Norfolk’s Schoolchildren Learn to Curl

  The school bus pulls up, seven schoolchildren pour out, huddle briefly with their coach, David Beers, in the foyer of the Norfolk Curling Club, then fan out over the ice, broom in hand, gliding over the pebbled surface of the curling sheets. This is the Norfolk After School Program in action. The curling class, […]

A Playful Presence in the Woods

The North American River Otter   By Wiley Wood The tracks look dog-like, big pugmarks in the snow coming up from the lake, crossing the ski trail and climbing the bank on the far side. But the coyote, if it is one, is dragging something heavy in its mouth, making a long, shallow dent in […]

EDC Works Behind the Scenes to Restart Corner Store

Operator backs out at the eleventh hour   By Wiley Wood It seemed like a natural. The Corner Store in Norfolk had stood empty for years. Cornwall, a few towns over, had a thriving country store with a genial and energetic owner, but after operating for two years at the intersection of Route 7 and […]

Norfolk Festival Director Will Step Down After 2016 Season

Melvin Chen named new director   By Wiley Wood Paul Hawkshaw, the Yale School of Music professor who has served as director of the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival and the Yale Summer School of Music for more than a decade, has confirmed that he will step down after the festival’s 2016 season. Familiar to concertgoers […]

Norfolk’s Year-End Weather and a 2015 Summary

  Unusual Weather to Finish the Year   By Russell Russ The closing months of 2015 brought warm weather and below-average amounts of rain and snow. While unusual for Norfolk, but it seemed a fitting end to a strange weather year. Numerous months throughout the year ranked high in several categories. Warm temperatures, rainfall deficits […]

Julie Scharnberg Is Grants and Program Director of the Community Foundation

Assisting Nonprofits and People in Need   By Colleen Gundlach The Community Foundation of Northwest Connecticut (CFNC) was founded in 1969 by a small group of citizens in Torrington with $15,000 and plans to promote public giving. Today it has assets in excess of $87 million and endows 101 scholarships and more than 350 grants […]

Republicans and Democrats Caucus to Select Town Committees

By Ruth Melville   In an election year, most Americans are familiar with state and presidential caucuses, which are heavily publicized, much anticipated and often divisive national events. But on January 9 a similar democratic process—if on a much smaller scale—took place in Norfolk’s Town Hall. On that night the town’s Republicans and Democrats met […]

A New Foundation Aims at Downtown Hub

  By Janet G. Mead “Our dream is to make Norfolk the vibrant place we all would like it to be,” said Samuel (Pete) Anderson, president of the newly established Norfolk Foundation. “We want to make Norfolk a center for art and natural recreation.” To work toward this goal, Anderson and three other founding board […]

Historical Society Weekend Celebrates Today’s Norfolk Collectors

  In conjunction with their exhibition “A Farmer, a Sportsman and a Diplomat: The Romance of Collecting in Norfolk,” the Norfolk Historical Society is sponsoring a weekend in February devoted to today’s collections. On Friday, February12, a cocktail party at the Historical Museum will feature a group of Norfolk collectors who will share their collecting […]

Torrington’s Five Points Gallery: Art Mecca and Tool for City Revitalization

Out and About   By Ruth Melville Five Points Gallery, located in a historic building at the corner of Water and Main Streets in Torrington, has been in existence for less than three years, but it has already played a significant role in the revitalization of the city’s downtown. With its high ceilings and big […]