Bulletin board: Scholarships available, online events offered
Scholarships available The Zonta Club of Concord is offering three scholarships/awards to local women: New American Merit Award given to a local new American high school senior who is recognized for her scholastic excellence and leadership qualities; Young Women in Public Affairs award recognizes young women, ages 16-19, for their demonstration of leadership skills and commitment to public service and civic causes and encourages them...
Concertmaster String Quarter to present ‘An Invitation to Dance’ at Concord City Auditorium
Fans of music, dancing and all-purpose partying won’t want to miss the next big to-do at the Concord City Auditorium, because it’s a show that combines all of the above.The fourth concert of the Concord Community Concert Association’s 88th season brings the Concertmaster String Quartet to the Audi stage on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.It’s a concert and a party – festivities begin at 7 p.m. in the lobby with a dessert reception and a special...
Don’t miss your chance to cast
Saturday, Jan. 16, is the winter Free Fishing Day in New Hampshire. State residents and non-residents alike can fish any inland water – or saltwater – in New Hampshire that day without a fishing license. However, people participating in a fishing tournament must still hold a license, even on Free Fishing Day. Also, season dates, bag limits and all other fishing regulations must be followed on Free Fishing Day. Free fishing days are...
Making Good Health Simple: Don’t let clutter compromise your home
Knickknacks. Tchotchkes. Stuff. Junk. Gear – you name it, and I am sure I own it. My entire life I have been accumulating things. Some of them necessary to live, like a bed, furniture, automobile, clothing. And a ridiculous amount of completely unnecessary items I convinced myself I needed. The brain has the capacity to rationalize just about anything, including pointless purchases and keeping items you don’t need. During my years of...
City news: Capital city in full winter mode
The city manager’s office sent out the City Manager’s Newsletter last Wednesday. The full newsletter can be found by going to concordnh.gov and clicking the “Newsletter” button. Here are some highlights: Tree collection Christmas tree collection starts on Monday, January 4 and will continue for two weeks in coordination with residential curbside trash and recycling collection. Residents can place Christmas trees curbside for disposal...
CYPN: Melina Murray is the Young Professional of the Month
The Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce’s Concord Young Professionals Network introduces you to our “Young Professional of the Month,” Melina Murray. Each month the CYPN Steering Committee recommends a young professional in the community it thinks readers would enjoy getting to know better.Where do you live? Concord.Where do you currently work? I’m a real estate agent at EXIT Realty Great Beginnings with offices in both Concord and...
On the calendar with Gibson’s Bookstore
Gibson’s Bookstore is jumping right into the new year with several virtual author events. On Jan. 7, at 7 p.m., former Concord resident K. Woodman-Maynard visits Gibson’s Bookstore virtually to discuss her graphic novelization of The Great Gatsby. This sumptuously illustrated adaptation casts the powerful imagery of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s great American novel in a vivid new format. Concord novelist Virginia Macgregor joins her in...
Entertainment: So much live music to be heard in Concord this week
We have a very busy week on the entertainment front around here, with an absolutely full slate of music to go along with a number of stage shows and two comedy shows, including the second installment of the new comedy club at Tandy’s. Get out there and take it all in this week. Music Tuesday Dan Weiner at Hermanos Cocina Mexicana at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday Dan Walker at Hermanos at 6:30 p.m. Open mic at Area 23 at 6 p.m. Thursday Mike...
This week in Concord history
Jan. 7, 1942: Concord starts a three-day spell of bitterly cold weather with a low temperature of 15 below zero. The next day it’ll be 25 below, and the day after that, the temperature will fall to 22 below. Jan. 7, 1904: At its annual meeting, the First Church of Christ Science thanks Mary Baker Eddy of Concord for her gift of $120,000 toward the Concord church, now under construction. Jan. 7, 1942: A tannery is...
Bulletin Board: Poetry Out Loud championship, meetings and more
First DAR meeting of 2019 Buntin-Rumford-Webster, Concord Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, will have its first meeting of the year Tuesday, March 12 at 2 p.m. at the Pierce Manse (14 Horseshoe Pond Lane). The program will be a welcome to new members and an orientation about the chapter, DAR and what to expect! March is literacy month and we ask that each person planning to attend pick a children’s book (new or used in...
Book: A static life upended
The House in the Cerulean Sea By TJ Klune (400, fiction, 2020) Linus Baker is a by-the-book caseworker in the Department in Charge of Magical Youth. As cog in a very large machine, his days are gray and unchanging. His only pleasures are his cat, the patch of sunflowers his neighbor is trying to kill, and a vacation picture of the sea (he’s never been to the sea). His newest assignment is determining the fate of an orphanage...
Blast From the Past: The old courthouse and the Era of Good Feelings
During the early 1800s there was renewed turmoil and frustration with England resulting in the War of 1812. The good citizens of Concord rejoiced at the victorious conclusion of this war and entered into a period commonly referred to in American history as the “Era of Good Feelings.” This era started with the election of President James Monroe in 1816 and concluded with President John Quincy Adams in 1824. The world was once again at...
Book: Tantalizing tale by Nix
The Left-Handed Booksellers of London By Garth Nix (393 pages, young adult fantasy, 2020) Darkness, meet Whimsy About to start art school in London, Susan leaves her childhood home to move to the big city. As she looks for jobs there she also searches for her father, 18 years absent. Her few clues to track him down are an old reading room ticket as well as a silver engraved cigarette case. Her adventure begins in earnest when she...
Tasty Brews: Lawson’s Finest Liquids Sip of Sunshine from Dos Amigos
We’re pretty late to the party here, but when it comes to good beer, better late than never is the motto. Sip of Sunshine, the mythical IPA from Vermont brewery Lawson’s Finest Liquids, has long been one of those beers aficionados have traveled to other states for – it was made in Connecticut and driven right through our state on its way to Vermont without ever stopping here. That all changed some time this past summer, when select...
Book: Creative guide
How to Be An Artist By Jerry Saltz (129 pages, nonfiction, 2020) What does it take to be an artist? This is a list of what goes into the life of an artist. Whether you already are an artist or it’s still just a dream, this book has golden nuggets of inspiration and information. As No. 2 on this list says, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” Step one. You are a total amateur. That’s okay. Everyone has to start...
City Manager’s Newsletter: Fix a Leak Week, Royal Leak Detection Contest and more
Last Friday, the city’s public information officer, Stefanie Breton, sent out the City Manager’s Newsletter. The letter was too long to print in its entirety here, but you can access the full version at concordnh.gov by clicking the “Newsletter” button on the homepage. Fix a Leak Week Join Concord General Services in celebrating EPA WaterSense’s “Fix a Leak Week,” March 18-24! Leaks can waste a lot of water and can lead to outrageous...
Book: Painting the Light
Painting the Light By Sally Cabot Gunning (351 pages, fiction, 2021) In 1893 Ida Russell is a young woman living in Boston, finding her way as an artist. She is enrolled in Boston’s Museum School and has a comfortable life living with her family. She’s looking forward to becoming a known artist in watercolors. But tragedy strikes her family and Ida is left alone in the world. She is grief-stricken and can barely get through the day. A...
Lithermans Limited to bring back Pink Boots Made for Walking IPA on March 21
We’re big supporters of beer and the brewing industry. We’re also big supporters of diversity in the workplace and equal opportunity for all. But most of all, we’re big supporters of anything that combines all of the above.It should then be no surprise that we’re all fired up about the pending release of Lithermans Limited’s Made For Walking IPA, a beer project in collaboration with the Pink Boots Society.Our most astute readers will...
City newsletter: Tree collection, wreaths dispersed
The city manager’s office sent out the City Manager’s Newsletter last Wednesday. The full newsletter can be found by going to concordnh.gov and clicking the “Newsletter” button. Here are some highlights: Tree collection Christmas tree collection starts on Monday, January 4 and will continue for two weeks in coordination with residential curbside trash and recycling collection. Residents can place Christmas trees curbside for disposal...
These three students from St. John Regional School have reached some impressive achievements
Three students from St. John Regional School have done some impressive things academcially on a state level recently.Nathan Steigmeyer finished first in the Geography Bee and was one of 100 students to qualify to go to the State Geography Bee in Keene next month.Michael Thresher placed first in the Spelling Bee and has competed on the state level. (He was not given information as to where he finsihed, but it was not in the top...
A look back at 2020
The year 2020 started much the same as the rest, but soon shifted in dramatic ways. The Black Ice Hockey was postponed, but then brought back. In February, we cast ballots in the primary. Executive orders limited Maple Month visitors to sugar shacks. Town meetings were changed or delayed by many. We stockpiled toilet paper. Our restaurants delivered. We sewed thousands of masks. And healthcare workers rose to the task. We rallied...
Book of the Week: ‘Voracious: A Hungry Reader Cooks Her Way through Great Books’
Voracious: A Hungry Reader Cooks Her Way through Great Books Cara Nicoletti 2015, 283 pages Nonfiction Cara Nicoletti grew up in her family’s butcher shop and was surrounded by family cooking. That didn’t start her cooking, though. She writes, “But the truth is that I fell in love with cooking through reading, and I learned quickly that being in the kitchen offered me the kind of peace that settling in with a good book did.” As she...
Poem: The New Year
The new year does approach, as we cast the last aside, we seek the road to a better place, to simply feel better inside. It is not riches or fame, that we seek as time does proceed, but the peace and contentment, that all of us do need. There have been sad times, some good but only a few, optimism one year ago, forsaken but nobody knew. We look within during trying times, seeking better we try to find, for...
This Week in Concord History
March 12, 2000: Bishop Guertin defeats Concord, 3-2, in the Division I hockey championship game, ending the Crimson Tide’s run of four consecutive state titles. March 13, 1782: The Legislature meets in Concord for the first time. The site is “the Old North,” the First Congregational Church. The building will burn in 1870. It was on the site of the current Walker School. March 13, 1852: For the third time in three years, local voters...
Looking back: My grandfather’s final story
Life can be fleeting at times. When you have the time, the will is not always presented. When your moments are limited each and every story will flow like the most powerful river. Such was the case many years ago as my grandfather neared the end of his journey. He had the time, as well as the desire, to finish his story with class. His stories became very detailed as he articulated each and every event so vividly. When one is focused...
Pizza Slice Showdown: Who has the best slice game in Concord?
Welcome to the Pizza Issue, 2019 edition. If you’re a hardcore reader – which all of you surely are – you might remember that we put out a “For the Love of Pizza” issue on Jan. 30 of last year. In that issue, back when the Insider had a hearty two-man staff, my esteemed colleague and I hit the streets hard to learn as much about pizza as we possibly could.For this issue, working in the new reality of this being a one-man show, there...
Novel blends history and dark fantasy
The Witches of New York By Ami McKay (560 pages, historical fiction, 2017, available on Hoopla) Ami McKay’s The Witches of New York is the perfect antidote to dreary winter days and long, cold nights. Fans of the television series Penny Dreadful will relish this dark historical fantasy with feminist themes, set in Gilded-Age New York City. It’s a suspenseful gothic tale, best savored with a steaming mug of herbal tea and an...
Making Good Health Simple: Yoga: You already have everything you need to do it
“I’m not flexible.” “I am too old.” “I have a trick hip.” Just a few of the reasons people give for not practicing yoga. The truth is, you already possess all of the necessary equipment required to start practicing yoga – a body and the willingness to try. The term yoga itself means union. It is all about creating a connection between the brain, the body and the breath. One of the many great things about yoga is that there is a...
Book of the Week: Focus on happiness
The Self-Care Solution: A Year of Becoming Happier, Healthier, and Fitter: One Month at a Time By Jennifer Ashton (275 pages, nonfiction, 2019) Are you happy? Want to get your life together? This quick read will get you started. Self-care tends to take a backseat these days. We just don’t have time for it. We’ll do it tomorrow. This book will help you kick your excuses to the curb. It details Ashton’s year of self-care...
CHS student blends high school, college, internship, industry job at CRTC+
Max Lambert is 18, he’s taking two Concord High School classes and five on-campus courses at Manchester Community College, he’s working an entry-level job at Grappone Auto Group and he spends part of his week interning with a master automotive technician at Grappone. In other words, he’s not your typical high school senior. Lambert is an automotive technology student at the Concord Regional Technical Center, a high school career and...
