Volume 20, Number 16
Serving Durham, Middlefield and Rockfall
www.TownTimes.com
Friday, September 18, 2015
Town Green renovations are ongoing By Mark Dionne Town Times
The a cappella group Unaccompanied Minors sings “The Star Spangled Banner” at a ceremony on the Durham Town Green marking the 14th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. | Mark Dionne / Town Times
9/11 remembered at ceremony By Mark Dionne Town Time
A brief and somber ceremony on the Durham Town Green led by Durham’s Karen Kean recognized the 14th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Kean has held and run the ceremony every year. She and Durham First Selectman Laura Francis addressed the audience. This year Kean spoke about wanting to feel safe on 9/11. “For me, Durham feels safe,” she said. Also at the ceremony, Dick Duval sang, the a cappella group Unaccompanied Minors performed “The Star Spangled Banner,” and Coginchaug Regional High School student Emily Event organizer Karen Kean and singer Dick Duval at the 9/11 rememberance ceremony. | Mark Dionne / Town Times Stanwood played “Taps.”
On Wednesday, Sept. 9, two large sugar maple trees were cut down on Durham’s Town Green as part of the lengthy renovation of the green and, particularly, its trees. The Town Green Revitalization Project, which grew out of a town task force, has been examining the health of the trees on the green and seeking donations to replace sick trees. According to TGRP member Tina Gossner, “They were both sugar maples and had reached a point where at least half of their main branches were dead. They constituted a safety hazard. We do not definitely know the exact cause of their decay, although there is a decline in sugar maples across the northeast.” Allan’s Tree Service of Middlefield cut down the trees and quickly carted off the branches and trunk pieces. Maintenance on the trees has been paid for through a line in the town budget and donations to the project. The town budgets $1,000 to the green project and the TGRP has coordinated with the Durham Garden Club for private donations. Small trees can be removed by town crews, which helps the TGRP stretch its See Green / Page 2
Pick your own apple season kicks off across the region By Farrah Duffany
ing to be certainly dry and comfortable,” said John Rogers, the seventh generation Although it doesn’t feel owner of Rogers Orchards in much like fall yet, some area Southington. For Rogers Orchards, and orchards and farms kicked off their pick-your-own ap- High Hill Orchard in Meple season over the Labor riden, the pick-your-own apple season kicked off SatDay weekend. “It should be nice weather urday, Sept. 5. Rogers Orchards has two to pick apples, it’s not exactly fall-like, but it’s go- locations, one on Long BotSpecial to Town Times
tom Road and one on Meriden-Waterbury Turnpike in Southington. Long Bottom Road will have honey crisp, gala, McIntosh, and Jonamac apples available for picking. The Meriden-Waterbury Turnpike location will have McIntosh, honey crisp, and Jonamac apples. McIntosh and Cortland apples will be available for pick-
ing at High Hill Orchard and as the season goes on more apples like golden delicious, red delicious, and others will be ready to pick. At Lyman Orchards in Middlefield, McIntosh also made its debut last weekend. While the orchard has had some apples available for pick-yourown the previous two weeks, McIntosh is one of the most
popular, said John Lyman, the owner of Lyman Orchards. “Once that starts, it’s fall, it’s harvest time,” said Lyman. Rogers, Lyman, and Wayne Young, a manager with High Hill Orchard, said the apple crop was good this year and typically pick-your-own apple season starts around See Apples / Page 2