This Week in Concord History
Sept. 18, 1987: In Concord, Elizabeth Dole defends her decision to quit her job as U.S. transportation secretary to help her husband, U.S. Sen. Bob Dole, run for president. “This is my choice,” she says. “I’m not going to be just out there standing by Bob’s side and smiling. We’re talking about something with serious implications. We’re talking about the leader of the free world.” Sept. 19, 1989: After nearly two years of shoulder...
Kindness Challenge: Teachers go above and beyond
There are so many people going above and beyond for others right now that it’s hard to choose who to focus on first. As the end of the school year is approaching and teachers have worked harder than ever during remote learning, it seemed like a good time to tell stories about local teachers who are showing kindness in action. The stories about these teachers have one thing in common. They all go “above and beyond.” I hope these...
Almost 500 volunteers chipped in all over the city for Granite United Way’s Day of Caring
Wednesday marked the annual Day of Caring put on by Granite United Way. Groups of volunteers gathered at Kiwanis Riverfront Park for a kickoff luncheon before heading out to a number of nonprofit organizations in the Greater Concord area to help out in any way possible. We stopped by the Capitol Center for the Arts, where a dozen or so volunteers pitched in with painting and seat repair/maintenance. Nearly 500 volunteers took place in...
This week in Concord history
May 27, 2003: Daniel Littlefield of Meredith goes to trial in Belknap County Superior Court on charges he killed a 69-year-old Bedford man, John Hartman, in a hit-and-run boat crash last summer on Lake Winnipesaukee. May 27, 2001: Families from all over New England descend on Wilmot’s Eagle Pond Lodge Conference Center for the sixth annual Half Moon Sober Festival, an event dedicated to the proposition that you don’t need alcohol to...
Get to the Concord City Auditorium this weekend for the 28th Season-Opening Gala
It’s that time of year again – time to ring another full season of shows at the Concord City Auditorium with the 28th annual Season-Opening Gala.The gala is always a big to-do at the Audi. It’s the kickoff show that serves as a sneak peak at all that’s to come in the season ahead. Beyond that, it’s basically a big party with a fun atmosphere full of anticipation and looking ahead to an entertaining fall and winter on the city stage.Oh...
Poem: Life from our Past
It is that fleeting glimpse, of life from our past, we so deeply desire, these thoughts to last. Nostalgia can be an old friend, easily awakened without a thought, an elusive memory from childhood, you didn’t realize you sought. Perhaps a conversation or visit, or the scent of pine from the forest, will rekindle those memories, that have remained dormant at rest. These memories are welcome, for they return like an old friend, time...
Play some Wiffle Ball for a good cause at NHTI
As we get into the middle of September, the baseball season really kicks into high gear. The best teams – like the Red Sox this year – start to rest key players and get their houses in order for the playoffs. Those still fighting for a playoff spot tend to go all-in for a shot at the postseason.But around here, there’s only one game that matters this September, and it has a bigger impact on real human lives than any MLB game: NHTI’s...
Looking back: A trip down North Main
Please take a trip back in time with me to North Main Street. This is a photograph of North Main Street in Concord. The photographer stood over a century ago on North Main Street looking south towards our downtown. He was close to where now are traffic lights at the intersection of 393 and North Main in the middle of the road. Some perspective for your enjoyment: The first house on the left is the present day Carrigan House, the large...
Local Baskit is pairing the two greatest substances on earth – bacon and beer
You read that right – Local Baskit is about to host an event pairing the two greatest substances in the history of the universe: bacon and beer.On Wednesday, the meal kit shop at 10 Ferry St. will open its doors for beer and bacon lovers – or in other words, everyone – from 5 to 7 p.m. This event will feature beers from Concord’s own Lithermans Limited and Concord Craft Brewing Co., as well as Hobbs Tavern and Brewery, 603 Brewery,...
Theme days
It seems as though we’re headed to a socially distant summer, and while some places are beginning to open up, people will likely be spending more time at home compared to past years. Here’s a brainstorm of ways you can have fun this summer at home or in your neighborhood. Do you have any other suggestions? Send us an email at news@theconcordinsider.com. Field Day Divide your family and/or close neighbors into teams, maybe with...
Join Kimball Jenkins for the 3-day Art + Life celebration
If there’s one thing Kimball Jenkins knows – besides art, obviously – it’s how to throw a party. Whether it’s a tea party, a fairy party, a Halloween party or just a generic, all-purpose party, the historic estate knows what it’s doing when it comes to entertaining a crowd. That’s why it should have no problem putting on a three-day bash called Art + Life, which will run from Thursday through Saturday. The purpose of the Art + Life...
Parade for parents
Mother’s Day at Presidential Oaks usually means lots of happenings: families enjoying a buffet breakfast with Mom or taking her out for lunch or stopping by to visit with an array of gifts. However, with the suspension of visitation due to COVID-19, none of those usual Mother’s Day activities was possible. Despite the pandemic, Presidential Oaks staff still wanted to be sure Mother’s Day was just as special. A vehicle parade was held...
Raise awareness for hearing loss at New Hampshire Hears Walkathon
New Hampshire Hears, a local organization that was founded by a Concord High School student and her father, presents the first annual New Hampshire Hears Walkathon on Sunday at 11 a.m. at Rollins Park in Concord. The walk is a fundraiser for the Northeast Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services (NDHHS) and is sponsored by The Dirt Doctors, Nixon, Vogelman, Slawsky & Simoneau, P.A. and several other local businesses. Grace Leonard, a...
Look back: Remembering the ‘unknown’ soldiers
As I walk the Blossom Hill Cemetery this brisk day, I stop to reflect on those less fortunate. My thoughts are with those that have perished tragically in a time of war, just 11 young men. No different than our very own brothers, sons and fathers. Just eleven young men that enlisted with a passion to defend our country and speak for those less fortunate and oppressed. It is a very special monument where I somberly reflect today for it...
Hear the remarkable Tom Brady redemption story from authors Casey Sherman and Dave Wedge at Gibson’s Bookstore
Award-winning journalists/authors Dave Wedge and Casey Sherman will return to Gibson’s Bookstore on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. to present the story of the 2015 and 2016 football seasons from the perspective of the Patriots’ own Tom Brady, during one of the most dramatic seasons of his career, in 12: The Inside Story of Tom Brady’s Season of Redemption.In January 2015, rumors circulated that the New England Patriots – a team long suspected...
Poem: Once a family
Where there was once a family, there is none, at this simple family cemetery, on a hill under the sun. Their years were lived, on a nearby farm a century ago, much like families today, it was great love they did know. There were trials and tribulations, with the family that once lived near, as the years claimed each, no one left to tear. The old headstones casting shadows, askew with moss...
Red River Theatres to celebrate 50th anniversary of Streisand classic ‘Funny Girl’
Fifty years ago, young Barbra Streisand won an Oscar for playing a star who took Broadway by storm 50 years before her, the legendary comedienne Fannie Brice. Against Hollywood’s advice, producer Ray Stark insisted that 25-year-old Streisand repeat her stage role in the movie of Funny Girl, packaging her with Omar Sharif (Doctor Zhivago) as Brice’s gambler husband, Nick Arnstein, and veteran director William Wyler at the helm....
This week in Concord History
May 20, 1927: Filing his nationally syndicated column from Concord, humorist Will Rogers writes: “No attempts at jokes today. A slim, tall, bashful, smiling American boy is somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean, where no lone human being has ever ventured before. He is being prayed for to every kind of Supreme Being that has a following. If he is lost it will be the most universally regretted loss we ever had.” The next day, that American...
CYPN: Meet Lydea Irwin, 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,” Lydea Irwin. Each month the CYPN steering committee recommends a young professional in the community it thinks readers would enjoy getting to know better.How old are you? 31.Where do you live? Downtown Concord.Where do you currently work? I’m a staff attorney with the New Hampshire Bureau of Securities...
Book of the Week: A YA must read
Alanna; The First Adventure By Tamora Pierce (Young adult fantasy, 288 pages, 2010) Currently on Libby for audiobook download A must-read for budding fantasy readers, this is the first in a series weaving rich tapestries of magic and human nature in the fantastical Kingdom of Tortall. This captivating book chronicles the adventures, mishaps, and learnings of Alanna, a young girl yearning to become a knight of the...
Entertainment: The weather might be cooling off, but Concord’s live entertainment scene isn’t
The weather might (finally) be starting to cool down a bit, but the entertainment scene is doing just the opposite, with the usual plethora of live music plus a whopping five theater events on the docket this week. Have a look: Music Tuesday Scott Solsky at Hermanos Cocina Mexicana at 6:30 p.m. Open mic comedy at Area 23 at 9 p.m. Wednesday Paul Desmarais at Hermanos at 6:30 p.m. Veronica Swift at the Capitol Center for the Arts at...
City newsletter: Golf returns, survey for businesses
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: Beaver Meadow reopens Beaver Meadow Golf Course is reopened on Monday, May 11, with guidelines in place to provide a safe and enjoyable experience to guests. Please see their website for more information bmgc.golf. Other updates will be...
Theater teacher to host series of workshops at Kimball Jenkins
When Michael Cobb and his wife, Nola Rocco, decided to move to New Hampshire last year, they had two dreams. One involved the Pilates studio business they had purchased in Tilton, now Pilates Etc., on Laconia Road, which Rocco, with a background as a professor and dance and theater artist, would run as a continuation of her recent Pilates business in Denver. The other surrounded Cobb’s dream of drawing on his background of teaching...
Author event: Before and after society falters
Two New Hampshire authors visit Gibson’s Bookstore virtually to discuss their new spring books on Thursday, May 14, at 6 p.m. Anthony Caplan presents Yet Today, a novel about normal people pushed to the brink while society functions, and Sam Kench, presenting The Fall of Polite, about New Hampshire families and characters struggling in lawlessness after society falls. Gibson’s will be hosting Caplan and Kench via Zoom...
Bulletin Board: Music and dance notes, plus T-shirt discounts
Sep“T”ember at You’re Fired Wear a “T” and paint for free! All September, wear a shirt with a You’re Fired logo to any You’re Fired studio and receive a free studio fee. We like to call it our Sep“T”ember promo. Staff shirts, Camp Fired shirts, sports sponsor shirts – they all work! Don’t have a shirt? They are available at any You’re Fired studio, or, better yet, make your own! Just be sure to include a You’re Fired logo, and wear it...
It’s time to get scoopin’
It’s finally getting to that time of year when more days are warm than cold (despite what Saturday’s snowfall would have you believe). With temperatures on the rise, that can only mean one thing: ice cream season. Greater Concord area scoopers are opening their windows to all those in search of a delicious cone or sundae. Just a reminder: Like most everything these days, hours and availability are subject to change, be sure to call in...
This Week in Concord History
Sept. 11, 1866: Kearsarge beats Portsmouth 32-19 in one of the first reported games of “base ball” in Concord. Judge Ira Eastman, however, remembers seeing the game (or its forerunner, rounders) played in the city 50 years before. Sept. 11, 2001: In cities and towns, schools and offices, people across the state break from their routines as the grim details of terrorist attacks along the East Coast unfold. Many simply break...
Children’s book: A bit o’ fun from DePaola
Jamie O’Rourke and the Big Potato Written and illustrated by Tomie DePaola (32 pages, 1992, children’s fiction) There is nothing like a tale told by Tomie DePaola with its distinct illustrations and lively tone. You’ll find yourself speaking with an Irish brogue as you read this fun tale aloud about “Jamie O’Rourke the laziest man in all of Ireland.” Now Jamie’s poor overworked wife is in bed and can’t get up, so it is up to Jamie to...
Book of the Week: ‘Journey to Munich: A Maisie Dobbs Novel’
Journey to Munich Jacqueline Winspear 2016, 300 pages Fiction It is 1938. Maisie Dobbs has returned to England from Spain. She is mourning the devastating loss of her husband. But it is time to return home, and she feels she might be ready to work again.Before she can get settled in, she is contacted by Brian Huntley and Robert MacFarlane of the Secret Service. They want her to do an undercover mission for them. A famous inventor and...
Book review: Get swept away by great storytelling
The Name of the Wind By Patrick Rothfuss (Fantasty, 722 pages, 2008) Currently on Libby as e-book As the roads become dangerous and foreign threats turn soldiers to mercenaries, a new menace stumbles upon the sleepy village of Newarre. But was it perhaps drawn there, seeking out a kingkiller in hiding? A bloodless, powerful man who has fought with angels? Quiet innkeeper Kvothe may be more than he appears to the village...
