• 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

United Coalition of Northwest Connecticut Combats Drug Abuse

  By Colleen Gundlach Drug addiction is a problem that knows no class. It affects the rich as well as the poor; the educated and the illiterate; the mentally ill and the healthy. It is a growing problem in Connecticut, where 306 citizens died from heroin overdose in 2014—that’s triple the rate from 2012. Several […]

A Family Effort for the Win

Racing Champion in Our Midst   By Lindsey Pizzica Rotolo One should never question a parent’s intuition about their child. Keith Goring, who has run Alfas Unlimited, Inc. on Greenwoods Road for 40 years, knew that his son was meant to be a race car driver long before the kid even had a license. Jonathan […]

Wind Turbines in Colebrook Start Up

Ribbon cutting ceremony held on Flagg Hill site   By Wiley Wood On the clear blue morning of October 15, the vanes of BNE Energy’s wind turbine No. 2 faced motionless into a moderate breeze from the northwest. A small crowd of company executives, state legislators, bankers and regulators gathered on the hilltop above Flagg […]

Going Electric in Colebrook

A Carbon Negative Family   By David Beers The Eckert family in Colebrook is more than just carbon neutral, they are carbon negative. Instead of paying for energy, they are making money from the energy that they produce at their home. Bill Eckert, a C.P.A. and retired software company executive, has been keeping detailed records […]

Obituary–Bruce Hanke

  Surrounded by family and close friends, Bruce Hanke left this world on Monday, October 12 after a courageous battle with cancer. He was born at Plunkett Memorial Hospital in Adams, Mass. on November 3, 1958 to William and Mildred (Kryston) Hanke. Growing up on East Road in Adams, next to his grandmother’s farm, Hanke spent summers and […]

It’s Only Natural—November 2015

Abandoned Charcoal Hearths Affect Today’s Forest Ecology   Hans M. Carlson Recently, we got our first dusting of snow. When it’s not enough to cover the ground completely, the darker fallen leaves poke up through the veil of white, and small contours on the ground appear. The contrast highlights slight topographical variations, particularly with the […]

Documentary Film Describes Norfolk

Local photographer premiers film at Norfolk Library   By Lindsey Pizzica Rotolo The prolific photographer and writer Christopher Little delighted hundreds of Norfolkians last month with his 40-minute documentary chronicling a year in the life of our town. Showings at the Norfolk Country Club and the Norfolk Library packed the respective houses. Over 400 people […]

Matt Riiska Challenges Sue Dyer at Ballot Box on Nov. 13

Unaffiliated candidate takes on Democratic incumbent   By Wiley Wood The first selectman position in Norfolk will be contested in this year’s election for the first time since 2009. Matt Riiska is running as an unaffiliated candidate against Sue Dyer, the Democratic incumbent. The Republican Party did not field a candidate. Riiska, 59, was born […]

New Resident Brings Age-Old Craft to Town

Carving Stone: Adam Paul Heller   By Lindsey Pizzica Rotolo “I wish I was a slave to an age-old trade…” begins “Down in the Valley”, a song by the indie folk band The Head & the Heart. The song expresses a deep yearning to get back to your roots, and lead a more primitive existence. In […]

Norfolk’s Multi-Generational Business

MI Integrated Media   By Christina Vanderlip  MI Integrated Media (MI) specializes in direct response advertising, meaning ads with a ‘call to action’. While they are known for creative small space sections in the back of national magazines, they also run full-page advertising campaigns for clients. MI partners advertisers with publications that best fit their […]

Photographs by Bruce Frisch Going on Display in Venice

Photos of Renowned Indian Artist to Accompany Retrospective   By Ruth Melville Bruce Frisch’s photographs are well known to readers of Norfolk Now. He is the paper’s staff photographer, and his pictures enliven every issue. He also exhibits his work at the annual Norfolk Artists and Friends show, always including some spectacular nature shots taken […]

Norfolk Firefighters Receive State Recognition

By Ruth Melville In honor of Firefighters Day, held every year on September 6, the State of Connecticut chose this year to recognize the fine work of the Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department (NVFD). On the quiet, sunny late afternoon of September 4, the members of the NVFD, resplendent in their dress uniforms, gathered behind the […]