Celebrating Art, Culture and Nature in Norfolk

By Ruth Melville

On Aug. 4, 5 and 6, Weekend in Norfolk (WIN) is back in town for its eighth annual summer, with a mixture of old and new events.

Some of the old favorites coming back this year are a tour of the stained class windows at the Immaculate Conception Church, the Norfolk Land Trust’s Hike the Peaks challenge, free weddings and vow renewals on the village green, the Norfolk Artists and Friends annual art exhibition and concerts at the Chamber Music Festival. And Doug McDevitt will be back teaching his popular fly fishing class.

But there are several exciting new events added into the mix. Here are some of the highlights of this year’s festival.

In addition to the Norfolk Artists and Friends, there will be several other art shows around town that weekend: Pamela Harnois at The Guilded Artisan, Peter Coffeen at the Norfolk Library and Michaela Murphy and Joel Howard at the Hub.

Music too will be everywhere, from concerts at the Music Shed to a Friday Night on the Green concert, to music on Robertson Plaza all three afternoons of the festival, sponsored by National Iron Bank. Michael Cobb, the DeCerbo Family Band and Jamal Ford-Bey are among those scheduled to appear.

Also new this year are some activities at the Connecticut-Asia Cultural Society, including a new exhibition on Incan culture, a traditional tea ceremony, tours and refreshments featuring both Asian and Peruvian cuisine.

In addition to presenting several concerts during the weekend, both ticketed and free, the Chamber Music Festival is bringing back its always eagerly anticipated tours of Whitehouse.

For children, there will a puppet show and popsicles at the Norfolk Library on Saturday and a special children’s concert at the Music Shed on Sunday afternoon, followed by an ice cream social. It’s Kids Day at the farmers market on Saturday morning, and that afternoon, the Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department’s open house will feature a special wet down ceremony for their new tanker. 

The more historically and culturally minded can visit the Historical Society’s current exhibit, “Shedding Light: 200 years of Art & Music in Norfolk,” and then, on Saturday afternoon, step across the green to listen to a conversation between Jennifer Homans, author of a recent well-received book on George Balanchine, and Hugh Eakin, author of “Picasso’s War.” Invited to Norfolk by the Haystack Books Festival, Homans and Eakin will talk about tradition and modernism and the people who laid the foundations of contemporary American art and culture.

And, finally, for those who like to look to the heavens, new this year are two sessions of solar observations with Matthew Johnson, sponsored by Aton Forest, and—thanks to Norfolk’s clear night skies—star gazing on Friday night at Great Mountain Forest.

New events are still being added, so be sure to check the WIN website during the month of July.