League exhibit showcases a bit of everything
The League of New Hampshire Craftsmen is presenting the Art, Craft & Design exhibition both online and in person at the League Headquarters Gallery in Concord (in the Smile Building). If you are able to visit the gallery in person, the hours of 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. through Aug. 9. All guests must wear masks, and they will limit the number of guests in the space at any time. On display are more than 50 artists with creations such as...
Bank of N.H. Stage looks to turn on the lights
In order for the Bank of N.H. Stage to reopen indoor concerts safely, it has a whole bunch of new procedures to put in place and test out. It’s asking its members and the public to help fine-tune the protocols at its first indoor show. The Special Guests will be doing a free show at the Bank of N.H. Stage on Friday, Aug., 7 at 8 p.m. Tickets are required and are available online. There are a limited number of tickets available. The...
Parks and Rec hosts movie, concerts
Concord Parks and Recreation, in partnership with Red River Theatres, will host a movie at Memorial Field on Aug. 19 at dusk. Registration is required with one spot per household and up to six people per spot. Register online at concordparksandrec.com with code 253000-1. For more information, visit the website or call 225-8690. Additionally, concerts continue in Eagle Square. On Aug. 6 at 7 p.m see Rebel Collective, a pub rock/Celtic...
Good food, music and cause
The Concord Coalition to End Homelessness will be holding a Bluegrass Barbecue on Aug. 9 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Everett Arena. This picnic-style event along the Merrimack River will feature an incredible feast, some live music, and plenty of outdoor space for you to bring your own chairs and beverages and enjoy the day. A limited number of timed tickets will be available and must be purchased in advance. Tickets include a...
Looking back: The Wedding Tree
Sometimes I think back to my earliest memories as a young child. The sun is shining with a slight refreshing breeze and the apple blossoms are in bloom. I am sitting beneath an ancient apple tree in a field on our family farm. The farm has been in our family for over a century and we visited each year to spend our precious summer moments with those we loved creating more memories that I hold dearly within my heart to this very day....
Book: Fascinating look at England
The Wild Places By Robert Macfarlane (340 pages, nature/travel, 2007) Robert Macfarlane lives in England, and he sets out on a journey to see if wild places still exist in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. He starts off in a beechwood near his home and travels to islands, rivers, moors, mountains, beaches, holloways and more. There’s a map in the front of the book with the places that he traveled and pictures of small...
City newsletter: First training available to the public
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: Project First Trainings The Concord Fire Department’s will hold its free naloxone and hands-only CPR training for the public. The classes will be held Aug. 10, Sept. 8, and Oct. 14 at 6 p.m. at the Concord Fire Department’s Training...
This week in history
Aug. 6, 1728: A grant creates the Plantation of Suncook (an Indian term meaning “place of the goose” or “rocky place”). Massachusetts grants the land to the 47 soldiers and survivors of an Indian-hunting expedition to the north known as Lovewell’s War. Francis Doyen of Penacook, one of Lovewell’s soldiers, is believed to have been the first white settler. Aug. 6, 1812: At a convention in Brentwood, Federalist Daniel Webster...
Market Month is here
The annual Market Days festival as we all know it has been canceled for this summer. In its place will be Market Month throughout August. Market Month will be a series of Mini Market Days hosted by Intown Concord to provide an event for downtown Concord businesses to expand onto the sidewalks and sell their goods and services, along with various forms of entertainment, games and family activities. Market Month will feature different...
Book of the Week: An interesting cast of characters
An Irish Country Doctor By Patrick Taylor (352 pages, fiction, 2007) Barry Laverty has just become a doctor and is almost late for a job interview, but he is having trouble finding the small village of Balleybucklebo in Northern Ireland. He loves Ireland and wants to work in a rural practice. But he has to find the place first. The interview is with Doctor Fingal Flahertie O’Reilly. O’Reilly is a larger than life character who has his...
Retelling a fairy tale
Sleeper and the Spindle By Nail Gaiman (68 pages, fiction, 2013) From the twisted mind of Neil Gaiman. You may think you know the story of Sleeping Beauty. But you’ve never heard it like this before. If you’ve always desired more emotion and poetry in fairy tales than chronological statements, look no further. Gaiman artistically tells the tale of a woman cursed to sleep and her unexpected savior. Sweeping illustrations narrate...
Multicultural Fest nixed, alternatives planned
After much discussion and deliberation, the Concord Multicultural Festival committee has reached the difficult decision to cancel the 2020 Concord Multicultural Festival. The uncertainty of COVID-19 presents many challenges that just cannot be addressed effectively due to the nature of this event. Now, more than ever, our community needs connection – the kind of connection that fosters kindness, understanding, and respect. The Concord...
Chamber golf tournament ends on Aug. 5
Each year, the Funds for Education Golf Tournament raises funds to directly support the Chamber’s Business Grants for Teachers program (providing more than $5,000 annually to local teachers who have developed innovative programs in Concord area K-12 schools) and the Chamber’s esteemed Capital Area Student Leadership program. Over 675 Capital region high school sophomores have graduated from CASL since the program began, and...
Be safe and smart with water
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: Parks and Rec Concord Parks & Recreation wants to remind families that we are currently accepting registrations for Youth Soccer (ages 4 to grade 6), NFL Flag Football (ages 6 to 11) and all other fall programs. The registration...
Making Good Health Simple: Deadbug
While gyms are open at lower occupancy numbers and at least some social distancing precautions expected to continue through the summer, it might be hard to keep up the routines you are used to doing. However, it is still important to stay active for a healthy body and mind. Instructors from 43 Degrees North will be sharing quick exercises with the Insider that you can do at home. Deadbug Begin by lying on your back with your legs up...
Kindness Challenge: Putting others first, no matter the risk
In life, it’s not the ideas you have, or your intentions, or even the things you say you will do that count. In life it’s your actions that matter the most and today’s column is about the kind actions of two people, almost 100 years apart whose kind actions saved the lives of others. Harold Lowe was an officer on the Titanic. On the night of April 14, 1912, Harold Lowe was the officer in charge of the only lifeboat that went back to...
This week in Concord history
July 30, 1975: After nearly 100 hours of debate over 30 days and 35 inconclusive roll-call votes, the U.S. Senate declares its inability to settle the disputed November 1974 U.S. Senate election in New Hampshire and sends the matter back to the state. The move opens the way for a new election between Republican Louis Wyman and Democrat John Durkin. Durkin had suggested the new election on grounds that at the rate the Senate was going,...
YA fantasy is riveting
Crown Duel By Sherwood Smith (214 pages and on Libby, young adult fantasy, 1997) This riveting, fast-paced novel will have YA readers of all ages on the edge of their seats. A death-bed oath leads well-intentioned but ill-prepared Meliara and Branaric — siblings of title but little wealth — to wage rebellion against the crown. The king and his minions plot to break an ancient covenant between humans and tree-like Hill Folk,...
Looking back: Concord’s street sprinkler
For many years the city of Concord hosted the Concord State Fair on Clinton Street. This annual event was attended and enjoyed by thousands of people. Our ancestors traveled from around the state and further, arriving by train at the depot they would book their rooms at popular Main Street locations such as the Phenix and Eagle Hotels, enjoy fine dinners and spend a day at the fair. This was wonderful for our local economy as well as...
Get swept up by fantasy and folklore
Dealing with Dragons By Patricia Werede (224 pages, junior fiction, 1990) Being a princess is boring. You’re not allowed to learn sword fighting, magic, or anything else fun. What’s the point? Princess Cimorene doesn’t want to be like her six perfect sisters. She’s different. She’s not cut out for this proper life. She’s a rule breaker. That’s what they’re there for, right? Cimorene busts out of her castle prison and runs straight...
Vampires: A Field Guide to the Creatures that Stalk the Night
Vampires: A Field Guide to the Creatures that Stalk the Night By Bob Curran (224 pages, nonfiction, 2005) Do you love folklore? Well one of the biggest topics in folklore is vampires. Belief in them spans centuries. And now with this book, you can read about different types of vampire lore in a myriad of countries. From the Devil of Hjalta-Stad to the Baobhan Sith, you’ll get illustrations, information, and history. These tales will...
This week in Concord history
July 23, 1964: New Hampshire Attorney General William Maynard writes to the secretary of state assuring him that residents serving overseas in the Peace Corps should not be prohibited from voting in New Hampshire by absentee ballot. July 23, 1990: The Washington papers report that President Bush has narrowed to five the names he is considering for a vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court: Federal appellate Judges David Souter, Edith Jones,...
Poem: Just a Depot
Just a depot to some, the loss of history felt for years, our families departed daily, soldiers left for war amongst tears. We welcomed people home, some waited for a train that never did arrive, there was much happiness and fear, sadly, not all soldiers survive. The train depot was majestic, with brick, copper and more, but it held something special, memories that became family lore. Our...
City Newsletter: Protect yourself from mosquito-borne illness
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: Mosquitoes A case of mosquito borne illness (Jamestown Canyon virus) has been confirmed in Loudon. For this reason, anyone living in Concord and surrounding towns should take precautions to help avoid mosquito bites. Included is some...
Book of the week: Teen mediates with ghosts
Shadowland By Meg Chabot (304 pages, young adult fiction, 2004) Do you like ghosts? Susannah doesn’t. Even though she can see them. They are just so needy. Like always having unfinished business. Or worse getting her expelled from school. Her parents don’t know about her ability. No one does. Except the priest at her new school. He guides her through being a mediator, a link between the dead and the living, but not without...
This week in history
July 18, 1945: The state liquor commission bans jukeboxes from hotel grills and says women may not work as bartenders. July 18, 1945: In an effort to stop petty thievery on his Stone Porch Lodge poultry farm in Boscawen, Walter Marshall says he and all available men will sleep in tents with guns. Marshall promises they will use their weapons if necessary. He also wants to bring in a pack of dogs, “all good barkers.” Marshall...
Menu of Concord restaurants
If you’re familiar with the Insider at all, you’ll know one of our favorite things about Concord is all the great places there are to get food in the city limits. From juicy burgers and pizzas in every style to artfully-plated fine dining, there’s something for every taste bud. Despite the closures and cancellations, restaurants have been hustling to keep the doors open. Now in the peak of summertime, there are options for all comfort...
Outdoor dining: Opportunity for outward expansion
For months, the coronavirus forced us to become our own personal chefs. For many of us, the idea of going out to a restaurant and having your order taken instead of making it yourself turned into a distant dream. But now that the hotter months are upon us, local eateries are expanding into outdoor dining options – many for the first time – that make it safe to enjoy eating out at some of your favorite spots in Concord. Some...
Book of the Week: An admirable heroine in a magical world
Sabriel By Garth Nix (292 pages, young adult fantasy, 1995) Poised on the cusp between multiple worlds, Sabriel must leave boarding school to take up the family business: that of ensuring that the dead stay dead. Inheriting the necromantic bells of her father recently trapped in the gates of death, Sabriel must figure out how to free him. Along the way she is aided by a powerful free-magic creature with dubious intentions as...
Romance novel doesn’t disappoint
Unhoneymooners By Christina Lauren (416 pages, romance, 2019) Inspired by a Webinar on NoveList Plus called “Crash Course in Romance,” and feeling the urge for a light read, I thought I’d try something outside my typical reading selections. The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren was a recommendation that caught my attention and it didn’t disappoint. Olive Torres is the maid of honor in her twin sister Ami’s dream wedding. Olive,...
