• Norfolk Crowds Return to New Farmers Market

    By Andra Moss The crowd was large, loud and loving it at July’s Northwest Farm to Fork farmers market, held under the pavilion at Norbrook Farm Brewery. “We were very pleased with the turnout, with approximately 230 customers coming through and 16 food and farm vendors,” says Lisa Auclair, a co-founder, with Devin Grosso and […]

  • Friday Night on the Green Celebrates America’s 250th

    July 3 was a picture-perfect night for the community-wide event cel-ebrating America’s Independence. Following a quick parade, picnickers enjoyed burgers and ice cream while judges dug into the entries in the pie baking contest. First Selectman Hen-ry Tirrell moved seamlessly from his welcome speech to the dunk tank, and a few folks, like Pete Sanders […]

  • NORFOLK REMEMBERS Laurene Mary Wallace

    Laurene Mary Wallace, 77, of Colebrook passed peacefully at home surrounded by her family on Friday, July 10, 2026. Laurene was born on April 28, 1949, in Bridgeport, the last of four children born to the late Lawrence and Irene (Misencik) Firmender of Stratford. A retired registered nurse, Laurene’s career in nursing and cardiac rehabilitation […]

  • Norfolk Remembers Sally Sterling Ellis Quale

    Sally Sterling Ellis Quale, of Norfolk and St. Petersburg, Fla., formerly of Bronxville, N.Y., died unexpectedly of heart failure on July 7 at the age of 87. Sally will be remembered for her deep commitment to her family and communities and for her warmth, kindness, intelligence, creativity … and, of course, for her beautiful smile […]

  • Norfolk Then…

    This charming house, still standing on the west side of Litchfield Rd., was built in 1905 for Richmond Paine, the newly appointed conductor of the Litchfield County Choral Union (LCCU). Carl and Ellen Battell Stoeckel engaged the architect Ehrick Rossiter to design the house for Paine as well as the Music Shed for performances by […]

  • Norfolk’s Newest Neighborhood Puts Down Roots

    Haystack Woods lauded as a “model for the state” By Joe Kelly Norfolk’s newest neighborhood, the Haystack Woods affordable housing development, has officially come to life. A year ago, the 39-acre location—a former gravel pit off Old Colony Road—was little more than a muddy building site. Now construction of the 10, two- and three-bedroom homes […]

  • Winsted Church Auctions Tiffany Window for $1.25 Million

    Sale highlights women’s role in Tiffany designs By Joe Kelly When medieval architects found ways to build taller cathedrals, the techniques they developed also made possible the enormous stained-glass windows that we so enjoy today, such as at Chartres and Sainte-Chapelle in France and Canterbury Cathedral in England. American-made stained glass is more recent, dating […]

  • A Revolutionary Year

    1776 Norfolk explored in summer exhibition By Andra Moss Communities across the country are looking back with wonder at 1776, the year that 13 British colonies initiated a revolution that, against astonishing odds, led to the birth of an independent republic. In Norfolk, two curators have combed the Norfolk Historical Society’s (NHS) collection for colonial-era […]

  • SUMMER MUSIC: Familiar Quartets, New Composers at Yale Chamber Festival

    By Patricia Platt The Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, running from July 3 until Aug. 22, will present an exciting season of classical, innovative and international music. This summer, the Brentano Quartet, Shanghai Quartet, Ying Quartet and the Horszowski Trio are among those who will perform during weekend concerts and serve as artist-in-residence mentors to the […]

  • Botelle Students Move Up

    By Avice Meehan Four sixth graders bid farewell to Botelle Elementary School at a laughter-filled, but occasionally serious, ceremony on June 16 that was attended by family, friends and town officials. First Selectmen Henry Tirrell, a Botelle graduate whose mother and aunt taught at the school for many years, reminded the students that they would […]

  • Norfolk Rail-Trail Project Pedals Forward

    By Jude Mead After more than a decade of planning, permiting and redesign work, Norfolk’s long-await-ed Rails-to-Trails initiative has reached a major milestone, bringing the community closer to the creation of a new multi-use recreational trail along a historic railroad corridor. The project is the North Brook Trail, a planned three-quarter-mile ADA-accessi-ble pathway that will […]

  • LEGISLATIVE UPDATE: Budgets, Beetles, Nips and More

    By Avice Meehan State Rep. Maria Horn came prepared to share details about the Connecticut budget (she is co-chair of the legislature’s Joint Finance Committee) and the progress that has been made toward paying down the state’s unfunded pension liability, increasing the rainy day fund (now up to $18 billion) and allocating more state funds […]

Articles

The Library’s Kelly Kandra Hughes is Keeping Norfolk Engaged

Community in Action Text by Janet Gokay MeaPhoto by Heath Hughes Mention Kelly Kandra Hughes, the Norfolk Library’s community engagement coordinator, to most of the library’s patrons and the first response usually is, “Oh, she’s done so much for this town!” And indeed, both she and her husband, Heath, who works as the office manager […]

How a Norfolk Man Came to be Chased by Bears in the Ozarks

A Look Into Norfolk’s Past Text by Andra MossPhoto Courtesy of the Missouri Historical Society Grand adventures are often thought to be reserved for the young. One early Norfolk resident, however, embarked at the somewhat ripe age of 38 on an epic journey into the wilds of the Missouri Territory. His traveling companion became a […]

Cultural Enrichment Programs Return to Botelle as COVID Restrictions Loosen

Getting Back to Normal By Ann DeCerbo On Oct. 13, Botelle students gathered on the gym bleachers for “The Wacky Science Show” with scientist Mike Bent. As promised, the show delivered the “magic of theatre, attention-grabbing comedy, and scientific truths” that thoroughly engaged and entertained the audience of children and their teachers. The interactive science […]

Town Landfill Solar Farm on Track for Construction

By Dave Beers In 1995, the town landfill was full, and a request to the state for a landfill expansion was denied owing to concerns over groundwater contamination. The following year, the transfer station as we know it today was built. Many still endearingly still refer to it as ‘The Dump.” Twenty-five years later, the […]

No Longer a Bell, Norfolk’s Sirens Have a Unique History

Raising the Alarm by Colleen Gundlach Since 1907, the people of Norfolk have always had some manner of audible alarm to alert their volunteer firefighters to an emergency. In the beginning, it was a large bell, and someone needed to manually pull a rope to sound the alarm. Even though many changes have occurred over […]

Commemorating 20 Years After 9/11

Norfolk gathers to dedicate a memorial to those who died By Virginia Coleman-Prisco Just as communities banded together on September 11, 2001, our local community came together this year to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the events.  The Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department (NVFD) hosted a dedication of a 9/11 memorial on the morning of September […]

Making One’s Way Back Home

Bella Erder fights to return to Norfolk Text by Kelly Kandra HughesPhoto by Mark Erder Norfolk residents since 1997, Bella and Mark Erder have always delighted in the people and community that make our small town of 1,600 such a sought-after place to live. As they both work in Hong Kong at various times throughout […]

Finding Beauty and Inspiration in Nature Forms and Energy of Life

Elizabeth Knowles creates from experience and observation Text by Michael CobbPhoto courtesy of Elizabeth Knowles Multimedia artist Elizabeth Knowles is intrigued by the beauty found in natural forms. Her work invites viewers to consider the connections between the macro and micro. For Knowles, the patterns of the Milky Way are just as interesting as the […]

Ambulance Awareness: Volunteers Needed

What does it take for them to always be there? by Jude Mead Nineteen years ago, Jon Riedeman moved to Norfolk and was attending a local venue when his friend collapsed to the floor. He had had a cardiac arrest. A bystander who was a member of the ambulance began CPR immediately. Then 911 was called and within […]

Battell Fountain Is (Nearly) Back — Bring on the Band

Months-long restoration nearing completion by Andra Moss Since 1889, the Joseph Battell Memorial Fountain has greeted travelers as they approached the Norfolk village green from the south on Litchfield Road. The fountain’s unveiling on Sept. 27 of that year was heralded by the horns of a 24-piece military band (twice, in fact, once at 3 […]

Diego Ongaro’s Latest Feature Film Shown at Cannes This Summer

Text by Ruth MelvillePhoto by Jessica Ray Harrison In Diego Ongaro’s new movie, “Down With the King,” a famous rapper, played by real-life rapper Freddie Gibbs, comes to live in the rural Berkshire countryside while he works on his new album. Dissatisfied with the pressures of his professional life, he becomes friends with a neighboring […]

Photographer Christopher Little Gives It All Away

Text by Steve MelvillePhoto by Kate Campion This summer Christopher Little packed up his entire photographic archive and shipped it to the Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas in Austin. There it will form part of the Briscoe’s expansive holdings in photojournalism from the mid-19th century on, joining the work of […]