• 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

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 […]

Local Food Banks Scramble to Fill the Need During the Virus Crisis

Demand at some places has more than doubled  By Janet G. Mead In these bleak times, the term food insecurity takes on new meaning. Another group of (largely unsung) heroes has stepped up to the plate: those volunteers who run our local food banks. The number of customers they serve has skyrocketed in recent weeks. […]

Photographer Bruce Frisch Steps Down from Norfolk Now

Paper’s staff photographer was also its technical consultant Text by Wiley WoodPhoto by Savage Frieze Norfolk Now has always had excellent photographs. In fact, it stands out from the town papers in the surrounding area—at least in its editors’ opinion—for the high quality of its pictures. And that high quality was due in very large […]

Coronavirus: How We Got Here

Text by Richard KessinPhotos Courtesy of the CDC The March 12 issue of Nature has two dense scientific articles on the discovery of SARS-CoV-2. Though most of the data were already available, the narrative, all in one place, is gripping. The first article describes a 41-year-old man who was seen in The Central Hospital of […]

Local Resident Pursues a College Education Abroad

Text by Allysia RuggieroPhoto by Savage Frieze Many Norfolk residents have had the opportunity to pursue higher education and follow a winding path toward their futures. For 23-year-old Kaelin Hester, a Norfolk native, higher education has led to astonishing experiences and travel. She is currently completing an anthropology degree completely in Spanish at the oldest […]

Technology Works Hand in Hand with Tried-and-True

Congregating in Norfolk in the time of COVID-19 By Christopher Sinclair To congregate means to come together in a group or an assembly, particularly in large numbers, derived in part from the Latin root grex, meaning crowd or flock. While the physical act of congregating is currently and foreseeably off the table, the power and […]