Organizations

Calling Colonial Campers

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Travel back to 18th-century colonial Suffield for a week of summer fun! Monday, July 29 – Friday, August 2 children ages 8 – 12 can don period costumes (or wear their everyday summer clothes!) and participate in the activities that took place at the Phelps–Hatheway House & Garden each and every day. Campers will learn about creating textiles (dyeing wool and cloth, knitting, sewing, spinning and weaving), westward expansion and trade (exploring maps and uncharted land), and school and home activities (classrooms, gardens and crafts). Best of all is the opportunity to learn about the toys and play games of the past. Meet historic figures and campers will design their own tours of the museum to share with family and friends.

Organizations

Dian Friedman Speaks at Suffield Woman’s Club

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Dian Friedman’s talked about her trip to Israel and Jordan in October and November 2018. She traveled with a group of 15 people through Overseas Adventure Travel in Boston. She told of her experience swimming in the Dead Sea, boating on the Galilee, and leaving a note in the Western Wall in Old Jerusalem. She stayed at a kibbutz and visited the Golan Heights and visited Tel Aviv and Haifa. Dian said she learned as much about Christian history as she did about Israeli history and felt safe while she was there. 

Everyone spoke English, so there was no communication problem.

People/Business

Fitness Studio Relocates

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Hits & Kicks, a Suffield physical fitness studio that specializes in boxing and kick-boxing, has moved to a new, more visible, location in the old CVS plaza between Zantos and Hair Unlimited. The vigorous training is provided by skilled instructors in scheduled, unisex classes. In two early morning visits, this reporter observed widely different activities: One session, called Pound, had the students following a leader in rhythmic full-body motions paced by music, including pairs of short batons tapped on the floor or clacked together along with the beat. On another morning the training was boxing – whacking vigorously on long, heavy punching bags dangling from a steel framework, – and sometimes kickboxing the bag as well, all to the shouted instructions and encouragement of the trainer. The boxing sessions were alternated with periods of high intensity interval training, like fast pushups and sit-ups but more complicated, again all to the demanding commands of the trainer.

Government/Town

Canvass of Voters is Underway

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State law mandates that a canvass of voters be conducted annually in the first four months of each year to ascertain changes of voter’s residence. Suffield’s canvass is underway. People often move within and out of town without notifying the registrars of their address changes. Therefore, the canvass helps to maintain an accurate voter list. If you receive a Confirmation of Voter’s Residence notice (CVR), please complete and return it within 30 days.

Schools/Sports

Career Forum Held at Suffield High School

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Suffield Police joined the Honorable Judge Jason Lobo, presiding juvenile judge at New Britain Superior Court, Attorney Jay Presser, a private attorney, and staff of the Connecticut State Police in a criminal justice and legal career forum held on January 29 for students at Suffield High School. Through a panel discussion as well as a lengthy question and answer session, the 20 students in attendance were exposed to various career fields and provided with several strategies to help prepare for these professions. And yes, Suffield High School School Resource Officer Kieselback provided donuts to the student participants (no stereotyping,  please). Hopefully our communities will see some of these Suffield young women and men protecting and serving in State Police grey or Suffield blue in the years to come!

Government/Town

Yard Goats Tickets on Sale

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Don’t miss Suffield Night with the Hartford Yard Goats on Saturday, July 13! They will be playing the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. Gates open at 4:30 p.m. and the game starts at 6:05 p.m., plus FIREWORKS after the game! Please call Suffield Parks & Rec at 860-668-3862 for tickets.

Government/Town

Power Outage Handled Well

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In the wee hours of Tuesday morning, January 29, a driver on Mountain Road dozed, ran his SUV off the road, and broke a utility pole just east of the entrance to Park View Glen, across from Suffield Middle School. He was injured and transported to a hospital. The momentary perturbation in electrical power was felt at SMS and McAlister and briefly affected homes nearby on the north side of Mountain Road. Both schools opened normally. But the pole was key to power and communications to a large part of Park View Glen, and several dozen homes in the eastern part of the condo community lost their connections.

Government/Town

Ways to Replace Road Salt

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We use a lot of salt, along with sand, for de-icing our roads when the weather gets slippery, and this widespread use of salt has some serious environmental impacts. That’s why Suffield’s Highway Department is looking into a product called Ice Chip. Ice Chip, developed by a Windsor Locks entrepreneur, Joe Rouleau, is a plant-based product which is supposed to leave nothing behind to damage the environment. Salt rusts out our cars, as well as bridges and railroads. It damages plant life along the roads, is bad for pets who eat it or walk on it, and the run-off is especially problematic for wetland areas and aquifers, destroying aquatic life.

Government/Town

It’s Really a Bazaar

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The final winter market brought many vendors and visitors to the high school’s Agriscience Center on February 9, and as usual the affair was more of a bazaar than a farm market. Only two farms were selling vegetables: Suffield’s Simpaug and Enfield’s Easy Pickin’s. Cupola Hollow Farm was there, but their booth, with a wide variety of delicious preserves, candy, syrup, etc., didn’t include the fresh greenhouse vegetables, apples, eggs, and well-stored root vegetables offered by Simpaug and Easy Pickin’s. The bazaar aspect of the market is the gathering of part-time vendors offering diverse items like knit and woven work, jewelry, clothing accessories, coffee mugs, wrap-chaps, woodcraft, naturally-flavored twigs for rabbits to chew on, and other interesting doo-dads. Julie Simmons also brought a rabbit to do some chewing and entertain the children.

Government/Town

Sidewalks

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Owners or occupants of any premises where there is a public sidewalk MUST remove snow and ice from the sidewalk within 12 hours from the end of the storm. Fines may be issued for violation of the ordinance.