This week in Concord history
Feb. 24, 1853: Concord’s “Old John” Virgin, a veteran of the War of 1812, is found frozen in his house on Sugar Ball. Virgin boasted all his life of having fought at Tippecanoe with William Henry Harrison. An invalid, he had “an ulcerous sore on one of his legs, which was very offensive,” according to a contemporary account. Virgin earned a pension of $96 a year and was determined to live on it. When he came to town, his “loud...
Time to break out the old swimsuit and hit the pool
The key to keeping your head above water is a little thing we like to call treading. It’s when you move your legs – and sometimes arms – in a rhythmic way that keeps the top half of your body above the water line, allowing you to still breath, which we’ve heard is kind of an essential thing these days. It may take some practice, but don’t worry, you’ll get it. If three- or four-year-old swimmers can do it, we’d say it’s safe to assume...
The world is a nicer place because of these students
In December at Rundlett Middle School, at a time when most kids were thinking about what they were going to get for Christmas, a number of students took part in PRIDE Bingo, a game that required one to do good deeds for others and not think of oneself. Pictured are some of the more than 130 students who completed a minimum combination of three rows, columns or diagonals of activities. Students had to complete a bingo card featuring...
Don’t miss your second chance to dress up and sing
The Concord Public Library planned to follow the Yellow Brick Road to a singalong starring Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tinman, the Lion (and Toto too!) earlier this month, but it was snowed out, because it was held on a day of the week. Fear not, fans of the Emerald City, you’ll have another chance. Sunday, April 19 at 2 p.m., the library is planning another Over the Rainbow Songfest with the entire crew, and visitors will be encouraged to...
Instagram photo of the week – Tue, 24 Feb 2015
At least all this snow is good for SOMETHING. Instagram user @girldogbike was whipping up Belgian white and needed a place to cool the wort. Boom – cooled. As a bonus, beer has been proven to make repeated snowstorms every two or three days exponentially more survivable. Have one for us, ladies!
We want you to take pictures of your icicles and send them to us
Fact: It’s really freaking cold outside right now. Other fact: there’s a lot of frozen precipitation lying around. Result of those facts: iciciles! Thus concludes this morning’s Insider science lesson. There will be no homework. That’s a lie, actually! There is homework: we think icicles are pretty cool, so long as you are not standing underneath them when they fall, and we want to see pictures of Concord’s coolest icicles. We...
Voting for a Presidents’ Day resolution
My annual survey of how we punctuate the day on which each president is honored for about 33 minutes (if Grover Cleveland gets over an hour) produced these: ∎ Presidents Day, the choice that avoids apostrophes altogether: Bonneville & Sons, Portsmouth Ford, Sears, and a brief notice in the Monitor about the closing of city offices. The Monitor supplement also calls it Presidents Day at the top of every page. AutoServ.com opts for...
Become an engineer and you can teach people to make silly putty
We’ve always wondered what engineers actually do. It’s one of those professions that has a lot of mystery surrounding it, like spies, donut hole makers and the people who mow weird shapes into fields. We don’t see them, but somehow all that stuff still gets done. Anyway, getting back to engineers, we’ve been stumped for a long time and have been searching high and low, near and far, for any kind of clue as to what they get paid to do....
The ultimate fate of our gingerbread house is in your hands, readers
You may recall that back in December, Tim teamed up with Sue Chandler to make one heck of a good lookin’ gingerbread house. How good lookin’? Good enough that we’ve left it in the Insider pod ever since. But the braintrust in the building has told us it’s time to usher our lovely house out the door, before a family of rodents decides to move into the thing (it is delightfully furnished, if we do say so ourselves). Trouble is, we...
We went to engineer week, so we’re basically engineers now
Christa McAuliffe School held an engineering expo and we were there to soak up all the knowledge
Join the Co-op for another delicious tour of the world
It should come as no surprise to our faithful readers that we’re big fans of delicious food. So you can imagine our reaction when we heard the Co-op was going to be whipping up tantalizing dishes from all over the world again. We’ll let the people at the Co-op take over from here with the info: Back by popular demand, Executive Chef Scott Jones and his team in the Celery Stick Cafe are revamping the World Cuisine Tour for 2015 at the...
Classic Concord photos
Since it’s the only darn thoroughfare free of ice and snow these days, we figured we’d take an extra long trip down memory lane this week with some photos of Cinema 93, which used to reside on Loudon Road in the strip where the Post Office currently stands, courtesy of Kurt and Barry Steelman. The shot above was taken during the theater’s first year of operation in 1967 and features the concession staff, which really wanted you to...
City Briefly
Each week, City Manager Tom Aspell breaks out his protractor and calculator and tries to work through a formula to determine whether one large pizza is a better value than two small pizzas based on surface area. Fried after two hours of noodling, he breaks down and just buys a slice. Thankfully his otherwise unintelligible mathematic scribbles spell out a city memo!Forecast: #$&**(#*#*Lousy snow still snowyWith more than 15...
Robotics competition this Saturday at NHTI
Middle and high school students from New Hampshire and Vermont will descend upon NHTI on Saturday, Feb. 28 for the NH-VT State VEX Robotics Competition. Forty teams that have previously qualified will come together for a non-stop, action-packed day of competition in which they will battle against each other with robots created from the VEX Robotics Design System. Participants will square off in the game Skyrise, developed by VEX...
DES small business workshop on March 9
The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services and WorkWISE NH is offering the New Hampshire small business community a free, half-day educational workshop. This workshop will provide presentations on hazardous waste management for small quantity generators, air emissions for minor sources and health and safety topics for small businesses. Participants will review universal waste management, used oil requirements, emergency...
Learn all about the effects of laughter
Concord Regional Visiting Nurse Association is offering a free presentation “Laughter for Mind & Body” on Monday, March 9 from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. at United Methodist Church of Penacook, Penacook Community Center Senior Program, 21 Merrimack St. in Penacook. Laughter is a powerful remedy to stress, pain and conflict. Humor lightens your burdens, inspires hopes, connects you to others and keeps you grounded. Learn about the effects...
Traveling exhibit coming to N.H. State Library
An exhibit traveling North America that chronicles Poland’s struggle for independence will be in New Hampshire in February and March, first on display at Saint Hedwig’s Parish Hall in Manchester and then at the N.H. State Library in Concord. Brought to New Hampshire through cooperation between the Institute of National Remembrance in Warsaw and the Polish American Congress of New Hampshire, “From War to Victory, 1939-1989” focuses on...
Keep those fuel fills clear of ice and snow
During this time of winter cold and extreme snow conditions, the member dealers of the Oil Heat Council of New Hampshire want to remind our customers to keep their fuel fills clear of snow and ice. New Hampshire fuel truck drivers are currently working extra hours delivering heating oil and kerosene to thousands of customers in all conditions. Drivers are able to reach more customers each day when the inpidual customers make an effort...
Book fair, toddler group at Children’s Place
The Children’s Place and Parent Education Center 27 Burns Ave. in Concord is hosting a book fair all this week, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. daily. Come help support this great local resource and get some great books, too. The Children’s Place is also holding a free toddler playgroup every Monday from 9 to 10:30 a.m. Toddlers and their grown ups are welcome to come and play, sing, dance and have a snack. There is no registration fee, but...
Wings of Knowledge continues March 3
On Tuesday, March 3 at 6 p.m. in the library living room, NHTI will present the next in its series of free public Wings of Knowledge lectures for the 2014-15 season: “Furniture Made in New Hampshire,” with Lynn Szymanski. Szymanski has been making furniture since 1991. She has exhibited nationally and taught at the University of New Hampshire, Fitchburg State University and San Diego State University. For three years, she was head of...
Reserve your spot to meet Tedy Bruschi
Local business owner and advocate for heart health, Jeremy Woodward, is pleased to announce a meet and greet with former New England Patriots linebacker, Tedy Bruschi. The event will take place Monday, March 16 at 6 p.m. Location will be announced soon. Woodward, owner of Jeremy’s Bootcamp, is running the Boston Marathon as part of Tedy’s Team, a team formed by Bruschi to raise awareness and money for stroke victims and their...
VNA Walk-In Wednesday to be held this week
Concord Regional Visiting Nurse Association offers Walk-In Wednesday on Wednesday, Feb. 25 from 10 a.m. to noon at Heights Community Center, 14 Canterbury Road in Concord. Walk-In Wednesday is held on the fourth Wednesday of every month at the same time. Walk-In Wednesday is an opportunity to get your questions answered. A Concord Regional VNA team member is available to meet with people inpidually regarding their specific concerns....
Time to pick out those trees and shrubs
The Merrimack County Conservation District is hosting its annual spring tree and shrub fundraiser. This year we are offering a mixture of old favorites as well as exciting new varieties of trees, shrubs, fruit trees, small fruits, plant packages, composting items, bulbs and N.H. grown plants. Whether you are looking for a new variety for a sunny or shady spot in your yard, are thinking about adding a new color to your current...
Sign up for the State of the State at the Chamber
Join your fellow businesses and community leaders for an overview by Gov. Maggie Hassan on the current “State of the State” of New Hampshire. Governor Hassan will deliver her third annual update for the Chamber on the economic challenges and opportunities facing the state, especially as they relate to the business community. The event is presented by the Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce on Thursday, March 12, from 11:30 a.m. to...
Concord Public Library Book of the Week
For more information about the Concord Public Library, visit concordpubliclibrary.net and visit us on Tumblr (reading-rumblr.tumblr.com) and concordteens.tumblr.com) and Facebook (facebook.com/ConcordPublicLibrary).The MiniaturistJessie Burton2014, 416 pagesFictionAlthough it’s set in the Netherlands of the 1600s, The Miniaturist reads more like a gothic novel than historical fiction. Nella Oortman arrives in Amsterdam in 1686...
NHTI film society to show ‘Patrick’s Day’
The NHTI Film Society proudly presents Patrick’s Day (not rated, but with adult situations; 2014; 102 mins), a special release from the Manhattan Short Feature Film Project, Friday, March 6 at 7 p.m. in the Sweeney Auditorium. Admission is $10 (free with an NHTI student ID). This year’s Manhattan Short Feature Film is from Ireland and explores the meaning of intimacy, memory, sanity and love. It’s a story about a mentally ill man’s...
Come fly with us as we look at N.H. aviation – in picture form
If you haven’t seen the exhibit, A Focus on New Hampshire Aviation, at the N.H. State Library, we have some good news. The pictures on these two pages are from it, but the bad news is that it will only be on display through Wednesday, which means you only have mere hours to check it out. Oh, well you might as well enjoy these in the mean time.
Come fly with us as we look at N.H. aviation – in picture form
If you haven’t seen the exhibit, A Focus on New Hampshire Aviation, at the N.H. State Library, we have some good news. The pictures on these two pages are from it, but the bad news is that it will only be on display through Wednesday, which means you only have mere hours to check it out. Oh, well you might as well enjoy these in the mean time.
Laura Aibel is proof not all engineers wear pocket protectors
Laura Aibel is an engineer for the City of Concord and participated in engineer week at the Christa McAuliffe School. So we decided to ask her some questions.What kind of fun things do you get to do as an engineer for the city?I get to learn about building projects before they become public. I’m kind of nosy, so it works for me.What made you want to be a part of engineer week?People think engineers are really boring people who wear...
