next few weeks.We know you’re going to be busy, so we decided to stretch out our time...
Do your shopping at home
The holiday season is easily one of the most wasteful times of year. In the U.S., the annual trash from gift wrap and shopping bags totals over 4 million tons, according to Eartheasy.com. If everyone wrapped just three gifts in reused paper or fabric gift bags, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 hockey rinks. This year, you can take one small, fun step toward less waste by revamping your annual gift-swapping parties....
Craft fairs are in full swing this time of year
At this time of year, craft fairs are all the rage. It’s a great place to get gifts or stocking stuffers, and there are a lot coming up. So we figured why not pass along some details? Unitarian Church The annual greens and artisans fair will be held on Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 1 p.m. The fair will feature local artisans, baked goods, a holiday boutique, cookie “walk,” holiday plants, hand-decorated...
VNA hosting Lights of Life
This time of year can be tough for some. While we attend family gatherings and holiday parties with friends, enjoying all the season has to offer, you can’t help but be reminded of the people you have lost. And that’s normal around the holidays. So that’s why the Concord Regional VNA is here to help. Over the next week, the VNA will host a pair of community remembrance ceremonies to remember and reflect on the lives of passed loved...
Around Town: We never know what you’ll find
A few weeks back, we were at McGowan Fine Art chatting it up with Julie Hamel, who handles the gallery’s communications duties, as well as the vice president of fun and obscure facts, and she told us about this beetle, Bert Bartholomew Barrington, she had met on Storrs Street earlier in the day. As it turns out, Barrington is a Concord native and had been helping people parallel park all week until his chimney sweeping business starts...
Tasty Brews: Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale at Cheers
It’s finally starting to get a bit wintry out there.For a little while there, it seemed like we might just get away with an entire fall and winter without freezing temps or snow, but, alas, that wasn’t in the cards.In light of all this, we decided to get a beer. Why not, right?Since last week saw the first snowfall of the year, we went out in search of a winter beer, something to warm the body and spirit in these cold, dark times.We...
Getting to know Cimo, the first Mr. Concord
It’s not often that we get the chance to talk to a real life pageant king, so when we learned we had one here in Concord, we had to jump on the opportunity.We’re talking, of course, about John Cimikoski, owner of Cimo’s South End Deli and the winner of the first-ever Mr. Concord pageant.Cimikoski – or Cimo, as he’s universally known – beat out the likes of Mayor Jim Bouley, former All-Star MLB pitcher Bob Tewksbury, Rich Spaulding, a...
Book of the Week: ‘Killer Look’
Killer LookLinda Fairstein2016, 383 pagesGenre : Suspense; set in contemporary New York City (fiction)Linda Fairstein delivers another thriller in her Alexandra Cooper series. Alex is taking time off from her job in the DA’s office to recover from her recent kidnapping but is intrigued when she hears of the apparent suicide of Wolf Savage, an icon of the New York fashion scene. When Wolf’s daughter tells Alex that her father was...
This Week in Concord History
Nov. 29, 2003: The wind whips across central New Hampshire with gusts of more than 45 mph, knocking out power and tearing down lines and trees. Public safety officials spend much of the day responding to calls for downed wires and trees in at least 20 communities. Nov. 29, 1867: Ingalls & Brown’s Quadrille Band plays at a grand ball at Concord’s Eagle Hall. “If you don’t dance,” exhorts the ad in the Patriot, “go to hear...
Bulletin Board
Monthly film screening Friday The NHTI Film Society will screen The Dying of the Light (Not Rated, 95 minutes), on Friday at 7 p.m. in the Sweeney Auditorium. Admission is by donation ($5 suggested); free with an NHTI student ID. For more information contact Steve Ambra at 271-6484 ext. 4101 or sambra@ccsnh.edu. Doug Schwarz Soup supper in Penacook on Saturday Immaculate Conception Parish in Penacook is holding a soup supper...
Check out the new and improved South Main Street
In case you haven’t heard by now, the South Main Street project is (finally) over. We know – we can hardly believe it ourselves. This means construction crews and noisy trucks are (mostly) gone, detours have been removed and – most importantly – traffic and life in general can more or less get back to normal, just in time for the holiday shopping season. We all saw the fruits of the labors on North Main Street, and we’re fairly...
Let’s review the project as a whole, shall we?
It’s official: the Main Street project is done. You probably thought you’d never see the day, but here we are, alive and well in the new world. It’s been a whirlwind couple of years in the capital city, but after all of the road closures, detours and general headaches, we can finally sit back and enjoy the end result. Since we checked in with City Engineer Ed Roberge at the completion of the North Main Street project and now the South...
No downtime: More projects on the horizon
Now that those big Main Street and Sewalls Falls Bridge projects are done, the city is probably ready to take a little breather and relax a little bit, right?Wrong. In fact, things are just getting started. One project on the horizon has been talked about since 2000 and is in the same basic neighborhood as the Sewalls Falls Bridge: the Exit 16 roundabout.The plan is to replace the intersection of Mountain Road, Shawmut Street and East...
Head over to True Brew for Friendsgiving
Thanksgiving is all about food, family and friends – in no particular order. The night before Thanksgiving, well, that’s all about fun.At True Brew Barista, these things will all be rolled into one when it hosts Friendsgiving on Wednesday night.The night will be full of great local music from a lot of fan favorites, and the atmosphere will be festive and friendly.The whole idea began a few years ago, and it’s really taken off since...
Another epic display at the Feztival of Trees
The Feztival of Trees is back for a 16th year at the Bektash Shrine Center on Pembroke Road. We went and checked it out, and it’s bigger and better than ever. It’s open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday (closed on Thanksgiving) and 10 to 4 Sunday. Go check out all of the cool and wacky trees they have this year.
Go Try It: Frictionless fun at Everett Arena
Whenever your life is in need of something interesting, consider eliminating traction and friction from the equation. You’re bound to find things a bit more engaging then.Last week, we set out for this exact type of experience, and since it was about 60 degrees all week, there was only one place we could go: Everett Arena.The ice rink is open for public skating Monday through Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 5:30 to 7 p.m. on...
Listen to – and buy – some tunes at Area 23
If you like good music and good beer, there’s one place you need to be on Saturday night: Area 23.The craft brew bar at the Smokestack Center will host a CD release party for local musician Mary Fagan, who will be on hand with her trio and a special guest to play some music throughout the night. Her CD, Honey to the Bee, will be on site and available for $10.So who is Mary Fagan, anyway? “I’m kind of a gypsy,” she said. “I grew up in...
