Category: Connecticut Travel

The Institute for American Indian Studies in Washington Connecticut has created a series of vacation week programs from April 20-22 from 1 .pm. to 3 p.m. that will teach kids new skills. The theme of the vacation fun series is “sticks and stones”!

Before metal was used widely by the Native Americans living in the Litchfield Hills, stones and bones were used to create tools. During this three-day program, children will learn how to identify different types of stone, animal bones and how Native peoples used these raw materials to create tools.

Join museum staff on Wednesday for an introduction to stone identification and use. On Thursday they will compare skeletal structures of a few common woodland animals. Friday, kids will watch their educators demonstrate techniques for using these materials to create items such as fishhooks, needles, combs, weapons, and projectiles.

Drop in from 1pm-3pm on April 20th, 21st, and 22nd to watch stones and bones turn into tools outdoors at our outdoor replicated Algonkian Village.
Included in regular museum admission: $8 Adults; $6 Seniors; $5 Children; IAIS Members FREE.

For more area information www.litchfieldhills.com

April 9, the official opening of the fishing season in the Nutmeg State is the day when fly-fishing aficionados from near and far flock to the Annual Riverton Fishing Derby in the Riverton section of Barkhamsted, located in the beautiful Litchfield Hills.

The day starts before daybreak with a hearty breakfast beginning at 4 a.m. at the Riverton Fire Department on 3 Riverton Rd. in the center of town. Breakfast, lunch and snacks will be available at the Riverton General Store located in the center of town in a mid.-19th century building that is the hub of activity for this village. Green mountain coffee, made to order sandwiches, homemade soups, chili, salad and pastries are just some of the things offered here. For more information on Riverton General Store http://www.rivertongeneralstore.com.

This exciting Litchfield Hills event takes place on April 9 th on the West branch of the Farmington River, a Nationally designated “Wild and Scenic” river that is known to host an abundance of rainbow, brown and brook trout. As a matter of fact, on Friday afternoon before this event, over 100 fish are purchased and released into the Farmington River adding even more incentive to catch the “big one.” The contest, complete with prizes, begins at 6 a.m. and lasts for about four hours, ending at 10 a.m. and it’s all-free; and there is no registration or fee required.

The public is always welcome to attend this event and to cheer on their favorite fisherman. Last year some 500 enthusiasts participated in the derby. An even bigger crowd is expected this year. Prizes include items donated by local merchants as well as by Orvis and Cabela’s. The coveted grand prize is a village chair of Riverton donated by the Hitchcock Chair Company. The Hitchcock Chair Company Store is located in Riverton and stocks an excellent selection of this classic hand stenciled furniture. For information about the Hitchcock Chair Company visit www.hitchcockchair.com.

A bit further upriver a section of the flowing waters especially stocked for the occasion, is set aside for the “Kid’ Derby”. Any tot under 16 who is able to hold a fishing pole, can join in the fun. Special prizes are awarded to kids. To find out more about the Fishing Derby and other events in Riverton, visit http://rivertonct.com.

The easiest way of getting a fishing license is to visit the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s online sportsmen licensing at https://ct.outdoorcentral.net/InternetSales. Fishing licenses are also available from town clerks and this website has a complete listing of town clerks and businesses that sell fishing licenses. The website also has a weekly fishing report that runs from opening day through the end of November. The report is a summary of fresh and saltwater fishing activity in the state as reported by tackle stores around the state.

To celebrate spring, the Matthews Curtis House, an excellent example of Connecticut saltbox architecture located on 44 Main Street in Newtown is hosting an open house day on Sunday, April 17 from 12 noon to 4 p.m. When touring this house visitors will step back in time as docents will guide you through the house, explain the history of their collections and the people who lived in the house by taking you on a journey back in time.

This house was purchased by Matthew Curtiss Jr. in 1781 and is thought to have been built by him. For some time it was believed that he was the house’s builder and first resident and thus his name was attached to it. Subsequent research shows that the house was originally constructed about 1750.

Curtiss was a Lieutenant in Connecticut’s Revolutionary War militia and served Newtown in a number of civil offices, including hay warden, highway supervisor, member of the school committee, grand juror, keeper of the pound and selectman. For a short period he was a partner in a provisions business, dealing mostly in beef. Curtiss sold the house in 1807, but may have continued to live there until his death in 1824.

Today the house is furnished with items of the time that the house was built as well as some items of a later date; all tell the story of Newtown’s history. Among the most unusual features of the Curtiss House are the large basement fireplace with cupboard built into the chimney stones and meat hooks in the attic which are all that remains of an old smoke oven.

Weather permitting, join their docents for some colonial games in celebration of spring. If there is a chill in the air, they may even have an open hearth fire.

The Matthews Curtis House is open for tours one Sunday per month from March – June and September – December and there is no admission fee. The next dates are May 15 and June 12 from noon to 4 p.m.

The Bruce Museum, located on One Museum Drive in Greenwich is offering a new adventure into the world of animals with their new exhibition that runs through July 3 called Wild Reading: Animals in Children’s Book Arts.
Through more than thirty contemporary and historic illustrations, the show explores the colorful lives of wild animals, both realistic and exaggerated.

Original works by artists such as Quentin Blake (illustrator of books by Roald Dahl and others), Eric Carle, Wendell Minor, Maurice Sendak and others demonstrate the wide range of styles and visual elements used in children’s literature – from color, line, and shape to texture and composition.

A highlight of this exhibition will be taxidermy specimens including a fox, groundhog, rabbit, chipmunk, squirrel, raccoon, birds, and insects from the Museum’s natural history collection, which will be paired with their illustrated counterparts. Comparisons drawn between the illustrations and specimens address the characteristics that make each animal unique and the artistic techniques used to emphasize these features.

For example, a mounted gray wolf will be matched with John Hassall’s original 1926 drawing of Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf from Mother Goose’s Book of Nursery Stories, Rhymes and Fables, while the Museum’s black bear associates with.Fred Banbery’s Paddington Bear and more naturalistic illustrations by Jeannie Brett and Carin Berger.

An accompanying family gallery guide and family day will foster exciting cross-generational experiences for Museum visitors of all ages. The museum is open daily Tues. – Sun. 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. For more area information www.visitfairfieldcountyct.com

Western Connecticut State University will celebrate its popular spring tradition in bringing the world’s leading jazz artists to perform in Danbury as it presents the 21st annual WCSU Jazz Fest from March 31 through April 2 featuring the legendary saxophonists and composers Joe Lovano and Kenny Garrett.

This year’s Jazz Fest, presented by the WCSU Department of Music with support from the Student Government Association, will showcase the virtuoso performances and visionary original compositions of two artists widely recognized to be among the most influential and sought-after jazz saxophonists during the past three decades.

Lovano, a tenor saxophonist and bandleader who has recorded two dozen albums on the Blue Note label since 1990, will perform with the WCSU
Jazz Orchestra at 7 p.m. on Friday, April 1. Garrett, an alto saxophonist who began his career performing with leading jazz musicians of the 20th century and has established his own distinctive sound in recordings as a bandleader and composer over the past two decades, will appear with the Kenny Garrett Quintet at 7 p.m. on Saturday, April 2.

Both performances will be in the Veronica Hagman Concert Hall of the Visual and Performing Arts Center on the WCSU Westside campus, 43 Lake Ave. Extension in Danbury. General admission prices will be $15 for the Friday concert and $20 for the Saturday concert; admission will be free for WCSU students with valid ID. The WCSU jazz music faculty and students will perform ensemble sets featuring jazz classics and original works in the opening Jazz Fest concert at 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 31, in the Veronica Hagman Concert Hall. Admission will be $10, or free for WCSU students with ID. Reservations for all concerts are available at www.wcsuvpac.eventbrite.com.

A native of Cleveland who began playing saxophone as a teen at jazz clubs with his father, Lovano developed his appreciation for modal harmony in performance during his studies at Berklee College of Music and his continuing work on the Boston jazz club circuit. His emerging reputation as a jazz saxophonist received a major boost with his call in 1976 to join the all-star group assembled by bandleader Woody Herman for a three-year gig touring the United States and Europe and playing at prestigious international jazz festivals.

Lovano’s career as a bandleader and composer blossomed in the 1980s and 1990s as he settled into the vibrant New York jazz scene, entering musical collaborations with the Mel Lewis Orchestra at the Village Vanguard and many of the jazz world’s elite musicians including Bob Brookmeyer, Charlie Haden, Paul Motian, John Scofield. Gunther Schuller, Herbie Hancock, Carla Bley and McCoy Tyner. Bruce Lundvall of Blue Note Records, which signed Lovano to a recording contract in 1991, said that when he first heard the saxophonist in performance, “I felt that he was the most creative and hard-swinging tenor player I’d heard in years. Joe has emerged as a giant on his instrument and a full-fledged giant of jazz.”

Lovano credits his musical and life partnership with jazz vocalist and composer Judi Silvano as an inspiration for his continuing exploration of new ways to blend vocals, woodwinds, brass and percussion in his compositions. The biographical notes on his website observed that Lovano constantly experiments with new ensembles and formats in recordings and concerts, following “his lifelong regime of practicing, jamming and trying new sounds. The secret to his success is his fearless ability to challenge and push the conceptual and thematic choices he makes in a quest for new modes of artistic expression, further defining the jazz idiom.”

Garrett receives equally wide acclaim for his contributions to the contemporary jazz scene as both a preeminent artist on the alto saxophone and a bandleader who continuously explores diverse international musical genres for inspiration and new stylings in sound and rhythm that have found unique expression in his boldly innovative compositions.

“When I was in high school and college, delving into jazz music during the 1990s, I found that Kenny was one of the most widely emulated saxophonists among my peers — and for good reason. He has without doubt one of the most personal, distinctive and beautiful alto saxophone sounds ever,” Greene remarked. He recalled that he and Garrett shared a common mentor in the legendary jazz artist and educator Jackie McLean, who taught Greene during his studies at the Hartt School of the University of Hartford. “When I asked Jackie to name his favorite younger sax players at the time,” he said, “one of the two performers he mentioned was Kenny Garrett.”

A Detroit native who landed his first major gig with the Duke Ellington Orchestra led by Mercer Ellington, Garrett’s musical development came in the company of jazz giants including Freddie Hubbard, Woody Shaw, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, and Miles Davis. His many album and performance collaborations have included the Grammy Award-winning Five Peace Band with guitarist John McLaughlin, pianist Chick Corea, bassist Christian McBride and drummer Vinnie Colaiuta, and the Freedom Band with Corea, McBride and drummer Roy Haynes.
His own success as a composer and bandleader since the 1990s has been capped by two Grammy Award nominations for his 2012 album “Seeds from the Underground” and a third nomination for his 2013 release “Pushing the World Away,” as well as his 2012 selection to receive the Echo Award as Saxophonist of the Year. Cover notes for “Seeds from the Underground” said that his original compositions for that album paid “homage to those who have inspired and influenced him, both personally and musically. Garrett has crafted a project that offers his appreciation while always making the listener aware of his band’s skillful approach to melody, harmony and rhythm. Like all successful bandleaders, Garrett knows what he wants musically and has formed a band that will best communicate his message.”

Garrett draws extensively upon his familiarity with world music genres to broaden and push the envelope of jazz composition. “I love the challenge of trying to stay open about music and about life,” he said in the “Seeds” album notes. As a composer, “I don’t try to control what I write. Music comes from the Creator. It’s a gift that’s coming in, and I receive it. I write in all genres, and I’m writing all the time. It’s never about what it is — I just say, ‘Thank you.'”

Ticket reservations are available online for Jazz Fest concerts on March 31 at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/21st-annual-jazz-festival-featuring-wcsu-jazz-faculty-tickets-21493821599; April 1 at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/21st-annual-jazz-fest-featuring-joe-lovano-with-the-wcsu-jazz-orchestra-tickets-22223664579; and April 2 at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/21st-annual-jazz-fest-featuring-the-kenny-garrett-quintet-tickets-22224057755.

For more area information www.visitwesternct.com

The Fairfield Museum and History Center located on 370 Beach Street has opened a new exhibition that will be on display through May 1, Look at Me! Recording and Sharing Our Selves. This evocative exhibition takes a look at “selfie” trend that has taken the social media world by storm. Today’s “selfie” phenomenon offers the opportunity to reflect on the history of how people have shared images of themselves.

This thought provoking exhibition questions the function and use of a painted portrait, a photograph and daguerreotype, and examines how does it differs from a “selfie” taken on a cell phone. Through this display, by examining paintings, silhouettes, early photographs, and miniatures of individuals from the Fairfield region, this exhibition considers how we have pictured ourselves over time.

On February 25 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. the museum will host an “after dark program”, “Expressions of Identity and the Selfie”. Participants will enjoy a mini portrait-sketching workshop with Suzanne Chamlin-Richer, Associate Professor of Visual & Performing Arts of Fairfield University. Event goers will also join other guests to discuss the history of art and photography, from 18th century portraiture to the saturation of selfie images on social media today. Guests are invited to share their thoughts on this talk about the push and pull between popular culture, narcissism and social change and how people express their views through self-representation. Museum Members: Free; Non-Members: $5.

For more area information www.visitfairfieldcountyct.com