Connecticut Travel

It is time to warm up to the Holidays on December 8 from 12 noon to 3 p.m. at the Wish House, Barbara Farnsworth Bookstore, Ian Ingersoll’s Furniture and the Cornwall Conservation Trust in the bucolic village of West Cornwall on the banks of the Housatonic River in the heart of the Litchfield Hills.

The day begins at the Wish House with a workshop for kids and the young @ heart with lf Joe Brien of the
Lost Arts Workshops crafting an old fashion wooden toy. Santa will be overseeing operations and will be available for Holiday snapshots that are sure to make heartwarming memories. The fun doesn’t stop there@ *Author Sally Cook will be on hand and ready to signer her book that makes the ideal stocking stuffer and includes the very popular -How to Speak Soccer, How to Speak Baseball, How to Speak Golf and How to Speak Football. And, if you work up an appetite, no worries, the Wish House is hosting holiday nibbles and libations including German Gluehwein!

Just up the street, at Barbara Farnsworth’s Bookstore, Susan Susan Hellman will greet customers with a 50% off sale on all of the books in stock. Browse amid a lovely array of handmade book bags, stupendously cute and beautiful crafts and cards. Join this multi-talented Lady for coffee and homemade cookies!

If nature is your thing, be sure to pop into the open house at the Cornwall Preservation Trust. Here you will find maps of the many hiking trails that criss-cross Cornwall making them a good option after a large holiday meal!

If you are in the market for authentically made Shaker Furniture, pop into Ian Ingersoll’s Furniture showroom where bubbly and nibbles will be served while you may peruse the classy local artwork exhibited in the showroom among the gorgeous furnishings.

The sweet scents will tease your sense of smell as you enter the quaint village of Kent CT. The rolling pins are spinning and creative minds of all ages are working hard to create dozens of Gingerbread Houses. Ovens are filled to capacity and working overtime to get ready for the ANNUAL KENT GINGERBREAD FESTIVAL from December 1 through December 31.

Gingerbread Houses of all shapes and sizes will be on display in many of Kent’s beautifully decorated shop windows until December 31. As you approach Kent you will find yourself in what looks like a movie set of the perfect little New England town, twinkling lights will guide you through the unique one of a kind shops. What an enjoyable way to do your holiday shopping.

Lots of places feature colorful gingerbread houses for the holidays, but Kent, CT goes a step further. The whole town will take place in this sugary sweet celebration. Everyone is invited to follow the Gingerbread Walk through town to view imaginative and ingenious gingerbread delights. Visitors can enjoy the displays as they navigate the gingerbread map and solve the NEW mysterious riddle the Ginger Girls have cooked up this year. At the end, visitors vote for their favorite creations. Displays are guaranteed to delight all ages!

Should you be hungry after your Gingerbread Walk there are many temptations that will lure you, from a chocolate shop and baked goods to delicious culinary delights in one of Kent’s many restaurants & cafés. In addition to gingerbread displays, Kent will have special holiday events every weekend, from the Annual Kent Holiday Champagne Stroll, wine tastings and even Pancakes with Santa to an old-time horse-drawn carriage ride through town and a Messiah sing-along. For more holiday information a visit http://kentct.com

Franklin Street Works presents a free, public media studies panel at the Ferguson Library Main Branch on December 2 from 4 – 5:30pm followed by a wine reception at Franklin Street Works from 5:45 – 7:00pm.

Join Franklin Street Works for a panel that welcomes nationally respected artists, scholars and journalists to Stamford to discuss media and journalism today. We will explore media studies topics that connect to some of the themes of “False Flag: The Space Between Paranoia and Reason,” including alternative facts, false flags and more.

Panelists are: Brooklyn-based artist Alexandra Bell, who has exhibited at PS1 and often explores media in her work; Jack Bratich, Ph.D., who is an Associate Professor in the Dept. of Journalism and Media Studies at Rutgers University and wrote the book “Conspiracy Panics: Political Rationality and Popular Culture” (2008); Journalist Alexandria Neason, who is a Columbia Journalism Review staff writer and formerly a reporter for the Village Voice, will bring an on-the-ground perspective to the panel; Connecticut-based artist Jeff Ostergren will connect larger themes to his curation of “False Flag” and will discuss how contemporary art can provide alternate perspectives to dominant narratives.

“Part of my interest in this panel is exploring the way in which the ‘media’ – in its various iterations of television news, talk radio, and social media – foster and in many cases actively create paranoia.” Jeff Ostergren explains, “This is of particular interest to me in that the media, despite all indications of the opposite, still is often understood as objective. No matter the format, news is filtered through corporate agendas, personal perspectives, and latent or overt biases.”

Franklin Street Works is excited to partner with the Ferguson Library on this timely event! Stay tuned for updates on panel themes and more.

RSVPs are not necessary but they help us plan. Please RSVP to info@franklinstreetworks.org.

VENUE PARKING:
There are 3-hour parking meters just outside the entrance to the gallery on Franklin Street that are free after 7 p.m., and 25 cents per 15 minutes before 7 p.m. There is a lot with an attendant on Franklin Street just a couple of doors down on the right side of the street (closer to Broad Street) from Franklin Street Works. Rates are variable. There are also a number of parking garages nearby. The nearest are:

Target
Entrance on Broad; $1 for the first 2 hours, then $2/hour, $11/day.

Summer Street Garage
Entrances on Lower Summer, Broad or Washington Blvd. Northbound;
$1/hour, $9/day, there is also an evening rate of $3/evening
Sat. & Sun. are free until 5pm.

ACCESSIBILITY:
Franklin Street Works has an ADA compliant, permanent ramp that can be accessed from Franklin Street and takes visitors to our back door downstairs. Please call Creative Director Terri C Smith’s cell at 203-253-0404 or email her at terri@franklinstreetworks.org so we can open the door for you from the inside. Once inside there is an elevator available. Bathrooms are large and clear but do not have access bars.

The historic Merwinsville Hotel Museum located in the quaint town of Gaylordsville that is part of New Milford is hosting its annual Christmas Shoppe on November 23, 24, and 25 and November 30, December 1 & 2. The weekend hours are 10-5 pm and the Friday hours are 10-6 pm.

The Merwinsville Hotel and Museum is transformed into a winter wonderland every year for Christmas in Gaylordsville, a world of snow villages, model trains around the Christmas tree, caroler’s displays of snow globes, nutcrackers, and music boxes.

Art, crafts, jewelry, weavings, birdhouses, and photography by local artists are among the tempting items for sale. Pick up a fresh Christmas tree and browse through a large assortment of home-made baked goods for sale.

A highlight is the extensive collections of Dickens Villages, World’s Fair Amusement Park Miniatures, the model train, and over 100 wooden nutcrackers. Kids will enjoy the story time every Saturday at 11 a.m. Coffee, tea, and the best hot chocolate south of the North Pole are complimentary.

Join the American Museum of Tort Law located on 654 Main Street in Winsted on Thursday, December 6 from 7 pm to 8:30 pm for a fascinating special presentation by John Barylick, Esq. in the Leaders in Law Series.

Attorney, author and lecturer, John Barylick, won national prominence for representing victims, in the wrongful death and personal injury cases arising from the Station Nightclub fire, on February 20, 2003, in West Warwick, Rhode Island.

His work was instrumental in amassing $176 million in settlements from persons and corporations responsible for the fire. Said Barylick: “Most of the wrongdoing occurred long before the fire. It all came down to money. When no value is attributed to safety, disaster can happen.”

The Museum opens at 6:00p.m. for self-guided tours. The presentation begins at 7:00pm and includes: an Interview with Attorney Barylick; his Master Class; a Town Hall style Q/A. Following the presentation, Attorney Barylick will be signing copies of his book, KILLER SHOW: The Station Nightclub Fire, America’s Deadliest Rock Concert, in the Museum Gallery.

Suggestion donation is $20. Seating is limited. To reserve a seat, please email joan@tortmuseum.org or call 860-379-0505.

Litchfield Hills is dotted with many holiday fairs and festivals. For those that are looking for something really unusual, take a trip to the Institute for American Indian Studies on 38 Curtis Road in Washington Connecticut to shop for authentic Native American Arts and Crafts.

At the Institute’s annual Native American Holiday Arts and Crafts Market you will find a wide array of unusual holiday gifts from local Native American crafters. The Native American Holiday Arts and Crafts Market is taking place at the Institute on November 24 and 25, December 1 and 2, and December 8 and 9. This special Native American Holiday Market will be open Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Sundays from 12 noon to 5 p.m. The entrance to the Holiday Market is free!

Here you will find something truly unique for everyone from Native American jewelers, and artists that offer their creations at a variety of price points! A highlight of the Market is the chance to meet and buy directly from the artists while learning about contemporary Native American art, crafts, and cultures. Just some of the treasures to be found here are decorative gourds, pottery, jewelry, rattles, artwork, flutes, and much more!

Litchfield Hills Archaeology Club Lecture

If you are at the Holiday Market on December 2 and have an interest in archeology and Native American Culture you might want to pop into the Litchfield Hills Archaeology Club Lecture Series from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Dr. Nicholas Bellantoni, Associate Professor at UCONN and emeritus State Archaeologist, will be discussing his new book The Long Journey Home: The Repatriations of Henry ‘Opukah’ia and Albert Afraid of Hawk.

The book chronicles the repatriation of the remains of two Native men and the efforts of those involved in the process. Dr. Bellantoni will give a lively talk discussing his involvement in the project and the writing of his book. Copies of his book will be available in the gift shop for purchase and Dr. Bellantoni will be on hand after the lecture to answer questions and sign books.

About Institute For American Indian Studies

Located on 15 woodland acres the IAIS has an outdoor Three Sisters and Healing Plants Gardens as well as a replicated 16th c. Algonquian Village. Inside the museum, authentic artifacts are displayed in permanent, semi-permanent and temporary exhibits from prehistory to the present that allows visitors a walk through time. The Institute for American Indian Studies is located on 38 Curtis Road in Washington Connecticut and can be reached online or by calling 860-868-0518.

The Institute for American Indian Studies preserves and educates through discovery and creativity the diverse traditions, vitality, and knowledge of Native American cultures. Through archaeology, the IAIS is able to build new understandings of the world and history of Native Americans; the focus is on stewardship and preservation. This is achieved through workshops, special events, and education for students of all ages.