Blue-sky Thinking

Norfolk’s topography is topsy-turvy. Unlike neighboring towns on Route 44, the heart of Norfolk is situated on a steep hill that begins and ends with dangerous boomerang-shaped curves that run past our two memorial greens. Most drivers are in a hurry to get through this roller coaster ride, vigilant for their safety and oblivious to our town’s business center barely discernible on Station Place.

The speed limit from Village Green to Memorial Green is 25 but is never enforced. Perhaps it’s time to, periodically, post a trooper by both Greens, to slow down the thousands of vehicles (with potential shoppers) that pass through Norfolk every week.

Since it’s impossible to change Norfolk’s rugged, hilly terrain, it’s time for a fresh look at attracting visitors to our sleepy business district, starting with a decorative, iron arch over the Station Place entryway, welcoming travelers and enticing them to turn off 44 to discover the downtown.

The two uninspired buildings across from the formidable Royal Arcanum building could be torn down, replaced by an architecturally significant new building with ground floor storefronts and apartments on the second floor.

The anchor business for this new building might be an old-fashioned
luncheonette/diner/grill/ice cream parlor with a vintage neon sign, serving full breakfasts, comfort food for lunch and outfitted with a soda fountain dispensing milkshakes, ice cream and gourmet coffee all afternoon and into the early evening. This enterprise could also conveniently purvey essential local produce like eggs, bread, cheese, etc., plus newspapers.

Infinity Hall averages three to four shows a week. Why not use off-nights to screen classic and popular films? No need to open Infinity’s restaurant on movie nights. Fire up the bar in the theater for drinks and snacks, install a popcorn machine and turn on the projector.

America’s craft beer renaissance has largely gone unnoticed in northwestern Connecticut. The closest such brewery to Norfolk is an hour away. Due to its remote location in the “Icebox of Connecticut,” the Norfolk Brewery would have a certain mystique, which could be marketed as, “beer made from the purest water, in the pristine, fresh mountain air of the rustic Greenwoods.”

An advantage to having Norfolk’s compact business center just slightly removed from busy Route 44 is the space it affords to stage events such as apple/pumpkin festivals, railroad days or even to create a quaint Christmas shopping village.

Generations ago, people with vision were willing to invest time and money to shape the look and economy of Norfolk despite its challenging topography. Perhaps it’s time to emulate these intrepid, industrious local merchants and manufacturers and again find ways expand Norfolk’s commercial horizons.

Michael Kelly

Repair Café

Ruth Melville’s View From the Green column in your November issue, entitled “Fix It, Don’t Toss It,” is the kind of out-of-the-box positive thinking that we need more of, particularly as the days shorten and the temperatures plummet. Across our region in many if not all our small towns, the old template for economic viability is crumbling. The reasons are many. Among the most prominent is that we are willing to drive further to buy something cheaper, and we use the Internet to buy what we cannot find locally. Our sense that we need to support local businesses has frayed in the process.

Ms. Melville’s fix-it clinic or Repair Café is the kind of new thinking we need to embrace. I thank her for suggesting it. I am unsure, as she is, how best it might be done or under whose auspices it should be organized, but her idea should be pursued. The idea meets a local need and goes to our basic sense of self-reliance. We need to talk more on this.

Vint Lawrence