Making Good Health Simple: Obsessed with Hallmark movies? There may be a biological reason for that
I watch Hallmark movies. I watch all of them. I watch them obsessively. Last week I watched one from 2015. Didn’t care that I’ve seen it at least five other times. Still watched it until the end. I don’t watch them for the Academy Award-winning acting, or the predictable and typically unrealistic plots. I watch them because they make me happy. I have the Hallmark movies app downloaded on my phone. It is level 10 rewarding to be able...
City Manager’s Newsletter: Winter operations, construction updates and more
The city manager’s office sent out the City Manager’s Newsletter last week. The full newsletter can be found by going to concordnh.gov and clicking the “Newsletter” button on the home page. Here are some highlights from last week’s letter: Winter operations The snow has arrived and the City of Concord has already issued three winter parking bans so far this season (as of last Friday). Sign up for winter parking ban email notifications...
Instagram: Nothing cozier than a nice beer and some good tunes
How cozy does this look? That’s Dwayne Haggins playing an acoustic set at Concord Craft Brewing on a recent Wednesday evening. The beer, the brick, the lighting, the flannel – it all seems to work very well together, and it makes us want to go check out the next show. Instagram user @nhmusiccollective posted this one, and if you missed out on Haggins’s show, there are plenty more in the works. Up next is Tim Kierstead this Wednesday...
Author Mitch Albom to present new book ‘Finding Chika’ at Capitol Center for the Arts
On Monday at 7 p.m. at the Capitol Center for the Arts, Northeast Delta Dental and Gibson’s Bookstore present bestselling author Mitch Albom, with Finding Chika, his first work of nonfiction in more than 10 years! This poignant memoir celebrates Chika, a young Haitian orphan whose short life would forever change the heart of a family. Albom is a best-selling author, screenwriter, playwright and nationally syndicated columnist. The...
Two holiday events at Duprey properties to benefit the community
There are two holiday-themed events coming up soon that will help several areas and subsets of the community, and both are being hosted by Steve Duprey-owned properties. First, 43 Degrees North Athletic Club will host its second annual Holiday Market on Thursday where local vendors will be set up around the facility and people can shop, work out, sip some wine and get their gifts wrapped for free. As an added bonus, anyone can work...
Concord is a hiker’s (and cross-country skier’s) dream, even in the dead of winter
With the arrival of the first “real” snow of the season, winter is unofficially in full swing. It’s dark by 4 p.m., daily high temps hover around the 20s and 30s, ice is on the pavement and snow is everywhere. Not exactly appealing. However, we’re lucky enough to live in a city that knows full well that this will come every year. In Concord, you don’t have to go into hibernation mode as soon as the first big snow comes. In fact, you...
The Yogi: Yoga gives you a toolbox for living in your body
I like a good snow shovel. I’m partial to the “ergonomic” ones, with the bent handle. There is some debate over whether they are actually better or not. That’s why I also have a couple of straight snow shovels, an ice scraper and a good old-fashioned square steel shovel that the previous owner of the house left behind. Each year the shovels make their way from our beat-up old shed to live next to the house for the winter. The...
McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center open for fun all winter long
The McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center is open to the public from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, plus the first Friday night of each month from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. The Discovery Center will also be open for winter vacation from Dec. 26 through Jan. 5 from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. (Closed on New Year’s Day). The December planetarium show lineup covers flight, humanity’s first steps on the moon, the planets,...
Entertainment: All kinds of stage shows this weekend, from holiday-themed to comedy
Music Tuesday Paul Hubert at Hermanos at 6:30 p.m. Open mic at Tandy’s at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday Eugene Durkee at Hermanos at 6:30 p.m. Tim Kierstead at Concord Craft Brewing Co. at 5:30 p.m. Irish Music After Work with David Levine at Area 23 at 5:30 p.m. Open mic at Area 23 at 7 p.m. Thursday Richard Gardzina at Hermanos at 6:30 p.m. Bach’s Lunch Concert: “Come, the Feast is Ready! A Shaker Christmas” at Concord Community Music School...
Public forums, free concerts, stamp meeting
Toastmasters host speaking forum Concord Toastmasters and Karner Blue Toastmasters welcomes you to a Public Speaking Forum on Tuesday, Dec. 10 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at New Hampshire Fish & Game at 11 Hazen Drive in Concord. This open house will be an evening of engaging speakers, and introduction to the Toastmasters Public Speaking & Leadership program. It will showcase the organization that stars in Animal Planet’s North Woods...
Concord Family YMCA to host grand opening of Kid Zone on Saturday
The Concord Family YMCA has some good news for kids (and adults who have kids) and bad news for squash players – the squash court has been turned into a play area for kids, and the grand opening ceremony is this Saturday. After a steady decline in the use of the squash court, the Y decided it was time to make better use of the space. Meanwhile, there are many Y members who have kids, and many of the kids have plenty of their own...
CYPN: Erika Mattson of New York Life is the Young Professional Month
The Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce’s Concord Young Professionals Network introduces you to our “Young Professional of the Month,” Erika Mattson. 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? 26. Where do you live? Manchester (but born and raised in Concord!). Where do you currently work? New York Life....
It’s been real, ‘Insider’ readers, but it’s time for me to move on
The rumors are sad, but true – this will be my final Insider issue. After about five years of getting to know the ins and outs of the Concord community and relaying important, even vital information such as the best beers around, where bands are playing and how to navigate the world’s longest mini-golf hole, I’m ending my career in community journalism. It won’t be easy to leave, though. In my time with the Insider, I’ve seen, heard,...
This Week in Concord History
Dec. 10, 1991: In Concord, Pat Buchanan announces that he will challenge President Bush in the New Hampshire Republican primary. America’s Judeo-Christian heritage must be passed on to a new generation, Buchanan says, not “dumped on some landfill called multiculturalism.” Dec. 10, 1991: At St. Paul’s School in Concord, Gov. Bill Clinton of Arkansas tells students that if he were the Democratic nominee for president, he would not stand...
Book of the Week: ‘Curious Toys’
Curious Toys Elizabeth Hand 2019, 336 pages Fiction In 1915, Pin, the daughter of an Italian fortune-teller at Chicago’s Riverview Amusement Park, disguises herself as a boy to make a living as an errand-runner. She’s haunted by her sister’s recent murder and desperate to save money before she and her mother lose their employment at the end of the summer. Unbeknownst to Pin, a serial killer is haunting the rides of Riverview, waiting...
