Connecticut Travel

Where else would Santa Claus be during the two weekends before Christmas but in a toy-building operation? And The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk is honored to have him in its Toy Boat Workshop Dec. 9-10 and 16-17.

Santa will oversee youngsters and their projects in the Aquarium’s festively retooled Toy Boat Workshop on weekends Dec. 9-10 and 16-17, all days between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. (Please note that, shortly before 12:15 and 2:15 p.m. each day, Santa will take breaks from building toys to become “Shark-Diving Santa,” joining the Aquarium scuba team to swim among the sharks in the “Ocean Beyond the Sound” exhibit.)

Whether you build a toy boat or not, Santa Claus will accept children’s wish lists and pose for photos for free, so bring your camera to snap a keepsake memory. Cost to build a boat is $5 in addition to Aquarium admission. It takes about 15 minutes. Get details about all of the popular family attraction’s holiday offerings, including “‘Polar Express’ Pajama Parties” at www.maritimeaquarium.org.

Santa Claus will be taking a bold step in December to help The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk demonstrate that sharks are not naughty, but nice.

Twice each day on Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays in December, Santa will strap on scuba gear and enter the Aquarium’s 110,000-gallon “Ocean Beyond the Sound” exhibit, which is home to 7-foot sand tiger and lemon sharks.

It’s all part of The Maritime Aquarium’s regular dive program, intended to demonstrate that sharks aren’t the blood-thirsty killers of myth. Visitors to the popular Connecticut family attraction can see – and talk with – divers swimming with the sharks on Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays at 12:15 & 2:15 p.m.

Workload permitting, Santa is expected to participate in each dive in December. Watch the Aquarium’s website – www.maritimeaquarium.org – to confirm dates when Santa can pull himself away from the North Pole and exchange his snow boots for swim fins.

At this time of year, parents tell their children that Santa could be watching them at any time and from anywhere – but no kid expects to find Santa keeping an eye on them from inside a shark tank!! Bring your camera because Santa is always happy to swim over and get close to the exhibit window to pose for a unique picture with your kids.

Viewing the Santa shark dives will be free with Aquarium admission.

The Kent Historical Society is convening a Historic House Tour, focusing on structures built in the 18th and early 19th century. The Tour will take place Sunday, December 10 from 12:00 pm to 4:30 pm. Advance tickets are available for $45 on our website and at the Heron Gallery, Kent Wine & Spirit, and the Kent Town Clerk’s Office. The price jumps to $60 on the day of the tour, so be sure to get your tickets early!

The Kent Historical Society has lined up seven architectural gems that have been preserved with great care. Some were grand dwellings in their day, others were much more modest, but nearly all of them date from the Colonial era. There are all sorts of curiosities and beauties to appreciate on this journey through the past of Kent Hollow. One house is even on the National Register of Historic Places.

The journey into the past starts at Swift House, where ticket holders will get a map to the houses, .which are mostly in Kent Hollow. Tickets may also be purchased that day at the Swift House from 11 a.m. through the afternoon. Afterwards, everyone will gather at Swift House at 12 Maple Street to share festive beverages at the wassail bowl. It promises to be a fun event — who doesn’t like peering back in time in old houses?

“Historical House Tour 2017,” a Kent Historical Society event, begins December 10, 2017 at noon at Swift House, located at 12 Maple Street, Tickets are $45 in advance, and $60 on the day. For more information, see http://www.kenthistoricalsociety.org

“I hear it everywhere I go” is a group exhibition that includes sculptures, text works, installations, and videos ranging from 1995 to today. The show aims, in part, to explore dissatisfaction around the pursuit of the American Dream and how it is expressed. The curatorial premise was inspired by artist Cady Noland’s (b. 1956) writings on and stated thinking about the American tendency to express violence through socially acceptable release valves such as figuratively “trashing” celebrities on the one hand and conning or preying on populations outside of dominant power structures – often in the name of entrepreneurship – on the other.

The exhibiting artists exponentially expand on and add to the show’s themes through a variety of strategies, including: performed fictions that resituate celebrity and commodity culture; collaborative text pieces that give institutionally marginalized voices visibility; appropriation of pop culture to explore the isolation of fame; the mining of distinctly American signifiers such as varsity sports and daytime TV talk shows; and juxtapositions of post-consumer objects that read on multiple levels and often indicate how a person’s race, class, gender, and sexuality can position them in a simultaneous state of hypervisibility and invisibility in American culture.

The Gallery is located on 41 Franklin Street in Norwalk and is open Tues. – Sun. from 12 noon to 5 pm. This show runs through January 7, 2018.

There will be a display of illuminating images at the historic Barnum Museum in Bridgeport on Sunday, December 10th at 2 p.m. Guests will enjoy this remarkable display of photographs by Jay Misencik and Geralene Valentine. The photographs are part of their “Poli’s Palace and Majestic Theatres Memories Project.” More information is available at
http://www.misencik-images.com/theatres.html

Misencik and Valentine operated their photo business from a studio in Bridgeport, CT for 16 years. They now work from their home in Monroe. Misencik taught photography at the University of Bridgeport and has given private seminars to both professional photographers and photo enthusiasts. Together they led “Kids with Cameras” walking tours in the Park City. As a co-founder and original board member of the Bridgeport Community Historical Society, Misencik has a wealth of knowledge about the historical importance of many buildings in the city of Bridgeport.

Misencik and Valentie’s personal Bridgeport projects include:

– Main Street, Bridgeport – Portraits of people with different occupations, 1989-1993
– The Thomas Merton Center, Bridgeport – “Portraits of People from a Sacred Place” 1994, 1999
– The Barnum Museum – “Faces on Main Street” exhibit, “Kids with Cameras” walking tours, 1993-1994
– Poli’s Palace & Majestic Theatres Memories Project – People share memories of times spent at the theatres – Current
– The Bridgeport Portrait Project – A cultural heritage project that will introduce you to the PEOPLE who make the City of Bridgeport more than just a PLACE – Current

To participate in the Poli’s Palace and Majestic Theatres Memory Project or The Bridgeport Portrait Project, please contact Jay or Geralene at 203-268-8306; misencik.images@gmail.com.

There is no registration required. A $5 donation is suggested. The event is free to members and children under 12.
For more information about this and other events, please visit barnum-museum.org or contact by phone at 203-331-1104 x100.

This year marks the 31st Holiday House Tour which has become a highly anticipated December tradition for many visitors and residents alike. This year’s holiday house tour is taking place on December 10 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and will feature seven historic houses with festive seasonal décor. Five of the homes are Designated Historic Landmarks.

Each home was carefully selected for its architectural merit and interesting stories. All of these wonderful historic houses have been adapted to 21st-century living and are sure to enchant you with inspiring decorating ideas and nostalgic holiday cheer!

Some highlights include:
• a circa 1800 barn that was adaptively re-purposed into a charming residence, the Eliphalet Sturges/George Hand Wright house that was originally built in 1764 as a simple two-room farmhouse and extensively remodeled in the Colonial Revival Style by the Dean of Westport Artists George Hand Wright in 1910, “Duck Haven” a house and cottage on the Saugatuck River adjacent to the historic low-tide crossing point
• the David Judah House, circa 1760, that has gone through a meticulous restoration by its current owner, who preserved every nail, piece of timber and window
• a circa 1840 Italianate house whose current owners uncovered an original back staircase hidden by 20th-century renovations
• a reproduction Saltbox c 1966 designed and built by well-known architect George White, which won a Historic Preservation Award this year.
• Westport’s first one-room schoolhouse west of the Saugatuck River, that includes a large collection of signed prints by abstract artist Frank Stella

Tickets are $50 for members and $60 for non-members in advance; Tickets are $70 on the day of the tour. Pre-order tickets in advance online