Tag: Ridgefield

SummerFest – Rewind in Ridgefield July 18 & 19

This year the theme for Ridgefield’s “Summerfest” is 1964 and it will take place in Ballard Park on Friday and along the Main Street on Saturday. This fun filled family event kicks off on Friday, July 18 in Ballard Park at 5:30 p.m. with Sgt. Leffert’s Phoney Hearts Club Band that will perform Beatles music until 7 p.m. If you are ready to dance, the Fred Astaire Dance Studios will perform dances of the 60’s from 7 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. that are sure to inspire you. The Groove Zone featuring the sounds of Motown will entertain festival goers from 7:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m. and the night will finish off with a movie from 1964 at the “lawn blanket drive -in” from 8:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.

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On On Saturday, the Main Street comes alive with shops decorated to re-create Ridgefield in 1964. Festive retro windows, great sales and special discounts will abound. Look for the merchants that will be offering special retro merchandise from the period including recreated jewelry that Jackie O wore! Pop-up shops and art booths will also feature vintage style artwork, paintings and much more.

There will also be a car show that will feature Mustangs, Corvairs, MGs, Studebakers, Jaguars, hot rods and other great vintage autos. Restaurants will even offer vintage items on their menus—some at vintage prices. The Main Street Stage will feature live 60s music, along with dance instruction (want to Frug and Watusi?), karaoke—and polish your go-go boots for the costume contest. There will also be a 1964 swap meet with great vintage items, including donated goods whose proceeds will support promoting Ridgefield tourism. Enjoy vintage candy and Good Humor bars, and get your snapshot from the photo booth.

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For an up to date event schedule visit http://www.destinationridgefield.com/july-18th-to-19th-summerfest-64-ridgefield-rewinds. For area information www.litchfieldhills.com

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Keeler Tavern Museum To Host First Annual Spring Artisans’ Show

Distinguished artists and craftspeople from across the region will be present when the Keeler Tavern Museum hosts its inaugural Spring Artisans’ Show on Saturday, April 26, to be preceded by a special Preview Party on Friday evening, April 25.
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The Museum campus at 132 Main Street in Ridgefield—with its distinctive Cass Gilbert Carriage Barn, picturesque gardens, and charming Garden House — will be the setting for this premier event curated by VS Shows. The collection will feature fine art, high-quality handmade furniture, fiber, and home décor items, distinctive jewelry, and a wide range of one-of-a-kind offerings. A multi-media exhibit titled “Expressions: Spring – painting, sculpture & photography,” will be staged in the Carriage Barn. While Saturday visitors browse, children will be able to enjoy games and crafts of their own. Food will be available for purchase.

Some 20 notable artisans and artists from all over the region are expected to participate, including Ridgefield artists Peggy Thomas who will be displaying her pottery; Kokoon Jewelry designer Debbie Thornton; and painter Spencer Eldridge whose works will be shown in the Carriage Barn as part of “Expressions: Spring.” Among the regional artists featured are Pamela Dalton who will be showing her intricate paper cuts – Scherenschnitte; Heidi Howard, who paints 18th and 19th century trade and tavern signs; doll-maker Eva-Maria Araujo; Kathleen McDonald who makes chalkware figurines handcrafted from a collection of antique chocolate molds; and Robert Ferrucci, an artist of abstract action art, drip art and contemporary American Folk Art.

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Saturday show hours are 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM; admission that day is $8 ($7 with presentation of pre-show announcement postcard or advertisement). The special wine-and-cheese Preview Party on Friday evening will offer early purchasing from 6 – 9 PM, as well as opportunities to engage with artisans and artists; admission is $40 ($30 for Museum members). Proceeds from ticket sales on both days benefit the Keeler Tavern Museum, a non-profit historical site that is entirely self-funded.

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Free off-premises parking is available nearby. To make reception reservations, and for directions or other information, visit www.keelertavernmuseum.org or call (203) 438-5485. For information about the Litchfield Hills www.litchfieldhills.com

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Saltana Caves a great place to unwind

In Europe and Asia, salt caves are well known for their healing powers. Visitors to Litchfield Hills can experience the healing and wellness powers of a salt cave at Saltana Cave Spa, at the junction of Rte. 7 and Rte. 35 on 590 Danbury Rd. in Ridgefield located between Danbury and Norwalk. Here you will experience the European tradition and health benefits of a salt cave.

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Entering the salt cave at Saltana Cave Spa you are surrounded with tons of pink and tan hued health healing Himalayan salt crystals. The salt is underfoot and the crystals are literally and beautifully embedded in the walls. The room glows with a warm pink light that induces immediate relaxation.

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Saltana Caves offers speleotherapy better known as salt cave therapy as well as halotherapy, a special treatment that uses a salt vapor. Halotherapy is reputed to treat respiratory ailments, skin irritations and is said to combat mental lethargy.
As you get settled in zero gravity chairs the first thing you will notice is that you are entirely surrounded by salt, the cave even has a glimmering salt fireplace.

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Imperceptibly dry aerosol salt vapor is pumped into the air and is accompanied by a tape that details the health benefits of the salt minerals that surround you. Soft new age music follows the introduction to salt cave therapy and is perfect to unwind to. A highly regarded benefit of salt cave therapy is the naturally produced negative ions that are said to reduce stress, headaches, and lethargy.

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Cave sessions last about 45 minutes and run on the hour from noon to 7 p.m. (last session at 6 p.m.) from Tuesday – Friday. On Sat. the Cave is open from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. and on Sunday from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Sessions for children one to eight take place Tuesday – Friday at 12 noon and 5 p.m. and on Saturday and Sunday at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Guests are asked to arrive 15 minutes early to allow time to be signed in. Call (203) 969-4327 for reservations. For more information http://saltanacave.com

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Several area hotels have packages with Saltana including Danbury Crowne Plaza that offers a package with a salt treatment for one through December 31, 2014 starting at $144 inclusive of overnight stay and salt cave treatment for one. Additional passes for the salt cave experience can be purchased. Call the Crowne Plaza for 203-794-0600 for reservations.

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Halloween Naturally…..

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On October 27, Bridgeport’s Beardsley Zoo located on 1875 Noble Ave., is hosting a spooktacular afternoon that includes harvest hayrides and many other seasonal enjoyments from 12:00pm – 3:00pm. Special scarecrows are guaranteed to delight and fright all visitors to the Zoo adding a ghoulish flair. Make sure you are on hand to congratulate the winner of this years scarecrow contest…a perfect photo opportunity. Best of all, if you’re under 12, in costume, and are accompanied by a paying adult, you get in to the Zoo for FREE! http://beardsleyzoo.org

Stamford’s Heckscher Farm
Stamford’s Heckscher Farm

Stamford’s Heckscher Farm, at the Stamford Museum and Nature Center on 39 Scofieldtown Rd., is hosting the annual ICK Fest on October 27 from 1 p.m. – 3 p.m. Children of all ages are invited to don their Halloween costume and head up to Heckscher Farm to trick or treat with their favorite farm friends! Be sure to grab a map and head off in search of different “treats” at the trick or treating stations around Heckscher Farm. See what Dakota the Clydesdale, the farm’s calves Moose and Monty, and the farms new little piglets have to offer. Then, celebrate all things creepy and crawly at the annual “Ick Fest” at the Overbrook Nature Center building where you can visit with the center’s snakes, tarantulas, lizards, worms and other animals! Don’t miss the slime table! Activities of the day include making bats and spiders and even a photo opportunity with one of the center’s snakes. Don’t forget your treat bag. Members: FREE| Non-Members: FREE with gate admission. http://stamfordmuseum.org

RR Museum of New England
RR Museum of New England

All Aboard

Once again this year, the festively decorated Railroad Museum of New England in Thomaston is scheduling Halloween Weekend train rides on its vintage trains on Saturday, Oct. 26 and Sunday, Oct. 27 at Noon and 2:00 PM from Thomaston Station. Take a ride to the Pumpkin Patch aboard the Naugatuck Railroad, costumes welcome! During the ride, you may stretch your legs and choose your pumpkin in the Naugy’s own pumpkin patch, one per child as long as the supply lasts. Re-board the train for a fun and scenic one hour and 15 minute train ride that runs along the Naugatuck River south to Waterbury and north to spectacular Thomaston Dam amid splendid fall foliage across the Litchfield Hills. (860-283-7245; www.rmne.org.

Small Town Fun

The 20th Annual Halloween on the Green in Danbury will take place on Saturday, October 26 from 2 pm to 4pm with a Costume Parade scheduled for 3:30 pm. Prizes will be awarded for Most Original, Scariest, Cutest and Funniest get-ups. Children will have their own costume parade and games. There will be a special goody bad for the first 500 costumed children. (203-792-1711; www.citycenterdanbury.com).

The New Cannan Chamber of Commerce is sponsoring the annual Halloween Parade, on October 27 at 12 -noon rain or shine. Kids are invited to meet at 12 p.m, in the Park Street Parking Lot where goodie bags will be given out at this free event until they run out! At 1 p.m. children are invited to participate in the 32nd. Annual Halloween Parade that loops down Elm Street to Main Street and back. Vehicular traffic is closed for this fun-filled event.

Plymouth Lit up!
Plymouth Lit up!

On October 26, Rain date Oct. 27, Plymouth is holding a PumpkinFest on the Green, 10 Park Street from 4 to 7 p.m. Bring your carved jack-o-lantern to enter the carving contest prizes will be awarded. At 6 p.m. all the pumpkins will be lit for a spectacular display. Other event activities include face painting, live music, lantern tours of the old burying ground and a costume parade led by a bagpiper.

Everyone is invited to join the 37th Annual Kent Pumpkin Run on October 27th. The festivities begin with a Kids Fun Run at 11:15 AM followed by the 5 mile run / walk at noon. The spectator friendly certified course starts and finishes at Kent Green in front of Town Hall. Festivities include music, refreshments (including Billy’s famous Pumpkin Soup!), face painting, Halloween fun and much more.

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Lincoln Scholar Harold Holzer to Speak at Keeler Tavern Museum

Nationally renowned Lincoln scholar and author Harold Holzer will speak on the topic of “Why Lincoln Matters,” on Sunday, September 29th, at 4 p.m., at The Keeler Tavern Museum’s Garden House, 132 Main Street, Ridgefield.

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Holzer, who has authored, co-authored or edited 46 books about the nation’s 16th president and the Civil War era, will engage the audience in exploring the connections many Americans have felt—real and imagined, political and emotional—to Abraham Lincoln. His remarks on the 29th will explain how Lincoln’s actions and words have been interpreted and used by politicians and thought leaders up to the present day, “often seeking to consecrate their own policies with his imagined blessing, sometimes inspiringly, sometimes ludicrously,” according to Holzer.

Harold Holzer is Chairman of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation, official successor organization of the U. S. Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, which he co-chaired for nine years, appointed by President Bill Clinton. His most recent book, The Civil War in 50 Objects, tells the story of the war through the collections of the New-York Historical Society, for which he serves as a Roger Hertog Fellow. Holzer’s How Abraham Lincoln Ended Slavery in America (2012) is the official young-adult companion book for the Steven Spielberg film Lincoln, for which he served as script consultant.

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Holzer lectures throughout the nation. One of his programs, “Lincoln Seen and Heard,” with actor Sam Waterston, has been staged and broadcast from such venues as the White House, the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library, the Clinton Presidential Library, the Library of Congress, and Ford’s Theatre. Holzer also appears frequently on C-SPAN and the History Channel, and served as an on-air commentator on PBS, NBC, the BBC, and the National Geographic Network

In his full-time professional career, Holzer serves as Senior Vice President for Public Affairs at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, where he has spent the last 20 years.

Reservations to attend his lecture and the wine and hors d’oeuvres reception that follows, both of which are limited-capacity events, may be made online at keelertavernmuseum.org or by calling the Museum at (203) 438-5485. Fees are $50 for the lecture and reception ($35 for Museum members and students) and $25 for the lecture only ($20 for Museum members, $15 for students). Free parking is available on site.

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20 Years of Chamber Music At Keeler Tavern Museum April 22 and May 20

Keeler Tavern A Colonial Gem

The Mid-Hudson Saxophone Quarter will perform in the Garden House of the Keeler Tavern Museum located on 132 Main Street in Ridgefield Connecticut on Sunday, April 22 at 3:00 PM. This is the first of two spring concerts scheduled as part of the Louise McKeon Chamber Music Concert Series held at the Museum for over 20 years.

The saxophone musicians are Steven Kieley, soprano and alto, Deborah Tice, soprano and alto, Daniel Teare, tenor, and Charles W. Gray, baritone. They will perform a variety of musical selections suited to this special instrument. All are performing or teaching in the Hudson Valley area schools and colleges and perform at a variety of conventions and with groups in the Hudson Valley and other areas along the Eastern Seaboard.

Admission at the door is $15 for adults, $12 for seniors and students, and $10 for children under 12. All guests are invited to meet with the musicians after the concert and enjoy light refreshments.

The final concert of the season will take place Sunday, May 20th with members of the Western Connecticut Youth Orchestras performing in the Garden House at 3 PM For further information call 203-438-5484 or visit www.keelertavernmuseum.org.

About Keeler Tavern

The Keeler Tavern Preservation Society, Inc. founded the Keeler Tavern Museum in 1966 as a living museum of colonial history within the town of Ridgefield, Connecticut.

It is the Society’s mission to preserve and protect the Keeler Tavern, a site listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1982, that embodies the life of the community from the early 19th century through the mid 20th century.

The Society is committed to promoting Ridgefield’s history and heritage by providing educational and cultural programs that interpret the past for present and future generations.

The history of the Tavern and the Town of Ridgefield is reflected in the stories of the families who lived here. The archives of the Museum include extensive documentation and records from the Keeler, Resseguie and Gilbert families.

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