Get swept up by fantasy and folklore
Dealing with Dragons By Patricia Werede (224 pages, junior fiction, 1990) Being a princess is boring. You’re not allowed to learn sword fighting, magic, or anything else fun. What’s the point? Princess Cimorene doesn’t want to be like her six perfect sisters. She’s different. She’s not cut out for this proper life. She’s a rule breaker. That’s what they’re there for, right? Cimorene busts out of her castle prison and runs straight...
Kimball Jenkins secures $200,000 grant for roof work, other repairs
Kimball Jenkins, a prominent and cherished Concord landmark, has received a $202,000 matching grant award from the N.H. Land and Community Heritage Investment Program to support restoring the roof and upper woodwork of its 1882 brick High Victorian Gothic mansion. Kimball Jenkins’s LCHIP award is the largest historic resource project grant of the year. It follows close on the heels of the 2017 grant the nonprofit received for its...
Vampires: A Field Guide to the Creatures that Stalk the Night
Vampires: A Field Guide to the Creatures that Stalk the Night By Bob Curran (224 pages, nonfiction, 2005) Do you love folklore? Well one of the biggest topics in folklore is vampires. Belief in them spans centuries. And now with this book, you can read about different types of vampire lore in a myriad of countries. From the Devil of Hjalta-Stad to the Baobhan Sith, you’ll get illustrations, information, and history. These tales will...
Book of the Week: ‘How to Be a Good Creature’
How to be a Good CreatureSy Montgomery2018, 200 pagesNonfiction Author, naturalist and adventurer Sy Montgomery explores her relationships with a variety of animal friends in this “memoir in thirteen animals”. Readers will briefly meet Christopher, her charismatic 750-pound pet pig; Octavia, a fascinating giant Pacific octopus she befriended at the New England Aquarium; Clarabelle, a tarantula found in her lodgings in French Guiana;...
This week in Concord history
July 23, 1964: New Hampshire Attorney General William Maynard writes to the secretary of state assuring him that residents serving overseas in the Peace Corps should not be prohibited from voting in New Hampshire by absentee ballot. July 23, 1990: The Washington papers report that President Bush has narrowed to five the names he is considering for a vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court: Federal appellate Judges David Souter, Edith Jones,...
This Week in Concord History
Dec. 11, 1999: Two Catholic priests whose recent marriages disqualify them from clerical service in the Roman Catholic Church become Episcopal priests in a liturgy at St. Paul’s Church in Concord. The service marks one of the first such clerical conversions in the state’s religious history. Dec. 11, 2000: An early-morning fire at the Royal Garden Apartments in Concord leaves 37 people homeless. The community will respond with offers...
Poem: Just a Depot
Just a depot to some, the loss of history felt for years, our families departed daily, soldiers left for war amongst tears. We welcomed people home, some waited for a train that never did arrive, there was much happiness and fear, sadly, not all soldiers survive. The train depot was majestic, with brick, copper and more, but it held something special, memories that became family lore. Our...
Midnight Merriment to brighten the capital
It’s the most wonderful time of the year in downtown Concord. Not Christmas, but Midnight Merriment, the all-night shopathon which sees downtown retailers stay open until midnight, giving people a chance to do some late-night holiday shopping at local businesses. If Black Friday – or Black Thursday, or Cyber Monday, or any of the other designated “shopping holidays” – aren’t your style, Midnight Merriment, to be held Friday, is the...
Get elevated at Altitude Trampoline Park at Steeplegate Mall
Don’t believe anyone who tells you malls – especially the Steeplegate Mall – are a relic of the past.On the contrary, Concord’s (mostly vacant, to be fair) mall continues to reinvent itself as the retail landscape changes nationwide, shifting the focus away from buying items and onto buying experiences. The latest example of this trend is Altitude Trampoline Park, which opened Nov. 2 at the former Circuit City storefront at the mall....
Entertainment: More holiday stage shows on the docket this week
At the time this piece was assembled, it was the last day of November. If you’ve been following these things for a while now, you’ll know that the end of the month is the worst time for compiling entertainment listings since most venues don’t post their monthly schedules until it’s actually that month. It would be great if more venues could publish their listings sooner, so we can get the word out about their shows, but it is what it...
Tune in to the 45th annual Boys and Girls Club’s TV Auction this Saturday
What better way to spend a Saturday than by sitting in front of the TV for 10 hours straight and calling in to buy things that strike your fancy?We’re not advocating for becoming addicted to the home shopping network, but we are advocating for tuning in to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Concord’s 45th annual TV Auction this Saturday. In what has become a holiday tradition for many families, the auction is an all-day fundraiser...
Help change women’s lives at the Zonta Club of Concord’s 28th annual Holiday Auction
The Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Concord isn’t the only organization that knows a thing or two about running an auction – the Zonta Club of Concord has also been at it for more than two decades, and their 28th annual Holiday Auction is this Wednesday. The Zonta Club of Concord is part of the larger Zonta International organization. The club’s mission is “empowering women through service and advocacy,” and the Concord chapter has...
City Manager’s Newsletter: Winter reminders, Parks and Rec updates and more
The city of Concord’s public information officer, Stefanie Breton, sent out the City Manager’s Newsletter last Friday. The newsletter contained too much information for us to fit into this spot, so we’re just printing some highlights here. For the full newsletter, go to concordnh.gov and click the “Newsletter” button on the home page.Winter operations, parking remindersThe snow has arrived and the City of Concord has already issued...
Food Snob: The Giant roast beef sandwich from Beefside
Somehow, we hadn’t done a Food Snob since the end of September. This is a tragedy that hopefully never happens again.There’s one place in town that has always been on the Food Snob to-try list, but for one reason or another we had never gotten there – until last week. Beefside, the place on Manchester Street with the big cartoon steer on the sign, is pretty popular with elite athletes. NBA champion Matt Bonner once famously ordered 45...
Tasty Brews: Cherry Bomb from Lithermans Limited
After years of only really liking darker, malty beers, I transitioned to the IPA lifestyle about a year and a half ago and never looked back. Something about the crisp bite of hops just brings me more satisfaction than the mellow smoothness of a porter or a stout.Lately, I’ve been in search of even more of that tart, sharp flavor and texture, which has led me to sours. Not even a year ago I would’ve cringed at even the thought of a...
Authors Stout, Johnson to present ‘The Pats’ at Gibson’s Bookstore
Sports historians Glenn Stout and Richard Johnson will sweep in to the Gibson’s Bookstore end zone on Wednesday to share their collaboration, The Pats: An Illustrated History of the New England Patriots, the definitive, lively and robust history of the New England Patriots, from Billy Sullivan to Bill Belichick and everything in between. (Are you planning ahead for holiday gifts yet? A signed books makes a great gift.)The New England...
Concord’s Rose Baker nominated for honor of ‘America’s Favorite Crossing Guard’
Rose Baker spends her days trying to make people smile. She said there are too many people who go to work or school looking tired, or unhappy. The Concord crossing guard said she sees the two hours she stands outside Concord High and Rundlett Middle School each morning and afternoon as a chance to change the course of someone’s day – to show them they’re cared about. “If I can make someone happy, or turn their day around, then it...
Look beyond Concord’s Christmas tree and think back to 1892
The next time you travel down our Main Street and glance over at the State House Plaza to enjoy the beautiful Concord Christmas tree and manger, I hope you find peace, joy and contentment.Please look beyond the tree and think back to the month of July, 1892. This was the date that our Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch was dedicated on the plaza. This memorial arch was constructed by the city of Concord at a cost of $20,000 126 years...
Emergency Winter Shelter to open soon with 40 beds
Now that the most vulnerable people experiencing homelessness in Concord are assured of having shelter during frigid winter nights, the coalition that built the facility is eager to turn its attention to more-permanent solutions.The Emergency Winter Shelter, built by the Concord Coalition to End Homelessness at 238 N. Main St., will open Dec. 17 with 40 beds. CCEH and Thrive Outdoors will manage the shelter.“The completion of the...
On the Road: Wednesday Wanderers bring the ‘Insider’ to Oak Hill
From mid-January until early November, the Wednesday Wanderers can be found traipsing through the trails in and around Concord. On this particular day in October (yes, it’s a little late now, but there was a serious backlog!) they were headed up Oak Hill from Shaker Road. Thanks for bringing us along, Wanderers. And you chose the perfect issue to bring, too!
Missed Connections: ‘Coffee rebel’ tries to connect with counterpart
It had been a while since we’d last plunged into the bowels of Craigslist to dig up some Missed Connections, but, alas, the time has come. The last time we ran them was in the beginning of October, and as you’ll soon see, there has been many a missed connection in Concord since then – many of them, interestingly enough, at either Walmart or a gas station of some sort. As usual, these listings are printed completely unedited – spelling...
This Week in Concord History
Dec. 4, 1999: A member of the Republican National Committee evaluating the way presidential primaries are scheduled says he supports New Hampshire’s position as first in the nation. “In every conversation I’ve had,” says Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, “the principals agree that New Hampshire’s role should not be touched.” Dec. 5, 1866: The Monitor reports: “A man who had assisted to empty several bottles of wine afterward took a walk....
Book of the Week: ‘The Thing Around Your Neck’
The Thing Around Your NeckChimimanda Ngozi Adichie2009, 300 pagesFiction (short stories) The Thing Around Your Neck is a collection of 12 stories by Chimimanda Ngozi Adichie, the influential Nigerian author of Purple Hibiscus (2003), Half of a Yellow Sun (2006) and Americanah (2013). The trials and tribulations of otherness are continually investigated throughout Adichie’s works, and this collection makes no exception.Set variously in...
Take the family to a holiday show – or 22 – in Concord this season
Welcome to maybe the biggest roundup of theatrical and/or musical performances taking place in the city of Concord of all time. As Christmas gets closer and closer, most of the performance venues around here are getting ready to stage their big holiday shows, so we found as many as we could and put them all in one place for you. As is usually the case, there might be one or two shows out there we missed, but this is still a pretty...
Capital Ski & Outing Club’s annual Ski and Skate Sale has a new home
Here’s a weird thing to say: There wasn’t any available space at Steeplegate Mall. That’s not a sick joke – it’s the reality of the situation that befell the Capital Ski & Outing Club as it looked for a place to set up its annual Ski and Skate Sale, a tradition that goes back 50 years. For many years the sale took place at the Green Street gym. But after 2014, the city needed that space and the club had to look elsewhere. They...
Find out who will be crowned the 2018 Mr. Concord at the Grappone Conference Center on Friday
The contestants are practicing their talents and everyone is anxious to learn who will become the next Mr. Concord. This hilarious pageant is quickly becoming one of the most anticipated events in the capital area, and it’s all for a worthy cause. The Concord Contemporary Club is hosting the pageant, which will be held Friday at 6 p.m. at the Grappone Conference Center. Pageant tickets are $50 each, and are available through...
Rotary Club to bring Improbable Players’ show ‘End of the Line’ to Concord High
The Rotary Club of Concord is pleased to sponsor the Improbable Players’ theatrical production of End of the Line at the Concord High School auditorium, 170 Warren St., on Wednesday, Dec. 5. This one-day-only performance, which deals with drug addiction and recovery, will be seen by students at the high school during the 11:15 a.m. performance, and is open to the community at large for the 7 p.m. show at no charge.Improbable Players...
Entertainment: A light week as we all try to recover from Thanksgiving
Well, it’s the end of the month, and also the week after Thanksgiving. Add those up and what you get is a pretty light week on the entertainment front, relatively speaking. One thing to note is that Christmas shows begin this week – hence the theme of this whole issue. For more information on any of the theater shows listed here, see the big Christmas shows roundup we did here. Music Tuesday Mike Walsh at Hermanos Cocina Mexicana at...
City Manager’s Newsletter: Crosswalk repair update, Penacook tree lighting and more
The city of Concord’s public information officer, Stefanie Breton, sent out the City Manager’s Newsletter last Wednesday. The newsletter contained too much information for us to fit into this spot, so we’re just printing some highlights here. For the full newsletter, go to concordnh.gov and click the “Newsletter” button on the home page. Main Street crosswalk update Over the last two weeks, the city’s contractor, LA Brochu Inc., was...
NEC Concord to host a pair of musical shows this week
So we didn’t get this news until after the entertainment page was already sent to press, so we’re squeezing it in here instead – NEC Concord will host a pair of musical performances this week, each with a unique and different vibe. First up is the Open Jam Night on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. This is an opportunity for anyone who likes to play any kind of music (instruments or singing) to show up, take the stage and just rock out for a...
