Library Associates Host a Barn Dance Fundraiser

Every year for the past 10 years the Norfolk Library Associates have held a fundraiser to offset the cost of the tent used for the annual book sale. Thanks to the generosity of Grant and Kristin Mudge, who offered the use of their barn, this year the associates decided to do something completely different—hold a […]

Norfolk Soccer Players Star on Regional 7 Team

Five teenagers from Norfolk are on the Regional 7 High School varsity soccer team, and two of them are captains. All of the kids participated in the town’s recreational soccer program starting in kindergarten. The four seniors were accepted into their first traveling soccer team at age 7. As of mid-October the team’s record was […]

Entrepreneurial Farmer Creates Organic Orchard in Norfolk

Pastoral View Preserved By Rosanna Trestman In the early 1800s, traffic along Norfolk’s Winchester Road bustled with activity. Farmers prodded cattle while ladies and gentlemen rode carriages to the once-thriving town of Winchester Center. On the way, they enjoyed expansive vistas of meadows and ponds. Over time, the views have become mostly residential, with the […]

Norfolk Awarded $500,000 to Enhance City Meadow

Plan Combines Water Quality and Recreation By Wiley Wood A plan to turn the five-acre wetland in the center of Norfolk into a storm-water park has been awarded a $500,000 state grant, Governor Dannell P. Malloy’s office announced on September 17. The projected City Meadow will offer paths, boardwalks and benches for strollers, as well […]

Please Feed the Monsters!

Every October 31, the Norfolk Fire Department closes Maple Avenue to motor vehicles from 5–7 p.m., so Norfolk children can have a safe place for trick-or-treating. Residents of Maple Avenue, Emerson Street, and Terrace View get into the Halloween spirit, decorating their houses, wearing costumes, playing scary music, giving out lots of candy, even providing […]

USA Curling Gives National Award to Mary Fanette

By Wiley Wood In December 2011, Mary Fanette was in her second and final term as president of the Norfolk Curling Club. Already on the boards of several Norfolk nonprofits and serving as the town’s volunteer webmaster, Fanette may have been looking forward to stepping down that coming May. Then the clubhouse burned to the […]

Wooden Canoes Thrive in South Norfolk

Thomson Canoe Works Still Builds Canoes by Hand By Ruth Melville A summer job at a canoeing camp led Norfolk resident Schuyler Thomson to an unanticipated profession, and he has now been building and repairing handmade wooden canoes for over 30 years. Thomson, who grew up in Woodbury, Conn., graduated from the University of Connecticut […]

Norfolk Then . . .

The year is 1945, and young Augustus Curtiss, known as Gus, is getting a haircut. It is close quarters in Harold Colwell’s barber shop tucked away in a small room in the Royal Arcanum building (now the Wood Creek Bar & Grill). Next to Harold’s fedora, a bottle of 7-up sits on a bench in […]

Engaging the Paradox: The Secret Corner Should Not be a Secret

Local businesses work to raise visibility By Christopher Sinclair While the verdant, ambling hills of the southern Berkshires, rife with clear streams and winding trails, receive the lion’s share of attention from people passing through or visiting, some individuals in the northwest corner are working to bring attention back to a somewhat neglected facet of […]

Matthew O’Connell is Botelle’s New Principal

A fourth-grade teacher and children’s book author as well as an administrator By Joshua DeCerbo This summer, Harwinton native Matthew O’Connell was selected to be the new principal of Norfolk’s Botelle School. Since that time, O’Connell has been working with the new Norfolk superintendent of schools, Dr. Mary Beth Iacobelli, to prepare for the start […]