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Jack Ireland, left, and Luke Beelitz, employees at the White Hart Provisions store, assisted customer Deborah Carter of Lakeville, who celebrated her birthday on Sunday, Feb. 1. Although the inn and restaurant experience seasonal slowdowns during winter months, on this day celebrations and meetings kept the scaled-down staff busy and the parking lot full.
Debra A. Aleksinas
WEST CORNWALL — Winter brings a predictable slowdown for many Northwest Corner businesses, particularly those tied to tourism and seasonal traffic — a pattern local employers say aligns with broader employment trends across Connecticut.
At Covered Bridge Electric Bike in West Cornwall, a family-owned shop that sells, repairs and rents e-bikes, colder months mean fewer customers and reduced staffing.
“It’s very seasonal,” said co-owner Meg Ensign, who has run the business with her husband, Bob, since 2019. “We definitely staff up in the warmer months with high school and college kids — and our own children. Hiring varies from year to year, and right now it feels very unpredictable.”
That local experience reflects statewide labor data released for December 2025, which show employment declines in sectors that typically feel winter slowdowns first, including leisure and hospitality.
According to the Connecticut Department of Labor’s latest monthly report, the state lost a net 500 nonfarm jobs in December, and the unemployment rate rose to 4.2%. While the rate remains below the national average of 4.4%, it is up a full percentage point from a year earlier.
“The unemployment rate remains low, but Connecticut had an up-and-down year,” said Patrick Flaherty, director of the Office of Research at the Department of Labor. “Job growth was particularly weak in the second half of the year.”
Employment data are reported primarily by large metropolitan labor market areas, none of which directly capture conditions in the Northwest Corner’s rural towns. Still, statewide trends often echo local experience, particularly in weather- and tourism-sensitive industries.
Ensign said uncertainty around tariffs, evolving e-bike regulations and broader economic conditions has made planning more difficult.
Rentals, a major part of the business during spring and summer, are largely dormant through the winter months.
Leisure and hospitality employment declined again in December, along with manufacturing and construction — sectors sensitive to weather, tourism cycles and discretionary spending.
A similar seasonal pattern plays out locally.
At the White Hart Inn in Salisbury, General Manager Dan Winkley said winter staffing levels are typically lower, with hiring increasing in the spring and summer.
The inn and restaurant currently employ more than 50 full- and part-time workers, a number that generally rises to about 65 during busier seasons.
“The nature of our business is that we do most of our hiring for the spring and summer,” Winkley said. “We’re fortunate to have a lot of long-tenured staff, so it’s usually just a position here and there that needs filling.”
Even as hiring fluctuates, some employers are meeting demand through efficiency rather than workforce expansion.
Chris DiPentima, president and CEO of the Connecticut Business & Industry Association, said strong economic output alongside a shrinking labor force suggests businesses are relying more heavily on productivity gains.
“The third-quarter GDP growth of 5.6%, fourth best in the nation, in light of Connecticut’s labor force declining nearly 20,000 people in 2025, clearly spotlights that businesses are meeting higher demand through innovation,” DiPentima said. “That means investing in technology, digitalization, AI and productivity gains as hours remain flat and wages and other cost inputs increase.”
Statewide, average hourly earnings rose about 3% from a year earlier, slightly outpacing inflation, while average weekly hours remained unchanged. Initial unemployment claims also rose in December, signaling increased caution among employers.
For local businesses, those statewide indicators reinforce a familiar winter reality: fewer customers, reduced hours and cautious hiring decisions until warmer months return.
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Falls Village Town Hall
File photo
FALLS VILLAGE — At a special meeting Wednesday morning, Jan. 28, the Board of Selectmen approved the implementation of three items relating to upcoming capital projects using state Small Town Economic Assistance Program (STEAP) grants.
Among the approvals was a state-required sign to be posted at project sites identifying the STEAP-funded work.
The board approved $3,200 in supplies for repairs and painting at the pool house at the town recreation site. The work will be completed in-house with the help of volunteers.
For an upcoming food-waste diversion project at the transfer station, the town will purchase a 10-foot shipping container for $4,845 to store material. First Selectman Dave Barger said the container is not only large but “about as close to bear-proof as it gets.”
In other business, the selectmen approved payment of a $425 invoice to Hadden Electric for electrical work that allowed Christmas lights to be installed on the town Green, which remain lit.
The board also discussed ways to streamline the format of its regular meetings, which have been criticized for redundancy.
After some back and forth, Barger said he will draft a revised meeting format and circulate it to Selectmen Judy Jacobs and Chris Kinsella ahead of the next regular meeting on Monday, Feb. 9.
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We the people…
Feb 04, 2026
“We the People” signifies that the government exists to serve its citizens, affirming that ultimate power rests with the people.”— U.S. Senate
Minnesota is a land of 10,000 lakes, nestled atop the western arm of Lake Superior assuring its severe winter cold and deep white snows.Minnesota is the land of the Guthrie Theatre, the largest population of Norwegians and Swedes outside of Scandinavia, the Vikings, the Twins, and of course “polite-to-a-fault” Minnesota Nice. Sourced at Lake Itasca, the Mississippi River runs 2,350 miles from Minnesota to Louisiana. Minnesota is 5.7 million strong and has the powerful heritage of Paul Bunyan and The Blue Ox.
The Twin Cities, Minneapolis and St Paul, are currently occupied by ICE, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, with an intense emphasis on enforcement: a force, of 3,000 agents in a geographical sector housing but 500 local police. Masked agents in unmarked cars with military-grade weapons and tear gas use brutal behaviors to stop cars, bust windows, drag out their occupants.Numbers, always huge numbers of agents, invade schools, churches, restaurants, Home Depot — to accost and arrest forcefully. Always strongly armed, these agents drag out persons not identified with careful, stealthy research from key data sources but just those who happen to be in the path of unbridled force. Included are US citizens, legitimate persons with visas, persons applying for asylum, persons working, paying taxes and providing labor for health care, hotels, farms, restaurants
The stated mission of ICE, as it invades cities and states (primarily blue), is to rout out the worst of the worst — violent, immigrant criminals, such as, one well-publicized 5-year-old Liam Ramos and his father taken from Minnesota to a Texas detention facility. Liam’s mother is in Minneapolis, his beloved Spiderman backpack and bunny hat were confiscated by the facility. The horror of Trump’s first term “Children in Cages” for family separations is being reinstated to terrorize by Trump’s Rasputin, Deputy Chief of Staff Steven Miller.
The people of Minnesota are 5.7 million strong. We the People strong standing, as they did for George Floyd in 2020, organized to help city, state residents – their neighbors- to be spared the victimization of a federal agency gone rogue.Minnesotans provide alert systems against marauding, masked agents conducting unprofessional, unproductive street sweeps. They provide food to those fearful of leaving their home, they chaperone kids to school.Minnesota Nice is Minnesota Might, Americans as we recognize Americans — respectful, tenaciously bound to law and order, decent.Two American citizens, Rene Goode and Alex Pretti, were killed on Minneapolis streets, peacefully protesting, shot at point blank range, in cold blood, by ICE agents with no indication of follow-on accountability or official investigation.
Trump continues to uphold the brutality of his ICE agency toward Alex Pretti who unbeknownst to them weeks earlier kicked an ICE unmarked vehicle. For this Trump believes Pretti deserved 9 shots in the back, lying face-down, hands out, surrounded by a half dozen ICE agents.
Trump be on alert. Minnesota is 5.7 million strong.Minnesotans are garnering the support of a nation – 69% and rising.We The People protests are out in severe subzero weather, in small towns, in massive population centers peacefully protesting, peacefully proclaiming their rights.
“We the people” are the first three words of the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution.We the people don’t cotton to the tyranny of despots, don’t tolerate the banal silence of persons in elected office, don’t vote for those who condone murder of citizens for exhibiting their rights of free speech. We the people do not tolerate the abuse of children – taken, caged, terrorized.
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” — The Preamble to the U.S. Constitution.
Kathy Herald-Marlowe lives in Sharon.
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