• 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

Town Starts Repair of Aging Sewer Pipes

The Norfolk Sewer District will reline the sewer pipes along Laurel Way this season. Green Mountain Pipeline Services of Vermont has been picked to perform the work, at a cost of $50–60,000, said Ronald Zanobi, chairman of the Sewer District, at a January 28 meeting. Norfolk’s sewer pipes are among the oldest in Connecticut. The […]

Back to Drawing Board for City Meadow Park

Construction faces at least six-month delay By Christopher Sinclair The project to transform the sunken wetland in Norfolk’s town center into a park and storm-water treatment site has been rebuffed by state and federal permitting authorities, according to Steven Trinkaus, the project’s consulting engineer. The plan received a $500,000 state grant in September 2014. It […]

Canaan Resident’s Salon Helps Women With Hair Loss

Lori Ustico Never Gives Up By Ruth Melville It is a cliché to say that someone “lives her life for others,” but in the case of Canaan resident Lori Ustico, it is the simple truth. Ustico owns Dignity with Style, a salon on Railroad Street in Canaan that specializes in providing wigs and accessories for […]

The Wheels On Whalen’s Buses Will Come to a Stop

Bill Whalen to continue with moving and storage business By Colleen Gundlach An agreement dated “this 14th day of August 1924 by and between J. A. Maloney…and the Town School Committee of said Town of Norfolk” inaugurated a partnership between a family and the town that has endured for more than 90 years. The partnership […]

Hardy Group Holds Outdoor Fitness Classes All Year

By David Beers A group of like-minded fitness and outdoor enthusiasts gets together twice a week in Norfolk to enjoy each other’s company and share in a healthy lifestyle. Their leader is Bill Couch. The Tuesday workout, called “Full Body Fitness,” takes place at the Congregational Church’s Battell Chapel from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. In […]

Landowners Make Clear-Cuts to Benefit Rare Cottontail Rabbit

Norfolk area to create 28 acres of new “rabittat” By Wiley Wood This winter, two separate tracts of forest are being clear-cut in the Norfolk area to make habitat for the rare New England Cottontail. At the corner of Wangum and Canaan Mountain roads, an 18-acre parcel belonging to Great Mountain Forest (GMF), is being […]

News From the Sugarbush

Family Maple Syrup Operation Gears Up for Unpredictable Season By Jude Mead It is maple syrup season again, and people always ask what type of year we are expecting. They believe that a heavy snowfall in winter must mean lots of maple sap in the trees, while a dry winter means less sap. But for […]

It’s All About the Data

Consultant takes hard look at Norfolk market area By Wiley Wood No one opens a business these days—no bank will lend money to start a business—without taking a hard look at the existing demand. “The days of ‘build it and they will come’ are long gone,” says Michael Goman. Which is where the firm of […]

Library Receives $200,000 Grant to Restore Tile Roof

Capital Campaign to Raise Additional Funds Starts February 1 By Ruth Melville Wednesday, January 7, was a red-letter day in the history of the Norfolk Library. At 4:15 p.m., the library’s board of trustees received the good news they were hoping for, their application for a $200,000 grant from the state to help restore the […]

Frank Dooley Ends his Reign as Chairman of Democratic Town Committee

By Janet Gokay Frank Dooley is stepping down this February from his post as chairman of the Norfolk Democratic Town Committee, a position he’s held for over 35 years. It’s been a long run, and by all accounts, an excellent one. “I’ve been very fortunate in my life,” says Dooley. “I’ve been in the right […]

Town Map Under Construction

Norfolk group nears completion of marketing piece By Lindsey Pizzica Rotolo While Norfolk has long been averse to promoting itself by any means other than word of mouth, a major marketing tool is currently in the works. A detailed map of all Norfolk has to offer will be in print before Memorial Day. As map […]

Colebrook Store Reopens

By Christopher Sinclair Prior to the shuttering of the Colebrook Store in 2007, it “had been the oldest continuously operated general store in the state of Connecticut, encompassing a span stretching from 1812 until 2007, 195 years,” according to the Colebrook Historical Society website. The store has seen countless residents pass through its doors over […]