The Insider’s Guide to Summer in N.H.
June 9 The Thing In The Spring The Thing In The Spring is a four-day spectacle, June 9-12, featuring music, an arts fair, readings and the Kubb Classic. Event Fee: $10-50. Where: Downtown Peterborough. Info: thethinginthespring.com June 11 Laconia Motorcycle Week It’s the world’s oldest motorcycle rally and it’s happening just up the road. Motorcycle Week runs from June 11-19 and is filled with bike shows, swap meets, poker...
Top 10 things to do in Concord this summer
There’s certainly plenty to do in the summertime, no matter where you are. When the weather is nice enough that you can stay outside all day and night, there’s really no limit to the fun you can have. In Concord, the only challenge is deciding what you’re going to do – there’s probably too much going on to possibly take it all in. But we’re here, as always, to make your life easier. We compiled a list of the top 10 things we think you...
Take a look at all the summer camp options
Summer is right around the corner, and that means school will soon be out and kids will be looking for something to do. Luckily, there are almost a million cool summer camps in Concord to choose from, so there’s bound to be at least one for everyone. Since we don’t have enough room to go over every single one, we did our best to give you a good sampling of camps that still have spots open – no sense in getting you all excited for a...
Food Snob: We took a delicious ride on The Rolling Grill 2
Nothing quite says summer like enjoying a meal in the fresh air. As you probably know, there are lots of places around Concord where you can grab a bite. But on a nice day, you could wait five, 10 or 20 minutes for a table. And if you’re in a hurry – either running errands or taking a quick break from your garden or any other outdoor project you’ve got going on – that just might not fit into your plans. The same can be said on the...
Get ready for the first Kids Con New England
Geek culture – with all due respect – is all the rage these days. It seems like comic book and video game and costume play conventions are growing ever more popular by the day. But despite the adolescent nature of comics and games and characters and fantasy, these big conventions tend to be more adult-oriented. They’re not generally geared toward toddlers and other little kids who also love dressing up and having fun. But Kids Con New...
This open house is all about Abbot-Downing
If we learned anything last year, it’s that Concord is pretty old. Now in its 251st year, the New Hampshire capital is also quite rich in history. And you can see some of it on display this Saturday at Johnny Prescott & Son Oil Co. Especially if you’re interested in seeing a bunch of Abbot-Downing vehicles in one place. “I believe this will be the largest collection of Abbot-Downing vehicles in one place,” said Tom Prescott. There...
Get the Martin Experience at Strings & Things
If you play guitar – or even if you don’t – you’ve probably heard of Martin guitars before. This company is pretty much as good as it gets when it comes to acoustic guitars. Whether you already know all about them or not, you will if you check out the Martin Experience event at Strings & Things Music Store next week. “What Martin does, they go over all things Martin,” said Mike Gallant – or “Mikey G” – an instructor at Strings...
Have a Fairy Tea Party
Kimball-Jenkins will host its second annual Fairy House Festival with award-winning author and illustrator Tracy Kane on Sunday. Participants of all ages will be taught how to construct whimsical fairy houses with materials found in nature. Natural materials will be provided and participants are encouraged to bring additional natural materials to make a one-of-a-kind fairy house. Please bring snacks and a lunch to enjoy on our...
Try It: Books & Brew
We heard about Books & Brew a little while ago – Concord Public Library started the program in September. It’s a very low-key, alternative kind of book club that meets at True Brew Barista. The problem was, going to a book club would likely require reading some kind of book, which there isn’t exactly a ton of time for in the Insiders’ households these days. But I happened to get a few books for Christmas, and slowly but surely I...
Trifecta of talent coming to Gibson’s Bookstore
Listen up, book fans: Gibson’s Bookstore has an author event this week featuring not one, not two, but three great wordsmiths all in the same place at the same time. It’s really a rare occasion.Poet Shelley Girdner will present an evening of verse as she shares her new book, You Were That White Bird. Her first full-length poetry collection looks at the way relationships change over the course of a life, and how different they can look...
Book Bingo at Concord Public Library is back
Book Bingo is back at the libraryIf you liked the first edition of Book Bingo the Concord Public Library rolled out last year, you’ll be happy to know that it’s back for the summer.From now until Aug. 31, read books that correspond with a space on the bingo board to mark that space. Get five in a row for a bingo, which gets you a raffle ticket giving you a chance to win cool prizes.Check in at the service desk to get a bingo card and...
There’s a new Bob Larsen exhibit at McGowan
If you’re a fan of local art, then you’re probably familiar with the name Bob Larsen. He’s kind of a big deal around these parts. And he just so happens to have an exhibit, Inspirations, of his new watercolor work hanging on the walls of McGowan Fine Art through the end of the month. There’s paintings of churches and a local pizza shop, tidal pools, lobsters and much more. Go check it out!
Piccola Youth Opera to perform ‘Hansel & Gretel’
It’s safe to assume you know the story of Hansel and Gretel. You know, the one about the brother and sister who are left in the woods by their parents. They get lost, eventually find a house made of gingerbread and are held captive by an evil witch before making a grand escape. Yeah that one. And in case you didn’t know, it’s not just a fairy tale written in the early 1800s or a cool movie. It was also converted into an opera by...
Concord pools to open Saturday
Insider staff We can only imagine that at this very moment, you’re sitting in an air conditioned room with a fan blowing the cold air straight into your face. Yep, summer is officially here, but as much as you’d like to, you can’t spend the next few months holed up in your house. You have to go outside at some point, no matter how amazing that crisp indoor air feels. But it can be such a drag dealing with the heat and humidity that...
What makes a silent film better? Live music
He never smiled on camera, earning him the nickname of “the Great Stone Face.” But Buster Keaton’s comedies rocked Hollywood’s silent era with laughter throughout the 1920s. Acclaimed for their originality and timeless visual humor, Keaton’s films remain popular crowd-pleasers today. See for yourself with a screening of The General (1926), one of Keaton’s landmark feature films, at Red River Theatres, 11 S. Main St., on Friday at 7...
Book of the Week: Landfalls
Landfalls Naomi J. Williams 2015, 315 pages Historical fiction Naomi Williams’s debut novel puts an inventive spin on the Laperouse expedition, a sea-faring mission that left France in 1785 in search of new lands, and consequently vanished off the coast of Australia. Landfalls captures the doomed expedition on its voyage around the world, with chapters based in Chile, Alaska, Siberia, California and more. Each chapter is also...
This Week in Concord History
June 7, 1765: The provincial government grants Concord a royal charter. Since 1733, the town had been called Rumford, and before that, under a 1725 Massachusetts charter, Penny-Cook. June 7, 1965: To celebrate the city’s bicentennial, Concord leaders bury a time capsule in the State House plaza, to be reopened on June 7, 2015. Among the items inside: marble from the giant railroad station demolished in 1961 and wood from the...
Bulletin Board
Poetry Society at Gibson’s on June 15 The Poetry Society of New Hampshire will meet at Gibson’s Bookstore on June 15 at 7 p.m. June’s headliners are Mark Palos, and Slam Free Or Die – back by popular demand. An open mic follows their readings. All are welcome, newcomers are encouraged. The Poetry Society meets at Gibson’s on the third Wednesday of every month. Gibson’s Bookstore Friday Family Fun at music school Please join New...
Look who’s trying to find love on craigslist
We took to craigslist last week to see who had been posting on the missed connections pages in our neck of the woods. And lo and behold, we found all these great entries. So here’s a sampling of what we found and could print, unedited, of course. Redhead from Lifeline Ambulance – m4w (Concord)–May 29 You are a hot, curvy redhead EMT from Lifeline. I’ve seen you in the ambulance bay at Concord Hospital a few times. You...
We sure take fun vacations
Linda Baines not only got to ride a camel while in the desert at Wadi Rum in Jordan, but she did so while reading the Insider. Some people have all the fun. If you go somewhere fun, take a copy of the Insider along with you and send us a pic from your trip. We pretty much run everything we get!
Live music rundown for this weekend
If you can’t wait a whole week to check out that Martin Experience, you can still get your music fix in the meantime. If you go to True Brew Barista, you can catch Zooo Crew and The Snaz on Friday and Whiskey Kill & Dressed for the Occasion on Saturday. If you’re more into listening to music while sipping brews next to a psychadelic wall mural, you might want to check out Area 23 on Saturday. Trade will be playing their second...
Tasty Brews: Founders Sumatra at Barley House
For this week’s Tasty Brew, we ventured back to the first place we went to start this delicious endeavor: The Barley House. That’s because they had just recently had a kick-the-keg event featuring some rare, specialty beers from Founders, and we wanted to see what all the fuss was about. We tried the Sumatra Mountain Brown, an imperial brown ale brewed with Sumatra coffee. This is a dark, rich, smooth, strong, flavorful beer that’s...
Destination Imagination went to the Global Finals
A few weeks ago, we told you about three local Destination Imagination teams who were getting ready to go to the Global Finals in Knoxville, Tenn. These kids had been working all school year to perfect their skits to compete against thousands of other students from the world over on a big stage. Well, since our boss wouldn’t sign off an an Insider trip to Tennessee so we could watch in person, we had to utilize our greatest asset to...
Bow Garden Club celebrates spring
The Bow Garden Club held its annual spring plant sale recently and they sure did sell a lot of plants. It’s safe to say that all of these ladies were quite busy and dirty by the end of it.