Category: Connecticut Travel

Wilton Pumpkin Fest

The 4th Annual Great Wilton Pumpkin Fest will return to the Wilton Historical Society, 224 Danbury Road, on Saturday, October 19th from 1 pm to 3 pm. It’s fun for all ages with all things pumpkin! Enjoy a festive autumn atmosphere while joining knowledgeable docents in cooking pumpkin pancakes over an open hearth and blacksmithing in the forge, try out a handful of fall-themed lawn games, or explore the museum campus to complete the pumpkin scavenger hunt, all with complimentary cider and donuts!

New this year – make your very own tie-dye t-shirt and explore how New England colonists used fall plants to dye their clothing.
And be sure to pick up your very own pumpkin to bring home! Browse the Wilton Kiwanis Pumpkin Patch on the Society’s front lawn and purchase the perfect one. Then head over to the pumpkin decorating station and put your creativity on display. Kiwanis will also have small gourds and mums on sale to help fill out your personal harvest display.

Start the season with a day of Fall fun for all ages! Pumpkin Fest is free admission, a $5 suggested donation per person is greatly appreciated. Cider and Donuts generously provided by the Village Market

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Stories from the Animals @ Institute for American Indian Studies with White Memorial Conservation Center

Everyone loves a good story. Listening to stories especially those passed down through generations is one of the best ways to connect with each other and the world around us. The Institute for American Indian Studies located on 38 Curtis Road in Washington Connecticut in partnership with Litchfield’s White Memorial Conservation Center is presenting a powerful program called “Stories from Animals,” beginning at 2 p.m. on Saturday, October 19th.

Colleen Harrak, White Memorial’s Environmental Educator will join award-winning storyteller, Darlene Kascak, of the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation and IAIS Educational Outreach Ambassador for an entertaining program that includes stories and live, local woodland animals. The goal of this program is to show participants how to experience Etuaptmumk – a Mi’kmaw saying that translates to “two-eyed seeing.” This idea encourages people to look at the same concept from both Western and Indigenous knowledge.

Oral tradition is an important cultural component in Native American culture because it is the very stories told that keep the knowledge and the traditions alive. “As a storyteller in Native communities, I bear a profound responsibility,” said Darlene Kascak. “I am entrusted with the task of preserving, protecting, and passing down oral stories that are hundreds if not thousands of years old. This role is not a duty it is also a deep-rooted passion that I hold dear. I am driven by the urgency to keep this tradition alive so that future generations can experience the beauty of learning through storytelling,” Kascak added.

The highlight of this program is the combination of several live animal ambassadors brought by the White Memorial Conservation Center and the Native American stories about each of these animals that offer timeless life lessons. The price of participation is $15 for non-members and $5 for members of the Institute. Pre-registration is advised by visiting iaismusueum.org.

About the Institute for American Indian Studies
Located on 15 acres of woodland, the IAIS offers educational programs, both permanent and changing exhibits and a replicated 16th-century Algonkian village. Its research department maintains extensive archeological and ethnographic collections and conducts archeological digs and other research. Its “Wigwam Escape” escape room offers an opportunity to solve a puzzle while learning about Indigenous life before European settlement. With a focus on “two-eyed seeing”, visitors can learn about the history of the American continent that incorporates more than12,000-year history of human habitation. The Institute for American Indian Studies is located at 38 Curtis Road, Washington, Connecticut.

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Author Talk & Book Signing: Around Every Corner of Connecticut @ Mattatuck Museum October 10

Connecticut News 8 Anchor Sarah Cody, author of “Around Every Corner in Connecticut: 100 Towns to Explore Every Season,” will discuss her new book at the Mattatuck Museum on Thursday, October 10, between 6 and 7:30 PM. The exciting book signing and author talk event with three-time Emmy Award winner and travel reporter is not to be missed. The Mattatuck Museum is located on the Green in Waterbury, CT at 144 West Main Street.

Around Every Corner of Connecticut celebrates the abundance of beautiful destinations and exciting seasonal (and year-round) activities off the beaten track here in Connecticut. Connecticut boasts so much beauty, creativity, and opportunity, beyond the well-known state parks, attractions, and museums. The book is a unique and spirited look at Connecticut through Cody’s unique lens. Full of New England charm, and brimming with activities, Around Every Corner of Connecticut provides activities and locations for people of all abilities and ages. This book is the heartfelt culmination of her professional and personal adventures throughout the region.

Sarah Cody has been traveling throughout Connecticut, reporting on local news for more than two decades, and uses her experience to take readers on a tour of her favorite spots. A look at each destination provides additional, valuable, and sometimes little-known information and tips. Using her experience as a travel reporter in the state for more than 20 years, Cody will talk about some of her favorite spots, including those in and around Waterbury.

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Whiting Mills Spooktacular Event October 5 and 6 and Tina’s Baskets and Woven Art

On Saturday, October 5th and Sunday, October 6, ghosts, goblins, witches, and other heroes of horrors will abound in Whiting Mills located at 100 Whiting Street, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thirty Artists’ Studios will be open and brimming with frightful delights, oddities, tantalizing treats, and whimsically spooky creations. In addition to exploring working artist studios decked out for Halloween, there will be scavenger hunts, a costume contest for adults and children, an interactive monster display, and candy for all trick-or-treaters! Best of all the admission to this event is FREE.

Take a chance to win this basket!

One studio not to be missed is Tina’s Baskets and Woven Arts which has been cleverly decorated with all things Halloween. Tina Puckett is an internationally award-winning woven artist specializing in everything from intricate baskets and bowls to woven sculptures and wall hangings. When visiting the studio don’t miss the chance to enter the drawing to win a beautiful Gothic black basket embellished by bittersweet that is brimming with Halloween candy!

If you can’t make it to the Spooktacular event @ Whiting Mills on October 5th and 6th, no worries, Tina’s studio will remain decorated through October and will be open on Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information about this award-winning artist as well as information about her classes visit tinasbaskets.com.

About Tina’s Baskets
Tina Puckett is an internationally awarded weaver of baskets and woven arts. You can see her works in her studio #305/ Tina’s Baskets. Located at Whiting Mills in Winsted, Connecticut. Tina has been weaving since 1981 using hand-dyed reeds, bittersweet vines, and a variety of found objects like beads or seagrass. Her work is showcased at galleries across the World and as well at her gallery/studio where you will often find her weaving on weekends from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Appointments are preferred and can be arranged by texting 860-309-6934.

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Paul Miller Nissan Honored for Their 60th Anniversary with Proclamation by Town of Fairfield Designating “Paul Miller Nissan Day”

Fairfield First Selectman, William A. Gerber, presented Paul Miller with a Town Proclamation celebrating Miller Nissan’s 60th Anniversary. In part, the proclamation reads, “This year marks the incredible 60th anniversary of Paul Miller Nissan, a family-owned business that has proudly served thousands of customers from its Fairfield County location. The Town of Fairfield congratulates one of Fairfield’s longest-running family-owned businesses on its decades of outstanding service and further wishes Paul, Gregg, and Kyle many more years of success.”

Mr. Gerber was given a tour of the dealership at 930 Kings Highway where he made the formal presentation of the leather-bound proclamation citing Paul Miller Nissan as “a model business in our community” and designating August 14, 2024, as Paul Miller Nissan Day. The text concludes with the words, “IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the Town of Fairfield to be hereby affixed this 14th day of August 2024,” signed by William A. Gerber, First Selectman.

Paul Miller Nissan is one of the premier Nissan dealers in the tri-state region, operating from their sparkling headquarters – a model of comfort and convenience. The new Nissan lineup are marvels of engineering, styling, and performance; and their EV line, featuring the luxurious, all-electric Ariya, is turning heads and gaining fans. Says Paul, “The commitment my father made 60 years ago is the same one we live by today – treating our customers right so they keep coming back – some for almost 60 years! We have a stellar reputation and sensational vehicles for every driver in the family; and a sales, service, and administrative team that makes me proud to come to work every day. And in case you might still be wondering…it’s true – I am never going to retire. Why should I? I’m having more fun selling cars than ever!”

If you’re in the market for a top-quality new or pre-owned vehicle, Paul, Gregg, and Kyle invite you to visit Paul Miller Nissan at 930 Kings Highway in Fairfield or GetMillerized.com.

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Haystack Book Festival in Norfolk – Oct. 4-6th

The annual Haystack Book Festival is scheduled for October 4th through the 6th at the Norfolk Library in Norfolk Connecticut. This event strives to stimulate conversations between writers and thinkers and to explore ideas in literature, life, and the arts.

Highlights of this event include conversations with six authors, a walk in Great Mountain Forest on October 6th, and a special program for children that same day at 1:30 p.m. when Sarah Maslin Nir talks about her book series, Once Upon a Horse. During the program, middle school children will receive free copies of her latest book, Star Horse. Nir, author of Horse Crazy and an investigative reporter with the New York Times, has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize two times for her work. On Sunday at 11 a.m. David Chaffetz, whose area of specialty includes Iranian, Indian, and Chinese history will discuss how the horse-shaped civilization while Nir focuses on the emotional connection modern humans share with animals.

Other authors that are also participating in this event include Marina Harss, author of The Boy from Kyiv: Alexei Ratmansky’s Life in Ballet with Mindy Aloff, author of Why Dance Matters; Brendan Gill Lecture speaker Gillian Linden, author of Negative Space: A Novel Michael Korda, author of Muse of Fire: WWI as Seen Through the Lives of the Soldier Poets with Simon Winchester, author of Knowing What We Know: The Transmission of Knowledge From Ancient Wisdom to Modern Magic; William Egginton, author of The Rigor of Angels: Borges, Heisenberg, Kant, and the Ultimate Nature of Reality with Samuel Moyn, author of Liberalism Against Itself: Cold War Intellectuals and the Making of Our Times and Noah Charney, author of These Trees Tell a Story: The Art of Reading Landscapes with Mike Zarfos, executive director of Great Mountain Forest.

For more information https://norfolklibrary.org/haystack-book-festival

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