Final days to view holiday light display
Time is running out if you haven’t yet visited the Gift of Lights at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. View more than 3.5 million twinkly LED lights for the 11th annual display of holiday cheer through Jan. 2. This year, the 2.5-mile drive-thru light show will feature 3.5 million lights, a 150-foot RGB (red/green/blue) Tunnel of Lights, new arches, toys, numerous scenes including the popular 12 Days of Christmas and much more. Crews are...
Share a snapshot of holiday lights
The Concord Monitor and Next level Auto are sponsoring a Holiday Light Display Contest. From indoor holiday lights to outdoor festive displays we want you to help light up our page! To enter, submit a picture of holiday lights that you enjoy during the holiday season! One random participant will win a $250 Car Care Package from Next Level Auto! The package includes free oil change, free alignment, free tire rotation, free tire balance...
Entertainment Dec. 23 to Jan. 2
Live music Dec. 23 Paul Hubert at Hermanos at 6:30 p.m. Karaoke with DJ Dicey at Area 23 Alan Roux at Makris Lobster and Steak House from 6 to 9 p.m. Dec. 24 Early music at Area 23 from 4 to 10 p.m. Dec. 25 Mikey G at Chen Yang Li from 7 to 10 p.m. Dec. 26 Colin Hart at Concord Craft Brewing from 3 to 6 p.m. Dec. 28 Scott Solsky at Hermanos at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 29 Lee Ross at Penuche’s at 8:30 p.m. Brian Booth at Hermanos at 6:30 p.m....
Book: The Man Who Died Twice: A Thursday Murder Club Mystery
The Man Who Died Twice: A Thursday Murder Club Mystery By Richard Osman (355 pages, mystery, 2021) The Thursday Murder Club is back! Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim all live at Cooper’s Chase, a retirement village in Kent, England. But they are not typical retirees. Instead of doing crafts or jigsaw puzzles, they solve mysteries, usually cold cases. A significant person from Elizabeth’s mysterious past comes to ask her for help....
Looking back: Returning home, soldiers found a new world
Battles are sometimes fought on many different fields. On the field of glory, sometimes in your very own neighborhood. There are other times the battle continues with tragic memories that will always remain. A century ago, there were many battles being fought in many different areas. As young men and women received the good news on the front telling them World War I had ended, the struggle continued for many. The forlorn soldiers...
City news: Concord prepares to handle winter weather
The city manager’s office sent out the City Manager’s Newsletter last Friday. The full newsletter can be found by going to concordnh.gov and clicking the “Newsletter” button. Here are some highlights: Equipment ready for winter operations Concord recently received its first accumulation of snow for the season and more snow is in the forecast. There are approximately 38 trucks city-wide (27 for General Services) that get equipped with...
Poem: Christmas Eve
The snow gently falls, the logs in the fireplace burn bright, children are nestled, safely home this special night. Thoughts wander to another time, the old are once again young at heart, Christmas past is recalled this eve, old family and friends still apart. The days are recalled gently, for the memories are cherished just so, this Christmas rekindles another time, memories that I only know. The years may pass, but those old...
Book: Laundry Love: Finding Joy in a Common Chore
Laundry Love: Finding Joy in a Common Chore By Patric Richardson with Karin B. Miller (185 pages, nonfiction, 2021) This book first caught my eye because of the bright, cheerful cover with a yellow background and an icon of a heart inside a front-load washing machine. I personally find laundry to be a real slog of domestic drudgery. It’s always there (whatever you’re wearing while you’re washing your other clothes will, itself, become...
Entertainment for Dec. 16 to 26
Live music Dec. 16 Ken Clark at Hermanos at 6:30 p.m. Holiday Party with Chicken at Penuche’s Buzz Ball at the Capitol Center for the Arts at 7 p.m. Dec. 17 Blue Light Rain at Area 23 at 8 p.m. The Special Guests at Penuche’s Million Dollar Quartet Christmas at the Capitol Center for the Arts at 8 p.m. Matt Flinner and Low Lily at the Bank of N.H. Stage at 8 p.m. Dec. 18 Matt Poirier at Hermanos at 6:30 p.m. Piccola Opera presents the...
‘Impressions: Nature’
New Hampshire Art Association artist Daniela Edstrom will have her artwork on display in an exhibit titled, “Impressions: Nature,” at the Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce Visitors Center beginning Dec. 20. In this exhibit, Edstrom aims to explore the abstract quality of the light, form and color in the New England landscape. “Sunlight and its play of light and shadow is perceived as halos of vibrating strokes and bold minimalist...
Concord Young Professional of the Month: Hannah Matillano
Concord Young Professionals Network introduces you to the “Young Professional of the Month,” Hannah Matillano. Each month, the CYPN Steering Committee recommends a young professional in the community it thinks readers would enjoy getting to know better. Hannah Matillano How old are you? 24 Where do you live? Concord Where do you currently work? For the past two years, I’ve been working as a Sales Associate with CheckmateHCM! We help...
Bulletin board
Christmas Jazz “The Jazz of Christmas – God with Us,” will be the theme of this Sunday’s Jazz Sanctuary in the sanctuary of Concord’s First Congregational Church (177 N. Main St.). The “unbelievable belief” that, thanks to Christmas, God dwells with us will be at the center of the music and conversation as Vocalist and Pastor Emilia Halstead is joined by the Jazz Sanctuary House Band of Joey Placenti on saxes and flute, Jock...
This week in Concord history
Dec. 16, 1979: Rachel Adams, wife of former governor Sherman Adams, dies at her home in Lincoln. She was first lady from 1949 to 1953 and joined her husband in Washington when he was assistant to President Dwight Eisenhower from 1953 through 1958. An artist and author, she published an autobiography, “On the Other Hand,” in 1963. Dec. 16, 1976: Gov. Mel Thomson announces he will have state troopers stationed at border liquor stores to...
City readies for winter
The city manager’s office sent out the City Manager’s Newsletter last Friday. The full newsletter can be found by going to concordnh.gov and clicking the “Newsletter” button. Here are some highlights: Wreaths Across America The annual Wreaths Across America event will be held on Dec. 18, in area cemeteries. Each December on National Wreaths Across America Day, the mission is to “Remember, Honor and Teach,” carried out by coordinating...
Entertainment for Dec. 9 – 15
Live music Dec. 9 Paul Bourgelais at Hermanos at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 10 Matt Nakoa Band at the Bank of N.H. Stage at 8 p.m. Classic Invasion at Area 23 at 8 p.m. Duo Del Inferno at Penuche’s at 9 p.m. Dec. 11 Zach Deputy at the Bank of N.H. Stage at 8 p.m. Professor Harp at Area 23 at 8 p.m. Mary Fagan at the Downtown Concord Winter Farmers Market from 9 a.m. to noon Alex Cohan at Contoocook Cider Company from 1 to 4 p.m. Alan Roux at...
Book: French Exit: A Tragedy of Manners
French Exit: A Tragedy of Manners By Patrick deWitt (244 pages, fiction, 2018) French Exit is slang for the term French Leave, which the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines as “an informal, hasty, or secret departure.” French Exit by Patrick deWitt is a dark comedy of manners riddled with abrupt exits and a sneaky sentimental core. Frances Price, an iconoclastic, wealthy widow lives on the Upper East Side of New York with her adult...
Great things, small packages
Whether you’re searching for stocking-stuffers, tokens for your kids’ teachers or major checkmarks on your holiday shopping list, a quick loop through downtown can have you crossing off all your to-dos. While this is by no means a comprehensive list, here are a few things that caught our eye during an afternoon of window shopping last Sunday. Still not quite sure what to get? Downtown Dollars can be picked up at Merrimack County...
This week in Concord history
Dec. 13, 2001: Less than five days after being introduced as Notre Dame’s football coach, George O’Leary resigns amid revelations that he falsified information about his academic credentials and playing career. He admits that he lied about playing football for three years for the University of New Hampshire, which he listed on his resume. Dec. 13, 1774: Paul Revere gallops into Portsmouth to urge dissidents there to guard their...
City newsletter
The city manager’s office sent out the City Manager’s Newsletter last Friday. The full newsletter can be found by going to concordnh.gov and clicking the “Newsletter” button. Here are some highlights: City meetings City meetings are held in person in Council Chambers at 37 Green St. Upcoming meetings include: City Council: Dec. 13, 7 p.m. Planning Board: Dec. 15, 7 p.m. LED streetlights To date, more than 600 lights have been...
Film set in N.H. gets first screening in 100 years
It’s a film that hasn’t played in theaters since its original release exactly one century ago. And it’s set in fictional ‘Hampton Center, N.H.,’ a small town where a pair of big-city crooks hide out from the law. It’s Straight is the Way, a Paramount release that proved a modest box office success in the spring of 1921. The film then completely disappeared — until now. Next month, Red River Theaters of Concord will host the world...
Annual evening of holiday shopping
Intown Concord will present the 28th Annual Midnight Merriment on Dec. 3 from 5 p.m. to midnight. As the “unofficial” start of the holiday season, the return of Midnight Merriment signifies a hopeful time for both downtown businesses and shoppers. The festivities will be kicked off by the one and only, Nazzy of WJYY at City Plaza, and will include holiday music, lights, strolling carolers, s’mores, and hot cocoa stations. Many of the...
Bulletin board for Dec. 2, 2021
Lights, Life and Memories Granite VNA, formerly Concord Regional VNA (CRVNA) and Central NH VNA & Hospice (Central VNA), the largest home health and hospice provider in New Hampshire, is offering community members an opportunity to honor and remember loved ones and friends through the agency’s Lights, Life and Memories campaign and memorial service. This year, Granite VNA combined hospice traditions from CRVNA and Central VNA –...
Live music Dec. 2 Badfish, a tribute to Sublime, will be at the Bank of N.H. Stage at 8 p.m. Dec. 3 Boston Brass Band will perform at the Capitol Center for the Arts at 7 p.m. Brian Munger at 7 p.m. and Side Peace at 9 p.m. at Area 23. The Ghost of Paul Revere at the Bank of N.H. Stage at 8 p.m. Dec. 4 Top of the World, a Carpenters Christmas Show, at the Capitol Center for the Arts at 7 p.m. Dank Sinatra at Area 23 at 8 p.m. Colin...
This week in Concord history
Dec. 3, 1910: Mary Baker Eddy, Bow native and founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist, dies in Chestnut Hill, near Boston. Dec. 3, 1963: Gov. John King says he favors an appropriate memorial for the slain President John F. Kennedy but will oppose any effort to rename one of New Hampshire’s mountains after Kennedy. Dec. 3, 2001: Manchester inventor Dean Kamen unveils the Segway Human Transporter on ABC’s Good Morning...
Book review: Rooted: Life at the Crossroads of Science, Nature, and Spirit
Rooted: Life at the Crossroads of Science, Nature, and Spirit By Lyanda Lynn Haupt (229 pages, nonfiction, 2021) In many ways, this book is spiritual kin to the works of Rachel Carson, Robin Wall Kimmerer, and Henry David Thoreau. Naturalist Lyanda Lynn Haupt, a self-described “tree-hugging dirt worshiper,” has chosen to share her eco-based philosophy at just the right time. For those of us who are feeling run down, burned out, and...
Book: Design for Dying
Design for Dying: A Lillian Frost and Edith Head Mystery By Renee Patrick (317 pages, mystery, 2016) It’s 1937 in Los Angeles. Lillian Frost came to Hollywood – like thousands of other young women – to become a star. But it was not to be. Lillian is not an actress and instead finds a job at a department store, Tremayne’s. A young woman in a beautiful dress, something to be worn at movie premier, is found dead in an alley behind a...
Entertainment: Nov. 25 to Dec. 5
Live music Nov. 25 Jam Session at Area 23 at 7 p.m. Nov. 26 Tumble Toads at Penuches at 9 p.m. Josh Foster at Contoocook Cider Company from 1 to 4 p.m. Nov. 27 John Franzosa at Hermanos at 6:30 p.m. Neighbor at the Bank of N.H. Stage at 8 p.m. Scott Solsky at Penuche’s at 9 p.m. Dan Morgan and Chris O’Neil at Area 23 at 8 p.m. Paul Driscoll at the Downtown Concord Winter Farmers Market from 9 a.m. to noon April Cushman at Contoocook...
Bulletin board: Festivities and fun around the city
Tree lightings The Concord Tree Lighting in City Plaza will take place Nov. 26 with activities 4 to 6 p.m. There will be a collection for nonperishable food and unwrapped toys, hot chocolate and apple cider, children’s activities, and Santa will arrive via firetruck. Following the tree lighting, there will be fireworks launched from across the river. The Penacook Village Association will host the 16th Annual Penacook Tree Lighting...
Feztival of Trees a festive raffle
The Bektash Shriners of New Hampshire are preparing an online are in-person Feztival of Trees experience from now through Nov. 28. The 20th Annual “Fez”tival is an extravaganza of fully decorated, artificial trees decorated in a Christmas or other themes. All trees are beautifully lit for the enjoyment of the viewers who will come to participate in the associated festivities and purchase chances to win the trees. Come visit the trees...
This week in Concord history
Nov. 25, 1875: Although the building is not quite completed, the fire department occupies its new central station on Warren Street between Green and State streets. Nov. 25, 1957: President Eisenhower suffers a “cerebral occlusion.” The problem affects his speech and once again thrusts his special assistant, former New Hampshire governor Sherman Adams, into greater responsibility. Nov. 25, 1817: A fire consumes a large three-story...
