The year in photos: 2025 from behind the lens

From striking to sorrowful, busy to bittersweet, sometimes the photo tells the story.

Here’s a rundown of the year, as seen through the lenses of Monitor photographers.

Sports

On March 15, Concord Boys Hockey took the state title after seven periods of play and dozens of overtime shots. Even making it to overtime had been a win after a late-game, empty-net equalizer. It was the longest game in state hockey champs history.

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In November, Hillsboro-Deering’s Hillcats football brought home the school’s first title in any sport in 30 years and first football championship ever. The school pride was palpable.

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Two years ago, city leaders hit pause on the Beaver Meadow Golf Course clubhouse project to consider more cost-effective options. In June, they approved a new plan as part of the current city budget. The project remained divisive, even among golfers, though they broadly agreed something needed to be done with the building.

Education

Sometimes, your living room is your classroom – and library, and science lab. That’s how it is for the LeGeyt family in Concord. They spoke with Jeremy Margolis last winter about how they use state Education Freedom Account dollars to homeschool their children, part of a Monitor series examining how public money in the program had been spent in private- and home-schooling endeavors.

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In March, Governor Kelly Ayotte toured the Concord Regional Technical Center, an extension of Concord High that admits students from across the region. Career and technical education is among the most popular public education programs in the state, both in politics and among kids, but local administrators raised alarm bells this year about how flat-funding is leading some, especially rural, districts to cap their student enrollment.

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This graduation season, seniors savored the moment, reflecting on hard-won successes in four post-COVID high school years.

“I didn’t think I’d get here. I didn’t think that I would graduate high school,” one Concord High graduate said, as her father and grandmother beamed at her with pride. “So graduating with my class, not a year behind, it feels great.”

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On the eve of the start of the school year, Concord Superintendent Kathleen Murphy passed away. Murphy had been expected to move on at the end of the school year, but her illness came on suddenly. Colleagues remembered her as a stalwart yet warm leader who brought stability to Concord in a time of great need.

Politics and protest

In local iterations of national “No Kings” and “50501” anti-Trump movements, protestors filed onto the statehouse plaza and down Main Street throughout the year. The statehouse plaza has always been a hub for protest and demonstration, and 2025 made good on that tradition.

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While towns hold elections at spring town meetings, cities hold local elections in the fall.

After a dominant showing two years ago as an underdog, Franklin Mayor Desiree McLaughlin was defeated handily by challenger Glenn Morrill in October. Morrill pitched himself as a moderating presence in Franklin who wanted to “move on” from the contentiousness and antagonism of recent years in local politics. In Concord, voters returned incumbents to their seats across the board, though challengers and voters alike raised alarm bells about the city’s tax base and spending.

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A perpetually precipitous late winter and spring this year, including months of consecutive weekend rain, started out as late-onset snow storms last winter, blanketing the statehouse dome here in this photo from February.

Local stories

Building fires see a huge uptick at the start of the winter, and 2025 was no different.

A December fire in Boscawen was particularly intense, claiming the life of Ron Fowler.

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In April, students learning about drinking water at an annual state festival voted Concord’s water their favorite in a blind taste test. For some, the choice was clear, noses wrinkled at waters they thought tasted “chemically” or “stale.” Others struggled to differentiate. Concord has dominated this contest in recent years, likely to do with its well-protected water supply at Penacook Lake.

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Deborah Eckland, of Concord, scoured Manchester for 47 days while her brother, Glenn Chrzan, was missing. She carried signs with his photo and built a memorial to him in her home. He had left Catholic Medical Center and not returned to the shelter where he had been staying. His body was found in a wooded area off the interstate.

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A Concord firefighter died unexpectedly on March 1. In the days that followed, local firefighters, family and friends mourned CJ Girard and the determined service he’d provided the city.