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Lions International Mid-winter Conference

Four students from Schaghticoke Middle School in New Milford attended the Lions International Mid Winter-Conference at the Wyndham Hotel in Southbury on Saturday, February 4, 2023. With the support of the New Milford Lions, these four students, mostly officers of the Schaghticoke Leo CLub, gave up their Saturday on one of the coldest days yet this winter, to meet up with fellow Leo's and Lions from around the state to learn of community service projects going on there: Isabella Pilch, President; Nathaniel Travis, Vice President; Rebecca Williams,Treasurer; and Aliyah Sira, standing in for Secretary Hailee Baker. They were accompanied by their Club Advisor, Spanish Teacher Kathleen O'Hara-Ferrari.

These student leaders also helped plan for future ways to collaborate and better serve the local communities of CT. The motto of Lions International is: "We serve." Throughout the day, the students learned of and planned for projects that help raise funds; collect non-perishable foods, clothing and supplies; test and provide for better vision; and serve groups throughout the community in many other ways, too.

Lions Day at the United Nations

On Friday, March 3, 2023, Nathaniel Travis, an 8th Grader at Schaghticoke Middle School in New Milford, and Vice President of the Schaghticoke Leo Club, traveled to New York City to attend Lions' Day at the United Nations. He was accompanied there by his father, Mr. Matthew Travis and his Leo Club Advisor, Kathleen O'Hara-Ferrari. This annual event unites Leo's with members of Lions International and United Nations diplomats and dignitaries from around the nation and the world. Together, the Leo's, the Lions and the United Nations representatives focused on this year's theme ofHunger, Nutrition and Wellness.

The day was spent discussing current and future global initiatives to achieve their shared goal of Zero Hunger and many other vital health-based projects that aim to improve the quality of life and wellbeing of people from all over the world. Some time was also devoted to discussing the ongoing War in the Ukraine and the many ways in which Lions International is reaching out to those affected by the war. In addition, they discussed similar efforts to bring aid of all kinds to those affected by the recent earthquake in Turkey and Syria. A Turkish representative of Lions International spoke movingly of the ongoing struggles of the Turkish and Syrian survivors and of the great impact being made by Lions International's efforts there.

Gunn Junior Library March programs for children in Washington

April 8 – 11 a.m.-noon Game Time: “Taco vs. Burrito” (4th & 5th Grade). Join Ms. Ashley for an exciting game of “Taco vs. Burrito”- the wildly popular, absurdly funny, surprisingly strategic card game where players compete to create the weirdest, wackiest meals! Bring a friend to team up with and enjoy snacks while we play. Seating is limited so please register in advance advance on our website at www.gunnlibrary.org/junior-library/programs. These programs are free and open to all. The Gunn Memorial Library is located at 5 Wykeham Road at the juncture of Route 47, opposite the green in Washington

Programs at the JCC in Sherman

Sunday March 26 at 1 p.m. ~ Sunday Speaker Series : The Future of Education in America featuring Dr. Mary Fernand, Dr. Missy Alexander, and PD Villarreal

Fernand is the new principal at the Sherman School, Dr. Alexander is the provost & vice president of Academic Affairs at Western Connecticut State University. PD Villarreal will moderate this discussion, he is an American lawyer, specializing in the field of Litigation and is chief of litigation for several major multinational companies.

Monday March 27 at 6 p.m. ~ Free Zumba Class with fitness instructor Timothy Engstrom! Please RSVP online.

Saturday April 1 at 7:30 p.m. ~ Rachael Sage with Annalyse and Ryan!

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Open Mic Night ~ Thursdays at 7 p.m. Song Swap ~ last Friday of the month at 7 p.m. MahJong ~ Fridays at noon

Shepaug principal will present recent scholarship at national conference

Dr. Donald Schels, principal at Shepaug Valley School in Washington was selected to deliver a paper at the prestigious American Education Research Association’s national convention in Chicago, this coming April. The project was selected from over 11,000 applications, and details Schels’ research, conducted in April of 2021, about the relationship between student conceptions of competition and student performance and wellness.

Schels read history, law and American Studies at Rutgers and Columbia Universities, and most recently completed a doctorate in education policy at Fordham, where he conducted this research under the supervision of Professor Tiedan Huang. Dr. Schels has been at Shepaug since July of 2021.

Gaylordsville Historical Society Alan S. Farnham Memorial Scholarship

The Gaylordsville Historical Society is offering a $500 scholarship in the memory of Alan S. Farnham. Lt. Farnham, who attended the one-room schoolhouse in Gaylordsville, died in combat in Vietnam. The applicant must be a graduating senior in good standing, who lives within the Gaylordsville Fire District, including home – schooled students. The Scholarship is based on academic standing, letters of recommendation, community service, and an essay. The one-room Gaylord School was in continuous operation from 1740 to 1967, and the Gaylordsville Historical Society maintains a museum in the schoolhouse.

Applications are available at Guidance Departments at New Milford High School, Henry Abbott Technical High School, Nonnewaug High School and at the Gaylordsville Post Office. Completed applications are to be mailed to Scholarship Committee, Gaylordsville Historical Society, PO Box 25, Gaylordsville, CT 06755. Applications must be postmarked by April 25.

Washington: ASAP! Awarded CT Cultural Fund Operating Support Grant

ASAP! was awarded $18,400 in December 2022.

This CT Cultural Fund Operating Support Grant is provided to ASAP! from CT Humanities (CTH), with funding from the Connecticut State Department of Economic and Community Development/Connecticut Office of the Arts (COA) from the Connecticut State Legislature.

Funding helps ASAP! deliver arts-infused learning experiences to thousands of students, and provide free programming to children and families throughout northwest CT.

ASAP! is one of 723 organizations from 146 Connecticut towns who received the CT Cultural Fund Operating Support Grant. Totaling more than $8.5M, these grants are part of a two-year, $30.7M investment in arts, humanities, and cultural nonprofits by the CT General Assembly and approved by Gov. Ned Lamont.

Sherman Church Holy Week schedule

The Sherman Church will celebrate the beginning of Holy Week with a Palm Sunday service April 2 at 10 am at the Sherman Church, 6 Church Road. Sunday school children will hand out palms, and Lenten Lunch will continue after the service with homemade soup and bread. All are welcome. The Maundy Thursday service April 6 will include a potluck dinner at 6:30pm followed by Communion in Fellowship Hall. Please call the church at 860-355-1807 or email [email protected] to sign up for a dish to bring for the potluck.

The Good Friday Service of the Cross will be April 7 at 7 pm at the church, in-person only. The Easter Sunday Sunrise service will take place at 6:30am at the Sherman Town Beach. The service will include trumpeter Jed Orosz accompanying the hymns and a meditation by the Rev. J. Loring Carpenter. The Resurrection service will take place at 10am at the church. All are welcome.

Chamber music concert in Roxbury

Long River Concerts is looking forward to its upcoming concert on Sunday, March 26th, at 3pm. The program will feature music by Amy Beach performed by co-artistic directors Alissa Leiser, piano, and Elizabeth Chang, violin, who will be joined by Janna Baty, mezzo-soprano, and Alberto Parrini, cello, to perform works by Gustav Holst and André Previn. The concert will culminate with a performance of Beethoven’s iconic “Archduke” piano trio. Tickets are $30 per person and can be found at https://www.longriverconcerts.org/concerts or purchased at the door. All concerts are held at Roxbury Congregational Church, 24 Church St, Roxbury and will include a brief historical and musical commentary for the audience before each piece.

Kent Memorial Library has chosen a 2000 Porsche Boxster S

Convertible as its 2023 raffle car, and new this year there will be a second place prize: two ebikes! The winning tickets for the car and e-bikes will be drawn on Sunday, Oct. 29 outside the Kent Town Hall at the end of the annual Pumpkin Run mini-marathon.

Tickets are available in the Library at 32 North Main Street, online at kentmemoriallibrary.org, and throughout the summer outside the Library on weekends during the famed Library book sale. They can also be purchased by mail by sending a check for $25 to Kent Memorial Library with a self-addressed stamped envelope to KML Car Raffle, P.O. Box 127, Kent, CT, 06757.

The Porsche convertible has a blue top with hard back window, 6-speed manual transmission, polar silver metallic exterior, metropol blue interior, illuminated vanity mirrors, 250HP 3.2L 6CYL Engine, and 21,300 miles. The Kent Memorial Library launched the popular car raffle many years ago. Proceeds go to support the Library’s operating budget and make an important contribution since the Library isresponsible for raising over 70% of its annual budget.

Sherman Library special program on The 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair

The program is presented by Jason Scappaticci on Thursday, March 30 at 7 pm. This is a remote program via Zoom.

Created to celebrate the one hundred year anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase, this world’s fair attracted millions of visitors. The Fair was a combination of trade show, civic showpiece, and monument to culture, along with more than a tinge of civic pride. Featured in its grounds were magnificent buildings designed by some of the leading architects of the day in exuberant beaux arts architecture.

A mile long entertainment zone dubbed “The Pike” featured some attractions that were so popular they were brought to Coney Island following the fair. The 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair showcased the grandiose ambition of the gilded age and was a snapshot in time of American and foreign societies as they wished to portray themselves.

This program is free and is offered by the Sherman Library remotely through Zoom. Register online at shermanlibrary.org/registration-dropdown or contact [email protected].

Rotary Club presentation

The Rotary Club of New Milford will host an evening meeting on Tuesday, March 28, 5:30 pm, at Greca Restaurant + Bar, in the Big Y Plaza. The program will be a presentation on night-time creatures by Bob Boone, owner of Bio-Tech Wildlife Services. Hors d’oeuvres and cash bar, guests are welcome! For information contact Katherine Webster-O’Keefe at 860-671-1266 or email to [email protected].

Sunday Speaker Series : The Future of Education in America -Sherman

Join us on March 26 at 1 p.m.for our next Sunday Speaker Series featuring Dr. Mary Fernand, Dr. Missy Alexander, and PD Villarreal

Free for JCCS Members / $5 Suggested Donation for Non-Members

50th Anniversary celebration of the restoration of the Merwinsville Hotel begins with a Glass Sphere Hunt! Go on a treasure hunt! Participating historic sites will include New Milford, Danbury, Brookfield, Kent, Litchfield and Gaylordsville

Reaching a milestone as important as the 50^th anniversary deserves to be celebrated and that is exactly what the Merwinsville Hotel Restoration is planning on doing throughout the second half of 2021.

In 1971 the Gaylordsville community came together and formed a non-profit association to restore the building. These efforts were spearheaded by George Haase and continues today with his two daughters, Jeremy Ruman and Jennifer Haase, President and Vice President of the board of directors.

Kicking off their 50^th anniversary celebration, the Hotel hired glassblowers Leslie French and Andy Pyle from Nunwell Glass in Lakeville, CT to create 50 glass spheres that will be hidden at historic sites in the area for people to find and keep. Each glass sphere will be stamped with “MHR 50” and will be numbered. The glass spheres will be hidden in early August and a complete list of historic sites participating in the hunt will be on the Hotel’s website soon.

“We are so excited to be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the restoration, and thanks to a much-appreciated donation from the New Milford Commission on the Arts to celebrate this milestone, the Hotel’s expenditure in our ‘glass sphere scavenger hunt’ became much more affordable,” said Jeremy Ruman. “We also wanted to give other local non-profits the opportunity to take an active part in the event. Due to the pandemic, we have all suffered the loss of revenue and visitors. By inviting other historic non-profits to take part in the hunt by hiding the glass spheres (at no cost to them other than coming up with a great hiding places), we can all benefit. It is so important for all our local non-profits to continue to thrive and grow. We hope this event will be a way to help achieve that.”

Participating non-profits include: Brookfield Craft Center, Danbury Museum & Historical Society, Danbury Railway Museum, Gaylordsville Historical Society (Brown’s Forge and Little Red Schoolhouse), Merwinsville Hotel, Kent Historical Society, Litchfield Historical Society, New Milford Historical Society, Gallery 25, Harrybrook Park and The Silo (in New Milford).

Other events planned this year will include Sunday tours from 2-4PM starting July 11^th, annual Potluck Dinner September 10th, Art and Fine Craft Show & Gala starting Friday, October 8^th and the Holiday Christmas Show that begins the Friday after Thanksgiving.

The Merwinsville Hotel opened for business in 1843 as a meal and station stop for the Housatonic Railroad that ran between Bridgeport and Pittsfield. The second-floor features rooms with period furniture and decor reminiscent of the hotel’s earliest years. There is also a museum of artifacts featuring the rich history of the Gaylordsville area.

The Merwinsville Hotel Restoration is a national historic landmark located at 1 Brown’s Forge Road in Gaylordsville, CT, only 15 minutes from Kent, Sherman, New Milford and the Harlem Valley/Wingdale Railroad Station. For further information, call 860-350-4443 or visit www.merwinsvillehotel.org

NEW MILFORD — Looking at the exterior of the Merwinsville Hotel, it’s easy to picture what the popular meal stop was like in the 1800s as scores of travelers made their way between Bridgeport and Pittsfield, Mass.

Railroad tracks still line the three-story building and candles fill the windows.

“You can just sort of imagine it,” Jeremy Ruman, president of the Merwinsville Hotel Organization, said as she described women in their dresses ascending the grand staircase.

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The hotel just celebrated its 175th year, though its focus has shifted from feeding travelers to living history, offering a glimpse into what a hotel along a railroad was like back in the day.

It took a lot of work to get to this point. Ruman’s father, George Haase, used to drive different routes from their home in Sandy Hook to his job at the Bulls Bridge power plant. On one of those trips he saw the hotel and became fascinated with it though he wasn’t able to find it again until the family moved to New Milford, not far from the hotel.

Haase rallied support from the community and began restoring it, starting with the roof, securing the foundation with a steel beam through the basement and painting the outside. The owner, Ed Dolan, sold the building to the group for $1 so it could be restored.

Antique furniture now fills the rooms on the first two floors, including decorated pianos and sofas. A replicated station master room is off of the entrance where a replica check-in desk sits. Railroad and Gaylordsville artifacts are also scattered throughout the hotel, including the old postal box.

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“The hotel had one foot on a banana peel and we’ve been very lucky,” Ruman said. “If something was teetering on the end of obliteration, it was. We’ve had wonderful items donated to us over the years and great volunteers.”

Hotel history

The hotel was built in 1842 and opened the following year. Sylvanus Merwin had heard Housatonic Railroad was going to be traveling up the valley through Gaylordsville and so purchased land on the route and began building a hotel. He then insisted the railroad stop at his hotel if the company wanted his right of way and call the stop Merwinsville. The company agreed.

Merwin built a ticket office and waiting rooms on the south end of the hotel and also a built a shop and school for girls.

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Train staff and a dozen or so customers would have a meal during the 20 minute stops at the peak, but business took a hit with the invention of the dining cars in the 1870s, which allowed travelers to eat on their train ride. The contract with the Houstanonic Railroad ended in 1877 and the family held dances in the third floor ballroom and boarded summer travelers in the decades to come to try to sustain the hotel.

First the school, then the store closed and then the railroad company replaced the Merwinsville stop with the Gaylordsville one about 50 yards down the track.

A man named Michael Hastings bought the building soon after the ticket office left in 1916 and used it as his residence with his son in the upstairs apartment until 1947. It was then used as storage for the Gaylordsville Fire Department until a fire in 1970, leaving the building vacant.

Restoring it

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Ruman recalls the condition of the building at that time. She and her sister would walk around the rim of one of the rooms on the second floor that had a gaping hole to the level below.

The first two floors have since been restored and the hotel is decorated similar to what it might have looked like in the 1800s, as the volunteers piece the history and each room’s function together.

“We sort of have to guess on some of this,” Ruman said, adding they use some local history books. “There’s not a ton, but it’s a little to go on.”

The restoration effort has now shifted to the ballroom.

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Renderings of what they envision the ballroom to look like once it’s restored sit off to the side of the room, which looks more like an attic at the moment than a place the Harvey Girls once performed.

Before the ballroom can truly be used for events, the restoration group will have to build a new staircase that is more accessible than the steep stairs now that go up to the third floor. To do this, they will have to switch the well and septic. The overall project is expected to cost at least $500,000.

There is also continuous upkeep.

“There’s always a lot of maintenance,” Ruman said. “We take things as they come, depending on funds.”

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The organization is a nonprofit and donations can be made through their website to help with the projects.

A master gardener is working with the group and plans to plant a kitchen garden in the spring.

A special place

Ruman said she believes the building is one of the last rail stop hotels east of the Mississippi River with a ballroom on the third floor and is honored to keep it standing and going after 175 years.

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“It’s really special,” she said. “There’s not anything really like it.”

Another unique aspect of the hotel is its architecture. It has nine columns and was built in a Georgian style with latticed balconies. Dumbwaiters were used to deliver the food from the kitchen up to the four dining rooms. The train only stopped for 20 minutes so the food had to be ready fast.

Ruman said it’s great to see how far the hotel has come, especially given all of the hours her father has put into it.

“We’re really proud,” Ruman said. “It’s such a hidden gem.”

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Dec 31, 2018

NEW MILFORD — When Roger Shaw was 8 years old, he memorized several Michael Jackson dances on YouTube and posted them to his Instagram.

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Little did he or his family know he would soon get noticed by a talent agency and become a child actor.

Now 11 and a fifth-grader at Sarah Noble Intermediate School, Roger has appeared in 10 productions for TV, movies and commercials including “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “Blacklist,” “Life and Beth,” “Help me Mary” and “Evil Lives Here.”

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The road to Roger’s acting career began when John Casablancas Modeling & Acting Agency in Rocky Hill called his mother and said, ‘I saw these Michael Jackson dances and I’d really like to meet him,’” said Roger’s mother, Megan Shaw, who also has 6-year-old twins. “They liked that he was self taught and they liked his look.”

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When Roger and his mother drove to the agency, Roger was hired on the spot.

“He started doing modeling classes, acting classes and he was really liking it,” Shaw said.

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Mother and son began making weekly trips to the agency after school — and Roger’s world began to change.

He would spend two hours, along with about 10 other kids, walking a runway and practicing lines.

“They had a lot of teachers, such as the president of the drama club from Yale. It was always someone else teaching him a different idea or a different lesson, so that he finally got comfortable,” Shaw said.

One skill Roger learned is how to slate — which means he has to say his name, agency, location, sometimes his height — out loud.

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“Every time he has an audition, he has to say those things,” Shaw said.

After three months, Roger got selected for an event called the International Modeling & Talent Association, or IMTA.

“This is an event where huge talent agencies from all over the world come to scout talent. However, you have to audition and then you have to be chosen,” Shaw said. “He had to train for that event for a year. The training was focused on acting and modeling.”

“You need to be comfortable on stage in front of hundreds of people,” Shaw said.

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Roger was practicing for a year for the IMTA — and then COVID-19 came. The event, which was scheduled to be in Manhattan in July of 2020 — was canceled.

Yet, Roger continued to train every week — but virtually, over Zoom.

“The trainer, who is a professional teacher or actor, would send us slides via email, which are lines to read and memorize. Roger would read them and they’d go back and forth,” she said. “It was frustrating because there is no comparison to in-person tutoring.”

In January 2021, Roger and his mother traveled to an IMTA event in Orlando, Fla.

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From Monday to Thursday, in front of about 500 people, Roger practiced a variety of different skills such as walking the runway and a skill called “Kids’ Spot,” where he had to get comfortable speaking about something he liked.

“I felt very nervous. The hardest part was getting on stage and talking,” Roger said.

Roger chose to talk about karate, which he said he loves and for which he now has a Brown Belt.

At each rehearsal, “the agencies look at you, they want to see how you look and how you carry yourself,” Shaw said.

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Friday was callback day.

“That was when you found out if any agencies liked you from the work you did all week,” Shaw said.

From IMTA, eight agencies in the U.S. were interested in Roger, and Shaw chose two of them.

Getting gigs

Today, Roger gets an acting gig when his agencies call his parents to tell them about it or when his parents see something available on different acting apps, such as “Backstage.”

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He has auditioned across the tri-state area.

When he goes to auditions, it’s a long day for him, said his mother.

“We’ll have to be on set sometimes at 7:30 in the morning,” Shaw said. “He’s 11 years old and he gets really tired. By 5 o’clock he will fall asleep in the car.”

In order for children to get acting jobs, they must have a trust account set up in their name, Shaw said.

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Fifteen percent of every job automatically goes in the account and can’t be touched until the child turns 18. The rest can be deposited into that account or can be cashed for the child to use. The child must be present when they are cashed.

While Roger is having a lot of fun with acting, “this is a lot of work,” Shaw said. “We are constantly looking for things to do in the business.”

Roger has set his sights to be in a big movie or TV show, his mother said.

“I see him on a long running comedy show, like Modern Family,” Shaw said. “Roger is just really is attached to family. My parents live with us and Roger loves it. He is very family oriented.”

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[email protected] 203-948-9802

“We never closed,” said Kevin Paige, owner of Butthead’s Tobacco Emporium, a cigar shop and lounge in Danbury, Connecticut. As he took intermittent puffs from his cigar, Paige stood in his shop amid the worst pandemic in modern history, explaining how he was forced to substantially modify how his store operates in order to cope with Covid-19. Unlike many other cigar shops and small businesses in Connecticut, Butthead’s remained open from the onset of the pandemic.

The transition from the modern cigar shop where customers buy and linger to “grab-and-go,” where shoppers leave right after buying, has not been without challenges. Paige had to adopt significant measures to protect the health of his customers and enable them to continue to visit his store, just like many other shops in the state, one of the harder hit by the Coronavirus pandemic, with more than 4,440 deaths attributed to the virus.

As Paige explained, “With the volume that I do, you can’t just turn this thing off and go away for two weeks. The bills are still coming in.”

Butthead’s has more than 4,000 square feet of retail space, which requires rent, so closing the doors to customers indefinitely simply was not an option.

The measures Paige took to maintain his business during the pandemic were a combination of the minimal and consequential. Butthead’s implemented hourly handwashing for employees and installed hand-sanitizing stations throughout the store. And to comply with Connecticut law, all customers have been required to wear masks at all times while in the store.

The biggest change illustrated the serious toll that the pandemic has taken on the cigar smoking industry: the closing of Butthead’s popular smoking lounge. The lounge in the Danbury store (Butthead’s has a second location in Gaylordsville, Connecticut) can seat 12 people when open. Small groups of friends, usually between six and eight people, come to the store to enjoy a few cigars in each other’s company. Butthead’s does not charge a membership fee for its lounge.

But the lounge remains closed. “We don’t allow congregating inside and the lounge area is still off limits,” said Paige. “Our shop is still grab-and-go. The average customer visit is less than five minutes, and that keeps our exposure to a minimum.” Paige also said about the lounge, “It wasn’t a revenue stream for me. It was an amenity that, if nobody else can do it, then I don’t really care if I have it.”

Sales for Butthead’s in 2020 have been similar to 2019. “Sales are larger as people consolidate trips to make fewer visits. We have been aggressive on promotion and that has helped us keep sales on par,” said Paige. He also added that on days when the weather is nice, customers linger and smoke outside, so long as they adhere to social distancing.

When asked if he thought the pandemic would permanently impact the public’s willingness to gather in groups and smoke together in the future, Paige responded confidently, “We’re humans. We’re still going to gather. It’s just how that gathering is going to happen.”

A customer in the store who was buying cigars joined the conversation. “Even if there isn’t a vaccine, I think to a large degree we’re gonna get things back to normal, and we’re gonna accept a certain level of infection and mortality,” the customer said. “We just can’t stay isolated forever. Maybe we’ll wear face masks, but other than minimal changes like masks, I think for the most part things are gonna get back to normal.”