City Newsletter: Winter activities arrive in the capital city
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: Basketball Pre-season basketball with Concord Parks & Recreation is in full swing! Participants and spectators have done a great job following all safety guidelines. Regular season basketball registration is now open. Please visit...
Book: Make a plan for your final days
The Lost Art of Dying: Reviving Forgotten Wisdom By Lydia Dugdale (259 pages, nonfiction, 2020) Death. That dreaded word. It rolls off our tongues in a whisper. We mustn’t let it find us. But in doing so, we are only making death more scary. We’ll do anything to fight it. No matter the cost. Which results in the art of dying well being lost. So how do we make death less scary? How do we properly prepare ourselves for the...
Entertainment: Live shows Nov. 27 to Dec. 3
Nov. 27 Open mic at Penuche’s at 8 p.m. Nov. 28 Raid the Larder at Penuche’s at 8 p.m. Malcolm Salls at Concord Craft Brewing from 4 to 6 p.m. Nov. 29 Paul Donahue at 6:30 p.m. at Hermanos Nov. 30 Brian Booth at 6:30 p.m. at Hermanos Dec. 2 Open Mic at Area 23 at 6:20 p.m. Dec. 3 Queen City Improv will perform at the Hatbox Theatre at 7:30 p.m. Send show information to...
Looking back: Cider topper makes his rounds
There was a time in our little village of Rumford, back when we were a British province and ruled by a Royal governor, that the old-world customs and traditions were quite evident and certainly relevant. The harvest was a grand time when the school houses were closed so that the children could work in the fields and bring in the bounty before the onset of the first killing frost. The children were quite pleased to leave the one-room...
Poem: Thanksgiving
As Thanksgiving approaches, our thoughts return to long ago, people did gather, thankfulness they did know. The celebration was had, with people different yet so alike too, they sat together at meal, as friends with enemies few. Thanksgiving is a time, to reflect on memories old, steeped with many old traditions, old stories retold. As each year does pass, new memories again made, sadly, the old memories, sometimes do have to fade....
This week in Concord history
Nov. 26, 2000: More than three-fifths of the state’s voting-age population cast ballots in this year’s election, Newsweek reports. Only four states did better: Minnesota, Maine, Wisconsin and Vermont. Nov. 26, 1845: Five hundred twenty-five turkeys mysteriously pass through the streets of Concord, one day before Thanksgiving. Nov. 26, 1900: “Uncle Ben” Davis dies. He was one of Concord’s most popular citizens during the...
Bulletin board: Donation opportunities and things to do
Food fund online In past years, Concord High School has conducted a food drive for the Capital Region Food Program. This year, in place of the traditional Food and Fund Drive, they launched a Go Fund Me page to support the Holiday Food Basket Program. The link is https://gf.me/u/y9a3k5. For nearly 50 years, the CRFP’s Holiday Food Basket Project has provided food to those in need while offering our community many ways to donate. Due...
Concord Handmade returns for 10th season
Open for its 10th holiday season, Concord Handmade has opened a pop-up shop featuring the creations of New England artists. It was going to spend a second holiday season the building next to the Bank of N.H. Stage, the former OutFITters shop, but a heating issue forced it to relocate shortly after it opened. It is operating out of 2 Capital Plaza, Unit 109, Concord, this year, next to Indigo Blues. It will be open until Dec. 29 on...
City newsletter: Enjoy the holiday festivities
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: Thanksgiving reminders All city of Concord offices will be closing early at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 25. Offices will be closed on Thursday, Nov. 26 and Friday, Nov. 27 in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday. Trash and recycling...
Book of the week: Haddix has new story
The Strangers By Margaret Peterson Haddix (405 pages, youth sci-fi, 2019) Margaret Peterson Haddix always tells an exciting tale. Her latest series, Greystone Secrets, is no exception. Chess, Emma and Finn Greystone live a happy and ordinary life with their devoted mother. Everything changes when three kids with the Greystone’s exact names, ages and birthdays are kidnapped all the way across the country. Suddenly their mother...
Live music and shows available in Concord
Music Nov. 19 Brian Booth at 6:30 p.m. at Hermanos Lucinda William’s virtual series, episode 3, Bob’s Back Pages: A Night of Bob Dylan song at 8 p.m. at the Capitol Center for the Arts. Tickets start at $20. Nov. 20 Masceo Williams at Penuche’s at 8 p.m. Swappin’ Sets with Brian and Dave at Area 23 at 7 p.m. Nov. 21 Jared Steer at Penuche’s at 8 p.m. Dwayne Haggins at Chen Yang Li from 7 to 10 p.m. Saturday Jam with Ross Arnold at...
Bulletin board: Things to do in Concord
Author presents latest history book Mike Pride returns to Gibson’s Bookstore on Dec. 1 at 7 p.m. to virtually present the widest-ranging narrative history to date of the military bastion in the Florida Keys, Storm Over Key West: The Civil War and the Call of Freedom. Signed copies are available from Gibson’s Bookstore. Pride grew up in Florida and graduated from the University of South Florida with a degree in American Studies. After...
Poetry: November
November has returned, an old friend from my past, finding a different world, so very different from November last. The darkness on this cold eve, as the rain does gently fall, a shadowless night indeed, no moon to cast shadows so tall. The sanctity we so desire, as we search each and every day, hoping for some tranquility, that will last and hopefully stay. We move toward the holiday season,...
City Newsletter: Clerks office thanks you for patience, gifts
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: Holiday reminders Christmas parade: The Christmas Parade will take place on Saturday, Nov. 21, at 9:30 a.m. The parade will form at the N.H. Department of Transportation parking lot on Hazen Drive and proceed down Hazen Drive to Loudon...
This week in Concord history
Nov. 19, 2000: In classrooms around the state, the drawn-out presidential election is providing great fodder for civics lessons. “These are excellent times for teachers who are teaching government classes,” says Gary Baker of Kearsarge Regional High School. Nov. 19, 1846: Three laborers on the Northern Railroad are buried when a sand bank near the railroad bridge in Penacook caves in. Two survive; one is killed. Nov. 19,...
Children’s Book: A bit of magic
Little Fairy Can’t Sleep By Daniela Drescher (18 pages, German children’s book, 2007) A warm summer night is alive with magic as crickets chirp, fireflies flicker, and a bright full moon smiles down on the forest beneath. The Sandman works overtime, fox kits, elfin children, and fairies can’t sleep. One little fairy flies from her bed of flowers to visit other forest dwellers, as they all sense the natural pulse of the night awakened....
Book of the week: How to podcast
So You Want to Start a Podcast: Finding Your Voice, Telling your Story, and Building a Community That Will Listen By Kristen Meinzer (216 pages, nonfiction, 2019) We’ve all heard that podcasts are the new thing to do. From marketing to storytelling, lots of people are using them to build an audience and make their voice heard. But how do you start a podcast? Kristen Meinzer has hosted and produced numerous podcasts with great...
Capitol Center for the Arts hits 25-year mark
The Capitol Center for the Arts opened Nov. 9, 1995, to much fanfare after a multi-million dollar fundraising campaign and renovation. The celebration of its 25th anniversary is subdued this year, but a notable milestone for one of the city’s artistic landmarks. Like everything, the coronavirus pandemic has limited gatherings, with arts organization particularly hard-hit. The Capitol Center is offering a few socially-distanced shows...
New housing complex, arena reopening
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:Penacook LandingThe City of Concord and The Caleb Group, a non-profit affordable housing organization based in Swampscott, Mass., are pleased to announce the completion and opening of Penacook Landing, Phase I at 33 Canal Street,...
Epic author, poet to hold virtual talks
Gibson’s Bookstore welcomes back Terry Brooks online Nov. 6 at 7 p.m., as he presents The Last Druid, the conclusion to his Shannara series, an epic event 40 years in the making . Brooks !will be in-conversation with a moderator.Hope blooms anew for the Four Lands in this riveting conclusion, not only to the Fall of Shannara series but to the entire Shannara saga.Since he first began the Shannara saga in 1977, Brooks has had a clear...
Partners create arts corridor up Route 3
The Route 3 Art Trail is a new collaborative partnership designed to encourage people to participate in and enjoy local art, artists and creative events along the Route 3 corridor between Concord, Penacook and Boscawen. The idea was conceived by local artist and Twiggs Gallery owner Adele Sanborn who pitched the idea of creating an arts corridor along Route 3 connecting Kimball Jenkins in Concord, Making Matters N.H. in Penacook and...
This week in Concord history
Nov. 5, 1940: Arthur Smart of Tilton wins a seat in the state Senate at 29, despite the requirement that senators be 30 years old. When a Monitor reporter discovers the discrepancy, Smart will be ousted. Nov. 5, 1967: At the Bedford home of Sylvia Chaplain, a group of New Hampshire Democrats gathers to hear the ideas of activist Allard Lowenstein. Lowenstein’s agenda: to draft Sen. Eugene McCarthy to run for president as a...
Book of the Week: Beating the Lunch Box Blues
Beating the Lunch Box Blues By J.M. Hirsch (198 pages, nonfiction, 2013) Tired of taking the same food to work all the time? This book has lots of yummy pictures to show you how to spice up your meals. It gives you ideas for new things to try with your old beloved foods. It also gives you ideas for new foods to try. You don’t have to be bored with the same old same old. And it shows you quick recipes to make that are great for...
Book of the Week: Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe
Midnight at the Blackbird Café By Heather Webber (333 pages, fiction, 2019) Anna Kate travels to the small town of Wicklow, Alabama, to settle her beloved Grandmother Zee’s estate and close up Zee’s thriving Blackbird Café. There’s a mystery about the Blackbird Café. It is said that if you eat the blackbird pie (fruit and a secret ingredient) then you may get a message from a departed loved one in your dreams. Some people in...
This week in Gibson’s virtual line-up
Virtual poetry gatheringThe Poetry Society of New Hampshire, in conjunction with Gibson’s Bookstore, on Oct. 23 at 7 p.m. presents Hanif Abdurraqib, a poet, essayist, and cultural critic from Columbus, Ohio. He is the author of 2016 poetry collection The Crown Ain’t Worth Much (finalist for the Eric Hoffer Book Prize, nominated for the Hurston-Wright Legacy Award), the 2017 essay collection They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us (named...
Book of the Week: Observations on womanhood
Life of the Party: PoemsBy Olivia Gatwood(153 pages, poetry, 2019)This collection of poems will make you want to step back every now and then to catch your breath. Gatwood’s impossible-to-ignore observations about women’s bodies – and men’s experiences of women’s bodies – are relayed in achingly unambiguous language. At times winsome, but often chilling, the poems in this collection get under your skin. The subject matter blends...
City newsletter: Elections, leaves, Halloween and more
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: Election info The City Clerk’s Office wants residents to know that Oct. 21 was the last day residents may pre-register to vote prior to the State General Election to be held on Nov. 3, 2020. The City Clerk’s Office will be open until 6...
This week in Concord History
Oct. 22, 1987: After passing through a small crowd bearing signs reading “Run, Don, Run,” and “New Hampshire Needs Trump,” real estate magnate Donald Trump tells the Portsmouth Rotary: “This country is in trouble. It needs strength, competence and intelligence.” But he adds: “I am not a candidate for president.” Oct. 22, 1920: George W. Stivers and Marcus F. Bassett, dangerous escapees from Sing Sing Prison in New York, are...
Flight, pint, growler or keg? These breweries have it
Back in 2018, the Insider took you on a tour of the regional brewpubs in the Greater Concord area. We’ve been sticking a bit closer to home these days, so we decided to take a trip down memory lane and give you some updates on those places. We had stopped into several breweries within about a half-hour of Concord back then and found that although a lot of stuff is similar, every brewer has his or her own identity, and it shows in the...
Book: How to Speak Brit
How to Speak Brit: The Quintessential Guide to the King’s English, Cockney Slang, and other Flummoxing British Phrases By C. J. Moore (119 pages, nonfiction, 2014) When I tell people I’m learning to speak British they laugh. It’s just English, they say. Balderdash! With respect, mate, this book shows they do have their own expressions that can have American speakers at sixes and sevens. If you want to go to Old Blighty or if...
