Concord Insider July 10, 2025 by Smckenna

Upcoming Everett Arena events

By BRENDILOU ARMSTRONG Monitor staff

Each year from mid-March to mid-September, Concord’s General Services Department transforms the Douglas N. Everett Arena at 15 Loudon Road into a venue for fun programming. From antique shows to gem and mineral expos, here’s what will be on its dry floor this year from August 5 to September 13:

Tuesday, August 5

10 a.m. (8 a.m. early) - 3 p.m. –Antique Show (presented by Peter Mavris Antique Shows)

Saturday, August 9

9 a.m. - 4 p.m. –Bike/Car Show (presented by Dark Side Customs)

Sunday, August 17

10 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. –Model Train Show (presented by the Concord Model Railroad Club)

Saturday, August 23

9 a.m. - 5 p.m. –Gem & Mineral Show (presented by the Gem & Mineral Club)

Sunday, August 24

10 a.m. - 4 p.m. –Gem & Mineral Show (presented by the Gem & Mineral Club)

Saturday, September 13

9 a.m. - 3 p.m. –Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day (presented by Concord General Services)

Additionally, until July 27, the arena is offering public roller skating from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. every Sunday, Monday, Thursday, and Friday. Admission is $6 per person, with skate rentals available for $6 and helmet rentals for $5. Patrons also have the option to reserve the arena for private roller skating events at a rate of $150 per hour (which includes skate rentals). For more information, visit https://www.concordnh.gov/925/SpringSummer-Events.

Purple fields blooms at Warner farm harvest days

By YAA BAME Monitor staff

The lavender fields at Pumpkin Blossom Farm in Warner are open for Harvest Days.

From July 5 to July 20, guests can sample lavender products, wander around and snap photos among the blooms and learn more about how to pick, care for and utilize the perennials.

Upon arrival, guests receive a bundle ring, which can hold around 150 stems. Staff then teach guests how to look for the most mature blooms, and they receive gardening snips, a bucket and a card which shows them where to cut the lavender stems. From there, visitors descend upon the vibrant purple fields and pick their fresh bundles.

“So this year we’ve added a few little fun activities. We actually have some unicorn rides that we are planning,”said Missy Biagiotti, co-owner of the farm.

“We’ve been working hard all winter to really make sure the barn is stocked with all of our favorite goodies and a few new ones, too. So this year should be a lot of fun.”

The rain or shine event will have more new activities, including stations for kids and their families, such as make-your-own lavender stem crafts, cards and painting. The farm also offers lavender culinary treats and products, such as lavender lemonade, syrups and soaps that guests can buy in the barn. This season, the farm will debut its in-house lavender chocolate ice cream.

“We want people to be able to enjoy and relax in the field if they choose to do that. So, if they want to come, there’s no admission fee,”said Biagiotti. “They can come and just enjoy the space and shop at our barn store if they want to do that,

PUMPKIN BLOSSOM FARM / COURTESY

At Pumpkin Blossom Farm’s Harvest Days, guests can pick their own lavender.

Black WIMAR

or have a lavender treat in our concession camper.”

While entering the premises is free, guests who seek to harvest a bundle of lavender can do so for $18, Monday through Friday, and for $20 on the weekends.

Lavender is commonly used as decorations and in aromatics products, such as sprays. Lavender from Pumpkin Blossom Farm grows without fertilizers and pesticides, making it safe to use in culinary dishes and drinks as well.

“So if people can’t make it to Harvest Days, we still have plenty of weeks where we are here, we’re busy, we’re continuing to harvest the field after the U-Pick days are over,”said Biagiotti.

After picking season, Pumpkin Blossom Farms offers a distillation weekend on July 26 and 27, where people can see how they turn fresh lavender into essential oil, which is the basis of the majority of their products. Throughout the year, they offer other events, such as Candlelight Yoga in the Barn and Lavender Wreath classes. Photographers can also book year round sessions

for their customers at the field.

The U-Pick portion of Harvest Days is subject to the weather and growing and harvesting conditions. Updates will be posted on

the status of the field. More information can be found on the farm’s website: https://www.pumpkinblossomfarm.com/. Yaa Bame can be reached at ybame@cmonitor.com

PUMPKIN BLOSSOM FARM / COURTESY

The Barn Store at Pumpkin Blossom Farm houses a multitude of lavender products.

‘Creativity Beyond Convention’

The next exhibition at Two Villages Art Society in Hopkinton is a solo show of the work of Sandy Steen Bartholomew, an artist who celebrates the imagi-

native, neurodivergent mind through whimsical creatures, playful stories, and unconventional materials.

“Dys-FUN-ctional: Creativity Beyond Conven-

SANDY STEEN BARTHOLOMEW / COURTESY

Sandy Steen Bartholomew's work will be featured at Two Villages Art Society beginning on July 12, 2025.

tion/ Art and Creatures by Sandy Steen Bartholomew” opens Saturday, July 12 with a reception from 12-2 p.m.

Bartholomew, a resident of Warner, is a mixedmedia artist, illustrator, and cartoonist with a focus on creativity and mental health. Inspired by the joys and challenges of neurodivergence, she embraces an unconventional approach to art, transforming discarded materials and everyday curiosities into vibrant, mischievous beings. This exhibit includes book art, illustrations and 3-D creatures made from polymer clay, fabric, and found objects. Viewers are invited to explore a world where creativity thrives in chaos and discarded scraps are transformed into joyful, thought-provoking art.

Besides working as a freelance illustrator, exhibit designer and Zentangle instructor, Bartholomew has authored and illustrated numerous books. Whether on paper or in sculpture, her creations reveal a world where imperfection is celebrated, imagination runs wild, and nothing is ever quite what it seems.

The gallery is free and open to the public at 846 Main Street in Hopkinton’s Contoocook Village. Regular gallery hours are 12-4 p.m. Thursday to Sunday. The final day of “Dys-FUNctional: Creativity Beyond Convention”is Saturday, August 9. For more information, visit https://www.twovillagesart.org/.

Thursday • July 10 • 7pm Carriage

SANDY STEEN BARTHOLOMEW—Courtesy

Sandy Steen Bartholomew's work will be featured at Two Villages Art Society beginning on July 12, 2025.

Arts in the Park returns for July

By KIERA McLAUGHLIN Monitor Staff

Concord Arts Market will host their second monthly Arts in the Park event on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Rollins Park. Each month during the

summer, the Concord Arts Market invites more than 65 local artisans to share their crafts and creations at the free event. There will be various works of art, including paintings, photography, jewelry, woodworking, pottery and more.

In addition to local artistry, the park will be filled with food vendors, activities for all and live music.

The Concord Arts Market was founded in 2008 and has been run by different artist and community members over the years. Jessica Livingston, a community event organizer and artist, took over managing the market in 2024.

There will be two more Arts in the Park events this year on Saturday, August 9 and Saturday, September 13. Both are hosted in Rollins Park and will last from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Kiera McLaughlin can be reached at kmclaughlin@ cmonitor.com.

CONCORD ARTS MARKET

The Concord Arts Market showcases localartisans and theirwork ata seriesof events throughout the year.

book of the week

“Destroyer of Light,”by

Jennifer Marie Brisset

(2021, 290 pages, Genre: Science fiction)

The last remnant of humanity left Earth 400 years ago for the planet Eleusis. Some people paid dearly for the last spots on the transport ships, submitting

themselves to genetic manipulation in exchange for safety from the alien krestge who annihilated most of Earth’s inhabitants. Now on Eleusis, some krestge have become part of the population but only in the wealthy cities of Dusk.

In the agricultural heartland of Day, the farmers labor without the amenities of the city to ensure that there is

enough food for all. They are also at the forefront of a kind of green revolution, coaxing alien soil to welcome Earth’s food plants, eventually. And every night the children of the farmers walk as far away from the border with Night as they can, to sleep in safety in the border cities on the other edge of Day.

The rebels, who refuse to accept krestge on the sup-

posed refuge world, live in Night. Perpetuating an Earthly evil they steal the farmers’children and force them to become soldiers for their cause. Night is a frozen, icy part of the world and too many children don’t survive the weather or the rebels.

Two children have gone missing, one, unsurprisingly, from Day. But the other disappears from Dusk, and his

well-connected family is desperate to find him, so desperate they engage the services of a pair of genetically modified brothers whose strange colored eyes generally put them on the outside of acceptable society.

The story weaves in and out of timelines, locations, and characters to solve all the mysteries and reach a satisfying conclusion. Neither dystopian nor utopian, the people of Eleusis bring their own very human frailties to the new world. Maybe they’re not making a better world, but Brissett has written an excellent story about people I came to care about. Most of them are (mostly) human. Visit Concord Public Library at www.concordpubliclibrary.net

Julia Miller

history

July 10, 2002: A Wolfeboro woman agrees to be returned to Maine, where she is charged with trying to drown her two children in the Piscataqua River.

July 10, 2001: Gunstock Ski Area reports that its revenue for the year ending in April was 30 percent higher than for the previous year. As a result, the Gilford ski area plans to return more than $100,000 to Belknap County coffers.

July 10, 1927: A U.S. Army flying school opens at Concord airport with the arrival of the first class of 20 pilots in training. With the opening of the school, the Monitor reports, Concord becomes the air defense site for “all that territory in a triangle running from Concord to the fishing port of Gloucester and its splendid harbor, west to the more important commercial harbor at Portland and back to Concord.”

July 10, 1879: John B. Buzzell is hanged at the state prison. Buzzell broke off his engagement with a young woman. She sued him for breach of promise, and he hired a young man to kill her. The young man fired a pistol through her window, blowing her head off. Buzzell was acquitted of murder. Later, when the hired gun turned state’s evidence to save his own hide, Buzzell was convicted as an accessory to murder and sentenced to die. As he awaited the noose, his case was used by legislative proponents of a measure to abolish the death penalty in

New Hampshire. The measure failed.

July 11, 1778: Sixteen towns, including Hanover and Lebanon, secede from New Hampshire and join the new state of Vermont. The agreement allowing this to occur will be rescinded in 1782.

July 11, 1827: Austin Corbin is born in Newport. He will build the first railroad from Brooklyn to Coney Island and erect a large hotel there. In New Hampshire he will create

the most extensive private park in America, stocked with elk, buffalo and other rare animals. It is still a private hunting preserve.

July 12, 1976: Twentyeight Taiwanese athletes, who have been refused permission to enter Canada for the Olympics because of their refusal not to compete under the name Republic of China, meet in Concord with their biggest local supporter: Gov. Mel Thomson.

July 13, 2003: Authorities continue their search for

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history

Sarah and Philip Gehring of Concord in the Midwest. The 14- and 11-year-old were last seen with their father, 44-year-old Manuel A. Gehring of Concord, at the Memorial Field fireworks on July 4. FBI agents and local authorities scour highways and open land for the bodies of the two missing children by air and by ground, but do not find them.

July 13, 1774: Aware that the New Hampshire Assembly, meeting against his will, is considering sending a delegation to a continental congress, royal Gov. John Wentworth writes to Lord Dartmouth: “I am apt to believe the spirit of enthusiasm, which generally prevails through the Colonies, will create an obedience that reason or religion would fail to procure.”

July 13, 1860: The grounds of the city’s new cemetery on Blossom Hill are consecrated. The site is a favorite picnic and party spot, but with population having grown from 4,903 in 1840 to 10,896 in 1860, the city is running out of cemetery space. It buys the 30 acres for $4,500.

July 14, 2003: Roger “Bonzy”Thibeault, 41, of 38 River St. in Franklin, escapes from the Franklin District Court at 10 a.m. while the police are arraigning him in connection with one of the area’s biggest heroin busts. After a state police dog and helicopter and other local departments fail to locate Thibeault, the initial search ends by 3 p.m.

July 14, 2001: Gathering on tennis courts in Pittsfield, 525 people wearing Groucho Marx glasses make history - at least as it’s chronicled by the Guinness Book of World Records. The

idea for the record grew out of this year’s Old Home Day theme: “Let’s Make ‘em Laugh.”

July 14, 1995: Speaking at a fund-raiser at Laconia Airport, former president George Bush tells the crowd he went to Fenway Park the previous night and was pleased to see the Texas Rangers defeat the Red Sox. When the crowd responds with good-natured boos, Bush says: “That’s all right. I don’t care what you think anymore.”

July 14, 1850: On a journey into the White Mountains seeking scenes to paint, New Hampshire artist Benjamin Champney writes to a friend in Fryeburg, Maine: “To our great surprise we saw a broad and beautiful valley bounded by lofty hills and the Saco winding through it with a thousand turns and luxuriant trees interspersed. In fact we found the beau ideal of a certain kind of scenerya combination of the wild and cultivated, the bold and graceful.”

July 14, 1827: William Abbott is born in Bradford. He will grow up to be one of the best cornet players in

the state. He will lead the Henniker cornet band, one of the state’s leading musical acts, from 1857 to 1873.

July 15, 2000: Concord’s Bob Mielcarz wins his ninth State Amateur Golf Championship, the most anyone has ever won.

July 15, 1832: Six convicts escape from the state prison in Concord by splitting a stone in the roofing of their cell and letting themselves down the wall by their blankets. Four are captured in Hopkinton, one in Grantham. One is never found.

July 15, 1965: A 50-foot section of the second story of Concord’s new federal building at Pleasant and South streets collapses under the weight of freshlypoured concrete. No one is hurt.

July 16, 2000: A Massachusetts doctor suspected of murdering his estranged wife is arrested in a Tuftonboro motel. Richard Sharpe, a highly respected dermatologist at Harvard Medical School, is accused of shooting Karen Sharpe at their Wenham, Mass., home.

July 16, 1821: Mary Baker Eddy is born in Bow. In February 1866, she will write of healing herself from what a doctor diagnosed as a fatal fall on the ice. Out of this experience is born Christian Science. Eddy will found the Church of Christ, Scientist, in 1879.

July 16, 1992: The Drifters play Main Street during Concord’s annual downtown summer sale.

July 16, 1862: With Gen. George B. MacClellan’s Army of the Potomac stalled on the Peninsula, the New

Hampshire Patriot reports a new call for troops and includes this note: “Hon. Josiah Quincy of Rumney offers a bounty of $25 each, to any four citizens of that town who will volunteer for the war.”

July 16, 1863: Shots are fired and several men wounded in the third and final day of draft riots in Portsmouth. Fear of riots in Concord and elsewhere leads to the return of two New Hampshire infantry regiments from the field to keep the peace.

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