• Early Morning Fire Guts Norfolk Barn

    Forty firefighters respond from five towns By Avice Meehan Adair Mali often sleeps with earplugs but dispensed with them on the night of Aug. 18, tired after a night at Tanglewood with her husband, Antonio Guindon, and another couple. Thank goodness she did. At about 4:20 a.m. Mali awoke to a “loud crackling noise” and […]

  • Litchfield County Choral Union Closes 2026 Season

    Celebrating America’s 250th birthday By Jude Mead The Litchfield County Choral Union (LCCU) brought its 2026 summer season to a stirring close on Sunday, Aug. 2, with “From Roots to Promise: Singing America at 250,” an ambitious program that celebrated the country’s musical traditions while looking toward its future. The concert featured the LCCU anthem […]

  • Haystack Book Festival Returns to Norfolk

    Nationally recognized authors offer conversation and insights By Ann DeCerbo Book lovers, curious minds and anyone who enjoys a lively conversation about ideas have plenty to look forward to next month when the Haystack Book Festival returns to Norfolk Oct. 2–4 with events at Infinity Hall, the Norfolk Library and Great Mountain Forest. A program […]

  • Fire and Circus Arts on the Green

    By Jude Mead Matica Circus, a professional performing group based in Harwinton, Conn., brought an unforgettable combination of fire, acrobatics and circus arts to the Norfolk Village Green for the grand finale of the season of the Friday Nights on the Green summer concert series. The high-energy performance captivated the crowd with dramatic fire spinning, […]

  • Botelle Ushers in a New Year

    The first day of school dawned cool and cloudy, but no one seemed to notice. Students arrived at Botelle Elementary School on Aug. 26 via bus, car and firetruck (complete with siren). Some students, like Daphne Rutolo who walked her older sister to the bus, will have to wait for the start of the pre-Kindergarten […]

  • A New Year, New Pathways

    Northwestern Regional 7 expands opportunities for students By Virginia Coleman-Prisco As students and staff return to Northwestern Regional School District No. 7 (NWR7) middle and high schools for the 2026-27 school year, district leaders say the focus will be on strengthening student opportunities, preparing young people for an evolving workforce and building an even stronger […]

  • When Is a Check Really in the Mail?

    By Joseph Kelly The United States Postal Service (USPS), longtime target of many complaints and butt of numerous jokes, may seem an unlikely source of metaphysical speculation. But this year the USPS added a new wrinkle to an age-old question: When can it truly and truthfully be said that “a check is in the mail?” […]

  • Steady as She Goes

    Crews working on Norfolk’s new firehouse hoisted the “final” truss in place on Saturday, Aug. 29, as members of the Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department, town officials and representatives of Newfield Construction watched from the sidelines. The truss, signed by key players in the major project, marks a symbolic milestone toward completion of the building. NVFD […]

  • Caring for Forests: Ethan Tapper’s Message of Stewardship

    By Jude Mead Ethan Tapper recently spoke at the Church of Christ Congregational on the green about his work as a forester, author and advocate for the natural world. The evening centered on his 2024 book, “How to Love a Forest: The Bittersweet Work of Tending a Changing World,” which explores how forests function and […]

  • IT’ S ONLY NATURAL: Putting the Brakes on Bittersweet: a September Strategy

    by Susannah Wood Over the last couple of years, Oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus) has increasingly taken hold on Norfolk’s roadsides. Anyone who has driven back and forth to New York City over the years has seen how, unchecked, the vines can envelope trees, girdle and kill them, and leave behind a wrecked woodland. A member […]

  • Woodman Spare that Tree—Or Don’t

    The somewhat lopsided Japanese Zelkova tree that once stood near the entrance to Nor-folk’s Post Office on Station Place is no more. Likely planted some 30 years ago during Ar-thur Rosenblatt’s tenure as first selectman, the hardy tree fell victim to progress and the need to replace the adjacent sidewalk. The planned removal of the […]

  • Norfolk Then…

    In the early 20th century, the Mountain Road bridge over Norfolk Brook had a rustic-style guard rail bordering the road and sidewalk. Characterized by the use of twigs, branches, and bark, the rustic style had been used in formal English gardens in the 1700’s and in this country was very popular in the second half […]

Articles

Weekend in Norfolk Is Back for Its Eighth Summer

Celebrating Art, Culture and Nature in Norfolk By Ruth Melville On Aug. 4, 5 and 6, Weekend in Norfolk (WIN) is back in town for its eighth annual summer, with a mixture of old and new events. Some of the old favorites coming back this year are a tour of the stained class windows at […]

Gas Spill Cleanup: Final Phase with Silver Lining?

Remediation and monitoring could end in 2024 By Joe Kelly The arrival of spring and a successful completion of legal negotiations with nearby property owners havecleared the way for what may be the final phase of the cleanup of last November’s gas spill.As the ground thawed in April and May, and agreements were reached to […]

It Must Be Summer – The Farmers Market is OpenI

By MaryJo Tomaselli The Norfolk Farmers Market will kick off its 17 th season on Saturday, June 3, on thetown hall lawn at 19 Maple Avenue. The market’s focus remains the same: To supportlocal farmers and artisans and to provide them with an outlet to sell their goods to thecommunity.This year the market committee has […]

Little Guild Animal Shelter Plans Major Renovation of Their Building

Capital campaign launching at the Great Country Mutt Show in June By Ruth Melville For over 60 years, the Little Guild has been taking in homeless cats and dogs and helpingthem find their “forever homes.” Located for 30 of those years in a 3,000-square-footbuilding in West Cornwall, the shelter is now planning a major renovation […]

Church’s Fellowship and Growth Team Eager to Help

Serving the Community By Jude MeadNavigating life post-pandemic has been a struggle for many, including Norfolk’s Church of Christ Congregational. Just before Covid-19 struck, the church had restructured its committees into what are now known as teams. Since the pandemic, church members have been searching for ways to better help serve the community. One group, […]

Grant-Funded Mental Health Professional to Join Botelle Staff

By Virginia Coleman-Prisco An $8.7 million U.S. Department of Education grant has been awarded to EdAdvance with thepurpose of increasing school-based mental health services over the next five years to 30 K-12schools in northwestern Connecticut. EdAdvance is one of Connecticut’s six RegionalEducational Service Centers (RESCs), and its mission is to promote the success of school […]

Norfolk Salutes its Volunteers

Spotlight on Norfolk Volunteer Ambulance Bill Brodnitzki We moved to Norfolk in 1971, and about a year after moving into town, my neighbor called over to me. “Bill can you go on an ambulance call?” I went! Things were different then. We referred to those days as “load and go.” No training was required, and […]

Coming Soon: The Great Barrington Triplex II

Community has come together to purchase a piece of history By Patricia PlattEarly in 1995, Richard Stanley bought a lumber yard in Great Barrington and built the Triplex Theater on its site. It quickly became a beloved community gathering place where, for 28 years, locals of all ages remember eating popcorn and watching Hollywood, independent […]

Benefit Concert for Humanitarian Aid

Teryn Kuzma, an accomplished vocalist and instrumentalist, held a benefit concert for humanitarian aid at Norfolk’s Botelle Chapel. She performed contemporary works, and uncommon Eastern European opera and art song. Kuzma accompanied herself on the 55-stringed Ukrainian bandura, a large harp-zither whose origins can be traced back to the 1600s in Ukraine.

Norfolk Rails to Trails Wins $400k Grant 

North Brook Trail to be Fully Accessible    By Andra Moss The third time was the charm for the Norfolk Rails to Trail (R2T) committee’s grant application to the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s Connecticut Recreational Trails Program. When the official announcement was made on May 15, Norfolk was one of only 50 communities […]

Norfolk in a Pickle

Pickleball in Norfolk: Bridge With a Racket By Janet Gokay Mead If you have access to any sort of media, you’ve probably read several articles about how pickleball is taking the country by storm. Well, for once, Norfolk was at the forefront of a cultural tsunami: a small group of players in town have been […]

Norfolk Housing Trends

A Hushed Market for Real Estate Transactions in Norfolk By Avice Meehan The British pop band Herman’s Hermits made it big in the U.S. in 1967 with a hit song called “A Kind of Hush” – and hushed is a good description of Norfolk’s real estate market this spring.  “There’s not much on the market,” […]