• 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

Creatively Surviving in the Covid Age

The Gilson theater brings humor and creativity to the struggle Text and Photo by Colleen Gundlach Northwest Corner residents of the older persuasion will have memories of the old Strand Theater in Winsted. Back in the day, the Saturday afternoon “kiddie matinee” drew boys and girls to a double feature at the Strand for pennies, […]

Coronavirus: What is to be done?

By Richard Kessin By Richard Kessin We live in evolutionary competition with microbes—bacteria and viruses. There is no guarantee that we will be the survivors. The aphorism from Joshua Lederberg, a founder of molecular biology, is remarkable for its humility and for the challenge it defines. Before the germ theory of disease, which appeared in […]

You Got Mail in the Icebox

By Virginia Coleman-PriscoPhoto by Marinell Crippen Botelle’s very own Rex Crippen, age 9, has advanced to the nationals in this year’s Invention Convention, after qualifying at the local and state levels. The Invention Convention is an opportunity for students to practice applying science and engineering skills, especially critical thinking and problem-solving. Crippen invented a product […]

Eating From the Devil’s Buffet

Spring foraging expedition takes near-fatal turn By Wiley Wood A local family’s foraging expedition in late April for ramps, a kind of wild onion, ended with all three members spending the night in the intensive care unit at Sharon Hospital. It was late in the afternoon, and Bridget Taylor, intrigued by an article on foraging […]

Connecting to the Internet in Norfolk – Part 1

Text and Photo by David Beers You call home. You join a zoom meeting for work. You text your son. You skype your mom. You google a recipe. You log on to the work computer. You play Call of Duty with your cousin in Missouri. You check Facebook. You post to Instagram. The possibilities to […]

Garden in a Jar

By Susannah Wood A cold spring and pandemic woes have had many of us hankering for fresh greens. Of course, we’ve been cutting down on trips to the store, and so it was a lucky day when I noticed an unopened package of organic sprouting seeds on our pantry shelves. Since then we have been […]

College Students Roll With Punches During Covid-19

by Kelly Kandra HughesPhoto Courtesy of Bina Barstad When Norfolk resident Ellie Olsen moved into her dorm room at Boston University in September 2019, she felt terrified of the unknown. No one else from her high school had chosen B.U., and she had only met her roommate once before during orientation. Still, she felt ready […]

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 […]