Entertainment changed in the decade, but old favorites adapted

Editor's note: With the end of the decade upon us, The Laconia Daily Sun is running a series of articles that look back at some of the changes in the last 10 years.

The past decade has seen sweeping changes in the way people entertain themselves. Most Lakes Region residents now have the capability to stream high-quality movies and television shows, more than they could ever watch, to the comfort of their own home, where they probably have a better television set than they did in 2010. Meanwhile, old CD collections are gathering dust as their owners have switched to music streaming services.

Economist Russ Thibault of Applied Economic Research in Laconia said the way people get their entertainment is different at the end of the decade than it was at the start, thanks to the digital age.

"We certainly feel it in terms of watching television," Thibault said of streaming video services like Netflix. "There's so many choices now it's mind-boggling. We feel it in music. There's much less incentive to buy music and much more incentive to stream it. During this decade all of those things became much more pronounced."

Even as people consume shows, music and movies delivered digitally to their pockets and home entertainment systems, when they venture out of the house they find an invigorated appetite for an analogue experience.

That’s what Dick and Connie Mitchell have found. For years, they operated an antique store on New Salem Street in Laconia. In 2011, they switched business plans and converted the space into Pitman’s Freight Room, hosting weddings and events as well as music and comedy shows.

“It’s fun, it’s like a big living room," Dick Mitchell said. "A couple of times a week we have a band that shows up, and we invite our best friends to watch it with us.”

Pitman’s is an intimate venue. Its capacity is 250, though it doesn’t usually sell out. “The atmosphere of this place is our plus,” Mitchell said. They don’t serve drinks, but audience members can bring their own if they choose. And, unlike some bars where the live music competes for aural real estate with televisions and conversations, Pitman’s is known as a “listening room.”

They might be missing out on some revenue, but Mitchell said it’s all worth it for the experience, such as on  Thursday night when the Heather Pierson Trio came to play their annual holiday jazz show. “When the audience is completely quiet, just listening to her beautiful music. They come here just to hear the music, they don’t come here to meet a girl, they don’t come here to drink, they come here to listen.”

Pitman’s isn’t the only music venue that has opened recently. The Whiskey Barrel, now doing business as the Granite State Music Hall, opened on Main Street; there are a couple of places at Weirs Beach, and the city is currently renovating the Colonial Theatre to reopen downtown, decades since the curtain last fell.

Mitchell isn’t worried about the competition.

“I think it will get better,” he said of the Colonial opening. “It could put a bigger spotlight on Laconia.”

Anthony Santagate, who brought live music to Weirs Beach, agreed. He first brought blues to the beach when he opened the Tower Hill Tavern in 2009. More recently, he purchased the Paradise Beach Club, renovated it and renamed it The Big House, where he hosts house music and nationally touring rock bands.

“In addition to all the awesome local and regional bands, more venues have opened to see them in the Lakes Region. It’s a great time for live music in our community,” said Santagate.

Craft on tap

Want to go out, but for conversation instead of music? A fan of craft beer, too? Then you’ve got many more choices today than a decade ago.

Ten years ago, you had to drive to other parts of the state to sample beer brewed on the premises. Now, there are craft breweries, most very small, in most towns throughout the Lakes Region, and some of them have gained enough of a buzz that beer fans from Portsmouth or Manchester are coming here for a pour.

There’s Kettlehead in Tilton, Hobbs in West Ossipee, Twin Barns in Meredith. Wolfeboro has two breweries, as does Bristol. Plymouth has the 1766, and Vulgar Brewing Company just opened in Franklin. There are even a few more places, tucked into the woods off winding dirt roads, where some great beer is bubbling away as we speak.

David Page, a finish carpenter by trade, had been a home brewer for 35 years when he opened White Mountain Brewing Company in Ashland. That was four years ago, and he said, “Business has been fantastic.”

Each brewery has found its own lane, Page said, and his is focusing on classic, Old World styles. Their best seller is “Beer:30,” a kölsch.

“I love brewing and I love meeting new people,” Page said, adding that he wouldn’t be worried if yet more craft breweries appeared on the scene. That would just give people even more motivation to visit central New Hampshire for a beer.

“I’m not intimidated by new breweries coming in, because everybody wants to do their own style, and (patrons) jump around and try other things, which is great,” Page said.

Silver screen survives

Phil Duquette, district manager for BarnZ’s Meredith Cinema, has seen his industry pivot dramatically since the home movie experience went from a rented VHS to a streamed movie in high-def.

“Twenty years ago, it was, how many people can we fit in the building. Now it’s, how can we make this the best experience possible,” Duquette said.

Within the past 10 years, all small cinemas had to make the switch from film projectors to digital, as the big movie houses didn’t want to print and ship reels of film any more. A year and a half ago, BarnZ’s removed all of its old seating and replaced it with stuffed recliners that feature armrests, cup holders and powered footrests.

Those new seats cost more than the initial investment – they also eat up more real estate. A theater that once held 200 seats now has just 90, Duquette said. But, as the quality of the movie showing improves at people’s homes, the cinemas have to provide comfort that rivals a favorite living room chair. The focus has changed, he said. It’s now about making sure that each individual who buys a ticket will want to return.

BarnZ’s hopes to recover from lost potential ticket sales by offering more concessions – including hot foods such as pizza, chicken tenders and mozzarella sticks – and more show times, Duquette said. “You’d be surprised how many people still want popcorn at 10 a.m. in the morning.”

“Industry standard is down 11%. For us, it’s a matter of trying to stay up so that we’re not affected by that negatively,” Duquette said.

As each new technology has emerged, there have been predictions that it would spell the demise of the cinema, he said. Yet the industry has survived, and now provides a higher standard than ever before, so Duquette is optimistic.

“The reality is, people want to get out of the house. You want to be able to get out and about and get entertained,” he said, adding, “Restaurants didn’t stop because people could cook food at home.”