Norfolk Shares its Bounty Of Fun During WIN Weekend

The annual summertime Weekend in Norfolk, Conn., (also known cheerfully as WIN) will be held from Friday, July 30, to Sunday, Aug. 1. Small but mighty, Norfolk is bubbling over with an astonishingly diverse array of activities, from hiking and boating to classical music to dance music to visual arts to farming (and of course eating). 

Originally, it was a winter WIN (Winter in Norfolk!). This is the summer edition, which will include self-guided tours of some notable architecture in town, including the Norfolk Library, the 1868 Soldiers Monument, the Romanesque Battell Chapel and the Battell Fountain. 

The Freedom Trail is another self-guided tour, which leads to the grave of slave James Mars (1790-1880), who fought for the rights of enslaved Blacks. He is buried in the Center Cemetery on Old Colony Road. Beside his grave is that of his father, Jupiter Mars, who served in the American Revolution. 

A different kind of self-guided outdoor walk is the Hike the Peaks Challenge: The dare is to hike all six of the Norfolk Land Trust peaks: Pine Mountain, East Summit Ridge, Beech Hill, Dennis Hill Gazebo Pavilion, and Haystack Mountain. 

There are guided tours as well, including one of the village Green, on Friday from 4 to 5 p.m. or Sunday from 2 to 3 p.m.; and an Historic Postcard Walk on Saturday from 11 a.m. to noon. All tours begin at the Norfolk Historical Society Museum. 

Warm up your leg muscles before your hikes with some dancing at Station Place on Friday starting at 5 p.m. with the Grantville Dawgs. The dancing continues on Saturday with Michael Cobb; he and his group will perform at Station Place. 

There will also be chamber music performances. 

Sunday is Farm Day with open days at Norfolk’s four farms: Husky Meadows, a certified organic farm will offer tours from 9 a.m. to  noon; Autumn Harvest Orchard  will welcome visitors from 2 to 4 p.m.; Lost Ruby Farm, a micro goat dairy creamery, is open to from 3 to 5 p.m.; and Broad Field Farm will allow peeks into the greenhouses where organic heirloom tomatoes and other produce are grown.

There is much more on the schedule, including fly-fishing, electric bike demonstrations and stained glass workshops; to get details, go to www.weekendinnorfolk.org.

And for those who can’t think of Norfolk in summer without thinking of the exceptionally good book sale at the town’s library, it will be held this year from Aug. 27 to 29. 

The hours are Friday, noon to 5 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. — and after 2 p.m. on Sunday, the remaining  books are free for anyone who wants them. There are often many, many volumes remaining at the end of the sale and the library appreciates having them taken to loving homes by bibliophiles. 

Norfolk, Conn., has it all, from dancing in the streets to chamber music, from hiking to boating to farming. It will all be open for public consumption during the Weekend in Norfolk, July 30 to Aug. 1. Photo courtesy Weekend in Norfolk

Photo courtesy Weekend in Norfolk

Norfolk, Conn., has it all, from dancing in the streets to chamber music, from hiking to boating to farming. It will all be open for public consumption during the Weekend in Norfolk, July 30 to Aug. 1. Photo courtesy Weekend in Norfolk