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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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
Author Caitlin Macy Considers New Novel
Filling the creative well in Norfolk By Colleen Gundlach When a child becomes a voracious reader early on and knows from her formative years that she wants to be a writer, chances are her drive will enable her to achieve that goal. Such is the case with Norfolk resident Caitlin Macy, author of three […]
Authors Gather in Norfolk for October Book Festival
A weekend of public conversations planned By Tom Hodgkin Stephen Melville knows when inspiration hit. He was in Wales, attending the Hay Festival, a 10-day arts and literature gathering, when he thought, “Why not? Why not Norfolk?” Like Norfolk, Hay-on-Wye was just a quiet country town until 1988, when the local literary community sponsored […]
Rails to Trails Rolls Onward with North Brook Trail
By Sue Frisch In just three years, Norfolk’s Rails to Trails committee has gone from being a brand-new group to being custodians of a state-approved rail trail—the North Brook trail—along a state-owned segment of Norfolk’s decommissioned railroad bed, which snakes roughly east-west through town. Now the committee is reapplying for the $187,000 state grant […]
Drop-In Center in Torrington Provides Services for the Homeless
By Ruth Melville For the past three and a half years, The Gathering Place in Torrington has offered homeless individuals in Litchfield County a safe place to find help and services. It’s not an overnight shelter, but a daytime drop-in center where people can take a shower, do their laundry, find clothing for job […]
Who Are the Library Associates and What Do They Do?
In Support of the Norfolk Library By Leila Javitch Many people in town probably don’t know who the Library Associates are, or what role they play at the Norfolk Library. Simply put, the Library Associates is a group of volunteers whose goal is to support the work of the library, primarily by sponsoring free […]
Community Survey Reveals Notable Range of Opinions
Broad consensus and sharp disagreement By Wiley Wood Imagine gathering a large, random group of Norfolkians to discuss what’s good and bad about the town and asking them to suggest one or two things that need doing in the next ten years. A recent community survey did essentially that, but gathered the responses online. […]
Following Budget Cuts, School Board Decides to Cut Botelle School’s Strings Program
Liz Allyn Is Resigning as Music Teacher By Ruth Melville In response to a combination of rising expenses and a decreasing budget, the Norfolk Board of Education has decided to eliminate the strings part of music education at Botelle School. Until the upcoming school year, all Botelle students had, at the music teacher’s discretion, […]
Wood Creek Bar and Grill Is a Role Model for Town-Wide Involvement
A Community Anchor By Colleen Gundlach The dream of many chefs is to own a restaurant of their own. It takes years of dedication, long hours and just plain hard work to achieve, yet is a goal that many never attain. For Heidi Dinsmore, co-owner of Wood Creek Bar and Grill, her hard work […]
City Meadow: Town Takes First Steps Toward Phase Two
By Wiley Wood The dragonflies like it. Pairs of brightly patterned skimmers chase each other around the pools in City Meadow Park, before disappearing into the long grasses. A lone visitor approaches on the walkway. “First time here,” he says in greeting. “They told me two people couldn’t walk abreast, but they must have […]
Trail Runners Take to the Woods
By David Beers If you have ever seen a blur of colorfully dressed people running through the Norfolk woods in the evening, it is likely the Hill County Trail Runners. This informal Norfolk-based club gets together at 5:30 every Tuesday evening to run the many beautiful trails in and near Norfolk. Each week features […]
Firefighting From Behind the Front Lines
By C. J. Sosna On Saturday, June 30, a day when the temperature climbed into the 90s, the Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department (NVFD) was called out to a house fire on Torringford Road in Winsted. By the time they arrived shortly after 7 p.m., the entire roof was already in flames, and the heat […]
