• Sweets on the Green

    A Decade of Decadent Desserts By Andra Moss How is your naughty versus nice rating? Those needing to influence Santa with an especially impressive treat should grab their stockings and head to the Norfolk Historical Society (NHS) for the 10th Annual Cake Auction on Saturday, Dec. 7.     Now a Norfolk holiday tradition, the event was […]

  • Artist Tom Burr Brings His Torrington Project to an End

    Performances celebrate studio closing By Stephen Melville Norfolk resident and artist Tom Burr organized a day of performances and exhibition at his studio in Torrington on Oct. 26, marking an end to what he has called “The Torrington Project.” For the past three and a half years, Burr has rented a vast—15,000 square foot—former industrial […]

  • New Meanings for a Monument

    Light Shines on the Memorial Green By Joe Kelly On Monday, Nov. 11, Veterans Day, a crowd of about 100 gathered for the rededication of Norfolk’s World War 1 memorial, artfully restored under the auspices of the Norfolk Community Association. It was sunny. Temperatures in the low ‘60’s. Another day of no rain. Everyone talked […]

  • Norfolk Then…

    This 1920s postcard shows Memorial Green just after the War Memorial, designed by Alfredo Taylor, was built. It was Taylor’s wife Minna who first proposed that a memorial “heroes grove” be planted on the small lot of land known as the Triangle opposite the Catholic Church. The lot had been left empty with the demolition […]

  • Restored war memorial to be celebrated on veterans day

    plaque now honors all who served By Patricia Platt A World War I monument, designed by Alfredo Taylor and erected on Norfolk’s Memorial Green in 1921, bears the inscription, “for those who gave and those who offered their lives for liberty, the people of Norfolk have built this monument and crowned it with the Liberty […]

  • NLT Tail Ablaze with Runners

    More than 120 runners enjoyed perfect fall weather as they wound their way through picturesque Barbour Woods in the 11th Annual Norfolk Land Trust Trail Race. Some chose to add a challenging loop over Haystack Mountain, while the half-marathoners just kept moving on up—topping out at over 2,000 feet of elevation gain. *photo by June […]

  • Can you spot the Real Curler?

    There was movie magic ice to be made, and the pros of the Norfolk Curling Club were the first to get the call. In October, NCC’s Jon Barbagallo, Lou Barbagallo, Rachel Barbagallo, Mark Walsh, Harvey Chalmers and Phill West were hired by a production company to make curling ice at a Rhode Island hockey rink […]

  • Norfolk Then…

    This 1917 photograph is a timely reminder of the long struggle fought by many dedicated women for basic civil liberties, including the right to own property, hold public office, sit on juries, participate in public assemblies and vote. The group of 25 suffragists—20 women and five men—gathered on the porch following their meeting with Congressman […]

  • The chicken who wanted to be a star and other tales from a norfolk movie set

    By Andra Moss Secrets and small towns don’t often pair well, and Norfolk is a small town. Yet, for eight weeks this summer, a crew of nearly 100 people quietly transformed Tim and Paula Webster’s 1908 Norfolk farmhouse into a film set for a feature-length production, all the while staying under the local radar.  It […]

  • great blue heron rookeries

    working together to provide sustainable breeding habitats By Jude Mead Great Blue Herons are a familiar sight in Norfolk and are one of the largest of all North American herons, standing up to four feet tall with a wingspan of close to six feet. They are most noticeable in flight as they soar across the […]

  • Norfolk Then…

    Tennis at Town Hall? The building we know as Town Hall was originally the Eldridge Gymnasium, built in 1892. Located within easy walking distance of hotels and boarding houses in Norfolk at the turn of the last century, the Gymnasium was a popular gathering place for both residents and visitors. People played croquet on the lawn […]

  • Looking Back Over the Years

    The End of an Era for Norfolk Now By Colleen Gundlach After 10 years and over 30 issues, Ruth Melville has put on her Norfolk Now editor’s hat for the last time. In June, the paper marked the end of an era with the publication of Ruth’s final issue as one of the executive editors […]

Articles

State’s Gun Control Legislation Leaves Confusion in its Wake

Over 100 guns added to the state’s existing list of banned weapons By Lindsey Pizzica Rotolo While the United States Senate voted on April 17 to defeat a compromise plan that would have banned some semi-automatic weapons and expanded background checks on firearms sales, the Connecticut legislature passed one of the toughest sets of gun […]

Eye On Town Government — May 2013

By Wiley Wood   Budget discussions this past month were led off by the Board of Selectmen, which presented its preliminary budget to the Board of Finance on April 2. Total expenditures for the town, exclusive of education, were set at $3,371,800, an increase of 4-percent or $131,550 over last year.   A number of […]

Serving Time in Connecticut

For Majewski and Carey, No Easy Road to Freedom By Susanna Wood Ten years in jail is a long time.  With two leap years that’s 3,652 days, 87,648 hours, 5,258,880 minutes. How does that time pass for inmates like Kyle Majewski and Matthew Carey, the two young men recently sentenced for a crime spree that […]

Election Officials Facing a Retirement Problem

Replacements needed to help oversee voting By Bob Bumcrot Staging local elections depends on a small cadre of Norfolk residents who supervise the polling, for which they are paid modestly, yet who keep coming back seemingly year after year. But change is in the offing. The town is looking for a few good men or […]

Are You Ready for Summer?

Norfolk Children’s Foundation Offers Camperships to Camp Jewell By Julie Scharnberg Imagine being able to spend a week or two this summer horseback riding, swimming, trying out archery or pottery, mountain boarding, rock climbing, kayaking, learning how to use high ropes or how to play the guitar, hiking, fishing, playing soccer and lots more. The […]

Preparing the Next Generation of Curlers

Botelle students learn Norfolk’s trademark game By David Beers Students in grades three through six at Botelle School have been curling at each of their gym classes for all of February and early March. After some initial instruction in curling rules, vocabulary, scoring and history of the sport, red and blue four-person teams were formed […]

Infinity Hall Reaches Two Milestones

The 1,000th concert in Norfolk performed March 14 By Bob Bumcrot Two milestones were reached in March for Infinity Music Hall and Bistro, often referred to as IMH for short. The first, on the 14th, celebrated the 1,000th concert performed on the Norfolk stage. “I’m both proud and grateful,” said IMH owner Dan Hincks. “It’s […]

Champion Norfolk Girls

For the first time in the history of Botelle School, the Northwestern League Girls B Division championship trophy was brought home to Norfolk.   A dedicated group of fourth and sixth grade girls defeated Salisbury Central School on March 10, wrapping up three days of tournament play at the Cornwall Consolidated School.  This win tops off […]

Norfolk Land Trust Pursues Elite Status with Land Trust Alliance

Decision taken to seek national accreditation By Lindsey Pizzica Rotolo The Norfolk Land Trust (NLT) is seeking hard-to-win accreditation from the national Land Trust Accreditation Commission, a program of the Land Trust Alliance. According to a recent press release, NLT welcomes the accreditation process as an opportunity to review and fine tune its practices and […]

Norfolk Vintage Vehicles to Vie for Top Honors

By Colleen Gundlach On July 14, a first-time ever event will be held in Norfolk that will have residents reminiscing and harking back to the days of their youth. The First Annual Classic Community Classic Car Show will be sponsored by the ArtsWave Committee of the Norfolk Economic Development Commission (EDC), and promises nostalgic moments […]

Norfolk Now Introduces Interactive Web site

Readers may comment on articles and access the site on Smart Phones and iPads By Matt Papanek Whether or not you have used Norfolk Now’s Web site, or even realized there was one, it is now in the process of a major makeover that will match the printed paper aesthetically while offering easy access to […]

More Than a Librarian

Chris Keyes Embraces Life, One Chapter At a Time By Rosanna Trestman Over the past four years, patrons of the Norfolk Library have come to know Chris Keyes, at least in his visible role as head of circulation. But behind the fellow checking out books is a man of many hats, including a chef’s toque, […]