• Inside the Yale Norfolk Summer School of Art

    A season of student and community activity By Patricia Platt For over 80 years, the Ellen Battell Stoeckel Trust has endowed Yale University’s summer music and art programs in Norfolk. The renowned Yale Norfolk School of Art opens the 2026 summer season on May 23, before the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival begins, and shares its […]

  • Trio Revives Local Farmers Market

    Northwest Farm to Fork launches at Norbrook By Andra Moss When Devin Grosso and her husband moved to Norfolk in 2024, she was disappointed to learn that the town’s farmers market had permanently closed just the year before. However, a chance meeting at the Botelle School garden with Lisa Auclair, who had managed the Norfolk […]

  • Tracing the Dudley Legacy

    Family history and the truth behind Dudleytown By Jude Mead The Dudley name, with roots stretching back to 14th-century England, carries with it a long and often dramatic history. For Susan Dudley of Winchester, that legacy has been a lifelong source of curiosity—particularly her family’s connection to Dudleytown, the long-abandoned settlement hidden within Cornwall’s Dark […]

  • Cultivars, Nativars and Natives: The Lowdown

    by Susannah Wood It’s May and gardening is in full swing. At nurseries and on gardening sites, beginners and enthusiasts often encounter plants labelled “cultivar” or “nativar,” as well as “native.” What is the difference between a cultivar and a nativar? If someone wants to support local ecosystems and biological diversity, are nativars a good […]

  • Noteworthy Natives: Arrowwood Viburnum

    By Jill Chase For some, a mass of viburnums in bloom on the woodlands edge rivals the beauty of any formal garden around. The fresh white flowers on green foliage let you know that the spring garden season is well and truly on. There are several good varieties of viburnum—some produce blooms like snowballs, while […]

  • A Town Hall Treat for Pollinators

    The Norfolk Nature Alliance sponsored a student native plant garden project at Town Hall. The Northwestern Regional 7 Agricultural Education Program/FFA arrived on a sunny Sunday to install the donated native shrubs and perennials.

  • Birds Now

    A view on the prose and poetry of spring By Cheryl Heller As I write, the red-winged blackbirds are partying outside my window. Goldfinches, in their bright almost-summer feathers, make yellow polkadots in the dogwood that will flower any day. The phoebe (or her daughter) who has nested on our hanging porch light for the […]

  • Happiness Is …

    Smiles and squeals greeted “Farmer John” Coston as he surprised the Merrymakers group of kindergarten and first-graders with a lamb visit at the Norfolk Library’s after-school program on March 23. Cuties and lambs—need we say more?

  • Greenwoods Puppet Festival Returns to Norfolk Library

    By Bina ThomsonThe Greenwoods Puppet Festival returns to Norfolk for a third exciting showcase of puppet magic. Children’s Librarian and Event Coordinator Eileen Fitzgibbons, who has coordinated the previous two festivals, is busy fine-tuning this year’s offerings. In addition to a full day of performances, a puppetry workshop for adults will also be offered. Festivities […]

  • Botelle Beat

    Power Goals and WIN Time Personalize Learning at Botelle By Lauren Valentino One of Botelle School’s SOAR expectations is to Achieve Your Goals. We believe that when students know their goals—what they are learning, why and what success looks like—they are more engaged and motivated. They are partners in the learning process and own their […]

  • Courtney Maum’s Comedic Take on Capitalism

    On June 2nd, Norfolk author Courtney Maum launches her new novel, “ALAN OPTS OUT” (Little Brown) at the Norfolk Library in conversation with WAMC radio’s Sarah LaDuke. The book is a comedy about an ad exec who bombs the biggest pitch of his career and decides to move into a backyard playhouse, opt out of […]

  • “You Shall Not Pass!”

    Gandalf and the state Department of Transportation have spoken. Mountain Road at Westside Road is now closed through November for the Spaulding Brook bridge replacement project. Traffic is being detoured off Route 44 via Westside Road. Cars can still reach the ball fields along the short stretch of Mountain Road.

Articles

Crowd Turns Out to Debate Merits of Norfolk Dog Park

Location and parking issues discussed at P&Z Meeting By Susan MacEachron The proposal to create a private dog park, open to all dog owners, on Westside Road south of Mountain Road generated a large turnout at the Planning & Zoning Commission (P&Z) public hearing on Feb. 14. The Friends of the Norfolk Community Dog Park […]

Town Garage Crew Has Its Act Together

A Well-Oiled Team By David Beers Tucked away between Haystack Mountain and Center Cemetery is our town garage at 36 Old Colony Road. It is from this base of operations that the town’s six-person crew maintains our town’s public infrastructure. Troy LaMere is the supervisor.  Tommy Gorski has been the crew foreman for over 20 […]

Unacceptable Response Time by Eversource to Car Accident

Power not shut off for over an hour By Jonathan Barbagallo On a quiet Tuesday afternoon on Jan. 17 at 2:45 p.m., a local Norfolk husband and wife were headed back to town after grocery shopping and lunch.  The rest of their day was shattered when their car struck a telephone pole at the driveway […]

Frontier Proposal to Provide High Speed Internet Under Consideration

Town wants assurances that all residents will be covered By Ruth Melville Discussions with Frontier Communications about wiring Norfolk with fiber optic cable are ongoing. Frontier has already begun installing fiber optic cable in several towns in the Northwest Corner, including Barkhamsted, Winsted, Norfolk, Torrington, Harwinton, New Hartford and Falls Village. In Barkhamsted and Winsted, […]

Norfolk Resident’s Organization, Wise Humanity, Offers Courses and Retreats

Supporting Personal Transformation By Kelly Kandra Hughes Norfolk resident Elisabeth Sperling will never forget her first day of kindergarten. Even though it was decades ago, one pivotal moment sparked a passion in Sperling that is still ignited today. On that day, the teacher greeted Sperling with a “hello” and then told her there was a […]

Update on Gas Spill Remediation

More cleanup … more lawyers By Joe Kelly The tanker truck crash last November that sent 8,200 gallons of gasoline cascading past homes, through backyards and into the waterways of central Norfolk also set in motion what’s likely to be a prolonged set of legal actions. About a half-dozen property owners and residents along Route […]

Norfolk Salutes Its Volunteers: Spotlight on Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department

Thalia Byrne I volunteer with the Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department (NVFD.) I love being part of a group that is innovative and forward thinking. I want   people in our town to know that the fire department allows any person to bring their own skills to the table without limits. Each person has something to […]

It’s Never Too Cold for the Great Backyard Bird Count

A total of 72 birds identified in one hour in village center By Kelly Kandra Hughes A few minutes before nine o’clock in the morning on Feb. 18, lifelong birder and Norfolk resident Ayreslea Denny discussed with Shelley Harms, co-president of the Norfolk Land Trust, if she should get out her telescope to observe birds […]

Irish Music Makes a Return to the Norfolk Library

Text By Jude MeadPhoto Courtesy of Teada  To celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, the Norfolk Library will open its Great Hall to welcome the well-known Irish band Teada. This group was first recognized in Ireland in 2001 when they made an appearance on the television series, Flosc. Since then, they appeared as a frequent headliner at major music festivals […]

Brett Ellis Strives to Care for the Land and the Community

New Famer at Husky Meadows By Tracy Hayhurst Husky Meadows Farm is getting ready for the upcoming growing season with their new farmer Brett Ellis. He comes to Norfolk with his wife Rebecca and baby Andre from The French Laundry, an award-winning French restaurant in Napa, Calif., where he was the grower for their four […]

Norfolk CTDOT Crew Manages 50 Miles of Roadways

Local team handles the state’s toughest weather By David Beers The state highways of Connecticut are the arteries of its road network. Most drivers use them daily and generally take them for granted. It is not until one is stuck behind a snowplow or delayed by a construction lane drop that any thought goes to […]

NVFD Welcomes Gleaming New (Plastic!) Tanker

By Brian Hutchins In late December 2022, the Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department (NVFD) took delivery of the largest, and some would say the most important, truck in their fleet. Some may have already caught a glimpse of the 25-ton piece of fire apparatus on town roads as the firefighters familiarize themselves with the characteristics of […]