Essex Steam Train #40 at Chester

The Essex Steam Train & Riverboat is proud to join in the Connecticut Office of Tourism’s 9th annual Connecticut Open House Day on Saturday, June 8th. All Connecticut children ages 11 and under can enjoy a free ride on the Essex Steam Train & Riverboat when accompanied by an adult. Free children’s tickets can be claimed at the ticket booth on Open House Day. Trips depart at 11:00 am, 12:30 pm, 2:00 pm and 3:30 pm.

The one-day statewide Open House event is designed to showcase Connecticut’s diverse world of history, art and tourism and to encourage residents to discover or rediscover all that is happening in our state. By offering free children’s rides, the Essex Steam Train & Riverboat hopes to encourage exploration of the Connecticut River Valley and inspire appreciation for local history.

An adult passenger with a valid Connecticut Driver’s License must accompany children riding free. Seating is available on a first-come, first-serve basis. For more information visit essexsteamtrain.com or ctvisit.com.

The Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation, located in Hamden, CT, will launch a trail of historic barns in the state at its Celebration of Barns event on June 7 and 8, 2013 at the historic Bushnell Farm in Old Saybrook.  For information and tickets, please contact barns@cttrust.org.

The Barns Trail will consist of seven drivable/bikable trails across the state.  Each trail will feature barns that are open to the public; routes from one of these barns to the next are designed to bring the traveler along scenic roads filled with privately owned barns, not open to the public but visible from the road.  Starting points can occur at any point on a tour.  Barns that are open to the public include those with local produce farm stands, cider mills, tree farms, wineries, and also blacksmith shops, tool collections and dairy farms.  The barns along the route from one agri-business or historic site to the next are private.  Some of these are active farms, others are examples of the iconic barns structure that defines the rural Connecticut landscape.

The seven trails are: The Northwest Hills; Fairfield County; New Haven and the Central Valley north and east of it; the Connecticut River Valley South to Glastonbury; the Connecticut River Valley North to Enfield; Southeast Connecticut.  The scenic drives will be available using a map from a print brochure or downloading a free Iphone app.  From each, one can learn not only that a particular site sells pumpkins, but that it has been a part of the community for 200 years. Either through the technologically advanced use of the iPhone app or reading on the colorful brochure, travelers learn that the original farmer was once also the town sheriff and had his prisoners build the stone walls you are now driving by.

On the Southeast trail is B.F. Clydes Cider Mill in North Stonington (www.bfclydescidermill.com).  This is reportedly the oldest steam-powered cider mill in the country, (1881).  It operates out of a decorative Victorian-era barn that features a shingled cupola and cross gables typical of its period.

Along the Connecticut River Valley South trail one can visit the Deep River Historical Society’s Stone house and barn (www.deepriverhistoricalsociety.org).  The c. 1899 cross-gable carriage barn was erected by descendants of Ezra Southworth, builder of the elegant 1840 stone house on the same site. Antique vehicles, including a mule-drawn school bus, are on display. Another barn on the property was once used for bleaching ivory.

The Trust’s Historic Barns of Connecticut is a nationally respected project that puts recognition of our endangered historic barns front and center.  It is a complete compilation of barns, providing a significant basis to make the case for protection for these historic resources.  The Connecticut Trust, along with the efforts of hundreds of volunteers, has identified more than 8,400 historic barns throughout the state.  These barns are available for viewing at www.connecticutbarns.org.   At least 2,000 of the barns in the database have detailed information on their type, building techniques, agricultural use and current use.  The Trust is currently nominating 200 of these historic barns to the State Register of Historic Places giving them an added layer of historic significance.

Funding for Historic Barns of Connecticut and the Barns Trail comes from the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development.

The Essex Land Trust is once again holding its popular Cross Lots picnic concert, which will be held on Saturday, June 2 from 4-6 p.m. at Cross Lots, 40 West Avenue, Essex.

The event is open to all and is free of charge. Bring a picnic, blanket and chairs and find a spot on the hill.  Starting at 4 pm there will be a walk around the 16-acre preserve in the heart of Essex. At 5pm enjoy the Essex Corinthian Jazz Band while sitting back and relaxing with your picnic and refreshments. The event will close with the unveiling of the Conservators Rock that recognizes individuals who have become Conservators for Life. This event is part of CT Trails Day and the Essex Great Outdoors Pursuit. Park on West Ave. or at Town Hall. Bad weather cancels.

Just an ordinary day in Chester Center, a century ago, in 1913, photographed by Hugh Spencer, and on exhibit at the Chester Museum at The Mill. A horse-drawn cart is parked in the center of town. Just up from the wagon is a gas pump. Also nearby is the stone wall, with “Chester” spelled out in white stones, where the trolley stopped during the years it served Chester

The Chester Museum at The Mill opens for the season on Memorial Day weekend. The new 2013 exhibit, “Over the River and Through the Woods,” focuses on early transportation in Chester, telling the stories of the beginning of the town’s roads and highways, as well as the train, the trolley, the ferry, and the steamboat. On the second floor of the museum is the permanent award-winning exhibit, “Streams of Change: Life & Industry along the Pattaconk.”

The museum, which is in a historical mill site at the waterfall on the Pattaconk near the center of Chester, will be open Saturdays and Sundays, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., through October. Admission is free and the museum is air-conditioned and handicapped accessible.

Info: www.ChesterHistoricalSociety.org

The Company of Fifers and Drummers and the State of Connecticut Department of Tourism will be sponsoring a tag sale and open house at the Company Hall Museum, 62 West Main Street, Ivoryton on Saturday, June 8 from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m.

Admission is free of charge and food and drink will be on sale throughout the day.  Vendors are welcome.  Contact sarabrown5801@yahoo.com for more details.

Community Music School’s Cabaret Singers present “A Tribute to Rodgers & Hammerstein” on Friday, May 31 at 7 pm at The Saybrook at Haddam, 1556 Saybrook Road, Haddam. Through the engaging and entertaining use of solos, ensembles, and duets, eight singers will bring to life cherished favorites, as well as some lesser known but equally wonderful songs by these peerless composers. Audience members will enjoy music from Oklahoma!, Carousel, The Sound of Music, Cinderella, South Pacific, The King and I, State Fair and more.  June is “Bustin’ Out All Over” – make sure you are there to welcome it!

The adult cabaret class is directed by CMS Artist-in-Residence Karli Gilbertson and accompanied by pianist Sue Sweeney.

The concert is free and open to the public. Please call 860-767-0026 or visit www.community-music-school.org for additional information.

CHESTER – Maple and Main Gallery at One Maple Street is having a clothesline sale of art Saturday, May 25 as part of the annual town-wide tag sale.

The gallery is also offering bargains but these are original unframed paintings which will be hung with clothespins on lines strung between the gallery’s porch columns. More unframed art will be on display inside the gallery.

The clothesline sale is open Saturday, May 25 from 8 am to 6 p.m. and continues inside the gallery on Sunday, May 26 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information: visit  mapleandmaingallery.com; 860-526-6065; mapleandmain@att.net.

Memorial Day offers an opportunity to reflect on our freedoms and honor those that have given their lives in defending those freedoms.  In recognition of these fallen heroes, the Essex Memorial Day Parade will provide a reverent celebration winding through the streets of Essex.  The parade will commence on Memorial Day, May 27 at 9:00 a.m.  All veterans are welcome; wear your uniform of choice or collared shirt/slacks and join your fellow warriors.  Assemble at the Foot of Main Street in downtown Essex at 8:45 a.m.

The parade will follow a three mile route as it makes the following stops to pay respects:  Riverview Cemetery, First Baptist Church, Town Hall, Centerbrook Cemetery, and the Essex Veteran’s Memorial Hall.  There will be a short ceremony at the Veteran’s Hall at the conclusion of the parade (approximately 11:15 a.m.).

If weather precludes a parade, ceremonies will be held at Essex Town Hall at 9:30 a.m. and at the Essex Veteran’s Memorial Hall at 11:00 a.m.  All interested parties please contact Phil Beckman at 860.767.9755 or philipbeckman@yahoo.com with questions.  Veterans who may require transportation, please contact Phil Beckman.

CENTERBROOK – Community Music School is currently enrolling for summer music programs and Kate’s Camp for Kids!, a new arts day camp in collaboration with The Kate in Old Saybrook. At the School’s Centerbrook location, private lessons, group classes and ensembles for all ages are available including Cabaret Singers, Rock n’ Roll Song Writing & Recording, Summer Band, and Summer Pops Orchestra. Broadway Bound, now in its 13th season with CATS and DISNEY’S THE LITTLE MERMAID, JR., plus other musical theater programs will take place, and for the youngest musicians ages 6 months through 6 years, Summer Kindermusik Adventures is available. Kate’s Camp for Kids! is a new state-licensed day camp for children ages 5 to 10 years old incorporating music, dance, theater, and visual arts in weekly sessions that culminate in a performance for family and friends. Visit www.community-music-school.org or call 860-767-0026 for additional information.

“You can tell a story a hundred times, and it will still be different each time,” says Peninnah Schram, internationally-know storyteller and recipient of the National Storytelling Network’s Lifetime Achievement Award for “sustained and exemplary contributions to storytelling in America.”  Schram will
be at Congregation Beth Shalom Rodfe Zedek synagogue in Chester on Friday June 7 and Saturday June 8.  She will tell stories and conduct a workshop to show others how to find the stories in their lives.  The program is free and open to the public.

In addition to being a professional storyteller, Schram, who was born and raised in New London, is a teacher, author, recording artist and Professor of Speech and Drama at Stern College of Yeshiva University.  She is the author of 12 books of Jewish folktales and the recipient of the prestigious Covenant Award for Outstanding Jewish Educator.

Friday evening’s Shabbat service, starting at 6:15 pm, will be combined with a pot-luck non-meat dinner, punctuated by Schram’s stories and music.  On Saturday Schram will be a contributor to the synagogue’s Torah Study group, followed at 10:30 am by services with Schram interweaving stories in her discussion of the weekly Torah portion.  At 12:30 pm, there will be a pot-luck lunch and a storytelling workshop.  Saturday’s program will conclude with a Havdalah service at 5:00 pm with Schram recounting stories of the Prophet Elijah.  A complete program schedule can be found on the CBSRZ website: www.cbsrz.org.

Schram promises that the sessions will be spontaneous and entertaining.  She says, “As a storyteller, I never know when a story or an image or words from a story will take hold, like a seed that is planted that may take seven years to root and flower. But I know that with these Jewish stories I have been nourished and nurtured in my understanding of people and the wisdom of Judaism. And so I hope to enrich others with these stories.”

Elie Wiesel, award-winning author and humanitarian, said of Schram, “At a time when the unique culture of the groups within the Jewish community is fading, Peninnah is passing on their stories to future generations.”

Guests may attend any part of the program without charge.  However, those planning to attend the Friday night dinner are asked to call the office at 860-526-8920. Congregation Beth Shalom Rodfe Zedek is located at 55 East Kings Highway in Chester.

The Scholar in Residence Program is made possible through the Sheldon Kutnick Visiting Scholars Fund, in memory of Sheldon Kutnick.

CHESTER — It’s time again for the Chester Town-Wide Tag Sale.  Beginning at 8 a.m. on Saturday, May 25, Memorial Day Weekend, individual residences and businesses having tag sales will be up and running throughout town.  Each year the event attracts hundreds of visitors to Chester.  Maps are available showing the location of all sales at individual residences and businesses throughout town.   Maps are distributed at the Town Center on the day of the event for $1.00.  The event is “rain or shine.”  Once again,  the event is being organized by the Chester Republican Town Committee.

To be listed on the map, send $10 to the Chester RTC, 248 Middlesex Avenue, Chester, CT 06412, or visit the Century-21 office in Chester Center.  You must be a Chester resident or business and your sale address must be in Chester to be listed on the map.

Proceeds from listing fees, map sales, and advertising on the map are used to promote the event throughout Connecticut, to pay for extra police duty during the event, and to benefit the Chester Republican Town Committee’s general fund.

Last year, more than 80 individual residences and businesses were listed on the map and over 500 maps were distributed.  We estimate that well over 1000 buyers come to town that day.

The first such event of its kind in the Lower Connecticut River Valley, the Chester Town-Wide Tag Sale was started by a group of Chester merchants in the mid-90’s and was run by the Merchants for several years.  In 2003, the Chester Historical Society took over the event and ran it for the next seven years.  This will be the Chester Republican Town Committee’s third year to organize the event and sign-ups are pouring in.  Several other towns in the area now host similar events at other times of the year.
“The Chester Town-wide Tag Sale offers buyers a concentration of sales at one convenient destination, increasing the buyer’s chances of finding that special piece that they just have to have.  It’s a great way to spend a day of fun and relaxation, and it affords professional dealers an efficient day of shopping to replenish their inventories,” said Glenn Reyer, the event’s prior organizer.  “Chester residents and businesses who wish to have a sale get the benefit of traffic volume that is rarely seen in Chester.  For less than the cost of a single classified ad, sellers see a flow of buyers that they could not hope to achieve on their own.  And the town as a whole benefits by getting all the tag sales over with on one day.”

And when you’re done or if you just need a break, please stop by any one of our eight downtown restaurants for a cup of coffee, snack or really nice lunch … or you can just continue shopping in the downtown shops.