The City successfully received a grant from the Walker Lecture fund to enable concerts at our Canal Street Riverfront Park. More details to follow, including the announcement of the official grand opening of the park.
Riverside Park information meeting
The City will be hosting a public information meeting on Thursday, April 10, at 6:00 pm regarding plans to renovate Riverside Park on Tanner Street (behind Strings and Things); we'll meet at the Penacook Elementary School cafeteria, 60 Village Street. GPI, the consultant assisting with this project, also designed our new Canal Street Riverfront Park. At this meeting, we'll get an assessment of current park conditions and possibilities for added amenities. This is your chance to give input on preliminary design concepts.
Outline for Riverside Park in Penacook, NH.
Townhall with Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander
Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander is hosting a Community Conversation in Concord this Wednesday, March 19th. Maggie will open with brief remarks and take questions from constituents.
Concord High School Auditorium
170 Warren Street
Concord, NH 03301
Doors open at 4:00 pm
Event starts at 4:30 pm
Space is available on a first-come, first-served basis. Please RSVP using the link here. If you need ADA accommodations, please indicate using the RSVP link or email Maggie Goodlander’s team at Team.Goodlander@mail.house.gov.
Inaugural stroll of Canal Street Riverfront Park
In December, Beth Fenstermacher, Concord City Director of Special Projects and Strategic Initiatives, and Bob White, GPI Canal Street Riverfront Park Landscape Architect, led a tour of the Canal Street Riverfront Park.
The tour provides information about the thought process that went into selecting materials for park amenities and how that interweaves with the history of the area. GPI construction engineering, who provided the design, is also working on the rejuvenation of our Riverside Park on Tanner St. More to come on that soon, along with information on the official opening of Canal Street Park and upcoming concerts and events.
Meeting about safety at Rolfe Park and area
A community meeting has been set for Tuesday, March 11 at 6:00 pm in the Merrimack Valley High School auditorium to discuss Rolfe Park and the surrounding area as shown on this map:
Representatives from Concord's Parks & Recreation Department and the Concord Police Department will be there to hear from you about safety and traffic issues in this area. If you can't attend, you can send your thoughts to recreation@concordnh.gov.
Updates from the 2024 PVA Annual Meeting
We had a great conversation at our November 18 meeting, with guest speakers NH Senator-elect Tara Reardon and NH Representative-elect Jim Snodgrass, and Representative Connie Lane. You can watch the video here. Our guests begin speaking at 9:35 in the video, starting with Tara Reardon.
Thank you to ConcordTV for the video.
Winter Parking Bans
Can you believe winter weather has already arrived? With the white stuff [snow], come the occasional parking bans.
Sign up for winter parking ban alerts at www.concordnh.gov/notifyme or by downloading the MyConcordNH app. Winter parking bans require all vehicles to be removed from indicated streets between midnight and 7:00 am for snow removal operations.
Free parking is available in Penacook at the Canal Street Municipal Parking Lot (Canal & Village Streets) and the Tanner Street Municipal Parking Lot (next to the Riverside Park). Learn more about the City’s winter operations at www.concordnh.gov/winteroperations.
Bulk leaf collection
Bulk Leaf Collection has been paused temporarily, as equipment and crews have switched over to snow removal and plowing. As weather permits, crews anticipate resuming Bulk Leaf Collection this week.
Bagged Leaf Collection has ended, but the Fort Eddy Road Reprocessing Center will be open by appointment only for the winter season.
More information, maps, and FAQs about Fall Leaf Collection are here: www.concordnh.gov/leafcollection.
Penacook Tree Lighting
Thanks to everyone for coming out for our 19th Annual Penacook Tree Lighting event. The tree and our downtown look great! Here is the video. Thank you for ConcordTV.
Wreaths Across America events, Saturday, December 14
The wreaths for the Wreaths Across America event on Saturday, December 14 have arrived. The event is an opportunity to honor our Veterans, past and present. Ceremonies will take place around the city on Saturday morning, including at Woodlawn Cemetery, 130 Village Street, at 10:30 am, and at Horse Hill / River Hill Cemetery, Horse Hill Road and Elm Street, at 11:30 am.
Tour of Canal Street Riverfront Park, Monday December 16, noon
An inaugural stroll/tour of our new Canal Street Riverfront Park will take place at noon on Monday, December 16. Stop by for a preview look!
The fencing will be coming down sometime next week, as construction wraps up for this season, to be continued in the spring. City Council has just approved changes to the parking regulations around the new park, allowing for 10 hour parking at the 19 spaces in the new parking lot and at the 30 spaces on Canal Street. Council also approved a CAT bus stop at the park.
New Penacook Library & Activity Center open
The Penacook Library and Activities Center opened on Thursday December 5.
Branch library hours will be:
Mondays 9:00 am - 3:00 pm
Thursdays 1:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Fridays 12:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Additionally, there will be Seniors Programming hours:
Tuesdays 10:00 am - 2:00 pm
Wednesdays 10:00 am - 2:00 pm
Thursdays 9:00 am - 12:00 pm
The space will be used for Library events, and by the Parks & Recreation Department for additional events, including SPARC (Sports, Play, Arts, Recreation & CommUNITY Club) program activities. The space will be available for other community uses and rentals soon.
Concord Parks & Recreation senior programming at the Center begins on Tuesday December 17. Hours will be:
Tuesdays and Wednesdays 10:00 am to 2:00 pm
Thursdays 9:00 am to noon.
The old Penacook Library on Merrimack Street closed on Monday, November 18. A project to collect Library memories has begun. If you have photos, stories, or thoughts you'd like to share, please send them to santhony@concordnh.gov.
If you missed the ribbon-cutting ceremony, the City has made a video available.
Canal Street Riverfront Park update
Work progresses on the Penacook Canal Street Riverfront Park. Although the official opening will be this Spring, construction fencing will be removed later this month [December], allowing access to the park and its walkways. Please feel free to visit the park once the barriers are down! Park walkway paving has been completed, along with fencing and railings along the riverfront and laying sod for the grassed areas. There will be some blockades placed requesting foot traffic stay off of the newly planted and seeded areas. “Canoe” style benches are expected to be installed before the winter, as well as construction of the framework for the entrance sign and interpretive signs. Signage is currently in design and expected to be installed in the spring, with other final touches (bus shelter, bike racks).
Penacook Riverside Park update
The same design team from the Canal Street Park has been hired to work on the renovation of our Riverside Park on Tanner Street. Concord City staff had an internal kickoff meeting last week with the designers. We expect their survey team to start work at the park documenting existing conditions soon. A community input meeting will be planned for sometime in the coming months. Updates will be posted here as they become available.
PVA Annual Meeting 2024
The Penacook Village Association's Annual Meeting will be held on Monday, November 18 at 6:30 pm at the Penacook Elementary School cafeteria, with guest speakers NH Senator-elect Tara Reardon and NH Representative-elect Jim Snodgrass, who will discuss issues related to Penacook and the State and take your questions.
Penacook Tree Lighting
The Penacook Village Association will be hosting the 19th Annual Penacook Tree Lighting ceremony on Wednesday, December 4 at Boudreau Square on Village Street. Attendees can assemble around 5:30 pm to hear carols and singing, featuring the Penacook Elementary School Chorus and Blanchard Family Singers, and watch Santa arrive courtesy of the Concord Fire Department.
2024 PVA Annual Meeting
The PVA will hold its annual meeting on Monday, November 18, at 6:30 pm, in the cafeteria at the Penacook Elementary School, 60 Village St.
In addition to electing Board members, we will have as guest speaker the new representatives from our State legislature. Details to follow after the election results are determined.
2024 General Election
The 2024 General Election is on Tuesday, November 5, 2024.
Polls are open from 7 am to 7 pm.
Information about the boundaries of wards and congressional and state districts has been posted on a new page on this website that includes links to current incumbents if you want to contact any level of representative.
The Ballot this year will also include a ballot question:
Ballot Question
Are you in favor of amending article 78 of the second part of the constitution to read as follows: [Art.] 78. [Judges and Sheriffs, When Disqualified by Age.] No person shall hold the office of sheriff of any county, after the person has attained the age of seventy years. No person shall hold the office of judge of any court after the person has attained the age of seventy-five years.
[A "yes" vote supports increasing the mandatory judicial retirement age from 70 to 75.
A "no" vote opposes increasing the mandatory judicial retirement age from 70 to 75.]
Sample ballots can be viewed at the City of Concord Elections/Voter Information page.
2024 Election Cycle
The primary election is Tuesday, September 10, and voting for Ward 1 occurs in the Merrimack Valley High School gymnasium, 106 Village Street. Parking will be available in the Merrimack Valley High School Student Parking Lot to access the gymnasium entrance. Polls will be open from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm.
Please note that school will be in session on Tuesday, September 10, so voters will be sharing the space with students.
The general election is Tuesday, November 5, and Concord Area Transit (CAT) bus service is offering a free, round trip Voter Shuttle service on November 5. Anyone can be picked up from a requested location and dropped off at the polls. The service will come back a short time later for the return trip. To reserve a seat, call CAT at 603-225-1989 to schedule the service no later than 2:30 pm November 4. If you need a ride to the September 10 primary, call CAT and they will try to assist.
Concord Community Power
The recording of the August 7 PVA meeting "Community Power Program – What this means for Penacook" is available here:
Those of you who have already received in the mail a document from Community Power of New Hampshire regarding changes to your electric bill may have questions, and a helpful resource is this seven-minute video:
The video outlines the available options and how to make changes. If you don't make any changes, you will be automatically entered into Community Power, which will launch with your meter reading in October (which you'll see on your November electric bill). The service website where you can make changes or opt-out is available at https://www.communitypowernh.gov/concord.
Your electric utility will not change. Community Power will appear on your monthly electric bill as your electricity supplier. You can always opt-out by submitting a notice before your next utility meter read date. Community Power is a non-profit organization that accesses the power market and can provide rates lower than those of Unitil and Eversource.
There are cost savings associated with Community Power compared to our current rates. The default service option that you will be enrolled in is called Granite Plus. This chart identifies Granite Plus and the other options available, along with costs:
