Connecticut East Summer 2018

CONNECTICUT

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Complimentary

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The Other Connecticut

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CO N N E CTICUT ISSUE 4

SUMMER 2018

w w w. c o n n e c t i c u t e a s t . c o m

Connecticut East is published by Global Design & Publishing, LLC, a local agency operating in Connecticut for over twenty years. Owned by husband/wife team, Jim and Kelly Tourtellotte, life-long residents of northeastern Connecticut, Global Design is Connecticut-grown!

CONNECTICUT

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CONNECTICUTEAST – featuring all things east of the Connecticut River.

We are ‘the other Connecticut.’

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Recent state funding cuts have slashed Connecticut’s tourism/marketing budget therefore, fewer publications are being produced at the state level. The good news is that Global Design does not rely on state funding, we are private and we are local.

We enjoy traveling throughout New England and find that Eastern Connecticut is easily overlooked for a day trip or overnight. Eastern Connecticut has more to offer than first meets the eye, and we intend to tell our readers all about it. We want our audience to explore the region’s natural resources, awaken senses with arts & culture, savor outstanding culinary experiences, and treasure new favorite places. Connecticut East covers Windham, Tolland, Mystic and New London counties, plus attractions close enough for a day trip or overnight.

Connecticut East is designed to serve adventurous consumers interested in local attractions, exceptional dining–from pub-fare to upscale–comfy accommodations, exciting entertainment, unique business and personal services, art events, seasonal happenings, outdoor adventures, Connecticut grown and a whole lot more!

Connecticut East is published twice a year with a Fall/Winter issue and a Spring/Summer issue.

15,000+ copies are distributed free to businesses throughout eastern Connecticut and beyond. We want to personally thank the businesses who support Connecticut East and remind our readers to shop local!

We hope you enjoy, Jim & Kelly Tourtellotte

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The Farmer’s Cow

Featured in this Issue: 4-6 Messing About in Boats, Eastern CT 8-10 Pick Your Own, Eastern CT 11-14 A Taste of City Life, Storrs CT 15-16 The Farmer’s Cow Calfé & Creamery, Mansfield CT 17-20 Street Fairs, Windham County CT 21-22 Hosmer Mountain Beverages, Willimantic CT 23-25 Eleonora Ferragatta Artist, Eastern CT 26 Mystic & Shoreline Visitor Tourist Information Center

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Writers: Cris Cadiz, Caroline Sloat and Nancy P. Weiss, all local residents of northeastern Connecticut.

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“There is nothing — absolutely nothing — … worth doing as simply messing about in boats”* * Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows (1909)

One of the joys of summer is getting out on the water for that special feeling of and the breeze. This is complicated in eastern Connecticut by the scarcity of public ocean beaches, but there are excellent ways to explore the state’s coastal and river waters. Opportunities for exploration based in Essex and Haddam, Groton, New London and Stonington include multi-passenger vessels–Onrust, River Quest, Adventure, Enviro-Lab 2 and Enviro-Lab 3 and a Carolina skiff–and many more small boats at NESS (New England Science & Sailing) and the Connecticut River Museum (CRM).

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xpertly guided cruises seek out eagles, tree swallows, seals, and fish populations in their natural habitats. The sailboats, paddle boats, kayaks, and canoes at the two NESS locations enable children and adults to get out on the water in a variety of programs, as do the paddle-boats and canoes at CRM. These adventures, like the well known offerings of Mystic Seaport, Connecticut’s “museum of America and the sea,” are all staffed with knowledgeable and enthusiastic guides.

Onrust, at the Connecticut River Museum, is a replica of the vessel used by the Dutch explorer Adriaen Block (1567-

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BY CAROLINE SLOAT 1627), recorded as the first European to enter Long Island Sound. It sails from Essex taking advantage of the sheltered waters that attract sailors to dozens of marinas between Saybrook and Hartford. CRM is a museum with a dual mission. Education Director Jennifer White-Dobbs explains that the museum presents the cultural and environmental heritage of the Connecticut River from the Canadian border to Long Island Sound. “The collections and exhibitions tell the story of people on the river, and the water is very much an environmental story.”

Beginning in early June, “there is a paddle opportunity for just about everyone.”

Visitors can rent canoes, kayaks, and standup paddleboards to explore the coves around Essex. “We have single and tandem kayaks and really nice canoes,” says White-Dobbs.

The museum provides maps of routes for distances that vary depending on the time and tide, as well as paddles and life jackets.

When Onrust (Dutch for Restless), begins its schedule of three daily cruises on June 1, it departs the museum dock for ninety-minute sails at 1:30 and 3:00 p.m. and a two-hour sunset cruise. Passengers on Onrust cruises have the option of relaxing to enjoy the view and the breezes or actively helping the crew and talking with the captain.

“It’s like a floating museum,” observes WhiteDobbs. “Visitors can go below deck to see life as a member of Block’s crew in the seventeenth century.” Onrust cruises typically explore the six to eight miles of the Connecticut River’s tidal portion, fresh and saltwater tidal marshes that are considered one of America’s last great places. This marsh system is an environment of significant international importance because there is no major metropolis at the mouth of the river.

Summer wildlife includes seals and birds, both resident and migratory, including cormorants, ducks, wading birds and songbirds. “The stories told on the boat include accounts of Block’s explorations, the mapping of New England, and the plant life. A sailboat, Onrust is equipped with a motor “because we want to get somewhere. But then the engine is turned off to be able to listen to the breeze and the birds,” says White-Dobbs.

Complementing the cruise are the museum’s exhibitions drawn from the collections. Climb aboard the Turtle, a replica of the American Revolution submarine to find out what it was like to be a pilot back then. “Walk” all 410 miles of the River as you travel through the vertical gallery filled with fantastic aerial photographs and a whimsical mural. Visit exhibits on all three floors of the museum to learn stories of people and the River from the past to present from Native Americans. View “The Thirsty River: 400 Years of Alcohol and Reform in the River Valley,” the featured gallery exhibit, open from June to October. Tickets for the cruise include museum admission. Advance reservations for the boats are advised, (860) 767-8269.

August through the first week in October feature sightings of migrating tree swallows.

“Hundreds of thousands of them land each evening and put on a spectacular show.”

Bookings for the ninety-minute cruises are welcomed from individuals and groups

ranging from school classes to seniors.

Connecticut-certified naturalists accompany daytime cruises to describe the wildlife and point out historical sites such as Gillette Castle. The sunset cruises are “less narrated, although we are always

River Quest Eagle and Wildlife Tours

During the winter, the Connecticut River Museum is the base for River Quest, which offers eagle and winter wildlife tours from the museum dock in Essex. In late March, it moves up river to Eagle Landing State Park in Haddam. Owners Mark Yukmat and his wife Mindy Hill, have restored their two boats, River Quest for daily eco-tours, and Adventure, a private-charter boat. “Our tours are very much tuned in to the wildlife that is coming and going, “ says Yukmat. From early February through March that includes eagles, hawks, ducks, and sometimes seals.

There are sightings of ospreys and eagles in April, May, and June. Sunset cruises from CONNEC T IC UT E A S T

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glad to answer questions,” says Yukmat. Couples and groups bring their picnic suppers and are seated at tables to enjoy an evening on the river. Adventure has comfortable seating on two levels for parties of up to forty-five people.

The website, www.ctriverexpeditions. org/index.php, is the best source for current information about sailing schedules and for making reservations, including special

and instruction. Seal trips on weekends in March and April begin with a brief presentation in the classroom followed by a cruise along Fishers Island Sound to collect data by counting seals and recording their behavior.

“Project O provides binoculars, guides and local expertise,” notes Jacobs. “We’ve been monitoring the seal population in Fishers Island Sound for more than thirty years, so we have a good historical dataset.

In the summer, participants learn to use trawl nets, plankton nets, and mud grabs to see what is in the waters around the boat.

out on the water as possible,” says Caroline Knowles, assistant director of advancement, communication and public relations. “We realize that sometimes you just want to take advantage of the beautiful weather and explore the local waters with your friends and family. That’s why we offer rental options for exploring the Stonington area by sailboat, stand-up paddleboard (SUP), or kayak.”

NESS also offers guided and educational programs for the whole family. With their fleet of 233 kayaks, paddleboards, sailboats, windsurf boards, and powerboats, NESS

arrangements for groups. Yukmat’s notes on the website highlighting the numbers and species of birds and wildlife seen reveal his enthusiasm for the bird life of the river.

Sometimes the boats anchor to allow parents and children to lower scientific equipment into the water to measure temperature, salinity, oxygen, pH, and other indicators of water quality. At the end of the trip, participants can compare their observations to data collected by Project Oceanology students in decades Because data are collected every day, patterns of change can be observed and lead to meaningful discussion. Complete information and schedules are available on the website: www.oceanology.org/.

taught more than 8,500 students in 2017.

The organization has become a U.S. Sailing Community Center and a U.S. Power Boating certified training center.

In Stonington, where the nonprofit began, NESS offers adult sailing, power boating, kayaking and paddle boarding rentals. One-person Waszps, “a cool new challenge for the experienced sailor,” have recently been introduced. With wing-like foils mounted under the hull the speeding craft lifts out of the water to give the feeling of flying. NESS is also expanding adaptive sailing through its recent acquisition of an Independence 20, a stable sailboat equipped with bucket seats and five-point harnesses making it possible for people with disabilities to get out sailing. Also new for 2018, the nonprofit will offer guided harbor cruises and fishing trips on their 18-passenger Carolina skiff.

Project Oceanology

Based at the University of Connecticut’s Avery Point (Groton) campus, Project Oceanology (Project O) is a marine science program for schools that offers family-oriented educational outings on their Enviro-Lab research vessels on spring weekends and throughout the summer. Designed Small boats and fishing with an educational purpose, the vessels are staffed with marine educators and marine New England Science & Sailing Foundabiologists who lead explorations and guide tion (NESS) is an ocean adventure nonprofit theaterofinterior in a Moroccan The paint marine was restored theThe collection data of is thedecorated diverse marine thatmotif. teaches sailing, science, fishing (a by volunteers after the Garde Arts Center was formed in 1985 to preserve the life of Long Island Sound. popular recent introduction) power boatold movie theater to keep the performing arts a vibrant part of the southeast Connecticut Each seasoncommunity. offers different marine life, ing, and adventure sports at two locations. says Dr. Molly Jacobs, director of curriculum “At NESS, we want to get as many people 6

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NESS operates New London Ecotours out of Ocean Beach Park, in June, July, and August. Sit-on-top ocean kayaks, selected for stability and ease for paddlers of all abilities are rented for each two-hour adventure in Alewife Cove and the nearby ocean. Gliding through the water to view marine life and cruise with the tidal currents. “A little nature, a little adventure, and a whole lot of fun,” says Knowles, “it’s a fun opportunity to see Ocean Beach from a whole new angle.”

Complete information is available online at www.nessf.org (ecotours@nessf.org) or by calling (860) 449-3875.

The annual NESS Fest is an opportunity to learn about the organization’s many opportunities for experiential STEM-based education. This year’s date is Saturday, June 23, from 11a.m. to 3 p.m. Participants are invited to enjoy ocean adventure activities, tour the facilities, meet the staff, and learn about summer programs. No prior experience in water sports is necessary and participants may try sailing, kayaking, and stand-up paddle boarding under the supervision of trained and experienced staff.

NESS Fest at 72 Water Street, Stonington, is free and open to the public. Visit nessf.org for more information.

offer a wide variety of adventures on and off the water. Sailing, kayaking, fishing and surfing are among the many exciting offerings at their Stonington location.

Exploring the shoreline in a boat has a special pace and observations to make.

“Whether you get away, or whether you don’t,” Grahame wrote. “Whether you arrive at your destination or whether you reach somewhere else, you’re always busy,” when you are out in a boat.

Summer Camps Project Oceanology, the Connecticut River Museum (CRM), and the New England Science & Sailing Foundation (NESS) all offer summer camps. CRM’s Summer Adventure Camps are weekly daycamp sessions offered between July 9 and August 17. Project O offerings include day

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Pick-Your-Own fruit can’t get any fresher Strawberries, blueberries, Raspberries, peaches, apples, and pumpkins—a rainbow of colors that can be experienced in the fields and orchards of Eastern Connecticut farms that open as soon as fruits are ripe for customers to pick their own. Each with its own season of perfection between June and September, this produce is eagerly anticipated. Roadside signs, advertisements, and Facebook posts announce that picking season has begun, but a phone call is advised to confirm that there is picking on a particular day. Mother Nature rules.

BY CAROLINE SLOAT

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ach farm property is unique and fruit picking is an opportunity to explore the fields, hillsides, and river valleys where the bushes and berries are growing. Some locations include more than a field of ripened fruit. Look for flowers, herbs, and less common berries such as currants and blueberries in the summer.

When fall rolls around, apples and pumpkins are ripe and hayrides and cider doughnuts appear. This might be a stand with a variety of other farm-grown vegetables for purchase and for CSA members.

Fall is the time for orchard hayrides.

Choosing a destination for a picking expedition is part of the fun. Connecticut’s Department of Agriculture (DOAG) website simplifies the search. A complete listing of Connecticut’s pick-yourown farms organized by county with links to each location is found on line at www.ct.gov/doag/cwp/view.asp?a=3260&q=399070.

DOAG’s brown road signs also promote farms on highways around the state.

We checked in with a sampling of these establishments around the region as they were making preparations for the summer season. Some folks were out pruning berry bushes; others took a break from ordering seeds or work in the greenhouse. Each offered enticing accounts of what to expect on a visit to their farm. All are focused on seeking out varieties that grow well in New England and keep better. That said, when the fruit is “ripe and ready,” Phototo courtesy of the even Florence Griswold Museum it needs be picked, if it’s a soggy Saturday in a brief season, such as for strawberries.

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As a rule of thumb, strawberries ripen in June; blueberry picking extends from mid-July through August. Peaches are ready from early August into September; apple and pumpkin picking extends through the fall. Check with your chosen destination for exact opening dates and hours of picking.

BUELL’S ORCHARDS in Eastford has, like many farms, expanded its season by adding strawberries and blueberries to their long-time lineup of apples, peaches, and pumpkins. Picking begins as soon as strawberries ripen in June, and an e-mail goes out to their list when each season begins.

“We pride ourselves in making people feel comfortable and happy,” says Patty Sandness.

“When we see kids with drops on their shirts, we know they’ve enjoyed themselves. We like the idea that kids learn that fruit comes from trees, bushes, and plants on the ground.”

Over Columbus Day weekend, Buell’s hosts a Harvest Festival with family fun that includes hayrides, live bands, and a chicken barbecue. Admission and parking are free, but “you pay for what you eat here and buy to take home.”

Buell’s is a fourth-generation family farm and brothers Jeff and Jonathan, the current owners, both have at least one of their children working at the orchard.

Buell’s located at 108 Crystal Pond Road in Eastford is well signposted from the center of town with their own signs supplementing the brown Department of Agriculture road signs when picking begins.

BLUEBERRY INTERVALE (23 Route 165 in Preston, near the Norwich border) has 400 bushes of organic berries, high bush and low bush (smaller berries) on their fifteen acres. “The only thing on our blueberries sun, water, and a whole lot of love,” says Michelle Jackson, co-owner with her husband Don. The property is a designated wildlife habitat where more than sixty species of birds can be seen during the fall, three red varieties and one yellow insure a long season. Berry jams and honey are sold at the farm stand. Details about the farm and how to sign up for e-mails announcing the ripening of the berries are found on the website, www.raspberryknoll.com/ourcrops/.

The route to TIKKANEN’S BERRY FARM in Sterling winds through wooded year and two ponds and a stream running through the property. Visitors who are still picking at 6:30 p.m. may accompany Michelle to the pond on her daily visit to feed Max, the sixty-year old turtle in residence.

For those who don’t have the time or inclination to pick their own blueberries, Jackson has pre-picked pints available. Her baked pies, muffins, bread, and jams are also for sale “at the top of the driveway.” Blueberry Intervale generally opens around July 1 for a three- to six-week season, depending on the crop.

Pick-your-own at RASPBERRY KNOLL FARM in North Windham opens in June and includes strawberries, raspberries and blackberries, as well as herbs and flowers. Mary and Peter Concklin, who farm the sixty-five acre site at 163 North Windham Road, also grow a full complement of pre-picked vegetables and fruits sold through a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program and at their farm stand. The farm is aptly named for their raspberry season extends from early July until the farm stand closes in September. In the summer four varieties of red raspberries and a purple raspberry are found and for the

Connecticut countryside near the Rhode Island border. This is definitely one best found by setting your GPS or the virtual assistant on your phone to 218 Calvin French Road, Sterling. The rows of berry bushes are barely visible from the road, but follow the steep driveway down the slope and the fields will be in full view. Eleven acres of blueberry bushes, with approximately

Pick your own blueberries beginning in July Pick your own apples opens September 1st Pick your own pumpkins begins October 1st Apple cider donuts made fresh every weekend beginning in September Free wagon rides are held every Sunday in September and October Farm stand opens mid July through December 24.

All fruits and vegetables sold are grown on our farm.

OPEN EVERY DAY 10:00-6:00

LAPSLEY ORCHARD 403 Orchard Hill Road • Route 169 • Pomfret Center, CT 06259 • 860-928-9186 CONNECT IC UT E A S T

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850 bushes per acre, provide picking from around July 1 into September. Early in the season, fields are open daily from 8:30 until 6, with shorter hours toward the end of the season, typically part-days on Wednesdays through Saturday.

This can be confirmed by calling (860) 7740177 for an up-todate message.

Reino Tikkanen has been farming on this site for more than half a century, having converted to berries in the 1970s. He began to diversify by planting strawberries and still has a couple of acres with plants for June picking. He added blueberries as his main crop and later, a few red currant and gooseberry bushes that all ripen for picking in July. After Labor Day, beach plums ripen and “they make very good jelly. There’s not much to eat on them, but the seeds are big so it’s easy to strain them.”

Bees and pest control were on his mind during our recent conversation. His 2017 strawberry crop had suffered from the absence of pollinators, so he ended up borrowing some hives from a neighbor and that was successful in bringing insect life to his bushes. For 2018 he was considering planting a field with annuals to attract bees and other pollinators to avoid a repeat.

Although Tikkanen chooses pesticides with care in part because a stream runs through the property, this is not an organic berry farm. Here, as elsewhere, containers are provided for efficient two-handed picking, but bring your own boxes, cooking pots or

bowls to take the fruit home safely.

LAPSLEY ORCHARD suggests many reasons why Route 169 or Orchard Hill Road in Pomfret is officially designated a scenic route. Its address is 403 Orchard Hill Road, but its “huge road frontage” is lined with fruit trees, and in summer, the blooms of colorful flowers are tall enough to be seen over the wall.

Very scenic!

The historic 200-acre farm is protected for agricultural production. When John Wolchesky took over thirty-three years ago, Lapsley Orchards was locally synonymous for apples. Under his care the acreage planted

with vegetables is larger than the apple and peach orchards. “We grow pretty much anything that can be grown in this area,” he says. The orchard stand opens when the asparagus and strawberries are ready and that segues into the CSA and vegetable sales.

By mid-July pick-your-own begins at Lapsley Orchards with blueberries and flowers.

The flowers, growing for about a quarter of a mile along Route 169 are a “fun project” for John and his wife Patti. Flowers are priced by the pound, “but don’t be alarmed. When you see how little the flowers weigh, you will be very happy!” Five varieties of blueberries ripen at different times to extend the season into September, when it joins with the apple season.

Their slogan, “the orchard is yours,” was introduced when Lapsley Orchard introduced pick-you-own. “We don’t have spots where you can’t pick. I didn’t want a lot of rules. You can stroll through the whole place and pick what you want, by the pound, as much as you want,” says John. The same goes for blueberries. Pumpkins are ready

by October 1, and on weekends visitors can take a free hayride and buy cider doughnuts made with their own cider.

Destinations and schedules for picking ripe fruit east of the River (New London, Tolland, and Windham County) are easily found on line, advertised in local shoppers and newspapers, and by doing some research ahead of time and becoming Facebook friends for updates. Although festival weekends are fun times to visit, ripe berries won’t wait. So our recommendation comes from Patty Sandness of Buell’s Orchard in Eastford: “picking fruit out in the orchard is an event in itself.”

A taste

OF CITY LIFE IN STORRS

We love northeastern Connecticut for peace and quiet, natural beauty, open space, limited traffic, and plenty of outdoor adventures. We treasure these benefits. But sometimes we yearn for a taste of urban life…. for diversity; unique shopping, dining and entertainment; sophisticated cultural opportunities; and a convenient, walkable setting. Over the last 18 years, Mansfield has created a place in the country that offers all of this and more. If you have not visited the hometown of the University of Connecticut, it’s worth a (short!) trip to discover it.

BY CRIS CADIZ

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n the early 1990s, when I attended college there, UConn in Storrs was a vast campus surrounded by woods, farmland and residential areas. Founded in 1881 as a land grant institution, this agricultural school was an abandoned orphanage and a few old barns set on 170 acres of beautiful eastern Connecticut farmland.

Over a century, UConn has evolved into our state’s flagship university with a 4,000-acre main campus, hundreds of buildings, tens of thousands of students, cutting edge research facilities, and is today ranked the best public national university in New England.

However, right up to the new millennium, Storrs did not reflect the image of a thriving college town. A few small strip malls, the town hall, several churches, a post office and the local high school were landmarks within walking distance. Students would often head home on weekends.

Dining and shopping were limited, and off campus housing consisted of chopped-up houses, low-rent apartments just off cam-

pus, or nicer apartments a fair drive away.

Today, Storrs offers a different story.

On a cool and cloudy March morning, I toured Downtown Storrs. If I didn’t know any better, I would think I was in a small New England city. To clarify local geography, Storrs is the village (population 15,000+) located within the larger Town of Mansfield (population 26,500 in 2010). The area’s central feature is a civic open space called Betsy Paterson Square. Designed as a town square, the site hosts numerous free, community events all year long. It’s also a place to relax outdoors in warmer weather. Named for the former Mayor of Mansfield who helped launch the downtown revitalization project, the square was designed with permeable gray pavers in geometric patterns, which allow water to divert to the trees. Red-flagged sculptural metal trellises support climbing flowers when in bloom and match the sloping red roof of an open-sided stage that doubles as a set of steps.

Twigs & Pearls

boutique in downtown Putnam.

Open daily.

Rustic and refined clothing and gifts.

114 Main Street.

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Kathleen moved to the area for graduate school. “When I came to Storrs, my parents visited and we wanted to go out to breakfast. We couldn’t find a place,” she recalled. Kathleen grew up in Pennsylvania, with Penn State as her idea of a college town. “So when I got here, I was like, what did I do!?” she laughs. She says the redevelopment plan was designed to include the whole community, and the footprint included the town hall, high school, community and senior centers plus open space. “All that was in place, but we needed more businesses. Most people would just take trips out of town if they needed something. There were not a lot of options.”

After almost two decades of planning and seven years of construction, the idea for a

The surrounding buildings are three and four stories high with traditional brick and clapboard appeal. A towering old oak tree on the edge of the square was painstakingly saved during construction and lends its name to The Oaks on the Square, which are apartments located above the groundfloor retail space. A ring of smaller trees and other subtle landscaping surround a broad circle of grass in the center of the square.

Everything is super clean and well maintained. The only thing missing are the throngs of people that will be out in full force once spring arrives.

According to Kathleen Paterson, Communications and Special Projects Manager forFat theOrange Mansfield Cat Downtown Brew Co. Partnership, 12

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Inc., the idea of creating a planned, pedestrian-oriented downtown was discussed as far back as the 1990s. It would be a place where locals, visitors, university staff and students could mingle, shop, eat, work and play together. The concept was intended to be a win-win-win for the university, area residents, and the local economy. In 2001 an independent non-profit partnership was created between the Town of Mansfield and the University of Connecticut to plan, organize, create and eventually oversee the success of this plan. The partnership is governed by a Board of Directors with representation from the Town, the University, local business and the surrounding community.

mixed-use town center and downtown business district has come to fruition. Downtown Storrs is an eclectic mix of restaurants, shops, offices, homes, walkways, and green spaces that create a connected, thriving community for everyone in the region. The redevelopment has provided jobs for local students and residents, tax benefits to the town, quality rental housing for both UConn and locals, and convenient access to shopping, dining and services for all.

Today, Downtown Storrs is home to over 80 businesses, Town Hall, the Mansfield Community Center, E.O. Smith Regional High School, residential apartments and townhomes, public open spaces, and the civic space of Betsy Paterson Square. With only 25 acres to work with, the developers built up instead of out, which lends to the urban feel.

“It took a long time to change the zoning,” said Kathleen. “It was a very thoughtful process with a lot of public input.”

Downtown Storrs is flanked by UConn’s vast campus, where visitors and locals can enjoy world-class education, arts and athletics. “We have been fortunate to have a very good relationship with the University. This wouldn’t work without them.”

True to its rural roots, the area also features open space and walking trails in the Town’s 135-acre Moss Sanctuary and in Whetten Woods, a Joshua’s Trust Property on the east side of downtown.

When I toured the Nash-Zimmer Transportation Center, I felt like I was in a small city. You really don’t need a car to live in or even visit Mansfield. And if you do want one, several Zipcars are available to rent. The transportation center offers a large

covered public parking garage and much more. A bright, clean lobby features a digital ticker and real-time maps on overhead monitors that tell you when your bus is coming. From here you can take a daily bus to Hartford, Boston, Providence and New York City. There is also hourly bus service to Hartford via CTtransit’s Hartford-Storrs Express.

The Mansfield Public Library Express branch is located inside the transportation center.

It features a librarian, WiFi, comfy chairs, books and other media to borrow. You can also pick up or return books there without having to go to the main branch. And, for avid cyclists, there is a Bike Commuter Club on the second floor that offers locker space and showers.

Located just 45 minutes from Hartford and Norwich and a little more than an hour

from the Connecticut shoreline, Downtown Storrs would make a great day trip or even overnight stay. Accommodations include the Nathan Hale Inn--an on-campus 100-room hotel and conference center--plus several area B&Bs including Fitch House, Spring Hill Inn, and Stone Arches, all located nearby on Route 195. There is plenty to see and do in a day or a weekend.

Diverse dining is one highlight of Storrs Center. Within a few blocks, you can try Thai rolled ice cream, French crepes, Japanese sushi, and Korean fried chicken plus sample Middle Eastern, Nepalese, Indian and Chinese cuisines. Also available are traditional favorites of pizza, TexMex, Buffalo wings, burgers, bagels and fresh baked cookies. Dog Lane Café is a popular breakfast, lunch and meet-for-coffee spot.

Geno’s is Italian dining owned by the UCo-

nn Husky’s famous women’s team coach, Geno Auriemma.

Shopping includes a consignment boutique, Barnes & Noble book store, the Flower Pot (flowers, American-made gifts and DIY classes), Storrs Center Cycle, CVS, and one of the first Amazon pick-up locations in the country. A variety of services round out the storefronts. According to Kathleen, independent businesses make up about 40% of the commercial business.

The world-renowned Ballard Institute & Museum of Puppetry (bimp.uconn.edu) is a unique stop for adults and kids. With a collection of over 2,500 puppets from all over the world, the Ballard hosts workshops, forums, and performances year-round.

Small but fascinating exhibitions rotate periodically. There is an intimate on-site theater for puppet productions plus other events such as readings hosted by the adjacent Barnes & Noble.

Art, theater and music entertainment options in Storrs are pretty incredible, with world-class performances and exhibits.

UConn venues include the William Benton Museum of Art, Connecticut Repertory Theatre (CRT), von der Mehden Recital Hall,

Stop in for a sweet treat or the perfect gift for someone special!

Fine Chocolates

Hold the perfect event at the UConn Alumni Center

FEATURING attentive day-of service and elegant surroundings, the UConn Alumni Center in Storrs is an exceptional venue for any family celebration, wedding, bar/bat mitzvah, or meeting. Guests will enjoy spacious rooms and limited free parking, and you will have our assistance with all vendors and logistics.

Your event is the only one booked in the Alumni Center on your big day, so you have exclusive use of the Great Hall with its grand twin stairscases and the Husky Heritage Sports Museum.

Visit uconnalumni.com/weddings or contact Julie Sweeney, (860) 486-1828, jsweeney@foundation.uconn.edu

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Contemporary Art Galleries, and Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts. These are all easily accessible from Downtown Storrs by foot or bus. And if you are a college basketball fan, watching the UConn Huskies (men or women) play at Gampel Pavilion--surrounded by cheering students and fans-should be on your bucket list.

Kathleen says that UConn’s Nutmeg Summer Series at CRT (crt.uconn.edu) brings thousands of people to Storrs during the summer months for plays and musicals.

Tony-nominated Broadway star Terrence Mann oversees this popular series as Artistic Director. The also popular Jorgenson (jorgensen.uconn.edu) presents up to 30 nationally and internationally acclaimed artists and ensembles annually, from all types of music and dance to comedy, family programming, and more.

Other popular University attractions open to the public (check hours at uconn. edu) are the Greenhouses, the Animal Barns, walking up Horse Barn Hill for a great view, and the tastiest ice cream ever at the UConn Dairy Bar.

The Mansfield Downtown Partnership sponsors fun, free and family friendly events that draw crowds to explore and enjoy Downtown Storrs. This summer’s event series include Summer Concerts on the Square, every Thursday from 6:30-8PM in June and July. These concerts feature original live music (no cover bands) that range from funk/soul to jazz to folk rock.

Moonlight Movies are offered outdoors on select Fridays in July and August at 7PM. The Storrs Farmer’s Market (in its 24th year) is held every Saturday from 3 – 6PM outside the Town Hall. Other popular free events include the Mansfield Pup Crawl on October 14

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13 (BYOD—bring your own dog!) and Trickor-Treat on October 27th.

The most popular annual community event, the Celebrate Mansfield Festival (www.downtownstorrsfestival.org), is in its 15th year and is scheduled for September 16, 2018. It draws over 4,000 people to enjoy vendors, entertainment, activities & demonstrations, food and a parade. “Everyone offers

an activity so it’s a really hands-on fun for any age,” said Kathleen. “We’ve had everything from little kids playing with blocks to a lawyer notarizing wills. Other options might be trivia games, hula hooping, blowing bubbles, etc.” A truly unique festival sight is the Ballard Museum’s giant puppets on parade.

In addition, residents can attend a free 2-day Community Puppet-Building Workshop before the festival. They learn to design and construct giant puppets with the guidance of faculty and students from the UConn Puppet Arts Program. Then everyone marches with their creations in the parade.

If outdoor adventure is your thing, there are numerous walking, hiking and biking

trails nearby at Mansfield’s fourteen different parks and preserves plus Joshua’s Trust properties (joshuastrust.org with 25 different land parcels). The Adventure Park at Storrs (storrsadventurepark.com) is a 15-minute drive to experience fun in the treetops. This aerial park offers the most zip lines in the Hartford region --- 19 including the new “Pine Rush Trail,” a zip lines-only aerial trail. Seven other trails offer a combination of climbing adventure and zip lines. The Adventure Park at Storrs also holds special events such as “Glow in the Park” night climbs and other themed offerings.

Resident feedback about the redevelopment has been very positive, according to Kathleen. “People really love the downtown.

They like having somewhere to go that’s kid friendly. It’s great for high school students who need after school jobs or want someplace to go where they don’t need a car. It’s a place for people of all ages—residents, visitors, students—to come together as a community.”

A Downtown Storrs web calendar shows a multitude of events offered by

businesses and area organizations. Examples include wine dinners at Geno’s and Dog Lane restaurants, Barnes & Noble’s author readings and literary events, and DIY classes at the Flower Pot. The calendar also lists Mansfield Community Center and Town Parks & Rec special events and happenings at UConn’s performance and art venues.

For more information about visiting the area and an events calendar, see www.downtownstorrs.org.

The Farmer’s Cow Delights and Surprises Step inside The Farmer’s Cow Calfé & Creamery and smile. Bright colors, photos of real calves cavorting in sunshine and a cheerful array of locally sourced products makes the experience a one-of-a-kind surprise. The café may be small in square footage, but over the top in creativity and quality. It is a fitting expression of the vision of the six family farms, that comprise The Farmer’s Cow, a cooperative established in 2005 of eastern Connecticut dairy farmers.

BY NANC Y P. WEISS

“W

e wanted one place where

our customers could enjoy

all our retail products. The idea sprang from comments at our farm tours where people wanted to know where they could buy our milk, cream, ice cream and

eggs. The Farmer’s Cow Calfé & Creamery is the destination they wanted,” said Jim Smith, Chairman of The Farmer’s Cow.

For manager Justeen Bligh, the Calfé, which opened five and a half years ago, is part of her mission to bring healthy food to the community. A veteran of the restaurant business, she began menu planning by serving lunches to the members of The Farmer’s Cow at their meetings. She wanted to capture the fresh flavors of locally grown products, especially those related to milk.

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“What sets us apart is our Milk Bar. We have 30 rotating flavors, such as blueberry, caramel, and Red Velvet. We will try anything and find it is especially popular with kids, who run to the milk bar as soon as they enter.

Kids can create their own mixture and consume healthy whole milk in the process,” said Justeen Bligh.

The menu focuses on sandwiches, salads, soups, wraps and panini with special

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small and medium sizes with a choice of a bowl, sugar, plain or, for a bit extra, waffle cone. Wait staff enjoy creating “milk mocktails” by working with customers who choose among 20 flavors of Hosmer Mountain soda, bottled locally, to create ice cream shakes and floats. Sundaes include toppings such as maple syrup from nearby Sugar Maple Farms are among other selections.

The Farmer’s Cow Calfé welcomes families. Justeen Bligh chuckled in recounting the number of small children who enter the emphasis on ice cream cones, sundaes, shakes and floats. Breakfast using The Farmer’s Cow eggs is served every day until 11:00 am.

What sets the offerings apart in addition to freshness and hearty quantity are the creative names. Who can resist a Gobble-Gobble Gouda Wrap, a perennial favorite, or The Moo & The Oink panini, a tasty grilled cheddar cheese, smoked bacon and tomato sandwich? All are served with a choice of chips, fresh fruit, coleslaw or roll.

Ice Cream is at the heart of the Calfé with over 37 different flavors. The Itty Bitty Calf, a snack cone, is the smallest and the Bull is a large serving. In between are kiddie, 16

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Calfé every day and begin mooing when they see the photos of calves and cows.

“People come from all over, including those who are following the Connecticut Ice Cream Trail. We have a big following. On the day we opened, there was a line of people out the door and into the parking lot. In the summer we stay open until 9 pm every day with extended hours on Friday and Saturday nights until 10 pm,” Jim Smith said.

Families play a role throughout the story of The Farmer’s Cow and The Farmer’s Cow Calfé and Creamery. Jim Smith began working on his family farm when he was in

6th grade. Today there are nine family members involved in his farm alone. The Calf is a prime place for local youngsters to find their first job as there are nearly 30 part-time positions.

The Farmer’s Cow Calfé and Creamery is constantly striving to expand, find new products and more efficient ways to bring them to their customers. Restaurants and supermarkets offer The Farmer’s Cow prod-

ucts, but the Calfé is the only location where all the products and the brand merchandise are in one place. The bright array of milk, including summer Limited Edition favorites such as orange cream and salted caramel are available along with a variety of locally sourced items in the dairy case.

The Farmer’s Cow Calfé & Creamery is a special place to enjoy a tasty meal, indulge in sumptuous ice cream or let out a deep, loud ‘Moo” in appreciation for the cows that contribute so much.

Follow them on Facebook and Instagram or at TheFarmersCowCalfe.com. Visit them at: 86 Storrs Road, Route 195, Mansfield, CT or call 860-450-8408

STREET FAIRS! One of the best ways to get to know a community is to visit a street festival.

These events vary from place to place but usually feature vendors, entertainment, food and activities. It’s a celebration of local culture, flavor and amusements. In Connecticut’s Quiet Corner, two of these street fairs have been entertaining locals and visitors on a monthly basis for the last 16 years. Willimantic’s Third Thursdays was started in 2002 and Putnam’s First Fridays began in 2010. Each has its own special style and both promise fun for all ages.

BY CRIS CADIZ

THIRD THURSDAYS

L

ongtime Windham resident Tom McNally was in San Luis Obispo, California for a conference when he found inspiration for an event that would eventually be a huge success in Willimantic, CT. Tom visited the city’s famous Farmer’s Market and Street Fair, where he was duly impressed by the civic pride and crowds. When he returned to Connecticut, his friend Jean de Smet had lost her bid for First Selectman in Willimantic. As she decided what to do next, he reminded her of her campaign promise to help revitalize downtown Willimantic through something new and good for the whole community. “Why don’t we do it anyway?” he asked. Jean thought it was a great

idea and that’s how Third Thursdays began.

“Jean collected a bunch of her friends and everyone threw out ideas,” recalls Tom, now retired but still an active volunteer. “We wanted it to be as friendly as we could make it and ethnically diverse, inclusive of the whole community--a fun time for everybody.”

At the time, Tom was a case manager at the local soup kitchen. “People there were very excited about it; they helped out then and some of them still do. It’s gotten very big and attracted a lot of people from out of town. It gets people outdoors and downtown to get together, hear music and see old friends. Or meet new ones.”

Music, food, diversity and community are hallmarks of Third Thursdays. Willimantic has always had a large immigrant

population from the time it was a leader in the textile mill industry. Residents are proud of their town’s diverse heritage and it shows in the festival.

Jean de Smet credits Third Thursdays’ success to the whole community. “We have an incredible community that shows up for events and that gets out and volunteers.”

When the Third Thursdays event took off, she was invited to speak about its accomplishments at tourism conventions as far

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away as New Orleans. “Third Thursdays is so unique because it involves the whole community. We took ownership. This is our festival. It represents Willimantic. And that’s why it’s hard to duplicate.”

“It was a bit of a recession when we started it,” says Jean. “Businesses were closing and we needed something to bring people back downtown.” A bunch of her friends were “between places” and had time to help. Each called in their resources with different skill sets and the grass roots group started planning and growing.

The concept of closing down Main Street took a little adjustment. “First, we had to convince the vendors to set up in the middle of the street. They didn’t get it.

And people kept walking on the sidewalks, even though the street was closed. It was a radical concept at the time,” she laughs. The first event drew about 1,000 people. Word spread and the event exploded in popularity.

“By the second year we doubled attendance and tripled it the third. You couldn’t walk through the crowd by the end of the season.”

Today, Third Thursdays is spread over six blocks and features well over a hundred vendors and organizations with information and activity tables. On a slow night (maybe a little light rain), the event draws 5,000 visitors and on nice summer night close to 10,000. Music is a huge part of the festival.

Every event features from three to seven stages with live music playing all night. Each group plays two to three sets, featuring everything from rhythm & blues to Latin jazz to folk rock to African drumming.

“The music is designed to bring the whole community together,” says Jean. “We 18

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originally reserved a third of stage time for Hispanic music, a third for other ethnic music (Polish, Irish, etc.), and a third for ‘American’ music.” A fourth stage was added for “Rising Stars” to attract young people because at first local kids did not really attend the fair. “We wanted them to know we were not just a bunch of old hippies,” says Jean.

“So we asked around. Is your son in a band?

Does he want to play? Then 500 kids packed the festival and they have never gone away.” She is thrilled that one of the past Rising Stars who is now a successful musician in Boston is coming back to play this year.

“One thing we are hoping to give more time to this year is local arts, entertainment and other groups, including the local karate dojo, dance groups, and more,” says Cassandra Martineau, Third Thursday’s Media Coordinator. Her favorite thing about the event is the variety of people who come to enjoy the free music, food trucks and local merchants. “Young and old, well-off and poor, many religions and races all mingle peacefully for three hours each month throughout the summer.”

Third Thursday’s other big attraction is food. “At first we just asked local people to bring food,” says Jean. “The Ukrainian church made pierogis, other churches got involved and the health department worked with them to get their kitchens certified.

There was Indian food, Hosmer Mountain soda, pizza, ice cream sundaes from UConn Dairy Bar, Syrian, Mexican… We had German folks walking around looking for the empanadas. The food is a great mixer-upper.”

One of Jean’s fondest memories is a night the wine/beer garden stage attracted some ballroom dancers. “The second set was a mariachi band. No one dancing but then the ballroom dancers started salsa. All of a sudden the whole dance floor was covered with all sorts of people. The drummer came to front of stage in broken English to say that he travels all over country and they had never seen a crowd mix it up like this. He kept saying in Spanish, ‘Unite, unite!’ I was just crying. This is what it’s about. That’s why we do it.”

One time a foreign exchange graduate student told Jean how special Third Thursdays was. “It’s important for us to hear,”

says Jean. “People are looking for authentic experiences. That’s what the attraction is.

You won’t see the carnival vendor you see at every other fair here. This is our reputation. It’s good for people outside to come to Windham County and see this, but it also helps us see ourselves in a better light.”

FIRST FRIDAYS First Fridays is held every month from May to October from 6 to 9pm in historic Downtown Putnam. Like Third Thursdays, it is also a wonderful community event but their unique vibe is focused on art.

First Fridays began six years ago when Putnam began seeing a renaissance inspired by a vibrant set of business owners with great ideas and tons of energy. They wanted to bring people to see the art community that was developing in Putnam. The event has now evolved into something broader but it still very much connected to the arts.

“First Fridays was started by me, Carly Martin, Sheri Socher and Sean Condon as an art walk,” says Dot Burnworth, owner of Sawmill Pottery Studio. “We had gotten together to brainstorm ways to get people to come downtown and discover all the amazing artwork that we have in our galleries and shops. At its conception, it was more of a gallery stroll than a street fair. Over the years, it has definitely taken on a new life, and I think that is great. It has become a very different event than the one we started.

The emphasis is less on the galleries and

more on street performance now. I love how many people come out for First Fridays, but I also think a Putnam gallery stroll is worth reviving.”

The group had a goal, but did not realize that the event would establish Putnam as “a modest regional arts and culture mecca, helping to reinvent the town as a true destination for locals and tourists alike.” Today,

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First Fridays is sponsored by the Putnam Business Association (PBA). Features include art exhibits and installations, demonstrations, hands-on activities, performances (including live music, dance and theater), vendors, food and “art attacks.”

First Fridays tries to be interactive and visitors are encouraged to take part by donning costumes, enjoying activities, participating in community art projects and more. All vendors and information tables must be art related—which might mean that a non-profit might offer a creative activity to help share their information. This year, First Fridays will also highlight a different up-

a different genre of films, from classic to action to horror. This year’s theme is “Mill Town Mosaics,” and it celebrates the diverse cultural heritage of the Quiet Corner. May’s event focuses on Polish American culture,

and-coming artist each month. May features Nick McKnight, an emerging artist from New London, CT, who works in painting, sculpture, and neon.

Another way First Fridays involves the community is to sponsor a poster contest for the event.

The Putnam Arts Council judged this year’s challenge and chose local high school student Alyssa Arends of Brooklyn, CT. The honor comes with a $250 prize and the poster will be featured on the front cover of the 2018 promotional booklet. According to the judges, there were many worthy entries, but Alyssa’s work best exemplified the cultural diversity of Putnam’s mill town history.

Every year, the First Fridays organizing committee chooses a theme that makes each event unique. Last year was “A Celebration of Cinema,” where each month focused on

and other months will highlight African American, French Canadian, Greek, Native American and Scandinavian heritages.

Each event in 2018 serves as a way to explore the mosaic of diverse local history and culture. “We know there’s more than six (cultural backgrounds) but we had to choose!” says Marcy Dawley, PBA Business Coordinator. She says it can be challenging to tie everything to a theme, but that keeps each year fresh and exciting. Marcy estimates that First Fridays draws two to three thousand visitors to each event and every year the crowd grows.

“The cultural piece is going to be a lot of fun,” says Marcy. “Even though each month will focus on a different heritage, it all adds up to the mosaic of Putnam.” The Last Green Valley will host a “Cultural Celebration Station” every month, with a variety

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of historical resources, including The Mill Museum from Willimantic and Putnam’s Aspinock Historical Society, who will share stories and answer questions that people have.

Families attending the festival will enjoy the Community Arts Table, which in May will feature Polish Cut Paper Art. Visitors of all ages will create colorful paper cuts with all the supplies on hand. Each month the Community Arts Table will feature a different hands-on project related to that month’s cultural theme.

Street performances are trademark First Fridays entertainment, from live bands to dance troupes to strolling singers to fire dancers. For May, the Complex Performing & Creative Arts Centre’s Youth Ballet Company will perform a Maypole Dance at 6pm on the lawn of the Congregational Church.

Later in the evening, the Complex Theatre Department will offer a vignette from their original production “Red” at the Main Stage.

In May, visitors can dance to an authentic polka band with the Eddie Forman Orchestra on the Main Street stage. And in Union Square, Junkyard Heartstrings will offer sweet acoustical tunes. While great dining and unique shopping are also attractions, Putnam’s art venues, including Artique, Socher Gallery, Silver Circle Gallery, Sawmill Pottery, and Flying Carpet Studio, always have wonders in store for visitors, including special exhibits, demonstrations and guest artists. Other businesses usually stay open late, offer specials or discounts and more.

In the early years of First Fridays, Putnam’s Economic and Community Development Director Delpha Very commented that the event has helped in the process of “enhancing the quality of life for residents and visitors, and the creation of a ‘sense of place’ that people want to be a part of.

Events like First Fridays bring about a sense of community that we all seek, especially in difficult times, and a time to celebrate and connect to the creative assets that make Putnam such a special place.”

Both Third Thursdays and First Fridays are free admission, free parking, family friendly and open to all! For more details, visit www.willimanticstreetfest.com and www.discoverputnam.com/firstfriday.

HOSMER MOUNTAIN BEVERAGES Tradition and Innovation Hosmer Mountain Beverages is a special mix of tradition and innovation. As a business it embraces its roots as a water company founded in Willimantic in 1912. It reflects the future by limiting its carbon footprint and riding the wave of locally- grown and farm-to-table food trends, all within the context of selling soda from two locations as a family business.

BY NANC Y P. WEISS

B

ill Potvin, one of four brothers who operate Hosmer Mountain, began working as a boy, side-by-side with his father, Arthur, who purchased the soda business in 1958 and began making soda on 217 Mountain Street.

The building holds the original conveyers where glass bottles were washed, filled, capped and sorted. Sturdy returnable cases are lined up by flavor in the exact same spots year after year.

The ballfield where Potvin and his siblings played on hot summer afternoons still stands nearby, but business doesn’t survive frozen in time. Hosmer has had to innovate and Bill Potvin has been in the forefront of change.

With an undergraduate and a graduate degree in agronomy, Potvin has a good grasp

of science. After a tour in Viet Nam and a job with a big corporate chemical company, he returned to Willimantic to use his skills to maintain the high quality sodas that made his family’s product popular, while creating new flavors that would keep it current.

It happened that his return to Willimantic in 1979 coincided with the passage of the Bottle Bill in Connecticut that mandated a deposit on glass bottles to ensure they would be returned and reused. Hosmer’s business model was based on home delivery of sodas by the case with a deposit fee per bottle three times more than was required by the new law.

The company was selling more than 600 cases per week at their cash and carry store and per capita consumption of soda

was at an all-time high of 45.3 gallons per person per year. Changes came swiftly.

Consumers became concerned about the impact of sugar on their health and diet

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sodas emerged. Hosmer created a number of diet sodas with diet root beer a real winner. Customers insisted that they couldn’t tell the diet from the regular, a compliment Potvin welcomes. Hosmer’s root beer was so good that in 2003 it came in 4th in the country in the Great American Root Beer Showdown, beating out more than 89 other entries, many from well-known national brands.

As soda consumption declined and Hosmer moved toward more seltzers, including flavors such as lemon and lime, tangerine and Bill Potvin’s favorite, peach.

Interest in energy drinks led to the creation of Red Lightening, a beverage containing grape skin and pomegranate juice.

“We are not a new age company. We are retro as we use both natural and artificial ingredients. The artificial flavors sometimes boost and compliment the natural flavors for the full flavor we seek. The natural ones are used as often as possible. I want every Hosmer soda to be equal to or better than anything else out there,” Potvin said.

Home delivery of mixed cases of soda was the bedrock of the business but today restaurants are becoming the important

new market. Many want locally made products and find the flexibility of Hosmer’s traditional flavors and glass bottles very appealing. Restaurants help us lower our carbon footprint as retrieval of the bottles is efficient.

At Bears Smokehouse near Hartford, Hosmer syrup in 12oz. different flavors is added to seltzer from a fountain machine and customers love it.

Willimantic Brewing Company, an iconic brewery and restaurant located in a 1900’s former post office building, features five Hosmer flavors in 9 different craft cocktails. One offering, “the delivery root cocktail” is made with vanilla, vodka, cream and Hosmer root beer. Another, called Jägermeister ‘n Lightening uses Hosmer’s Red Lightening energy drink plus the liqueur. For Bill Potvin selling Hosmer Mountain soda and syrup at area restaurants suits his family’s philosophy perfectly.

“Our family is very active in the community. We like to do the right thing.

The return and refillability of our bottles is important. I see conservation as an advanced, ethical concept and selling through restaurants is one way to reuse as many of our bottles as possible. We still deliver mixed cases of soda and seltzer throughout the region. Customers enjoy the variety,” Potvin added with a smile.

Hosmer Mountain offers 35 flavors, including diet and “Antique Sodas” made with sugar cane and “Classic Flavors” – Root Beer, Birch Beer, Cream and Sarsaparilla. Unique offerings are Peach, Strawberry, Cranberry, Cocoa Cream and Ginger Beer. They are sold in two sizes, 28 oz. and 12 of in reusable, returnable glass bottles.

Customers are welcome at two locations: 217 Mountain Street, Willimantic, CT and 15 Spenser Street, Manchester, CT. 860-423-1555, hosmersoda.com

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Eleonora Ferragatta’s Keys to Success: Family, Faith, Heritage, & Hard Work

Eleonora is still getting used to her name. It’s not a new name; in fact, it’s the one she was given at birth. But for the past 19 years, she has been known in the Quiet Corner by her married name, Nora St. Jean.

“Eleonora Ferragatta” and her eponymous fashion business is the latest stage of her evolution and success as an artist.

A

BY CRIS CADIZ

slim, dark-haired beauty, Eleonora would meld easily with the elegant and stylish Italian women strolling the streets of modern Rome. Her latest commercial art endeavor involves clothing that are works of art themselves.

Encouraged to capitalize on her European given name for her emerging fashion brand, Eleonora has taken her lush, colorful oil paintings and transferred the images using special technology onto dresses, scarves, leggings, tunics and more.

She is currently selling these high-end designs in regional boutiques as well as online and working hard to expand her market. Breaking into the world of commercial art has been a long and sometimes difficult learning process, but Eleonora has optimism, determination, a willingness to learn, artistic talent and business aptitude.

A very supportive family doesn’t hurt either, she is the first to admit.

Born in Connecticut to immigrant parents, Eleonora grew up speaking Italian with her family. Eleonora and her three siblings were raised with a very strong Catholic faith. Her parents arrived in the U.S. from Italy in 1970. They owned and operated a wholesale bakery for over 35 years.

Eleonora grew up surrounded by a strong work ethic and first-hand experience in the entrepreneurial world.

Eleonora’s parents were from Rome and Turin and because all of their family was still in Europe, they visited every summer. “It was the only time they could see their family,” Eleonora says. She didn’t understand the cultural impact these trips had on her life until she was a young adult.

“When I was little, we had no idea…. visiting all of the historic landmarks, museums, and churches in Italy was just part of our upbringing. It wasn’t until I visited in 1996 that I really appreciated it.”

Eleonora attended Hartford Art School and took all the fine arts courses QVCC had to offer. She was also mentored by her Italian aunt, Martha Fondra, a professional painter who has exhibited her work in Europe and the U.S. “Art was her calling,” says

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the untouched work, covered in grime was very dark, and the cleaned areas were all bright and vibrant.”

Eleonora’s upbringing and studies nurtured her artistic development, but commercial success has come from a little luck, a lot of family support and an abundance of plain old hard work. “While I was in Italy I landed my first commission,” she recalls.

Her father had business connections with Papa Gino’s restaurants and knew the construction manager overseeing some renovations and new construction projects.

“My father was looking at their murals and said, ‘My daughter can do this.’”

Eleonora painted seven large murals for the popEleonora. “She taught me various artistic techniques when I was growing up--egg tempera, etching, print making, oils, and more.” Eleonora points out a Byzantine icon painting that she created hanging on her living room wall. Its gently glowing gold leaf and religious motif makes it look like a museum piece. A massive portrait of Abraham Lincoln hangs on another wall. Eleonora painted this reproduction of the 1890 “John D. Crocker” painting that was stolen from Norwich City Hall in 1996. The Slater Museum held a contest for artists to reproduce this lost treasure. Eleonora worked from old photos of the original, and her masterful rich, dark oil was one of the finalists.

When she was nineteen, Eleonora studied art in Rome, where she learned ancient fresco techniques that Michelangelo used in the Sistine Chapel. “I was lucky enough to witness the most significant conservation restoration of the 20th century and the incredible restoration team at work,” she says, still awestruck at the memory. “There was staging everywhere, with sheets around each piece that the artists were working on.

“With their distilled water and weak dissolvent, inch by inch the colors and details of Michelangelo’s work that had not been seen for centuries were revealed. My eyes just welled up. You could see the difference…

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ular chain in one month. “I was up until 5 o’clock in the morning. I painted each mural on canvas and they applied them directly to the wall.” Previously, she had created a few portraits and oil pieces but at barely twenty years old this was her first commercial venture.

Eleonora’s art career took a back seat to her career as a mom when she met her husband and started a family. She continued to paint and accepted some commission work here and there as well. While raising

her three children, she also designed and general contracted her houses in Woodstock and her current home in Pomfret. Her next step in the world of commercial art was a challenging jump into licensing and printing her work.

In 2008 she researched printing on canvas and all of the sourcing to do the production work herself. She was thrilled when Home Goods placed an order of 600 units of the largest panels she offered. “It was a really valuable learning experience. I was featured in 300 stores across the country.”

Eleonora’s next experience was getting a licensing agent/publisher. One of the suppliers she talked to had told her, “You worry about the art and they worry about the production.” She followed up on his references and started working full time with a regional company on a 3-year contract. “They had inspirational colors and trends to follow. I still had my own artistic license, but in some cases it was very specific. They wanted wine, they wanted vegetables, they wanted a border. I started out doing commission work, so I was fine with taking direction. The agent loved my work, and I honored my contract.”

Eleonora took away other benefits while working with her agent. “Not only did I create over 40 paintings, they also helped build my name in the market. They sold over 17,000 units of my original oil painting designs,” she says. “They have licensed and distributed my work globally, and I have also been featured via Art.com and Walmart. com. Overall, it was a great learning experience and continues to help build my brand.”

Two years ago, she was approached by a company that wanted to see her work reproduced on garments. She almost signed on with them but took a careful look at the contract and realized that they would have retained exclusive rights in perpetuity. “Although that partnership fell through, in the end, it was a blessing that they approached me because I learned about this amazing new printing technology.”

Eleonora found a manufacturer in Canada who had the software that allowed her to design remotely. Using these tools, she designs exactly where her painting is printed on each part of the garment. “I’m not just uploading a file,” she explains. “I design the composition.” She controls how her original painting is merged with the garment to best show the art. In addition, this collaboration allows her to have her product sourced sustainably and as locally as possible.

Eleonora is very pleased with the partnership. “Their entire production process is not only custom and handcrafted, it’s eco-friendly. They work closely with a mill in Montreal. The legging material was exclusively designed for this company. They use 70% less water, heat, and energy use during manufacturing and bamboo fibers. Anything defective they bring to a local shelter and any waste is recycled.”

All this means her beautiful clothing has a boutique-level price point. “I do not have a large inventory to receive volume pricing. When someone places an order, each piece is uniquely handmade with the highest quality and service just for them.”

Eleonora currently has over 300 products but is going to start narrowing down her collections according to what her boutique clientele prefer. “I don’t want to stretch myself too thin and I really want to get back

A

slim, dark-haired beauty, Eleonora would fit right in with the elegant and stylish Italian women strolling the streets of modern Rome. Her latest commercial art endeavor involves clothing that are works of art in themselves. Encouraged to capitalize on her European given name for her emerging fashion brand, Eleonora has taken her lush, colorful original oil paintings and transferred the images using special technology onto dresses, scarves, leggings, tunics and more. She is currently selling these high-end designs in regional boutiques as well as online and she is working hard to expand her market. Breaking

new brand, providing me with opportunities and sharing their many years of experience, contacts and resources,” she says gratefully.

“Maria also carries my line in her boutique.”

Eleonora jumped in to Fashion Week Brooklyn like a pro and loved every second of it.

She apologizes, laughing, for being Italian and dramatic as she tears up and says, “If it weren’t for my family, my mom, my sister, my brothers, my in-laws, and my husband…I would have never made it this far.

My husband, Nathan, has always believed in me and encouraged me to pursue my art career. My sister is very business minded but she also helps me on the creative side and is my support system. They are all constantly helping me. With all of their unconditional love and support, it makes me think I can do anything.”

Eleonora sells her fashion designs via her e-commerce website and wholesale to regional and national boutiques. Her products have been featured in boutiques across the east coast. For more information, visit www.eleonoraferragatta.com, www.facebook.com/eleonoraferragatta and www.instagram.com/eleonoraferragatta_artist.

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to painting. I’m doing all of the administrative, design, and marketing work. I try to be as resourceful as possible. I do my own photography & color correcting, designed my website and all of my marketing materials, and also source fabrics for new patterns and manufacturers.”

Growing up in a business atmosphere gave Eleanora a big advantage. “My parents taught us everything. I remember balancing the checks at age 10 or 11 years old.” She realizes that a positive attitude, perseverance and strong work ethic are mandatory.

“If you have that mind set, you’re going to do well. I’ve met a lot of really creative and talented people in the industry so far, and I learn from their insight and expertise.”

Her latest learning experience last October was set amid the pomp and style of the 11th bi-annual Fashion Week Brooklyn, one of New York City’s fabulous and competitive fashion industry events. Eleonora attended as a featured designer with the guidance of the Brooklyn Fashion Incubator, founded

by Maria Barraza and Rafael Romeo, who own Barraza Style boutique in Stonington Borough. Eleonora met them last summer as she started canvassing shoreline boutiques.

The couple started a non-profit organization to help emerging designers, mainly from New York City. Brooklyn Fashion Incubator provides aspiring fashion designers with opportunities to promote, brand, and network.

“They have absolutely helped me launch my

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Happy, Helpful Mystic & Shoreline Visitor Tourist Information Center The Mystic Visitor Center has been a privately owned tourism information center for over 40 years. Robin Grimsley is the most recent owner/operator.

A longtime area resident, Robin working with Shore Publishing, was instrumental in starting the Stonington, Mystic & Westerly Times publications.

The publications were eventually bought by The New London Day. She then started her own business called Mystic Marketing, LLC, and did the marketing & sales for the Mystic Tourist Center. When the opportunity arose for Robin to purchase the business, it made sense for her to step into place. “It was a perfect fit with my degree in International Marketing, my background in publishing and advertising, and my love and passion for travel and tourism,” says Robin. She has toured all over the world with her daughter, Emma, with their last few trips being to the Galapagos, Beijing, South Africa and Nepal.

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he Mystic Visitor Center attracts an amazing quarter of a million people annually. “We have a prime location and tons of parking,” says Robin. Located in the Olde Mistick Village shopping area just off I-95, the center is convenient and easy to access. They feature displays, brochures and information on over 225 area attractions and businesses, plus restaurant menus, maps, postcards, souvenirs and a professional staff to answer questions. They also offer lodging referral services and a 24-hour LCD display scrolling hotel availability.

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CONNECTICUT EAST

Another big draw, Robin says, is their sales of discount tickets for area attractions such as Mystic Aquarium, Mystic Seaport, local wineries, and more. While Mystic is the main focus because of the center’s location, they feature information from Cape Cod, Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, Block Island and Rhode Island to Putnam in northeastern Connecticut. Advertisers not only get brochures displayed at the Center, they also get a link on the Visitor Center’s website plus social media promotion through the Center’s Facebook page.

With eleven trained employees, all local and all passionate about the area, the Mystic Visitor Center is a boon for both first time and seasoned travelers. “Everyone who comes in gets greeted,” says Robin. “Visitors need us as the stimulus to further explore.” Despite the prevalence of online information to plan trips, Robin claims visitor centers are by no means obsolete. “People say, ‘Oh, no everyone does that online now.’ But they use my center to stimulate the questions about what’s available and then they go to their phone for more details. We initiate the discovery.”

A great location is not the only key to the Mystic Visitor Center success. “We’ve been here a long time,” says Robin. “I know the area and I have a great network.

Personal connections are so important.” Most of Robin’s employees started with her when they were 16 and usually stay on to work

during college breaks. “Although the tourist center is so busy in the summer, they love working here because everyone that comes in is so thankful. I think people come in with no expectations. It’s free and they leave with a wealth of information from a happy, smiling, knowledgeable girls. People can’t thank them enough, leaving with handfuls of maps, information and discounts. Every customer leaves with their first experience of Mystic being a great one.”

Robin also leads and narrates Historic Step-On Bus Tours in the Mystic Historic District and Stonington Borough. “It’s another component of what I love to do. Tourism and travel are my passion. I am fulfilling the dream of getting up every morning loving what I do. For me, getting to meet people from all over the world and sharing my passion for the area. It’s definitely personal.”

Located just off Exit 90, Route I-95 at 27 Coogan Blvd #1d, Mystic, CT, in the Olde Mistick Village. Open daily year round.

For more details, visit mysticinfocenter. com and find them (and Like!) on Facebook under Mystic CT Visitor Info Center.

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