Organizations

Polish Heritage History

By |

The history of Poland is so long and complicated it is impossible to create an understanding of the hardships that our ancestors endured over centuries in this short column. The nation’s history is full of religious, political and territorial conflicts that resulted in many wars and changes of ruling powers. Yet our ancestors not only managed to survive, they maintained loyalty to their country, even when it did not exist on a map. Over these centuries, the Polish people earned a worldwide reputation as hard workers with great resilience. It is easy to see why Poland was caught up in the territorial struggles of The Middle Ages.

Organizations

Library Features Art and Photo Exhibits

By |

Suffield’s own award-winning artist and illustrator Laurie Tavino will be presenting a display of her work in the Kent Memorial Library’s temporary home at 61 Ffyler Place during the month of April. Also on display during April will be photographs by Suffield residents or students submitted as entries in the “Lester Smith Photography Contest.”

Ms. Tavino is a graduate of Arizona State University, a member of the West Hartford Art League, River Valley Illustrators, Tobacco Valley Artists Association, Friends of the Farm at Hilltop, The Suffield Historical Society, Enfield Historical Society, and Mount Carmel Women’s Auxiliary. Her paintings have garnered many awards throughout the area, are prized by collectors, and are featured in many homes and businesses. Laurie offers art lessons in her home studio. Photographs found on display may be in three categories; “Faces in Suffield”; “History of Suffield”; and “Suffield Landscapes.” Entrants are competing for cash awards here, in this event intended to commemorate the 90th birthday of Town Historian Lester Smith.

Farming/Nature

Woods Walker Extraordinaire

By |

Geoff Whittum, who came to Suffield some years ago from his upbringing in Ellington, calls himself a Woods Walker, a delightful term that fits his avocation of exploring the natural environment in New England. Recently he’s been sharing stories of the amazing things he has found in his walks. After his well-received presentations at libraries in Bloomfield and Granby, the Kent Memorial Library sponsored his February 27 appearance at the Suffield Senior Center, where a full-house crowd was fascinated by his photos of strange and wondrous shapes of rocks. Whittum showed images of giant boulders resting precariously on two or three small ones, oddly shaped individual boulders, strange dug-outs and caves, and other challenging configurations of rocks. Adding to the fascination were his descriptions of their orientation with solar occurrences and the relationships of these odd rocks with other rocks at various distances.

In Memoriam

In Memoriam

By |

Sharon E. (Smith) Beneski

February 13, Age 75

Janet Devlin

February 13, Age 86

Michael “Meho” Alexopoulous

February 15, Age 86

Florence Miarecki

February 19, Age 95

Claude E. Rice

February 21, Age 70

Charles Donaghy

February 24

Anna Gilbert

February 25, Age 101

Leon Keith Markwell

February 27, Age 90

Rosemarie Lownds

March 1, Age 88

Janet Aidan Lapinski

March 7, Age 80

Robert Hinkley

March 12, Age 82

Government/Town

Senior to Senior Breakfast

By |

Suffield Youth Services and Suffield Senior Center are partnering to create a Senior to Senior Breakfast. On April 28,  from 9 to 11a.m. Suffield High School seniors will be cooking a pancake breakfast for senior citizens. The breakfast will include pancakes, sausage, fruit, orange juice, coffee and tea. After breakfast there will be games, puzzles and bingo! Senior citizens, come join us and create intergenerational friendships!

Government/Town

Senior Center News

By |

Parkinson’s Peer Support Group meets monthly on the third Monday of each month at 10:15 a.m. The group’s goal is to share ideas and resources in the management and treatment of Parkinson’s. Caregivers are welcome and encouraged to attend. Topics vary monthly. Refreshments are served. The next meeting is April 16.

Organizations

WSVIA Tag Sale

By |

The West Suffield Village Improvement Assocation will hold its annual tag sale at Academy Hall (1499 Mountain Road) on Saturday, April 7 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Donations will be accepted the mornings of April 5 and 6 from 8 a.m. to noon. We are happy to accept any items except clothing. Snow date will be April 8. Following the tag sale, Academy Hall may be booked for rental for parties, receptions and family events. Our rates are very reasonable.

Organizations

April Vacation at New England Air Museum

By |

Celebrate the arrival of spring with two weeks of school vacation programming. Explore three giant exhibit hangars filled with over sixty historic aircraft, plus:

Hands-on Build & Fly Challenges

Interactive Flight Science Demonstrations

Open Cockpit Experiences in historic aircraft

Computerized Flight Simulators

In addition, the following special events are scheduled:

Monday April 9: Balsa Wood Airplane Workshop 10:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.

Build and fly a balsa wood model airplane. This workshop is for children ages 3 and older, must be accompanied by an adult. There is a $5 cost per model kit. Tuesday, April 10: LEGO Flying Machine Contest 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Children ages 3-13 can construct flying machines using the Museum’s  LEGOs. Winners will be awarded prizes in three age categories.

People/Business

Lake Road Improving, Slowly

By |

In our February issue, the Observer published a description of the pavement problems on the newly-relocated Lake Road, and First Selectman Melissa Mack provided a comprehensive description of a remediation program in her Observer column in March. The program had been worked out with input from residents along with planning sessions with Town Engineer Gerry Turbet, Highway Foreman Mark Cervione, and representatives of Crestview Construction, the Southwick company that now owns the major portion of the new road. Crestview had built the road as one of the conditions of their purchase of the property to harvest sand and gravel from elsewhere on the 74-acre parcel. Viewed on March 12, just before the heavy, wet snowfall, the road had no significant potholes, but its surface was largely a rather coarse gravel that made for a noisy ride. From the First Selectman’s report, one can expect that this surface, being built up where required, will eventually be covered with processed aggregate and finally paved.

Organizations

Local Prevention Council

By |

Prevention: (Noun); the action of stopping something from happening or arising. This is what the Suffield Local Prevention Council (SLPC) is all about. My name is Nikki Lengyel and I am the new Chairperson for the SLPC. I am incredibly excited to be a part of this important group that strives to make a positive change and raise awareness on multiple matters in the Suffield community. In the past, the Council has focused primarily on the topic of opioids due to the current crisis and concerning numbers of overdoses involving opioids.

Organizations

Rotary “Steps Up” for The Suffield Players!

By |

In December of 2017 The Suffield Rotary Club made a generous donation to The Suffield Players for rebuilding the exterior steps on both sides of historic Mapleton Hall. To ensure the safety of theater patrons and members, The Players had been left with no choice but to replace both those staircases in the fall of 2017. An ambitious fundraising campaign to offset the costs of the project was appropriately named: “Step Up.”

“We are thrilled by the support of the Suffield Rotary Club,” said Suffield Players Facilities Manager Jerry Zalewski. “The South Hall steps had been rebuilt in late 2005, and the North Hall’s in early 2007. Though we expected them to last more than 10 years, the materials and construction had failed.

Organizations

SYT Stages Serious Drama

By |

The Suffield Youth Theater (SYT), in its fourth season, presented The Outsiders in three performances at the Second Baptist Church on February 16 and 17. For this production, Fellowship Hall was set up as theater in the round. The dramatic story of teen-age group adversaries was adapted from a best-selling 1967 book that has been in wide use in American schools, not for its writing style, but for its social significance. It also became a popular 1983 movie. As a stage production, the tale presented a challenge to the teen-led SYT that was well met, as usual.

Organizations

SWC Scholarships

By |

The Suffield Woman’s Club (SWC) is pleased to offer the Thea Coburn Scholarship to any college or university student from Suffield, Granby, East Granby, Windsor Locks and Enfield or a graduate of the Agri-Science Center in Suffield, who has completed at least one year of higher education and intends to pursue a career in the environmental or communications areas. If you have received this scholarship previously, you may apply again. Thea Coburn was a member of the SWC for 63 years. For more details and an application, contact Scholarship Chairman Mary Mellor at 860-254-5078 or mellor88@cox.net. For many years, the SWC has also given scholarships to three graduating seniors.

Organizations

The Suffield Players Present Sylvia

By |

If you enjoy zany comedy as well as a good love story with a twist, get ready for The Suffield Players spring production of Sylvia by A.R. Gurney! Sylvia performs on May 3, 4, 5, 11, 12, *13, 18 and 19 at 8 p.m. (*2 p.m. Matinee) at Mapleton Hall. The Story: Greg and Kate have moved to New York City to pursue new careers. For Greg, there’s still something missing…until he meets Sylvia, a stray pup with pizzazz (played by a human actress in the show!). Kate thinks Sylvia may be stealing too much of Greg’s attention, and appeals to her friends – and even her therapist – to help get her husband back on track.

Schools/Sports

Building on Success

By |

Student athletes of Wildcats Swimming, the Suffield High School co-op swim program, have continued to push themselves to new heights. On March 1, the Wildcats hosted the Nutmeg Conference Championships at the Windsor Locks High School pool. The team prevailed, winning the conference title and boasting nine swimmers with All-Conference honors (Matt Winter ’18 Suffield, Sam Tesko ’20 Suffield, Will Dubocq ’18 Suffield, Timur Couture ’18 East Windsor, Jake Wyse ’18 East Windsor, Mike Stavolone ’19 East Windsor, Saxon Nussbaum ’20 Windsor Locks, Charles Rose ’20 Suffield, and Chris Hoover ’20 Ellington)! This built upon their conference record of 3-0 (season record 7-3) after two meets cancelled due to snow. This team grew through their hard work and mental preparation, setting career best times as they prepared for the Class M preliminary meet on March 10.

Schools/Sports

Police Respond To Threat

By |

On March 9 at approximately 9:22 a.m., Suffield Police responded to Suffield High School located at 1060 Sheldon Street to assist the School Resource Officer and school administration with a distraught student.

Schools/Sports

From The Principal’s Desk

By |

Congratulations to Lucie Casinghino who was recently awarded a Gold Key in the Flash Fiction category at the regional level in the Annual Scholastic Arts and Writing Competition.