Plenty of awesome stuff to do this week
Tuesday In the thick of football season now, it’s important to remember that concussions can and do happen on the field, and that you don’t want to get one. What you do want to do, however, is check out the Concussion Awareness Day Fundraiser at Orange Leaf from 5 to 9 p.m. The event will benefit the Brain Injury Association, with 20 percent of sales going toward BIANH programs that promote concussion education. Wednesday You can’t...
The Capitol Center for the Arts celebrates 20 years of performance
You may have noticed that 2015 has been the year for anniversaries around here. Whether it’s the city’s 250th anniversary of incorporation, the Sewalls Falls Bridge’s 100th anniversary of construction or your parents’ 35th wedding anniversary, it’s hard to escape all the milestones this year. Now you can add the Capitol Center for the Arts’s 20th anniversary to that list. The last weekend in September and first weekend in October, the...
We won an actual award and have a shiny new plaque to prove it
We know we’re kind of a big deal around these parts. But who knew we’d branch out so quickly? It was only a couple months ago that we took our talents to Bow and now we’re getting recognized at the state level. That’s right Insider fans, your city-covering newspaper not named the Monitor was given the Special State Newspaper/Media Award at the New Hampshire State Grange’s 142nd annual session last month. Not too shabby, if you ask us,...
Everything you ever wanted to know about SNOB – and then some
It’s that time of year again. Leaves are falling all around. Pumpkin spice in the air. High boots and scarves are in the regular rotation. Baseball season is over. And SNOB is back in town. That’s right, the annual Somewhat North of Boston Film Festival is back for another year, and it’s right here in Concord once again. The festival is a celebration of all things indie – music, beer and, obviously, film. People from all over New...
Sadly, this will be the final year of the SNOB as we know it
The SNOB Film Festival has had a good run over the last decade plus. But when the longtime Somewhat North of Boston shindig wraps up this weekend, it will be the end of the film festival as we know it. Don’t worry, organizers aren’t pulling the plug on the popular yearly moviegoers paradise, but rather it will be a reset of sorts. This is the last year of the SNOB. When the event rolls around in 2016, it will be under a new name. What...
Try SNOBier, made by Great North Aleworks, before it’s gone!
We all know that beer makes the world go round. It’s the drink that brings adults together to share ideas and speak freely. It’s what we want after a long week of work, school, kids, life. And it’s one of the centerpieces of the Somewhat North Of Boston Film Festival. The festival has traditionally held beer tastings on the first night (this year will feature tastings every night of the festival at Red River starting at 5 p.m.), and a...
Treat your ears to some cool tunes between movies and beers
In case you didn’t know, music is kind of a big deal at the SNOB Film Festival. Yeah, sure, it’s a film festival, but don’t sleep on the music side of things. The festival always gets lots of great acts from New Hampshire and the Northeast in general, and a lot of people really look forward to hearing some good local music between films and beers. We caught up with Rob Azevedo, of SoundCheck fame, who helps organize the musical aspect...
Don’t be afraid to touch the art in the League’s Insightful exhibit
Stop us if you’ve heard this before. You walk into an art gallery and see a sign that says “please don’t touch.” We can certainly understand the reasoning behind it. More often than not, the artist or crafter has spent many hours working on that piece and it’s probably quite delicate. So they don’t really want you putting your grubby hands all over it – or clean hands for that fact. But that doesn’t mean you don’t want to cop a feel...
Meet Ian West – he really wants to get on the Barley House menu
The Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce’s Concord Young Professionals Network (CYPN) introduces you to another “Young Professional of the Month,” Ian West. Thank you to Annika Stanley-Smith who arranged the interview. How old are you? 32 Where do you live? #concordnh Where do you currently work? Southern New Hampshire University Where did you go to school? I spent my formative K-12 years in the ConVal school system in Peterborough,...
The Bulletin Board
VNA to offer holiday grief session in Bow Nov. 17 Concord Regional VNA is offering “The Grief Experience Through the Holidays,” free session Tuesday, Nov. 17, from 5:30 to 7 p.m., at Bow Mills United Methodist Church, 505 Church St. in Bow. The special holiday session offers support for those facing the winter holidays while grieving the loss of a loved one. Pre-registration is required. To register, call 224-4093, ext. 2828 or email...
City Briefly
Last week, City Manager Tom Aspell began work on his screenplay entitled City Memo: The Life and Times of Concord’s City Manager. But soon, he realized it was nothing more than a bunch of notes about what’s currently going on in the city. So instead of actually turning it into a movie, Aspell put it in city memo form for all to enjoy. A smooth surface Loudon Road paving Continental Paving will be installing permanent pavement on the...
Book of the Week: ‘All Fall Down’
All Fall Down Jennifer Weiner 2014, 381 pages Fiction Sitting in her daughter’s pediatrician’s waiting area, Allison Weiss is reading a quiz in a magazine entitled “Has your drinking or drug use become a problem?” Some of her answers make her stop and think about the Vicodin and Percocet she’s taking. They are, after all, prescription medications. So what if she takes an extra dose every now and then? Allison appears to be living the...
This Week in Concord History
Nov. 10, 1854: Concord’s Unitarian Church is destroyed by fire. Nov. 10, 1995: The refurbished Capitol Center for the Arts reopens on South Main Street. The opening show features folkies John Sebastian, Jonathan Edwards, Janis Ian and New Hampshire’s own Tom Rush. Nov. 10, 2003: The Concord City Council votes to put an automated trash plan on hold until exact cost estimates are available. Nov. 11, 1874: Meeting in Concord’s Eagle...
The N.H. Bindery – a place where pages become books
With this being the books issue, we thought, “Why not check out how one’s put together?” So we meandered over to the New Hampshire Bindery in Bow to see how our favorite titles end up in a neatly bound package.
If you didn’t catch Halloween Howl, you missed a really spooky time
It was a howlin’ good time at Concord’s annual Halloween Howl last weekend. The weather was mild enough to bring hundreds of costumed capers out to Main Street for a night of spooky revelry and lots of candy eating.
Little communal libraries are a thing, and they’re in Concord now!
If you’ve been walking or driving around Concord lately, there’s a chance you may have seen these little structures that resemble bird houses or dog houses on people’s lawns. It’s a craze that apparently is making its way to the Granite State – and the capital city more specifically. They’re known as little libraries, and they are pretty much what they sound like. People build little huts to house books, and they put these huts on...
If talking about books is your thing, you should join a book club
Have you ever finished a really good book and just wanted to talk with someone about it? And then when you try to strike up a conversation at the office water cooler, nobody has a clue what you’re talking about and uncomfortably walks away as you’re explaining the plot. We feel your pain. If we can offer a little advice, we recommend connecting with one of the many local book clubs. There’s ones offered by libraries and book stores,...
Here’s 10 things for you to do this week
Tuesday If you happen to receive the Insider in your paper or frantically hit refresh on our website each Tuesday morning, then you’ll see this in time. Tonight at NHTI, the Wings of Knowledge series continues with “Becoming Wolf” with Chris Schindler, who explores the controversy surrounding coyotes and their coexistence with humans. The free program begins at 6 p.m. in the library living room. Wednesday If talking about books is...
Tom Petty biographer has Concord roots – and a new book coming
We’re not sure, but there probably haven’t been too many Concord guys in the history of the world who have played in a successful rock band, toured with Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Tom Petty, earned a Ph.D. and published several books. But we know of at least one: Warren Zanes. Zanes played guitar for the Del Fuegos in the ’80s and is the author of Petty: The Biography, which goes on sale Nov. 10. He’ll be at Gibson’s Bookstore the...
N.H. Open Doors is this weekend, so check it out
We understand you’re having a hard time coming to grips with the fact that it’s November and those carefree summer days are a far distant memory. But fall isn’t so bad, except for when you focus on the cold nights, frosted windshields and raking all those once-vibrant leaves. So instead of dwelling on the fact that hibernation is right around the corner, embrace the precious moments of fall we have left and the ability to stay outside...
Wake up early – or stay up late – for 6 a.m. aerobics at the YMCA
If there’s one thing I really like to do at 6 a.m., it’s work out to the sounds of the Rolling Stones and Elton John. Well, maybe not so much myself personally, but a lot of people are into it. Just ask Bonnie Larochelle, who’s been the volunteer leader of an early bird aerobics class at the YMCA since 1979. A nighttime aerobics class was started a few years before, “and I was very involved and they decided to try more classes, so I...
Bow throws one heck of a Halloween party and here’s proof
The yearly Halloween party put on by Bow Parks and Rec and the town’s police department lived up to the hype last week with hundreds of people showing up for trick-or-treat fun.
Adventure shopping
Since Ocean State Job Lot’s slogan is ‘Adventure Shopping,’ we headed down to find the most adventurous books in the store. It’s like a safari you take right here in Concord!
And still champions
The Concord library just happens to be the best at adding new members during National Library Card Month (September). After dominating Hooksett in a challenge last year, CPL won a shiny new trophy this time around by handing out 357 cards and winning the Granite State Library Card Challenge, defeating Hooksett, Rogers Memorial Library (Hudson), Manchester, Brookline, Webster, Chesley Library (Northwood) and Pease Library...
The ruins of Zimbabwe
When people from Concord go on vacation, they like to bring the Insider with them, take a picture and send it to us.
City Briefly
Last week, City Manager Tom Aspell began work on a book about all the happenings in town. But when he got only a few pages in and had nothing else to write about, Aspell decided to change course and turn it into his weekly city memo. The end is near Construction update This week’s work will include the installation of median cobblestones, as well as work on the granite bump-outs and on the new traffic lights. In addition, brick crews...
Book of the Week: ‘Judge This’
Judge This Chip Kidd 2015, 125 pages Nonfiction In Judge This, Chip Kidd, a book designer and TED speaker, introduces what he calls “The Mysteri-o-meter.” This is a simple scale with clarity on one end and mystery on the other. He explains that all of us are impacted by the way things are designed, and whether they are clear, mysterious or a little of both. He also points out that neither clear nor mysterious is bad, but both need to...