• Work to Resume on Route 44 and New Firehouse

    Warmer temps ensure concrete quality By Avice Meehan Two significant Norfolk projects that were put on hold because of below-zero temperatures this winter are expected to resume by mid-March: Reconstruction of two retaining walls along Route 44 and the construction of a new firehouse for the Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department. Engineers for the state Department […]

  • Richard Byrne Retires as Active Firefighter

    After 58 years, veteran status By Joseph Kelly He was a young Navy veteran, about to be married and ready to start a family in his hometown when, in February 1968, his older brother convinced him to join the Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department (NVFD). For Richard Byrne it was the start of an association that […]

  • Rock ‘n Roll House Party Circus Will Benefit Local Food Banks

    Three Grammy nominees to perform at Infinity Hall By Colleen Gundlach On April 11, Infinity Hall will be the setting for Rock ‘n Roll House Party Circus, a concert that will benefit Stock the Shelves, an outreach of United Way of Northwestern Connecticut. The Rock ‘n Roll House Party Circus will feature three Grammy nominees […]

  • Rom-Com Curling Film Released With Olympics

    To get the ice just right, filmmakers tapped Norfolk expertise By Joseph Kelly The underdogs who battle the odds—the washed-up boxer, the outclassed football team, the aging baseball slugger with one last homerun in him—are all Hollywood standbys. Ronald Reagan may be remembered as much for “win one for the Gipper” as he is for […]

  • How Botelle (Carefully) Uses AI for Learning

    By Avice Meehan For more than three decades, children visited the fictional town of Frog Creek, Penn., home to two children named Jack and Annie. With the help of a magic tree house, the pair are whisked away to distant places where they have adventures, solve problems and, perhaps, learn a thing or two. Like […]

  • Choral Singing Meets Bluegrass

    LCCU welcomes all ages to sing new styles By Andra Moss The Litchfield County Choral Union (LCCU) is entering its 127th concert year with decidedly youthful energy. Under the direction of Music Director Dr. Gabriel Löfvall, the LCCU will convene a youth choral festival in Norfolk in late spring; offer a series of choral seminars […]

  • Winter Weekend In Norfolk

    It was a cold and blustery weekend, but that didn’t stop the hardy from coming out on Feb. 21 and 22 for Winter WIN, the weekend for enjoying all things Norfolk in the winter season. The photos below show a story of a town that came together to strut its stuff for the world to […]

  • From Freeze to Flow: Extreme Temps and the Maple Syrup Season

    Reaching that ideal mix of natural conditions By Jude Mead The extreme cold and heavy snowfall this season has raised some concern among maple syrup producers. Reports of loud, cracking noises in wooded areas have set the stage for a phenomenon called “frost cracking.” During these periods of intense cold, the water and sap inside […]

  • Sit Right Back and You’ll Hear a Tale

    With Jude Mead at the guitar and with great enthusiasm, members of the Isabella Eldridge Club defied a threatened winter storm and entered Battell Chapel on Feb. 10 for a memorable performance of an episode of “Gilligan’s Island,” a daft 1960s television comedy. Despite the best efforts of the Professor (played by Marinell Crippen, left) […]

  • Cook For Goodness Sake

    America The Melting Pot By Linda Garrettson In celebration of the 250th anniversary of our Declaration of Independence, it seems appropriate to dedicate my food column this year to America, who we are, and what we eat. Get ready for some history lessons, and perhaps surprises that might enlighten you to what we call American […]

  • Be Careful, Very Careful

    An expert team from the Glass Source Stained Glass Studio spent nearly six hours in cold mid-January weather care-fully removing a cathedral stained glass window from Battell Chapel at the United Church of Christ before transporting it to their studio in Seymour for restoration. In this photo, Michael Skrtic balances one section of the window […]

  • The Week that Was

    First, frigid temperatures forced the relocation of Norfolk’s valiant Post Office staff to Winsted because of scheduled asbestos remediation, leaving box holders temporarily puzzled. Then, the big snow arrived on Jan. 25 and 26. Estimates vary widely: Russell Russ reported the official tally at the Great Mountain Forest weather station as 15.2 inches, but others […]

Articles

GoodWorks to Turn Infinity Hall Building Over to Town of Norfolk

One more act in the life of the historic theater By Ruth Melville “You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows,” sang Bob Dylan, and if you lived in Norfolk you didn’t need a crystal ball to know that change was coming to Infinity Hall. A glance at the venue’s diminishing […]

Campaign to Slow Speed of Traffic Through Town is Long and Frustrating

Keeping the Roads Safe By Colleen Gundlach The first letter to the editor about slowing down traffic traveling through Norfolk was published in Norfolk Now back in 2017. The writer, Barry Webber, encouraged townspeople to make a concerted effort to travel the speed limit when driving around town. He wrote, “If each of us pledges […]

Local Conservation Groups Work to Protect Connecticut’s Bat Population

Friends Not Foes Text By Avice MeehanPhoto By Pamela Velez Don’t be surprised if you see a strange-looking vehicle with an antenna on its roof crawling along Goshen East Street late at night. It’s a scientific bat mobile, deployed by the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) to assess Connecticut’s bat population. Moving […]

The Connecticut-Asian Cultural Center Opens on Westside Road

Celebrating Art and Culture Text by Patricia PlattPhoto Courtesy of The CT-Asian Cultural Center Celebrating its motto “Love, Mutual Support and Peace,” the Connecticut-Asia Cultural Center held its grand opening on Aug. 6 at 207A Westside Road, the large stone estate built by Dr. Michael Pupin in 1907. For many years, the site was occupied […]

Norfolk NET Program Encourages Acts of Kindness in the Community

Paying It Forward Text By Kelly Kandra HughesPhoto by Henry Perrault Norfolk has a new Little Free Library! Located on Winchester Road, the wooden box filled with books sits on a pole with a sign that encourages passersby to “Take a Book, Leave a Book.” Under this directive is one more sentence: “Made possible by […]

A Bounty of Cultivated and Wild Mushrooms Can Be Found at Husky Meadows Farm

Mushrooms on the Menu By David Beers The old Curtiss dairy farm was quiet for many years. Then in 2015 an organic vegetable farm took root, called Husky Meadows Farm. Over the past seven years, the farm has diversified more each year. It is remarkable to see all that is going on. The farm now […]

Station Place Café to Close After 12 Years in Business

Station Place Café, based in the historic former Norfolk station of the Central New England Railway,will close its doors at the end of September, says owner Stefanie Gouey. She cites Covid-19, rising food costs and decreasing walk-in business as factors in her decision to close the well-reviewed eatery. Gouey first started serving fresh breakfast and […]

Revamped Town Website Launched

By Susan MacEachron As of July 1, the town website has been redesigned and is under town management for the first time. Before now, the website had been managed by various members of the community for the benefit of the town. Now the Website Committee is a town committee, and notices of monthly meetings will […]

Keeping Vital Supplies Flowing to Ukraine’s Front Lines

Two men with local ties send equipment where it’s needed most Text By Andra MossPhoto Courtesy of Evan Platt On May 1, barely two months after the start of Russian invasion of Ukraine, Evan Platt boarded a plane in Salt Lake City, Utah, bound for Warsaw. His friend and former Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) […]

Babs Perkins Uses Intentional Movement to Produce Ethereal Photograpys

Text by Jude MeadPhoto Courtesy of Babs Perkins Photography has the power to inspire and the ability to invoke an emotional response in people. It is a visual tool that allows photographers to show how they see the world. For professional photographer and writer Barbara “Babs” Perkins, photography is a passion. She uses it to […]

Ribbon Cutting Ceremony to Take Place During WIN Weekend

by Jeremy Withnell The long-awaited end to the second phase of the City Meadow project is nearly at hand.  According to Molly Ackerly, chair of the City Meadow committee, the finishing touches are being put in place and a ribbon cutting ceremony is scheduled to coincide with Weekend in Norfolk on August 7 at 1 […]

Norfolk Church Sends Work Camp Group To Upgrade Homes and Uplift Hearts

Photo by Sarah Foster After a two-year break, Church of Christ Congregational resumed its tradition of Work Camp trips. This year, 16 volunteers loaded into cars and headed back to Camden, N.Y. to resume their partnership with Cluster 13 Ministries.   Under the leadership of Pastor Erick Olsen and his wife Tina, seven adults and nine […]