• 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

Growing Shiitakes for Fun and Profit

  By Wiley Wood If you’ve come to the Norfolk Farmers Market looking for goat milk soap, French pastries, or zucchini blossoms, Andy Griffin’s stand is not for you. What he has is mushrooms, mostly shiitakes, which he sells by the pint or the half pint. Early on a Saturday morning, he might have a […]

Pooch Palace Offers Luxury Services in New High-Tech Resort for Pets

A place for furry, winged or scaly princes and princesses   By C. J. Sosna When your lovebug needs some pampering or has to be left behind while you take an all-important trip, you now have a solution in one nearby “palace.” Charlene Martel has been in the pet industry for eight years and has […]

New Photographs by Marie Kendall Discovered

An Unexpected Look in Norfolk’s Past   By Jude Mead It was a typical afternoon at the Norfolk Historical Museum. Executive director Barry Webber was busy adding the final touches for the museum’s 2018 exhibition, An Extraordinary Legacy: The Photography of Marie H. Kendall, featuring Kendall’s images of Norfolk during the mid-1880’s through the turn […]

Art, Nature and Fun at Weekend in Norfolk

By Colleen Gundlach This will be the third year of the annual phenomenon known as Weekend in Norfolk (WIN), and a look at this year’s schedule of events reveals several new and exciting activities planned, one of which involves star gazing, moon watching and an all-nighter when local astronomer Matthew Johnson conducts Astronomy Night at […]

Pickleball Is a Serious Sport, Really

Norfolk Curling Club Offers a Chance to Learn or Spectate   By David Beers In 1965, Congressman Joel Pritchard and a friend went outside to play badminton on the badminton court in his Bainbridge, Wash. Backyard. They could not find the badminton equipment and improvised with ping pong rackets and a wiffle ball, and pickleball […]

Norfolk Chamber Music Festival Starts an Event-Filled Six-Week Run

  By Wiley Wood They start arriving on July 1, young musicians, most of them in graduate programs in the United States, but originally from four continents, coming to Norfolk to learn, rehearse and perform (or compose) chamber music with members of the faculty of the Yale School of Music and a distinguished cast of […]

NCCC Opens New Building to Public

  By Clinton Sosna On May 5, Northwestern Connecticut Community College welcomed the public to an open house at the new Joyner Health Science Center, a two-story, 24,000 square foot facility, housing the school’s Veterinary Technology and Allied Health programs. The first floor, which includes a surgical suite, hematology lab, x-ray area and kennels as […]

One Year in, Multiage Classrooms at Botelle Judged a Success

Program will expand next year   By Jude Mead Botelle Elementary School implemented its first multiage classroom this past year, combining the kindergarten and first grade classes. Faced with the prospect of declining enrollment, Principal Lauren Valentino, along with teachers Bea Tirrell and Deb Tallon, revitalized an educational model that dates back centuries to the […]

Husky Meadows Farm: Fresh Produce and Prepared Foods

  By Colleen Gundlach When Steve Archaski was young, he spent many happy hours at the home of his great-aunt and great-uncle on Doolittle Drive. Little did he know that he would eventually own the property and, beyond that, he would be the head baker/chef at nearby Husky Meadows Farm. Many Norfolkians know Husky Meadows […]

Ovenbird: Summer Songster

  By Susannah Wood   There is a singer everyone has heard, Loud, a mid-summer and a mid-wood bird, Who makes the solid tree trunks sound again. —Robert Frost   Even if you are not a birder but find yourself anywhere near the Norfolk woods come late April or early May and on into summer, […]

Norfolk Early Learning Center Celebrates Its Fifth Anniversary

Learn, Love, Grow   By Ruth Melville On May 5, Kailyn Nadeau and Paige Corey celebrated their fifth year as directors of the Norfolk Early Education Center (NELC), their state-licensed child-care facility for children from as young as six weeks up to 12 years old. For over 10 years, Nadeau and Corey had worked at […]

The Hub, Designed as a Collaborative Center, Holds First Event

Transformed space is open to all   By Chris Sinclair The many stone walls running through the New England landscape may well reflect the entrenched belief that, as Robert Frost put it, “Good fences make good neighbors.” But this New England town has opted for a somewhat different approach in the form of the Norfolk […]