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Guests of the carnival at Bunny McGuire Park had a wide variety of rides to choose from, including a classic merry-go-round.
Photo by Simon Markow
NORTH CANAAN — Four days of festivities concluded Saturday, July 19, with the grand finale of Canaan Summer Nights.
The carnival first arrived at Bunny McGuire Park on Wednesday, kicking off North Canaan Event Committee’s new vision for summer activities in town.
What was previously known as Railroad Days was separated this year into two parts: Canaan Summer Nights in July; and Old Railroad Days Aug. 7 to 10.
Katelin Lopes and Tessa Dekker beneath the fireworks on Saturday, July 19.Photo by Simon Markow
In addition to the carnival last week, the Douglas Library hosted a Roaring 20s cocktail party (see story on Page A9) and the St. Martin of Tours Parish Church of St. Joseph hosted a barbecue chicken dinner on the lawn.
A mix of antique and modern fire engines from Canaan, Lakeville, Norfolk, Sharon, Winsted, Falls Village, Cornwall, Salisbury, and other regional departments paraded down Main Street in the Saturday evening sun. The town welcomed them with waves and applause. Shortly behind the rescue engines were local sports champions, tractors, racecars, trucks and “Ted’s Comedy Wagon” with an endless supply of jokes.
After the sun went down, the crowd only got bigger. At around 9:30 p.m. the fireworks show began and everyone that was lined up for a ride or cotton candy turned to watch. The lucky few at the top of the Ferris wheel got the best view. The fireworks were a token of gratitude for the support of local businesses, vendors, the fire department and to parents carrying prize stuffed animals larger than the children that won them.
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Supported by a $250,000 LEAP grant in late June, the 5,200-acre acquisition of a permanent conservation easement by the Kent-based Northwest Connecticut Land Conservancy protects the land surrounding the Colebrook Reservoir, the state’s largest remaining untapped drinking water reservoir.
Photo by Debra A. Aleksinas
Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont (D) announced July 15 that the state is awarding $14.3 million in Open Space and Watershed Land Acquisition (OSWA) grants to protect 2,270 acres across 22 towns.
The grants, administered to land conservation groups by the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), include five properties in the Northwest Connecticut towns of Cornwall, Kent, Salisbury and Sharon, encompassing more than 400 acres with awards totaling more than $3 million.
Trio of grants for NCLC
The Northwest Connecticut Land Conservancy (NCLC) has received three significant grant awards to support the acquisition and permanent protection of three properties essential for public recreation and ecological resilience, totaling 5,425 acres. A $1.3 million grant through OSWA leads a trio of recent awards supporting land conservation in Connecticut. The other two grants, totaling $348,500, were awarded by the Connecticut Land Conservation Council’s Land Easement and Acquisition Program (LEAP).
According to NCLC, together, these grants underscore the strong and widespread commitment of public agencies, private organizations, and local communities to conserving natural and working agricultural lands.
Properties being protected include Surdan Mountain Preserve in Sharon, the Colebrook Reservoir Conservation Easement and the Strauss Morrisey Preserve Expansion in Sherman.
The properties provide critical habitat for rare, threatened and endangered species by safeguarding clean water sources, supporting natural wildlife corridors and offering new public access to nature.
With the $1.3M award from OSWA, the protection of the 108-acre Surdan Mountain parcel, which adjoins the 2,200-mile Appalachian Trail corridor, will be accessible to all when the preserve opens to the public.
The property includes a dramatic scenic view stretching 20 miles to the summit of Bear Hill, the highest peak in Connecticut; to the peak of Mount Frissell in Massachusetts, and Mount Race in New York State.
The Colebrook Reservoir Conservation Easement was supported by a $250,000 LEAP grant award. The 5,200-acre acquisition of a permanent conservation easement on this parcel protects Connecticut’s largest remaining untapped drinking water reservoir, which directly feeds the designated National Wild and Scenic Farmington River.
“We are incredibly grateful to all our partners for helping to make these acquisitions possible, especially during a time of funding uncertainty,” said NCLC Executive Director Catherine Rawson. “These acquisitions are a big win for our environment and communities.”
A pair of grants
in Cornwall
The Cornwall Conservation Trust earned two OSWA grants, one in the amount of $122,200 for its 41.78-acre Cobble Forest project, and a second, $195,000 grant for its 90-acre Furnace Brook Forest project.
The Cobble Forest property boasts a scenic ridgeline containing Heffers Brook, a high-quality cold-water stream that flows into Mill Brook, a tributary of the Housatonic River. The property rises 330 feet from Heffers Brook along its frontage, up to the rocky slopes of The Cobble. The purchase will create a 332-acre forest lock including Cornwall Conservation Trust’s Day Preserve, Walker Preserve and the Housatonic State Forest.
Furnace Brook is a forested ridgeline parcel on the slopes of Dean Hill, across the road from Wyantenock State Forest. It links to the conservation trust’s Furnace Brook Preserve, a 2018 OSWA grant. The Housatonic Heritage Area’s Hou-Bike trail and Housatonic Covered Bridge trail pass along the property frontage.
Shelley Harms, executive director of Cornwall Conservation Trust, noted that the state’s open space grant program makes it possible for local land trusts to purchase important conservation lands and for landowners to achieve their conservation goals.
“We are so lucky. We live in this beautiful area, and we have a state that invests in protecting our precious forests and streams and wildlife,” said Harms. “With the help of these two state grants, Cornwall Conservation Trust is buying two properties upstream from the Housatonic River within a loop formed by the Mohawk Trail and the Appalachian Trail, part of a gorgeous scenic area and connected to other preserved land.
“People can admire those forested ridges from many points in Cornwall,” she noted, “and when the hiking trails are created, people can immerse themselves in nature and hike up to overlooks where they can enjoy the whole panorama.”
Protecting Kent’s
agricultural history
The Kent Land Trust received a $422,500 OSWA grant for its 62.2-acre Halsted Lovig Property project on Camp Flat Road.
The property in southern Kent bordering New Milford is iconic to Kent’s agricultural past. For several decades it was a humus farm but has been vacant for the past quarter-century. The Kent Land Trust plans to create a recreational resource and protect its critical ecological functions.
The property is exceptional for recreation, nestled between two popular trail systems enabling trail connectivity along a roadway convenient to Kent’s Center on the main route of the Western New England Greenway ad Hou-Bike Walk Trails.
The property also contains diverse wetlands and spring-fed open pools, with data suggesting these habitats support at least seven avian species in great need of protection.
Grant targets Salisbury’s Miles Mountain
The Salisbury Association, Inc., received a $886,600 OSWA grant for its 163.59-acre Miles Mountain project. “Ours was one of the larger ones,” said John Landon, committee chair for the Salisbury Association Land Trust. “We felt pretty secure,” he said of the grant submission,” but it’s official now.”
The property on Weatogue Road is easterly of Tom’s Hill, a previous Salisbury Association OSWA-acquired property. It is subject to a 57-acre conservation easement held by Trustees of Reservations, so the DEEP OSWA conservation easement will encumber 163.59 acres, which surrounds the already preserved parcel on three sides.
An LLC comprising community members had formed to protect Miles Mountain from development until the land trust could raise enough funds to purchase the land from the LLC.
Landon said OSWA will fund up to 65% of the purchase price, and he is optimistic that a Federal Highlands Grant will cover most of the balance, “very similar to the Tom’s Hill scenario,” which was also protected from development by a conservation-minded group of community members which formed an LLC to protect that land.
“From large tracts of land to small pocket parks, this group of projects benefits a variety of communities across the state,” said DEEP Commissioner Katie Dykes, who noted that since the state’s open space program began in 1998, more than $190 million in state funding has been awarded to municipalities, nonprofit land conservation groups and water companies to assist in the protection of more than 48,000 acres of publicly accessible land.
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Bunny Williams, right, and Betsy Smith
Photo by James Gillispie
LAKEVILLE — The Lakeville Journal and The Millerton News will award the 2025 Estabrook Community Leadership Award to Bunny Williams at a Jubilee celebration on Oct. 12 at the Grove in Lakeville. The award is presented to honor outstanding leadership in community service, as exemplified by Mary Lou and Robert Estabrook. Betsy Smith of Sharon is serving as Chair of the event.
As a successful design professional, Bunny Williams of Falls Village is an active and prominent supporter of a wide range of community organizations that provide essential services throughout our towns. According to Williams, “We live in not only the most beautiful part of the country, but in a community of such generous people who help make these events so successful. I think we all feel we want to do what we can to help support the things we care so much about. I am humbled by this honor by The Lakeville Journal and The Millerton News, our connection to knowing what is happening in the community .”
Twenty-five years ago, Williams was instrumental in starting Trade Secrets, a popular event featuring the sale of rare plants and garden antiques, along with a garden tour.The proceeds benefit Project Sage, a nonprofit domestic violence agency serving Northwest Connecticut and the surrounding communities in New York and Massachusetts. She has also hosted events for local libraries, has been a supporter of the Falls Village Daycare Center, and Music Mountain. Five years ago, she started The County Mutt Show as a fund raiser for The Little Guild, which also has a 5K fundraising race named for her. Williams created an artisan’s collective in Falls Village, 100 Main, that features the work of area artists and makers, and she was involved in the 2010 restoration of the Falls Village Inn, a landmark built in 1843.
According to Betsy Smith, Chair of the Jubilee, “Bunny is a force of nature!She has made a tremendous difference in this area, with her creativity and devotion to community, which is exactly what the Estabrook Award was designed to celebrate.”
The award was inspired by Mary Lou and Robert Estabrook, who were owners of the papers from 1970-1986, and later, dedicated board members. Committed to public service, they believed that independent, quality news was only one way to serve the community, and they honored the efforts of their fellow townspeople who ran businesses, volunteered for non-profit work and were active in local government. During their tenure, the papers flourished and Robert Estabrook’s local editorials were twice nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.
Tickets will be available for purchase Aug. 1.
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Lakeville swimmer heads to nationals
Jul 23, 2025
Phoebe Conklin, of Lakeville, is a rising freshman at Housatonic Valley Regional High School.
Photo by Riley Klein
LAKEVILLE — Later this month, Phoebe Conklin, 14, will swim in three events at the YMCA National Long Course Swimming Championships in Ocala, Florida.
The decorated swimmer has been racking up records for the past few years with the Northwest Connecticut YMCA Lasers Swim Team. Now in her third season with the team, Conklin qualified for nationals in the 50-meter freestyle, 100-meter freestyle and 100-meter butterfly.
“I’m excited to get to a new level of swimmers,” said Conklin before a recent practice at the Winsted YMCA pool.
To make nationals, she met the qualifying time standards for each event.
“The qualifying times are designed for 18-year-olds,” said Lasers coach Dave Steel. “For a 14-year-old... just to make the meet is an accomplishment.”
Steel has coached Conklin since she was 10. “She broke one of the team records her second week on the team and she’s been breaking records ever since.”
When asked who she looks up to in the swimming world, Conklin pointed to her two teammates that also qualified for the national meet: Elias Krukar of Goshen and Anthony Ficalora of New Hartford. Both are 17 years old and have been with the Lasers since 2016.
“They always push me, and they always encourage me to make sure I’m the best I can be,” said Conklin.
Krukar will compete in the 50- and 100-meter freestyle and Ficalora qualified for the 100-meter backstroke.
“They’re two rabbits for her to chase,” said Steel, noting that three Florida-bound swimmers is a single-season record for the Lasers.
With nationals scheduled for July 28 to Aug. 2, the athletes were utilizing their remaining practice time to fine tune mechanics.
“The whole season we’ve been conditioning. Now towards the end we’re doing more technique like hand placement in the water,” said Ficalora.
From left, Anthony Ficalora, Phoebe Conklin and Elias Krukar qualified for the national YMCA swim meet.Photo by Riley Klein
“And how our bodies are moving through the water,” Krukar added.
“We’re all sprinters so we’re at the point where it’s like the tiny stuff we need to change about our race,” Conklin explained.
Conklin graduated Salisbury Central School last month and is heading to Housatonic Valley Regional High School this fall. Her parents, Megan and John, both work at Salisbury Central and brother Hunter is a rising senior at HVRHS.
Megan Conklin, first grade teacher at SCS, said she was overjoyed when her daughter qualified for the national meet. “I was at The Boathouse and John called me with her time. I had to go out in the driveway because I was sobbing, I was so excited,” she said. “This has been her dream.”
Northwest Connecticut YMCA Chief Executive Officer Brian Ohler congratulated the three swimmers on their accomplishments and praised coach Steel for the success of the program.
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