This Week in Concord History
Aug. 22, 2000: The nation’s reborn scooter fascination has definitely reached central New Hampshire, the Monitor reports. “We just can’t keep them in stock,” says Laurie Sanborn, owner of Banagan’s Cycling Company in Concord. Aug. 22, 2001: After a surprise rejection from the state’s Health Services Planning and Review Board on Concord Hospital’s proposed cancer treatment center, the hospital vows it will continue efforts to...
The Friends of the Audi want you to Pitch In
It’s never fun to do a big cleaning – because that usually means it hasn’t been done in a while.But when it comes to everyone’s favorite city-owned entertainment spot, nobody seems to mind grabbing a broom, duster or window cleaner to help keep the Concord City Auditorium looking good.It’s just the way things have gone since the Friends of the Audi took over operations of the 850-seat theater in 1991. Prior to the start of the...
Time to sign up for Walk A Mile in Her Shoes
For many of us, walking a mile isn’t all that difficult. But add in a pair of high heels, and for us guys, it becomes a task that is almost instantaneously more difficult. Not to mention one that will likely get a few laughs out of everyone who sees it.That’s okay though, because if you’re seen walking down Main Street wearing a pair of high heels on Oct. 4, people will know it’s for a good cause. The fourth annual Walk A Mile in Her...
Rock On Fest is making a big-time move
Around these parts, events just seem to get bigger and better each year. Add Rock On Fest to the list.If you’re not familiar, Rock On Fest was started by brothers Luke and Matt Bonner, and their Rock On Foundation, three years ago as a way to bring free musical acts to Concord.The first two were held at White Park and were wildly successful. And this weekend, the third installment will take over Concord.But before you jump in the...
There’s more to Rock On Fest than just the music
Rock On Fest is best known as a day of free music in the Capital City.But it’s much more than that. In addition to all the basketball festivities (which you can learn all about on page 18), Rock On Fest has a whole slew of events that will keep you and the whole family entertained.Once the basketball is done for the night on Friday, grab your blanket and/or comfy outdoor chairs – and some snacks – and find a spot on the State House...
Can’t have Rock On Fest without some hoops
Downtown Concord has seen a lot of things over the years.There are of course events like Market Days and Halloween Howl that shut down the street, rallies at the State House and live performances.But to our knowledge, it has never had a regulation size NBA basketball court on it – until now.As part of the two-day Rock On Fest, put on by the Rock On Foundation, which is making a move from White Park to the State House lawn this year,...
We’re famous all the way over in Wisconsin
As you can probably imagine, we get a lot of emails every day.They include story ideas and press releases, thank yous for – and critiques of – stories, as well as others that we consider spam that get immediately sent to the trash.But on July 25, one came in with a subject line reading: hello from Wisconsin. At first I thought it was probably a picture of one of our faithful readers who had taken a vacation to the place known as the...
Cyclones represent at 10U World Series
The Capital Area Cyclones went down to the Babe Ruth 10U World Series with a laundry list of accomplishments. The local all-star softball squad was 28-1 on the season before heading down to Florida where the best of the best from all over the country would battle it out to decide the most elite squad in America. The Cyclones were the New Hampshire state champion, as well as the New England regional title holder. They even qualified...
There’s lots for the kids to do on a night out
Most times, when you think of a night out on the town, it’s all centered around things for the adults to do.But as big kids ourselves – and guys who were once actually your age – we know what it’s like to just want to have a good time with your friends. To be clear mom and dad, we aren’t insinuating that you allow for your children stay out till the wee hours of the morning for a late night snack attack at Red Arrow, but rather let...
The Insider’s guide to date night in Concord
As a couple of guys who are fully committed to our significant others (me being married almost five years and Jon about to take the plunge this month), we’re always looking for ways to keep the romance going.And there’s no better way than to take your special someone on a date night.Now, we can’t claim to be experts in the field of dating, but since we both have lovely ladies who want to spend the rest of their lives with us, we’ve...
There’s a documentary about Concord Coach
Did you know that Concord is world famous?No, surprisingly it’s not because all of our fans take the Insider with them on lavish trips around the globe, but rather for the Concord Coach.Back in its hey day, the Concord Coach was the ideal way to travel around the country – before things like trains and cars came around.But for many years, the Concord Coach reigned supreme with orders going to all areas of the country.And filmmaker...
It takes a lot of work to produce good Christmas trees
There’s nothing quite like going to pick out the family Christmas tree.If you’re like us, you prefer to go to one of those farms where you walk around looking for the perfect one. And then cut it down yourself.It can be a little overwhelming with hundreds of nicely pruned trees to choose from. The good thing is that your choices are usually narrowed down a little bit by what height you’re looking for. Then it just comes down to what...
From the Crowd: ‘Barnum’ will keep you entertained all night
It’s the greatest show on Earth – and it just so happens to be at Hatbox Theatre.Well, technically Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus was the greatest show on Earth, but that came to an end in May, so we saw the next best thing – Barnum.Barnum first debuted on Broadway in 1980 and follows the life of showman P.T. Barnum as he goes from one sideshow to the next, using “humbug” to get people to take in his shows.There’s...
Concord Food Co-op introduces online shopping
These days, it seems like you can order just about anything online.While it’s convenient, we’re still big fans of supporting local businesses.But now you can do both – at least at the Concord Food Co-op. A few weeks back, the Co-op launched an online Co-op eShop (powered by Rosie) to allow its customers to do all their grocery shopping from their computer, tablet or smartphone.“The online purchasing convenience, it’s definitely moving...
The Capital Area Cyclones are going big time
The Capital Area Cyclones had a pretty impressive season on the softball diamond.So much so that the local 10 and under all-star team not only qualified for the Babe Ruth World Series that begins this week in Jensen Beach, Fla., but they did it twice.That’s right, the group earned an automatic bid when they won the Londonderry Memorial Day tournament, but just for good measure, they won the New England regional title, which is also an...
Bow Fire Department has an interesting new flag
The Bow Fire Department is all settled in its new home at the Bow Safety Center. And thanks to firefighters Brandon Skoglund and David Eastman, the department has something pretty cool hanging in its kitchen area. About a year ago, Skoglund saw a story about another fire department that had used an old hose that was out of service to create an American flag. He thought it was a cool idea, and when there was a couple sections of hose...
The YMCA puts on a fun-filled summer camp
Summer was such a great time when we were young.Trips to the pool, no school work and lots of ice cream. Now – outside of the ice cream component – our summers are filled with yard work, work work and trips to the playground with our daughters.But if we could go back to a time when life was a little more care free and pick one thing to do, it would probably be a week at summer camp.Unfortunately we’re a little old to participate, but...
One week to pull off a show? Not a problem
We’re by no means theater experts, but from what we understand, it usually take quite a while to get a performance ready for the main stage.We’re talking weeks and months, not hours and days. But the latter is all the crew involved with the RB Productions Summer Youth Theatre program have to prepare for their annual summer shows. Think of it as summer stock for children’s theater, but using a crazy condensed approach.“What we do here...
For the Wilberts, a lot goes into writing a play
When we go to a play, we get to enjoy a couple hours of entertainment filled with character story lines, plot twists and first-rate acting.As you can probably imagine, those kinds of performances don’t just happen. You have to find the right crew, and hold auditions to fill each role with the right actors, followed by months of rehearsals.But before any of that can take place, there actually needs to be a play to perform. That’s where...
Go Try It: Look for Waldo when you’re out and about
At some point or another, we’ve all picked up a Where’s Waldo book and attempted to locate the red-and-white-striped-sweater-wearing character. He’s always off on a crazy adventure surrounded by lots of people – some who are wearing very similar outfits to his sweater, glasses and winter hat attire. But there is only one Waldo, which is why it can be so hard to find him sometimes. You can spend hours searching through the pages of his...
The new Bow Safety Center is really nice
As the old saying goes, good things come to those who wait.And for members of the Bow police, fire and emergency management departments, the wait is over.After many years of trying to get approval from town residents for a new safety building at Town Meeting, the measure was finally pushed through last year. Work began on the project last August, and the three departments began using the building last month.Last week, the town held an...
Wireless Zone is giving away free backpacks
We understand that the last thing all you kids out there want to do is think about school when summer vacation really just began.But your parents have probably already started thinking about back to school shopping, making sure to budget for new clothes and supplies. And while we want all of you to have the freshest gear for next school year, we can with almost 100 percent certainty that money doesn’t grow on trees – at least we...
There’s lots of indoor summer fun to be had
It’s hard not to love summer.The sun is shining (most days), you can comfortably walk out your front door in a T-shirt, shorts and flip flops, and just about any body of water is a chance to cool off.You can go and pick your own food, go for a nice walk with the family and give your furnace (and oil budget) a much-needed break.Plus, there’s no snow, it doesn’t get dark by 5 p.m. and the sight of snowblowers and plow trucks have been...
Go Try It: Watch a movie, check out the Discovery Center
If you haven’t noticed, we’re kind of big fans of the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center.We’ve been there many times before for new exhibits, summer camps and, of course, to try cool stuff.But one thing we’ve never done is gone there at night. Typically, the Discovery Center is a during-the-day kind of place geared toward families, but on the first Friday of each month, they open the doors during the evening for this thing called...
McGowan Fine Art is still open for business
It was a difficult decision, but one McGowan Fine Art owner Sarah Chaffee had to make.She didn’t want to close the gallery that had been a staple in downtown Concord for almost four decades, but it’s the unfortunate reality for many small to medium sized art galleries around the country.So back in April, at the closing reception for the show celebrating her 20 years at the gallery, Chaffee announced that McGowan would be closing.Fast...
Walk and study at the same time? Why not?
In this crazy, busy world we live in, it can be quite a challenge to fit everything into a given day. There are certain things that must take place – eating, sleeping, (hopefully) showering, and if you’re a college student, studying. Add all of that up and that’s one long day. So unfortunately, one important piece of maintaining a healthy lifestyle, exercising, can easily get pushed to the side. But NHTI is doing its part to help give...
Bow is looking for the town’s oldest citizen
We all want to live a long and full life. Isn’t that why we’re all here? For us, reaching triple digits is the goal, but we have a long, long way to go before attaining that milestone. There’s no reason to think we won’t make it, although for now, we’ll concentrate on enjoying this side of the hill. There are though, some perks to making your way through the years – like retirement, Social Security and the opportunity to be given the...
Take a trip with us to the Lake Sunapee Region
There is nothing better than embarking on a day trip to an area that you’ve never spent much time in – especially this time of year. With the sun shining, temperatures closing in on 80 and very few clouds in the sky, we hopped in our old Nissan Sentra a little before 8 a.m., filled up the gas tank and took our talents to a little region of the state we’ve come to know as the Lake Sunapee area, which includes the towns of Newport,...
You’ve got to check out this adventure park
Looking up at the aerial challenge course at the Mount Sunapee Adventure Park, the first loop doesn’t seem all that high off the ground, but being up there is another story – depending on how comfortable you are with heights.You are of course, fitted with a harness, which is attached by carabiners to a cable system above you, so if you do happen to fall off one of the obstacles, you don’t go too far. The obstacles are all a little...
The Barn Playhouse is a go-to spot for a show
When you go on an adventure like this, you want to find those gems – hidden or well known – to enjoy. And when it comes to New London, few fit that criteria better than the New London Barn Playhouse.Now in its 85th year of bringing high-quality theater to that corner of the state, we were told that we had to visit the Barn, stand on the porch and take in a show.So what better way to cap off our day in the area than with a performance...
