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New Hampshire
The Barley House In Concord Gets Lit Up With Holiday Popup Lights
CONCORD, NH — The Barley House turns 25 in a few months, and to celebrate, the restaurant, owned by Brian and Deb Shea, has a few surprises planned.
For Christmas, to revel with other businesses downtown for holiday events, including Midnight Merriment next week, the restaurant decided to spruce things up inside by installing thousands of lights. This year, Merriment starts with a parade of lights at 5:30 p.m. on Dec. 7, from the Hotel Concord to the Statehouse. Staffers, Deb Shea said, were working on specials like holiday drink offerings and other things to get into the spirit of the season. Once they started rolling with the lights, themes emerged, and everyone got into the idea.
The lights offer four different themes for each section of the restaurant. Upstairs, there is more traditional Christmas fare with stockings, candy canes, bulbs, and red and white lights. But the downstairs, lit up in blue and white, is stunning. Brian and Deb Shea said they thought holiday party bookings — the downstairs tends to be very busy this time of the year, would enjoy the added lighting.
“Everyone is loving it so far,” Deb Shea said. “We’re having fun with it.”
The couple readily admits holiday popup lights or similar restaurant displays are nothing new.
Deb Shea said after all the outdoor seating had been rolled up, restaurants had to find another niche or draw to keep customers coming downtown as the colder temperatures arrived.
Brian Shea said the couple was on vacation in Florida and ate at a restaurant, which was lit up entirely with lights. Another restaurant he heard about in Massachusetts on the South Shore is booked solid with reservations because people want to experience dinner with the holiday lighting.
“That may not happen here,” he said. “But if someone starts it, they may look forward to it.”
“When they come in and they all love it,” Deb Shea said, “and it’s a festive holiday experience, it will be something (customers) will want to experience … with winter and everything.”
The downstairs lights came out so well they might consider permanent light changes. Brian Shea said it would be more subtle at their place if they tried to put together something long-term, but they loved the idea.
The Barley House also plans to offer dinner reservations on New Year’s Eve, so revelers can coordinate their evening. A special menu will also be put together.
The lights will be up through January to expand a bit later into the season. After that, the Black Ice Hockey Tournament is scheduled for early February. However, sometimes, things can slow down downtown. Having customers enjoy their meal and have a good time at the Barley House has always been their goal, she said.
“I think we have to start looking at the downtown past the summer,” she said. “Because we do have a long winter here.”
The Barley House turns 25 on March 6, so more will be planned for the very near future.
“We’ll be rolling right into that,” Deb Shea said.
Upcoming Events
- Holiday Jingle Jam: Karaoke, an ugly sweater contest, pictures with Santa, and more: 8 to 11 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 30.
- Free Gift Wrapping with enjoying drinks and dinner: 4 to 7 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 22.
- Holiday Lights Popup: Through Jan. 15, 2025.
Do you have a news tip? Please email it to tony.schinella@patch.com. View videos on Tony Schinella’s YouTube.com channel or Rumble.com channel. Follow the NH politics Twitter account @NHPatchPolitics for all our campaign coverage.
New Hampshire
Possible 2028 Democratic White House contenders weigh in on Iran with New Hampshire voters
As the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran overtakes the foreign policy debate in Washington, two Democratic governors with potential 2028 presidential aspirations — Gavin Newsom and Andy Beshear — recently traveled to New Hampshire, introducing themselves to the state’s famously engaged voters. The two weighed in on the war and both criticized and questioned President Trump’s strategy and endgame.
“If a president is going to take a country into war, and risk the lives of American troops and Americans in the region, he has to have a real justification and not one that seems to change every five to 10 hours,” Beshear told CBS News after a Democratic fundraiser in Keene.
“This President seems to use force before ever trying diplomacy, and he has a duty to sell it to the American people and to address Congress with it,” Beshear continued. “He hasn’t done any of that. In fact, it appears there isn’t even a plan for what success looks like. He’s gone from regime change to strategic objectives and now is talking about unconditional surrender, which isn’t realistic where he is.”
Beshear also said he thought that Congress should have reined in Mr. Trump’s war powers.
“He is trying to ignore Congress. He’s trying to even ignore the American people,” Beshear said.
He went on to note that the president’s State of the Union address took place “three — four days before he launched this attack,” and Mr. Trump “didn’t even have the respect to tell the American people the threat that he thought Iran posed to us.”
Last week, both the House and the Senate failed to pass resolutions to limit Mr. Trump’s war powers and stop him from taking further military action against Iran without congressional support.
For Newsom, the war with Iran constitutes part of a broader criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
At an event last Tuesday in Los Angeles, Newsom had compared Israel to an “apartheid state.” Later, in New Hampshire, he sought to clarify his comment.
“I was specifically referring to a Tom Friedman [New York Times] column last week, where Tom used that word of apartheid as it relates to the direction Bibi is going, particularly on the annexation of the West Bank,” Newsom explained during a book tour event Thursday night in Portsmouth. “I’m very angry, with what he is doing and why he’s doing it, what he’s going to ultimately try to do to the Supreme Court there, what he’s trying to do to save his own political career.”
Friedman wrote that at the same time that the U.S. and Israel are prosecuting a war in Iran, within Israel, Netanyahu’s government has undertaken efforts to annex the West Bank, driving Palestinians from their homes; fire the attorney general who is leading the prosecution against Netanyahu for corruption; and block the government’s attempt to establish a commission to examine the failures that led up to the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre of Jews by Hamas.
CBS News has reached out to the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., for comment.
On Iran, Newsom said, “I’m very angry about this war, with all due respect, you know, not because I’m angry the supreme leader is dead. Quite the contrary. I’m not naive about the last 37 years of his reign. Forty-seven years since ’79 — the revolution,” Newsom said. “But I’m also mindful that you have a president who still is inarticulate and incapable of giving us the rationale of why? Why now? What’s the endgame?”
Many attendees at Newsom’s book event said that the situation in Iran is a top-of-mind issue for them, too. Some said they’re “horrified” by what is happening.
29-year-old Alicia Marr told CBS News she decided to attend Newsom’s event because of his social media response to the war with Iran.
“There was one spot left, and I decided to pick it up, and it was due to his response to the war, that it is just unacceptable, and I would agree with that,” Marr said.
While some voters like Marr are eager to hear about where potential candidates stand on foreign policy, many at Newsom’s event said they care most about how potential candidates plan to address domestic issues.
“I’m more focused on getting the middle class back on track and fighting the oligarchy, and I’m less invested in international issues,” said Anita Alden, who also attended Newsom’s event,
“I wouldn’t call myself America first, but we have so many problems at home that are my priority,” she told CBS News.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris, who may also be weighing another White House bid, told Fox 2 Detroit last week that she “unequivocally opposes” the Trump administration’s military action in Iran and urged Congress to take action.
“If we want to stop Donald Trump with this random decision that he has arrived at, then Congress must act, and Congress must act immediately. The American people do not want our sons and daughters to go into this unauthorized war of choice,” Harris said.
Mr. Trump has lashed out against Democrats who have pushed back on his Iran strategy, calling them “losers” last week and arguing that they would criticize any decision he made on Iran.
“If I did it, it’s no good. If I didn’t do it, they would have said the opposite, that you should have done this,” the president said.
Local News
Police say the Attleboro man was driving 104 mph in a 55 mph zone on Route 202 near in Rindge, New Hampshire.
A Massachusetts man was arrested late Wednesday night after police say he was driving more than 100 mph on a New Hampshire roadway.
Officers with the Rindge Police Department stopped a vehicle shortly after 11 p.m. on Route 202 near Sears Drive in Rindge following a report of a car traveling at excessive speed, according to a statement from Chief Rachel Malynowski.
The vehicle, a 2020 Kia Stinger, was spotted traveling at 104 mph in a posted 55 mph zone, Malynowski said.
The driver, a 21-year-old man from Attleboro, was arrested and charged with reckless operation of a motor vehicle, according to police.
He is scheduled to be arraigned April 5. If convicted, the man faces a fine of at least $750, in addition to the court’s penalty assessment, and a 90-day license suspension, Malynowski said.
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