Home Care In Gilford, CT

GUILFORD — Target representatives unveiled proposed changes to the former Walmart building and a rendering of the retailer’s iconic red bulls-eye sign at the Design Review Committee meeting Wednesday, July 12.

The proposed 78,000 square foot Target, expected to open in 2025, will include a CVS pharmacy, as well as a Starbucks.

The mustard yellow color at 900 Boston Post Road would be changed to a light, warm gray color and the existing gables will be removed, according to Target representatives who presented their signage and exterior renderings.

Joseph Mayhew, design project architect for Target, presented specific changes the company would like to make.

“It is a pretty heavy handed basic large box building with some gabled roof entrances and a sloped canopy over the whole front of the façade,” Mayhew said about the existing structure.

“We are basically taking off the existing sloped roof canopy and the large vestibule Walmart built out over the sidewalk,” he explained.

“We are doing a whole new finish on the façade of the building, we are adding a new canopy that will align with the new canopy of the development,” he said.

Mayhew talked about maintaining Target’s branding and the look of its stores.

“We want to take that clean modern look and combine it with the Guilford context, that beautiful landscape and environment of the Connecticut, Guilford region,” he said.

This includes incorporating “locally quarried stone veneer across the whole façade that would be about 7-foot-high, 4- inches… and lines up with the new and existing doors that are in the building,” he described.

There are plans for revamping the entire plaza, according to town officials.

“Above the stone wall we are doing a neutral color, that I call it light gray/off white color, that will hopefully match the exterior color of the addition, so there’ll be that tie in,” said Mayhew.

“We’ll be tying the height of the canopies, as well as the color of the façade,” he said.

Shirley Gironi, committee member, asked whether Target officials had seen proposed changes to the entire development.

“Have you seen the plans that were proposed by the developer for the rest of the plaza and do you think it meets what you’re expecting it to do?” asked Gironi.

“I think it’s a very nice remodel,” said Mayhew. “It’s a great improvement over what’s there today.”

Discussions about signage included changes to the Shoreline Plaza sign near Route 1, directional signage throughout parking lot and signage on the building.

A 9-foot red Target sign, including the familiar bulls-eye logo, is proposed for the front of the building. In addition, a smaller CVS Pharmacy sign will be affixed to the exterior.

Committee member Mary Repetti expressed concerns about the large Target sign and wanted them to modify its design.

She proposed that the background be changed to “gray and the word ‘Target’ in red. And the bulls-eye in red and white will show up there and it will coordinate with Big Y because they are white with red and that we would just reverse that out because that red is too dominant for coordination with the others.”

“We really have to think of the whole picture, and I really think that the impact of Target will be strong with the red on white, without the white on the red,” she said. “I think you’ll still have strong impact.”

Signage also included changing the Shoreline Plaza sign to include Target and Big Y logos, directional signage in the parking lot and on the building.

The plans include replacing the white Shoreline Plaza entrance sign with a monument sign, incorporating stone and featuring only the Target and Big Y logos.

Repetti had concerns about these changes, as well, and proposed that “the entrance to stay as Shoreline Plaza because there are 10 other retail stores there, it’s not just Big Y and Target.”

The parking area, which includes 510 spaces, would extend to the west side of the building.

There will be 12 parking stalls for picking up online orders, close to the building, on the west side.

With full approval from the town, Target hopes to open in 2025.

“As we get through the process and design and our building permits that will become a little more defined down the road,“ said Aaron Hemquist, development manager at Target.

Sarah Page Kyrcz can be reached at [email protected]

GUILFORD — A steady rainfall did not dampen the spirits of the crowd that gathered on the Guilford Green for the Guilford High School 2023 graduation, June 16.

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The ceremony was held three hours ahead of its original time to avoid an impending storm, but just as the rain started, the graduates filed onto the green passing a sea of umbrellas protecting the gathered guests.

Speakers included Valedictorian Cassandra Pringle, Salutatorian Rylie Mullett and Superintendent of Schools Paul Freeman.

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Mullett spoke about the importance of growing up in Guilford.

“Now, as we cross this stage, many of us embark on journeys that lead us away from Guilford,” Mullet said.

“This moment is symbolic of the end of our education, and childhood, in Guilford,” she said. “But the impact of Guilford on our lives will not end here.

“My family has a sign in our kitchen which reads ‘No matter where life takes us or how far away we roam, our hearts may make the journey but will always be at home,’” she said. “Class of 2023, we will always carry a piece of Guilford with us.”

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“For me, I will always return to the image of the green, where we gather today, and the importance of community,” she said. “Where we call home may change, but we will never be without the lessons, memories, and friendships we found here in Guilford.”

Applause, cheers and the sound of air horns pierced the air as 286 students walked across the stage, green gowns soaking wet, and accepted their diplomas from Freeman.

Faculty covered their heads with their graduation program and hoods, while graduates didn’t seem to be bothered by pelting drops

GUILFORD — It’s a stormy summer evening in coastal Connecticut.

Raspberry brambles are soggy with rain. Briney marsh air blows in the wind. Tucked quietly back in a stand of pines off Route 1 on Mill Pond Road sits an unassuming red barn-like structure, VFW Post 7666. It’s an unlikely entertainment hot spot.

But on Monday nights, it is the happening spot in Guilford. A beehive of activity. Cars assemble with marching band precision in the parking lot. White-clad horn players debunk with instrument cases and scurry inside. Couples, families, and groups of seniors arrive with coolers and baskets. They set up picnics at colorfully-draped tables — sandwiches, salads, plates of brownies, bowls of cherries. They glide over to a string-light-decorated cash bar for gin and tonics, rum and Cokes, and Old Fashioneds.

Up front, seat by seat, the horn sections fill in, saxes in front, trombones in the middle, and trumpets standing in the back. “Tuxedo Junction: The Sounds of Swing” weekly public rehearsal is about to begin. In a few minutes, the band will roll into their first of fifteen tunes, during which they rehearse — and perform — for a local crowd, in an infectious mix of informality, fun, and chops.

Begun in 1989 by two World War II veterans as “Dixieland Jazz Band,” Tuxedo Junction was handed over to Guilford resident Pat Todd in 1995. Todd was originally the band’s piano player, and, as she says, its “roadie.” She was given the baton along with the considerable tasks of “organizing the music, finding jobs, getting subs when necessary, schlepping the bandstands….” as Todd describes. Tuxedo Junction has been playing a Monday night rehearsal for over twenty-four years under Todd’s tenure, during which the event has become an under-the-radar local institution, although “the world still doesn’t know about it,” as trombonist Harvey Martin says.

The lights dim. Todd, elegantly casual in sandals and a skirt, steps to the microphone with a laid-back-yet-take charge manner at 7:00 sharp. “Now, this is a rehearsal. It’s possible we may stop in the middle of a song to go over something, but we try not to,” she tells the audience.

“What are we rehearsing for?” quips guitarist Gary Grippo from the bandstand. Todd names a list of regular dates, including Guilford’s annual Lobsterfest, the Sunday in the Park festival, and the Cherry Blossom festival in New Haven. She scans the room for tonight’s featured singer. “Is Val Rogers here yet? Is that Val out in the parking lot? Well, we’ll get started without her.” She turns to the band and counts in “one, two — one two three four!” and the band kicks into “Brown Baggin’ It” by Dave Wolpe, in a classic swing band arrangement. As thirteen horns, Dennis Amato on drums, Jeff Fuller on bass, Grippo on guitar, and Carter Bryan on piano warm into an easy-going synchronicity, a lone Lindy Hopper warms up the dance floor, smiling as she whirls herself around.

The band has a refreshing mix of personnel; some of the most experienced musicians in Connecticut’s jazz scene — Dave Arezzini, John Beers, Tom Boates, Jeff Fuller, and Gary Grippo — are interspersed with musicians who have returned to playing after years away, and young professionals who devote free time to the band. It’s a nice balance. Todd regularly invites newcomers to come sub in on Monday nights; many current band members found their way into the band this way.

At a green-colored table, Joanne Martin sets down a plate of cookies. “Blueberry muffin tops,” she announces. “Want one?” She has arrived with two guests visiting from Baltimore, Anna and Marc Summerfield. They wave up to the bandstand and get a wave back from trombonist Harvey Martin.

It is an evening out with old friends: Martin played with Summerfield during their college days in the “Pride of Connecticut’s” UCMB, or the UConn Huskies Marching Band, known as the best marching band on the East Coast. They were famous enough to be invited on a 1970 tour by the Queen Mother, expanded to a three-week European tour that Summerfield remembers as “one of the most incredible experiences of my life.” That same year, UCMB played a halftime show at Yankee Stadium:

After UConn, both Martin and Summerfield put away their horns to attend to families and careers, but in recent years they have picked them back up — trombone and tenor sax, respectively — and recovered their embouchure. Martin says, “It’s kind of like riding a bike — once you do it, you can pick it up again. And I’ve actually improved over the years.”

Six years ago, Martin was diagnosed with brain and lung cancer. He was told he had a five percent chance of making it five years. He managed to beat those odds, with a long list of treatments. In navigating the unpredictability of this time, Martin says, “Playing trombone — specifically with Tuxedo Junction — I would consider a treatment in and of itself, kind of a rock…a lot of positive energy, maybe as important as surgery, radiation, chemotherapy.” On this Monday, Martin has just received the news from his medical team that his cancer is in near total remission. “We are here to celebrate tonight!” Anna Summerfield says.

And the Celebration is afoot. The band is playing “Dreamsville” by Henry Mancini, a floating, dreamy mid-tempo ballad in a deft arrangement that opens sensitively on Bryan’s keyboard, as a new couple arrives with drinks at the green table. “Can we sit here? Can we dance?” They laugh and leave their drinks untouched, heading off to the floor to join five other couples already whirling around.

Next, in Van Morrison’s “Moondance,” Val Rogers leans in, loosens up her vocals, and the horn’s intricate, punchy arrangements sparkle. As Martin attests, the band has really improved over the past twenty years, in part because of more complex, contemporary arrangements — no longer just “Glenn Miller stack arrangements.” In addition, Martin says, “The other musicians are bringing in more challenging stuff. You really have to rehearse!”

And rehearse they do. Horn sections gather on other days. Band members meet for socializing too, with a regular Guilford breakfast date on Wednesdays at the Brownstone Restaurant. While there are very few women in the band at the moment, there’s a nice mix of ages, interests, and careers. All agree that they are here because of the conviviality and fun, as well as the great music.

North Haven resident and saxophonist Nigel Regan now comes up to the bandstand. As Regan described later, he had just stopped by to consider buying a clarinet from Todd a few days ago, when she invited him to sit in. Now on summer break from University of North Texas, he handily tears through several solos over the next few songs.

In Ira Gershwin’s “A Foggy Day,” appropriate for this soggy evening, Rogers moves out into the audience to sit and sing with an admiring group of seniors. She hands an egg shaker to a gentleman to set the rhythm for “Girl From Ipanema.” Rogers stirs up drama expertly — in singing a song Louis Armstrong made famous, “A Kiss to Build a Dream On,” she elicits a peck on the cheek from a toddler. “Can you tell I was a theater major?” she laughs. In “Evergreen” the 1970s classic by Luther Vandross, famously sung by Barbra Streisand, Rogers really sends gorgeous vocals soaring over the room.

As the evening winds down, Todd tells the audience, “We have over three hundred songs in our repertoire. So come back. You won’t hear the same song Monday to Monday.”

You can find Tuxedo Junction: The Sounds of Swing every Monday 7:00 – 8:30pm at the Guilford VFW Post 7666. You can find out more at the band website, here.

GUILFORD — Talk about coming through in a pinch.

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That’s Charlie’s Closet, the nonprofit medical equipment clearinghouse under the umbrella of Guilford Interfaith Volunteers (GIV) that’s been taking donations of clean, gently used medical equipment and making it available on loan to whoever needs it, for just one dollar, for the last 25 years.

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There has yet to be a silver anniversary celebration. They’re too busy, it seems.

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Last week, director Tony Sicignano and his crew finished shipping their fifth truckload of crutches, canes, walkers, and bandages to St. Michael’s Ukrainian Church in New Haven for the war effort. They did the same for earthquake-ravaged Haiti in 2010, as well as for Tibet and Jamaica. Sicignano said he expects that Turkey and Syria will soon be added to the list.

They’ve come through closer to home as well.

During the pandemic, they provided hospital beds and wheelchairs for families wanting to pull their relatives out of nursing homes, according to Sicignano.

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With an average of 20 to 40 requests a day for equipment, “we’re more popular than ever,” Sicignano said.

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That’s backed up by Christi Burton, director of GIV, which Meals on Wheels, Friendly Visiting, and Guilford Food Bank.

“It’s probably the busiest of all our services because not many other organizations can do what they do,” she said.

It all started in 1998 when Guilford’s Charlie McGowan came by the office of the Guilford Interfaith Ministries in search of an electric stair lift for a neighbor diagnosed with ALS.

When the staff found a stair lift at an auction house, it hit them, volunteer Gwen Fletcher told the New Haven Register in 2018.

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“If one person desperately needed equipment and didn’t know where to go, how many more were there?”

From then on, “people have been coming in,” said Sicignano, seated on a shower chair amid stacks of mattresses, collections of canes, and groups of walkers in the soft light of the sawdust-smelling barn.

“These are people who find themselves at a particularly hard time in their lives, because their insurance company won’t cover the cost for equipment, Medicare will refuse to pay, or they just don’t have insurance or the wherewithal to buy it,” he said.

There are certain rules governing Charlie’s Closet. Most of them include the word “no.”

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There are no income requirements. No geographic restrictions. No red tape. No questions asked.

Then there’s the cost of the medical equipment. It hasn’t budged from 1998. From a hospital bed to a wheelchair to a cane, the cost is one dollar.

A few things have changed over the years.

There are the pieces of equipment that Charlie’s Closet lends out each year. It’s risen from 2,100 in 2009 to 5,800 in 2017. Over the past few years, it’s stayed steady, with numbers ranging from 6,000 to 7,000 pieces, according to Sicignano.

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That’s arguably no wonder, with older Americans one of the fastest growing demographics, according to the Administration for Community Living and, as the AARP.org reported in November 2022, “77 percent of adults 50 and older want[ing] to remain in their homes for the long term.”

That means, Sicignano said, “more hip surgeries, knee surgeries, and other surgeries. That means more people will need more equipment.”

Another change is the protocols for cleaning equipment instituted during the pandemic. “It changed drastically,” said Sicignano, adding that they continue to use a three-part solution that they spray on everything.

Perhaps more significant is the requirement of making appointments.

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“That was out of necessity,” he said. “We had to keep people staggered going in. Prior to that, you came in whenever you wanted to.”

That has led to an unforeseen benefit.

“Now we have a few minutes where people could come in and we could talk to them about their needs,” he said.

That means volunteers like Pam Rowling, a retired occupational therapist, and physical therapist Ellyn Higgins can advise people on the proper type of equipment.

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“We also have a social worker, a nurse, a radiation therapist,” Sicignano said. “I’m blessed with these volunteers with previous experience who can sit and talk to the person, even if it’s just for two minutes, telling them ‘I understand what you’re looking for, let me recommend this.’”

There are two women who are retired lawyers. “One of them just cleans and the other answers phones,” she said.

Then there’s Joe Secki of Killingworth. “He came in one day and said ‘I’m retired’ and I said how handy are you and he told me he was very skilled,” Sicignano recalled. “He has a wonderful personality, nothing frustrates him, he just comes in and says ‘what do you need fixed.’”

The biggest challenge “is when someone comes in and I don’t have that equipment,” he said, adding that the most requested items are wheelchairs, transport chairs, commodes, and shower chairs.

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“That’s the hardest part, and it’s also hard when someone comes in and they’re having to help a kid because we don’t usually get pediatric stuff.”

That said, “I’ve had people call me and say ‘I need this’ and I tell them I don’t have it, and five minutes later, someone calls up and says ‘hey, I got this item I don’t need anymore,’ and it’s what the previous person was looking for,” he said.

“And it always always astounds me when that happens and it happens more than you think it would,” he said.

“You could say this was the work of God, or kismet. I can’t explain it. All I know is I’m so happy when it happens.”

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Charlie’s Closet is located on 310 State Street, Unit 200, Guilford and is open from 9:00 am to 12 noon Monday through Friday. To make appointment for equipment donations and pick-ups (appointments only), call 203-453-8359.

For more information, visit https://givct.org/charlies-closet/.

Lisa Reisman may be reached at [email protected].