• Sweets on the Green

    A Decade of Decadent Desserts By Andra Moss How is your naughty versus nice rating? Those needing to influence Santa with an especially impressive treat should grab their stockings and head to the Norfolk Historical Society (NHS) for the 10th Annual Cake Auction on Saturday, Dec. 7.     Now a Norfolk holiday tradition, the event was […]

  • Artist Tom Burr Brings His Torrington Project to an End

    Performances celebrate studio closing By Stephen Melville Norfolk resident and artist Tom Burr organized a day of performances and exhibition at his studio in Torrington on Oct. 26, marking an end to what he has called “The Torrington Project.” For the past three and a half years, Burr has rented a vast—15,000 square foot—former industrial […]

  • New Meanings for a Monument

    Light Shines on the Memorial Green By Joe Kelly On Monday, Nov. 11, Veterans Day, a crowd of about 100 gathered for the rededication of Norfolk’s World War 1 memorial, artfully restored under the auspices of the Norfolk Community Association. It was sunny. Temperatures in the low ‘60’s. Another day of no rain. Everyone talked […]

  • Norfolk Then…

    This 1920s postcard shows Memorial Green just after the War Memorial, designed by Alfredo Taylor, was built. It was Taylor’s wife Minna who first proposed that a memorial “heroes grove” be planted on the small lot of land known as the Triangle opposite the Catholic Church. The lot had been left empty with the demolition […]

  • Restored war memorial to be celebrated on veterans day

    plaque now honors all who served By Patricia Platt A World War I monument, designed by Alfredo Taylor and erected on Norfolk’s Memorial Green in 1921, bears the inscription, “for those who gave and those who offered their lives for liberty, the people of Norfolk have built this monument and crowned it with the Liberty […]

  • NLT Tail Ablaze with Runners

    More than 120 runners enjoyed perfect fall weather as they wound their way through picturesque Barbour Woods in the 11th Annual Norfolk Land Trust Trail Race. Some chose to add a challenging loop over Haystack Mountain, while the half-marathoners just kept moving on up—topping out at over 2,000 feet of elevation gain. *photo by June […]

  • Can you spot the Real Curler?

    There was movie magic ice to be made, and the pros of the Norfolk Curling Club were the first to get the call. In October, NCC’s Jon Barbagallo, Lou Barbagallo, Rachel Barbagallo, Mark Walsh, Harvey Chalmers and Phill West were hired by a production company to make curling ice at a Rhode Island hockey rink […]

  • Norfolk Then…

    This 1917 photograph is a timely reminder of the long struggle fought by many dedicated women for basic civil liberties, including the right to own property, hold public office, sit on juries, participate in public assemblies and vote. The group of 25 suffragists—20 women and five men—gathered on the porch following their meeting with Congressman […]

  • The chicken who wanted to be a star and other tales from a norfolk movie set

    By Andra Moss Secrets and small towns don’t often pair well, and Norfolk is a small town. Yet, for eight weeks this summer, a crew of nearly 100 people quietly transformed Tim and Paula Webster’s 1908 Norfolk farmhouse into a film set for a feature-length production, all the while staying under the local radar.  It […]

  • great blue heron rookeries

    working together to provide sustainable breeding habitats By Jude Mead Great Blue Herons are a familiar sight in Norfolk and are one of the largest of all North American herons, standing up to four feet tall with a wingspan of close to six feet. They are most noticeable in flight as they soar across the […]

  • Norfolk Then…

    Tennis at Town Hall? The building we know as Town Hall was originally the Eldridge Gymnasium, built in 1892. Located within easy walking distance of hotels and boarding houses in Norfolk at the turn of the last century, the Gymnasium was a popular gathering place for both residents and visitors. People played croquet on the lawn […]

  • Looking Back Over the Years

    The End of an Era for Norfolk Now By Colleen Gundlach After 10 years and over 30 issues, Ruth Melville has put on her Norfolk Now editor’s hat for the last time. In June, the paper marked the end of an era with the publication of Ruth’s final issue as one of the executive editors […]

Articles

Purifying Norfolk’s Wastewater

Process described on Sewer District’s Facebook page By Doug McDevitt Too many cups of coffee on a long road trip home, we rush out of the car, fumble with the keys doing a strange wiggle dance and just make it to the lavatory. With our business finished, the commode flushed and hands washed, a great […]

Scout Project Honors Norfolk Veterans

By Wiley Wood On a recent Saturday morning, a group gathered around a headstone lying face down on the sod of the Grantville Cemetery in Norfolk. Some carried clipboards, others flashlights, brushes and putty knives; one carried a bulging ring binder. All were wearing masks. They were part of a task force assembled by John […]

Interview With Matt Riiska

Norfolk First Selectman Matt Riiska talks with Norfolk Now’s Mike Cobb about conducting town business during the time of the coronavirus pandemic. Click here for podcast. (If viewing on landing page, click on headline first.)

Working to Keep Vital Supplies on the Grocery Store Shelves

By Doug McDevitt In October of 1929 a national catastrophe occurred when the stock market crashed putting millions of Americans out of work and causing absolute uncertainty about what was to come. For the next three and a half years, Americans struggled to survive. In 1933 Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected the 32nd president of […]

Voices From the Pandemic: How Norfolk Is Responding to the Crisis

Throughout this issue, you’ll find articles about the coronavirus crisis and the ways that people in Norfolk are responding, whether they are working at patients’ bedsides, keeping grocery store shelves stocked, cooking meals to enliven the family’s day, sewing masks to give to their neighbors or keeping their children safe, happy and productive. But first […]

Many Went Bunny Hunting Through Town over Easter Weekend

Norfolk Bunny Hunt By Dave Beers Photos by Dave Beers This past Easter weekend (April 10-12) there was a bunny hunt in Norfolk. Residences and businesses set up Easter holiday displays both inside and outside as part of a town-wide socially-distant scavenger hunt for all ages. Over 60 addresses were listed on both a check-off […]

Norfolk Resident Wins Award for Student Film

By Allysia RuggieroPhoto by Nicole Villalobos Elias Olsen graduated from Ithaca College this past December, with a degree in documentary studies. His course work was largely focused on film. A short film that he and his fellow students produced, called “Stew,” recently won an award at the Outer Docs Film Festival in Ithaca, N.Y. As […]

From Curbside to Virtual Shopping, Local Eateries Get Creative During Covid-19

By Kelly Kandra HughesPhoto by Clinton J. Sosna More than a month has gone by since Gov. Ned Lamont ordered the shutdown of Connecticut restaurants, bars, gyms and movie theaters. Several of the businesses in Norfolk and the surrounding communities that fall into these categories were faced with a seemingly insurmountable task: to keep their […]

Local Stitchers Are Busy Making Face Masks to Combat the Coronavirus

Sewing for Safety By Ruth MelvillePhoto by Avice Meehan Back in March—which feels like a long ago now—it was rare to see a person on the street wearing a face mask. It seemed too extreme, and slightly scary. But as doctors and scientists began to learn more about Covid-19, it became apparent that even people […]

Regional 7 Students and Teachers Adapt to Online Learning

It’s not perfect, but they’re making it work By Charlotte McDevittPhoto by Doug McDevitt To say that now is a difficult time for students would certainly be an understatement. With all the schools in Connecticut closed and without a definitive reopening date, students and teachers are feeling the stress. Thankfully, students at Northwestern Regional 7 […]

Going to School but Staying Home

By Wiley WoodPhoto by Ann DeCerbo When Virginia Coleman-Prisco told her school-age children that spring break was over, one of them piped up, “Does that mean we can go back to school?” The answer, of course, was no, school would still be online. Going to Botelle School these days means sitting down at an internet-connected […]

Opening of Norfolk Farmers Market Postponed

New state and town guidelines will have major impact on how markets can operate By Jude Mead The Norfolk Farmer’s Market will not be opening in May. This is no ordinary farmers market season because of Covid-19. According to Bryan Hurlburt, the commissioner for the Department of Agriculture, farmers markets have always been an important access […]