Connecticut Travel

The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk is a great place to spend a cold winter afternoon. Two new exhibits make the visit even more exciting. Just remember that all tickets must be purchased in advance.

The Jellyfish exhibit pulses with some of the most strangely beautiful – but potentially dangerous – animals in the sea as we present a variety of native and non-native species of jellies.


When viewed safely from their stings, jellies are mesmerizing … like the big Pacific sea nettles, upside-down jellies in a cool half-dome, an 8-foot-tall display filled with moon jellies, and more!

Connecticut’s only mob of meerkats – the popular family unit in The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk – is moving into a big new exhibit that connects their desert story to the influences of the ocean on climate and weather. The Maritime Aquarium’s meerkats move upstairs into an exhibit twice as large as their original display. The new exhibit replicates the animals’ native African-desert habitat and offers the meerkats many new opportunities for climbing, digging and exploring. Plus, three viewing “bubbles” will give guests the chance to pop up right among the meerkats.

“These are active animals that are very charismatic with highly interesting social structures, so they’re a lot of fun for our guests to follow,” said Barrett Christie, the Aquarium’s Director of Animal Husbandry.

With the move to the second floor, “Meerkats!” now connects naturally with “Just Add Water,” the Aquarium exhibit that features desert-to-rainforest creatures in explaining how the world ocean drives climates around the globe.

“Incorporating the meerkats into ‘Just Add Water’ opens opportunities to continue and expand our conversation with guests about the role of the ocean in creating and affecting climates – and, thus, also creating and affecting diverse animal habitats – all around the world,” Christie said.

No mere cats, meerkats (Suricata suricatta) are small members of the mongoose family that live in social “mobs” of up to 30 members in the Kalahari Desert, in the southern African nations of Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa. (Their desert environment is created by the Benguela Current, an ocean current off Africa’s west coast that brings cool dry winds over the continent.)

Meerkats were widely popularized by the comical sidekick Timon in Disney’s “The Lion King,” and then celebrated in the Animal Planet television series “Meerkat Manor.” They’re fascinating for living in structured, cooperative societies, including a survival strategy where adults take turns individually standing guard – often balanced upright on their haunches – watching for predators while the others forage or sleep.

The Aquarium’s “Meerkats!” exhibit features five sibling meerkats – three males, two females – born at the Hogle Zoo in Utah. The exhibit opened in May 2010 as part of a larger, temporary focus on African species. But the amusing, guest-favorite animals became a permanent fixture, allowing the Aquarium to add a focus on the ocean’s impact on the climate for even desert animals like meerkats.

That focus expanded in 2018 with the opening of “Just Add Water,” which features such species as a tamarin (a type of monkey), quail, a skunk, a prehensile-tailed porcupine, caimans, poison dart frogs, and bats. The animals are displayed in separate biomes; that is, distinct communities of plants and animals that have adapted to a defined physical climate. The biomes begin at an arid desert and transition into habitats that receive increasing amounts of annual rainfall – through grasslands and temperate forests, among others – ending at a tropical rain forest.

“These animals’ vastly dissimilar environments are all the product of the ocean’s influence,” Christie said. “The exchange of heat between the ocean and the atmosphere drives much of Earth’s atmospheric circulation. When you factor in currents and winds, you have the ocean helping to create and shape the world’s habitats for wildlife – from desert environments with meerkats to rainforests with monkeys.”

Learn more about exhibits, programs, and more at www.maritimeaquarium.org.

The Kellogg Environmental Center is located at 500 Hawthorn Ave. in Derby is hosting mixed media artist Karen Kalkstein’s exhibition of artwork. Her collages, wall-hangings, and sculptures created from natural and human-made material will be exhibited from February 4th through the 28th. Using items that have been collected from her walks through nature Karen creates beautiful, otherworldly images of the environment.

A ‘Meet the Artist Reception is scheduled for Saturday, February 12, 2022, from 1:00 pm-3:00 pm. The public is invited to visit the exhibition and meet Karen to learn more about her inspirations and the methods used to capture the beauty of nature and the feel of the outdoors. Visitors may also enjoy a walk around the grounds and trails of the Kellogg Environmental Center and Osbornedale State Park before or after the reception to see the beauty of winter landscapes as captured by Karen and her works.

Karen graduated as an art major from Scripps College in California and earned a MA in art education at New York University. She has instructed elementary and high school art and has also taught private classes for children and adults. For twenty years she had a custom tile business designing, hand-making, and glazing ceramic tiles for clients across the country. She has shown her artwork on the east and west coasts and her works are in numerous collections including the Johnson & Johnson Corporate Collection in New Jersey. Karen lives and works in Stamford, CT, and Waitsfield, Vermont.

Registration for the program is requested and can be done through the Connecticut DEEP Calendar of Events, https://www.depdata.ct.gov/calendar/listevs.asp?selecttype=all . If you have questions or need assistance registering, please contact donna.kingston@ct.gov.

The Kellogg Environmental Center, a facility of the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, is open 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM, Tuesday through Saturday. It is located at 500 Hawthorne Avenue off Rte. 34 in Derby.

On Saturday, February 5 from 10 am – 3 pm there will be a Winter Festival at Burr Pond State Park in Torrington. This festival is organized by the Dept. of Energy and Environmental Protection to get people outdoors throughout the year.

Outdoor games, a bonfire, ice fishing, and fish fry are only part of the fun on hand for the day! Festival-goers can also visit with Visit Shakespeare the Barred Owl and Gerri Griswold from White Memorial Foundation in Litchfield from 11am until 1pm! Families can go snow-shoeing, cross-country and downhill skiing, ice skating, and hiking in the snow. There will be plenty of winter crafts for kids. They can learn how to make ice suncatchers, snowmen marshmallows and participate in colorful snow painting. If you are interested in science there are 14 winter-themed experiments and activities for any climate to participate in.

This annual festival is free of charge and open to the public. Burr Pond State Park is located on Burr Mountain Road in Torrington, CT. Gail Borden, discoverer of the process of milk preservation by evaporation and condensation, built the world’s first condensed milk factory at Burr Pond State Park, in 1857. The new milk product proved to be of great value, particularly to the Union Army during the Civil War. Fire destroyed the mill in 1877.

The new Canaan Historical Society is hosting an exhibit, Women of Waveny: Artists, Patrons, and the Lapham Legacy that runs through March 31, 2022. Don’t miss this fabulous exhibition! Curated by Arianne Kolb and Micaela Porta, the show features bronze sculptures by Abastenia St. Leger Eberle and photographs by Francis Benjamin Johnston, and tells the stories of these artists and advocates, along with the stories of Antoinette Dearborn Lapham, Ruth Lapham Lloyd, and Elise Lapham. An audio tour is available. To view the video tour, click HERE.

Arianne will lead a guided gallery tour on Wednesday, February 2 @ 11 am. Other dates are Sunday, February 13 @ 3 pm, and Thursday, March 24 @ 7 pm. Come hear more about these extraordinary women whose impact was felt far beyond the borders of New Canaan.

Also please mark your calendars for two fascinating lectures:

Dr. Thayer Tolles, Curator of American Painting and Sculpture at the MET, will speak via zoom on February 9 @ 7 pm – “Abastenia St. Leger Eberle in Context: American Women Sculptors 1900-1940.” This lecture will examine the career of Abastenia St. Leger Eberle, sculptor of Waveny’s Lotus Fountain (1918), in the context of other early twentieth-century American women sculptors, as well as the contemporaneous popularity of small bronze sculpture for the home and garden. This presentation is made possible due to a generous gift from the New Canaan Artisans. To register for this talk, click HERE.

Dr. Kara Charles Felt, Curator and Art Historian, will speak on March 3 @ 7 pm -“What a Woman Can Do with a Camera: Frances Benjamin Johnston and her Contemporaries.”

This year marks the 96th anniversary of Salisbury Connecticut’s ski jumping tradition. It all started in 1924 when Salisbury resident, John Satre, a well-known ski jumper in his native country of Norway, created the Salisbury Outing Club that held the first ski jump competition in Salisbury, in January of 1927, that drew a crowd of two-hundred spectators. The Salisbury Outing Club eventually evolved into the Salisbury Winter Sports Association (SWSA) that has continued to host the highly anticipated annual ski jumping competition called JumpFest that draws jumpers and spectators from all over the East Coast.

In 2022, spectators are in for a special treat that only takes place every ten years or so. This year, the Salisbury Winter Sports Association is not only hosting JumpFest, and the U.S. Eastern Division Ski Jumping Championships; on February 11-13, they are also hosting the U.S. Junior Nationals Ski Jumping/Nordic Combined on February 22-26. This will give spectators the chance to watch ski jumpers participating in the Eastern Division, on Sunday, February 13, and then later in the month cheer on our Eastern Regional winners at the U.S. Junior Nationals. “We are so excited to be able to host not one but two in-person events this winter. We want to give spectators an up-close sense of what Olympic-style competition is all about, and how hard these jumpers train. We hope it provides people with the chance to get out and enjoy the great outdoors while cheering on our Eastern Regional winners at the U.S. National Championship, right here in Salisbury, Connecticut. Many of these jumpers are Olympic hopefuls so it is like getting a two–time sneak peek at the up-and-coming Olympians that we usually watch on TV. There is nothing more exhilarating than watching it live and in-person as these jumpers travel up to 200 feet through the air at more than fifty miles an hour,” said Willie Hallihan, a long-time Director of the Salisbury Winter Sports Association.

JumpFest offers so many exciting competitions to watch including warm-up and target jumping, junior jumpers, and the expert jumpers participating in Sunday’s highly anticipated Eastern U.S. Ski Jumping Championships. Part of the fun is ringing your cowbell to cheer on your favorites and guessing who is the fastest — and highest jumper in real-time – and, wondering if the 231-foot record will be broken!

Even more fun awaits spectators this year at JumpFest with the unique Human Dogsled Race being held on Friday night, February 11, after a hiatus last year due to Covid-19. The Human Dog Sled Race taking place after the Target Jumpers on Friday Night consists of six people, five pulling, and one rider. It is so much fun to watch these colorful sleds and costumed teams race against one another! The teams compete in timed, two-teamed races, and the two fastest times in the mens, womens, and mixed categories run a second race. Trophies are awarded to the three fastest teams in each category. There is also a people’s choice trophy for the most unusual sled and costumes.

And, if you work up an appetite, no worries, the Cook Shack offers a range of burgers, dogs, hot chocolate, and more, and the Low N Slow Food Truck serves BBQ and authentic Poutine all three days. There will also be a wine tent, a hot toddy tent, and the Great Falls Brewing Company’s beer tent.

At this in-person outside winter event, there is plenty of room to social distance and still have an excellent view of the ski jumps. Tickets will be available at the gate and are $15 for adults on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Kids 12 and under are free all three days. The ski jump complex is located at Satre Hill on Indian Cave Road in Salisbury. Before setting out check www.jumpfest.org for updates, scheduled changes, or more information or email the Association at info@jumpfest.org. The Salisbury Winter Sports Association is complying with all State COVID-19 regulations to keep spectators and athletes safe.

ABOUT SALISBURY WINTER SPORTS ASSOCIATION
The mission of the Salisbury Winter Sports Association is to acquaint the public with Nordic ski-jumping, cross–country, and Alpine skiing, and to teach the skills necessary for their enjoyment. One way of fulfilling this mission is to host the annual Jumpfest Competition on Satre Hill to sustain and ski jumping in Salisbury, Connecticut, and the Eastern United States.

Festival Schedule
There are only half a dozen ski jump facilities on the East Coast, with Satre Hill in Salisbury being the southernmost location. Some of the best athletes will be here competing in JumpFest, an event that has launched many Olympians including three of the four men that participated at Sochi.

Friday, February 11, 2022
JumpFest kicks off on Friday, February 11 at 6 p.m. with practice jumps. Target Jumping under the lights begins at 7 p.m. Two large bonfires and warm food and beverages will be available for purchase from a variety of food trucks.

The popular Human Dog Sled Race will take place after the target jumps are completed.

Saturday, February 12, 2022
On Saturday morning, February 12, things warm up with the Junior Jumpers from Lake Placid, New York, and other Eastern locations competing on 20 to 30-meter hills. The action kicks off at 9:30 a.m. with these youngsters showing off their strength, skill, and conditioning that makes them fly effortlessly through the air. Medals will be awarded on the hill.

The real action of the day starts at 11 a.m. with warm-up jumps. These competitors are the best of the best in the Eastern Division. The competition begins at 1 p.m. This event is thrilling to watch as these expert flyers go from 0 to 50 miles an hour in seconds and seem to defy gravity with runs up to 70 plus meters.

Sunday, February 13, 2022
The highly anticipated Eastern U.S. Ski Jumping Championships on Sunday, February 13th begins with practice jumps that run from 11 a.m. through noon. The long-awaited annual competition starts at 1 pm. At this event, there are often Olympic hopefuls competing. These expert jumpers seem fearless as they display the tremendous coordination, skill, balance, and strength that it takes to soar so far and so high in the air and to land smoothly. If you want to find some of the bravest athletes in sports just stand at the bottom of a ski jump and watch them soar through the sky. It is exhilarating.

Even the most sedentary spectators will appreciate the extraordinary coordination and skill required to make a jump! After all, most jumpers tell you that it is the closest you get to flying…without the wings or a parachute. Winners of this event representing our region will go on to compete in the U.S. Junior Nationals being held in Salisbury from Tuesday, February 22 through Saturday, February 26.

Before setting out check www.jumpfest.org for updates, scheduled changes, or more information or email the Association at info@jumpfest.org

Do you like to play with snakes? If you do, don’t miss the snow snake workshop on Saturday, January 29 at 11 a.m. and at 2 p.m. at the Institute for American Indian Studies on 38 Curtis Road in Washington. At this special Native American workshop, you will make a “snow snake” and use it to play a traditional Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) winter game.

Snow snakes are hand-made from a flattened piece of wood with a notch at one end that makes them easy to throw. Some sticks are carved in intricate patterns that resemble a snake and then coated with wax. Participants in this workshop will learn how to make their very own snow snake with Susan Scherf, an educator at the Institute and a woodcrafter. This workshop includes materials and wood-burning kits. Participants are welcome to bring their own whittling knife if they have one although it is not required.

The competitive winter game of snow snake is still played today in many Native American Communities. The object of the game is for players to see how far they can slide a snake across the snow, usually in a trough that has been built up and then grooved by dragging a log along its length. Players toss the snake, similar to a javelin thrower onto the track. The challenge is to throw the snake with just enough force to make it slide a long distance without using so much force that it jumps the track. A highlight of this workshop, weather permitting, is to go outside and try out your snow snake in a friendly competition.

Space per session is limited and pre-registration is required. The price of participation including materials is $20 for non-members and $10 for members. For more information call 860-868-0518, email events@iaismuseum.org or click here to register online.

For the video on the snow snake check out https://www.facebook.com/IAISMuseum/videos/357579399083631

About Institute for American Indian Studies
Located on 15 acres of woodland acres the Institute For American Indian Studies preserves and educates through archeology, research, exhibitions, and programs. They have the 16th c. Algonquian Village, Award-Winning Wigwam Escape, and a museum with temporary and permanent displays of authentic artifacts from prehistory to the present that allows visitors to foster a new understanding of the world and the history and culture of Native Americans. The Institute for American Indian Studies is located on 38 Curtis Road, Washington, CT.