Search Results

By Line search: By SOPHIE LEVENSON

By SOPHIE LEVENSON

From his seat in a shaded booth at The Works, underneath a picture of wild blueberries, Jim Milliken gestures at Main Street. “I painted every parking meter you can see,” he says.He also changed the lightbulbs in traffic lights and touched up the...

By SOPHIE LEVENSON

The volunteers behind New Hampshire’s search and rescue efforts spend a lot of their time saving the lives of both experts and novices who enter the wilderness.As winter approaches, these crews are about to enter the deadliest part of the year. Unlike...

By SOPHIE LEVENSON

In one way or another, everybody has seen the impact of mental illness.In 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the truth in that became as clear as ever to Tom Dearborn. Not one to sit around and let the world work out its own problems,...

By SOPHIE LEVENSON

Anastasia McNeil bought her dad a figurine designed to look just like him for Father’s Day.The Funko Pop! effigy now stands atop well-stocked liquor shelves, facing the Forum Pub’s erratically-decorated wall. The miniature version of Kirk McNeil faces...

By SOPHIE LEVENSON

The way a hot air balloon floats on the wind isn’t scary at all.“It’s not like you went up high,” balloon pilot Rick Jones said, several hundred feet in the air. “It’s like they pulled the world away so that you could get a better look at it.”Balloons...

By SOPHIE LEVENSON

Batulo Mohamed’s Somali food opened Concord’s culinary horizons. Susan Chung hopes her Korean kimbap will widen them a little more.Next week, Chung, the second chef in the Capitol Center for the Arts Culinary Artist in Residence program will start...

By SOPHIE LEVENSON

At 2:45 p.m. at the steamy end of a summer workweek, Gretchen Peters was still busy. It was 15 minutes before she closed for the day, but the working people on Main Street were still hungry for hot dogs.Peters has been running Puppy Love Hot Dogs for...

By SOPHIE LEVENSON

Norman Abelson sometimes has trouble remembering what happened five minutes ago, but stories from decades ago stick like glue.He recalls with incredible detail the time his local rabbi knocked on his front door at midnight in the 1950s, John F....

By SOPHIE LEVENSON

Concord has one less place to swim, thanks to violence on the docks.Donald Sullivan, director of Safety and Compliance at St. Paul’s School, sent an email to faculty and staff at the private school July 12 announcing the closure of the public-access...

By SOPHIE LEVENSON

With a sudden flash of lightning and crack of thunder Tuesday evening, the skies opened and Concord got a break from its record heat wave.The Concord area’s summer heat peaked at 94 degrees Fahrenheit Tuesday, tying July 8 for the hottest day of the...

By SOPHIE LEVENSON

In the summer, the grass on the practice field at John Stark Regional High School grows long, but Donnie White can still point out the roughest patches of gravel. He pokes one, hard, with his sneaker. This, he says, is a terrible spot to be...

By SOPHIE LEVENSON

Five minutes after Vinnie’s reopened its doors, the classic Concord pizzeria had its first customer. Michael Arsenault pulled his car up to a building that has hardly changed in his lifetime, wondering if things would be different on the inside. He...

By SOPHIE LEVENSON

“Three, two, one,” and the No. 15 Ford skidded to a halt in front of Rick Ware Racing’s control center.Four men dressed to drive, in black helmets and fire-resistant suits, ambushed the car with gold-spoked tires and a container of gasoline. In fewer...

By SOPHIE LEVENSON

On the hill, they call Dennis George the mayor.In a gray New Hampshire race hoodie, George — nearing his sixties, a Busch Light in hand, prescription glasses on his forehead — holds court behind the track, on the other side of the wire fence that...

By SOPHIE LEVENSON

Eve Jacobs Carnahan had a long career as an elections lawyer before her experiences with the American electoral system gave her the idea for something different. In 2018, she started “Knit Democracy Together,” a project that aims to fuel productive...

By SOPHIE LEVENSON

A few things in the world can reliably bring different people together: Soccer, food, a nice sunset. Shakira. When the Colombian singer’s 2010 World Cup anthem, “Waka Waka,” came on, the jumble of kids swaying nervously on the gym floor threw up their...

By SOPHIE LEVENSON

Concord local Alyssa Leppard planted her feet, clutched her bat and swung hard. She missed the yellow softball by several inches.Her coach, Jen Boyden, standing behind third base, met Leppard’s eye. They both laughed.It was the bottom of the fourth...

By SOPHIE LEVENSON

The crowd that watched the New Hampshire Fisher Cats take down the Richmond Flying Squirrels Tuesday evening was a little more colorful than one usually found at a mid-week regular season game at Delta Dental Stadium in Manchester.That was thanks to...

By SOPHIE LEVENSON

Ross Mingarelli says he likes dogs more than people, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t kind to both.He’s a man who does things by himself. He operates CandleTree, his store on Main Street, as a one-man operation. He drives his ax-throwing truck solo. He...

By SOPHIE LEVENSON

Nothing can keep Jim Peyser away from his motorcycle, not even a crash.He doesn’t remember the accident, but he can piece it together: A nighttime ride, a run-in with the curb and $23,000 worth of repairs.“He almost died,” said Diane Kline, Peyser’s...

By SOPHIE LEVENSON

Drumroll, please.A pattering of tiny hands erupted, and a celebrity waltzed onto the blue gymnasium floor. The kids at Beaver Meadow elementary school cheered, pumped their fists in the air and waved at Dog Man.Monday afternoon, Gibson’s Bookstore...