• 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

Norfolk’s Nov. and Dec. Weather and a Yearly Summary for 2017

A Chilly End to the Tenth Warmest Year on Record   By Russell Russ The surplus of rainfall in October nearly wiped out the yearly deficit that had been slowly growing all year long. The months of November and December were drier than normal, which increased the deficit to close out the year. The year […]

Religious Compound Plans Cultural Center

Organization seeks greater contact with the surrounding community   By Wiley Wood On a recent day, piles of construction debris formed mounds under the windows of the stone mansion on Westside Road belonging to the Confucian Study Association. The building is undergoing major renovations, according to the association’s secretary and spokesman, Craig Chung. The plan […]

Food Insecurity Not Always a Consequence of Lack of Resources

  Working toward food justice in Norfolk   By Gabby Nelson Food justice is one of the most intimate facets of a growing social justice movement. Human beings interact with food every day, but the way the majority of it is currently produced, distributed, and consumed is often harmful to people and to the environment. […]

Norfolk Residents Help Those in Need While Helping Themselves

Alternative Gift Market returns to town this holiday season   By Kelly Kandra Hughes Looking for more meaningful holiday gifts this Christmas? After a hiatus of several years, the Alternative Gift Market returns to Norfolk’s Church of Christ during coffee hour (approximately 11 a.m. to noon) on Sunday, December 3, and Sunday, December 10. This […]

Winsted’s Blue Dandelion Yoga Offers Classes in Yoga and Massage

New studio opens in Mad River Lofts building   By Ruth Melville On October 1, 2017, Becky Thompson held an open house to inaugurate Blue Dandelion Yoga, her new yoga studio in Winsted’s Mad River Lofts building. To her amazement, 150 people showed up. “It was a beautiful gathering of people. I could see it […]

Bus Tours of Norfolk Show Visitors the Town’s Hidden Treasures

Tiffany Windows Attract Tourists   By Ruth Melville Norfolk residents have always been proud of their town, and there is a growing feeling that it would be nice if other people knew more about the town’s rich artistic and architectural history. New efforts like the WIN weekend are designed in part with this in mind, […]

Representative Brian Ohler Looks Back on His First Session in Hartford

Budget woes overshadow other issues   By Susannah Wood State Representative Brian Ohler had already arrived at the Berkshire Country Store and was deep in conversation with Ryan Craig when I walked in five minutes ahead of our scheduled appointment Against the background noise of coffee traffic and orders for late breakfasts, we settled into […]

Norfolk Elects Riiska in a Landslide

By Wiley Wood In a municipal election that drew 53 percent of Norfolk’s voters to the polls, Matthew Riiska (D) was elected first selectman over William Reudgen (R) by a commanding lead. At the polling station, where the results were announced shortly after the polls closed at 8 p.m., Reudgen congratulated Riiska in front of […]

Northwest Connect Hopes to Build Regional Fiber-Optic Network by 2021

Dropped cell phone calls and slow downloads would be distant memories   By Ruth Melville If the efforts of a local advocacy group called Northwest Connect are successful, we may see a fiber-optic network installed in the Northwest Corner by 2021. Northwest Connect was formed by a group of citizens and elected officials, most notably […]

Great Mountain Forest Makes Long-Term Deal to Sell Carbon Credits

Planning for the Future   By Tom Vorenberg Early one morning last month a young man and his girlfriend, visiting Norfolk from a western state, hiked up the logging road from the Great Mountain Forest (GMF) east gate. They wanted to get to the pond known as Old Man Mac to watch the sunrise. It […]

First Selectman Candidates Square Off at Infinity Hall

  By Wiley Wood In a conversation that touched on a familiar range of topics—taxes, education, infrastructure—the two candidates for Norfolk first selectman spoke in front of a crowd off about 85 townspeople on a recent Saturday morning at Infinity Hall. Both candidates are longtime residents of Norfolk, and both have run for first selectman […]

Steeple of Congregational Church Needs Urgent Repair

Congregation will look to community for help in restoration   By Wiley Wood From the vantage of one of the wooded ridgetops around town, there is often no indication of where Norfolk lies other than the spire of the Congregational Church, a white shaft rising out of the trees to mark the village green. But […]