• 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

Dogs and Cats and Bears, Oh My!

Lauren Foley is Norfolk’s New Animal Control Officer   By Colleen Gundlach When Norfolk’s longtime animal control officer, Glen Wheeler, passed away last year, his position remained unfilled until Lauren Foley stepped over the line from Canaan to lend a hand. North Canaan’s animal control officer (ACO) since 2013 and Torrington’s assistant ACO, Foley has […]

Affordable Housing Gets State Funds

Construction to start in the spring   By Julie Scharnberg As reported in the March 2016 issue of Norfolk Now, the Foundation for Norfolk Living (FNL) was poised to move ahead with a formal closing in order to access the $2.99 million in state grant funds and anticipated a spring 2016 start date for construction. […]

Aton Forest Holds Annual Census of Early Winter Birds

    By Wiley Wood Although she has been taking part in Christmas Bird Counts for over 50 years, when Ayreslea Denny describes her bird encounters on the morning of December 31 in Aton Forest, her voice is full of excitement. “The number of birds we got was just unbelievable,” she said. A small group, […]

Dance Group Hosts Flash Mob in Great Barrington

  By Ruth Melville On a frigid evening last December, the streets of Great Barrington were crowded with holiday shoppers taking part in the town’s annual Holiday Stroll. Slowly, a group of about 30 people—kids, teenagers and adults, gathered at the foot of Railroad Street. At first, nobody paid them much attention, but then a […]

Novelist and Cartoonist Peter Steiner Exhibits His Paintings

February’s Featured Artist at the Norfolk Library   By Lindsey Pizzica Rotolo There don’t seem to be enough creative expressions to satisfy Sharon resident Peter Steiner. His life path took him from college professor to cartoonist to novelist, with lots of painting along the way. Steiner was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and attended University of […]

Norfolk Land Trust Takes On 24 Acres in North Canaan

By Sally Quale   Last September, the Norfolk Land Trust (NLT) was given 24 acres in North Canaan, located within the 1,500-acre Robbins Swamp, the state’s largest inland wetland complex. The majority of Robbins Swamp is a calcareous wetland with a small upland portion of primarily pine and hemlock. The Nature Conservancy and the state […]

Berkshire National Fish Hatchery

Volunteers work to preserve indigenous fish habitats   By Michael Kelly It’s all about the water. At the Berkshire National Fish Hatchery (BNFH) in Hartsville, a hamlet of New Marlborough, Mass., 14 miles from Norfolk’s Village Green, 200 gallons a minute of pure 45-degree water from a deep underground aquifer course through 148 acres of […]

Norfolk’s November and December Weather and a Yearly Summary for 2016

A Snowy End to a Very Warm and Dry Year   By Russell Russ After tracking a growing precipitation deficit and above average temperatures for the entire year, it was quite the twist in weather fate to have an early winter with snowy conditions before Thanksgiving. The closing months of 2016 were still a little […]

Year-End Real Estate Roundup

A look at the 2016 Norfolk real estate market   By Lindsey Pizzica Rotolo Perhaps the most noteworthy aspect of the Norfolk real estate market in 2016 is the wide array of listings. For the first time since the 1990’s, there is literally something for everyone. The Multiple Listing Service (MLS) currently includes 44 Norfolk […]

Berkshire Mountain Springs—From the Fountainhead to Your Door

By Michael Kelly The most direct way to access Berkshire County’s wealth of cultural amenities is to drive north on route 272, a felicitous, forested, rural byway. Just 4.5 miles from Norfolk’s village green, near the cutoff to Campbell Falls, you cross into Massachusetts and subconsciously absorb subtle, topographical changes. Two miles further up the […]

Organizers of Farmers Market Announce Possible Shutdown This Summer

As old guard prepares to retire, no one steps up to replace them   By Wiley Wood Three key players in the Norfolk Farmers Market organization announced in an interview that they are considering the possibility of closing down the market after this winter’s season for lack of manpower to keep it running. “We would […]

Fighting Back the Tide: Connecticut Takes On the Opioid Epidemic

  By Susannah Wood The frightening rise in overdose deaths from opioids and rates of opioid addiction has been the subject of many news stories in the last few years. All of New England, including Connecticut, has been very hard hit. In 2015 there were about 700 deaths in the state due to accidental overdoses, […]