A Week of Work and Camaraderie

The three youngsters above (from left to right, Ellie Olsen, Luke Green and Ethan Perlman) were pictured on a recent work camp trip to Camden N.Y. organized by Norfolk’s First Congregational Church. For the fourth year in a row, a group of about 30 volunteers spent a week doing house repairs and house improvements in […]

National Iron Bank Holds Grand Reopening

  By Ruth Melville As part of a strategic plan to renovate all their branches, the National Iron Bank in Norfolk has spent the past six months refurbishing its building on Station Place. With the internal demolition and reconstruction mostly completed, attention has now shifted to exterior work, and the grand reopening is scheduled for […]

Firearms, Monoculars and Norfolk History

Antique arms and vintage posters on display at Icebox Armory   By Karen Linden Jack, a cute and friendly canine, is the first greeter you’ll meet at Ice Box Armory. Next is Hal Cannon, who has opened his cozy, well-provisioned arms shop right on Route 44 near the west end of Norfolk. Cannon was employed […]

Growing Shiitakes for Fun and Profit

  By Wiley Wood If you’ve come to the Norfolk Farmers Market looking for goat milk soap, French pastries, or zucchini blossoms, Andy Griffin’s stand is not for you. What he has is mushrooms, mostly shiitakes, which he sells by the pint or the half pint. Early on a Saturday morning, he might have a […]

Pooch Palace Offers Luxury Services in New High-Tech Resort for Pets

A place for furry, winged or scaly princes and princesses   By C. J. Sosna When your lovebug needs some pampering or has to be left behind while you take an all-important trip, you now have a solution in one nearby “palace.” Charlene Martel has been in the pet industry for eight years and has […]

New Photographs by Marie Kendall Discovered

An Unexpected Look in Norfolk’s Past   By Jude Mead It was a typical afternoon at the Norfolk Historical Museum. Executive director Barry Webber was busy adding the final touches for the museum’s 2018 exhibition, An Extraordinary Legacy: The Photography of Marie H. Kendall, featuring Kendall’s images of Norfolk during the mid-1880’s through the turn […]

Art, Nature and Fun at Weekend in Norfolk

By Colleen Gundlach This will be the third year of the annual phenomenon known as Weekend in Norfolk (WIN), and a look at this year’s schedule of events reveals several new and exciting activities planned, one of which involves star gazing, moon watching and an all-nighter when local astronomer Matthew Johnson conducts Astronomy Night at […]

Pickleball Is a Serious Sport, Really

Norfolk Curling Club Offers a Chance to Learn or Spectate   By David Beers In 1965, Congressman Joel Pritchard and a friend went outside to play badminton on the badminton court in his Bainbridge, Wash. Backyard. They could not find the badminton equipment and improvised with ping pong rackets and a wiffle ball, and pickleball […]

Norfolk Chamber Music Festival Starts an Event-Filled Six-Week Run

  By Wiley Wood They start arriving on July 1, young musicians, most of them in graduate programs in the United States, but originally from four continents, coming to Norfolk to learn, rehearse and perform (or compose) chamber music with members of the faculty of the Yale School of Music and a distinguished cast of […]

One Year in, Multiage Classrooms at Botelle Judged a Success

Program will expand next year   By Jude Mead Botelle Elementary School implemented its first multiage classroom this past year, combining the kindergarten and first grade classes. Faced with the prospect of declining enrollment, Principal Lauren Valentino, along with teachers Bea Tirrell and Deb Tallon, revitalized an educational model that dates back centuries to the […]