CONCORD, N.H. (Jan. 6) — The double-parking. The street traffic. The fliers. The “Honk 4 Huckabee” signs.
None of it bothers local residents all that much.
“Most people are pretty respectful,” said Jim Lupien, “except when you get 10 fliers” while walking down one street.
Instead of complaining about the excess of people, noise, cars and fliers, many Concord residents say they relish the excitement leading up to the New Hampshire presidential primary. They’ve cultivated patience with all the frenzy that goes along with the nation’s first primary. And those outsiders who come to Concord stick to their jobs and try not to bother the rest of the town.
While the town buzzes during the presidential primary, Lupien enjoys people-watching out of the large front window of his sweets shop. Lupien owns Cool Moose Creamery and Candies, which has been open for three years now. He’s had a bird’s eye-view of politicians, volunteers and celebrities.
For example, news anchor Katie Couric came into the store this past fall when Barack Obama signed up for the New Hampshire presidential primary, he said. She was very respectful and talked to him a bit about the candidates. “It’s fun to meet the people,” Lupien said. “It’s definitely a fun thing to be included in.”
For Don Brueggemann, manager of The Works Bakery and Café on North Main Street, the circus atmosphere of the New Hampshire presidential primary is a bit intense. “It’s been a frenzy,” he said. “It’s an honor, but you can’t live your life at that level of intensity all the time.”
The intensity comes, Brueggemann said, with the Catch-22 of significantly more people in the town. As a businessman, his profits are up. But as a resident, he has to battle parking problems and an access of fliers in his mailbox, he said.
“I’m not frustrated. This is just the way it is,” Brueggemann said. “But it’s also great when it’s over.”
Even during large rallies don’t upset Sweta Giri, an employee at Concord Farm gas station. The gas station is at the intersection of Pleasant and Warren Streets, right across from Concord High School. So during the past year, when the presidential candidates visited the school, people parked in the parking lot reserved for patrons, Giri said.
For example, Barack Obama’s rally on Friday afternoon caused a parking crisis. “People were parking everywhere,” Giri said. “It was chaos.”
But the station employees kept their cool. No cars were towed away and no tickets written, Giri said. “It’s not that big of a deal. We didn’t really mind,” she said.
Perhaps, Concord resident Elsie Marston said, most on the street Sunday were calm because the nervous townspeople would have stayed home. “We’ve had years where people have been so obnoxious,” she said, “that they don’t go out.”
But a few things bother her, she said.
For example, a car stopped at a red light on South Main Street cheerfully beeped its horn for about a minute at some Hillary Clinton volunteers who were holding signs at the corner of Pleasant Street. “Now that’s obnoxious,” Marston, who is 73-years-old, said. “If I were younger, I’d tell them to quit it.”
But still, the majority of the residents, she said, like seeing the excitement. That overrides the inconveniences of the crowds. “Walking down the street is tough,” Marston said, “but you know, you just wait for the traffic to clear or go around it.” Besides, said Marston, the primary crowds are as inevitable in New Hampshire’s winter as snow. “We know it’s going to happen,” Marston said, “and we’re not going to stop it.
(Laura Van Wert is a newspaper major covering the New Hampshire presidential primary for the Telegram & Gazette in Worcester, Mass.)
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