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Norma DeMay, left, has retired as library director of the Douglas Library in North Canaan. She is with her successor, Laura Moran.
Ruth Epstein
NORTH CANAAN — The Douglas Library exudes a warm, cozy feeling — thanks in large part to Director Norma DeMay, who for 28 years has welcomed visitors to the Main Street building. DeMay recently retired and was succeeded by Laura Moran, another familiar face who plans to continue that tradition.
DeMay recently reflected on the many changes during her tenure, particularly in technology. She recalls when the library had just one computer with dial-up internet. Since then, high-speed access and other innovations have arrived, allowing patrons to enjoy the same resources offered at larger libraries.
The library’s inviting atmosphere, — with its armchairs found among the nooks and crannies, and its extensive collection of books, magazines and audio materials, numbering about 20,000 volumes— is a focal point of the town.
While smaller than many of its counterparts in the Northwest Corner, the Douglas Library operates on a tight budget. It receives $100,000 annually from the town, which is supplemented with grants and revenues from fundraising. DeMay said understanding that North Canaan is not a wealthy town, and the mill rate is high, there were years she didn’t ask for an increase.
“I like to be frugal,” she said.
But that doesn’t preclude the library’s ability to have many of the offerings of a modern-day media center. It has Bibliomation, which is a non-profit consortium in Connecticut that provides a wide range of technical and automated services to its member libraries, such as shared online cataloging for searching and borrowing materials, IT support and a unified computer network for libraries across the state. The Canaan Foundation helps to fund this service.
It has the use of the interlibrary loan system, which enables readers to get books from other libraries. There are children’s programs, events for adults, Scrabble evenings and a book group. There’s a plan to add mah jong to the offerings. The upstairs houses the Charlie H. Pease Museum of Natural History featuring examples of taxidermied birds and animals.
Asked about what types of books circulate well, DeMay said prolific author Robert Patterson’s are always a favorite. Mysteries, literary fiction, works by foreign authors, especially British, and graphic novels for the young are all popular.
DeMay was raised in Wethersfield and graduated from the University of Connecticut as an art and English major. She’s taken some online library courses over the years. She plans to stay on to do the book ordering.
“I’ve loved my job,” she said, full of praise for her staff and board members. “I love chatting with the people who come in. And you can’t beat a 9-minute commute.” The mother of three, with a young granddaughter, plans to spend time with her family, read, garden and hopefully do some traveling.
The beginnings of a North Canaan library can be traced back to William Douglas, a bookworm of sorts, who, when he died in 1821, bequeathed $800 to the town to establish a library. According to Kathryn Boughton, town historian, he split the money, with $400 going for the purchase of books and $400 for an endowment to build a future collection. At that time, the books were housed in the old town hall, a building close to the Douglas home, near the entrance to Geer today. The Douglas Library became a true library in 1895, when books circulated free.
There is much history involving the library when Falls Village and North Canaan split in 1858. In 1890, Mrs. Edmund Lawrence erected a small brick building on Railroad Street. When that space became too small, Samuel Eddy negotiated the purchase of Hattie Peet’s house on Main Street which was given to the town with the provision that the municipality maintain it. Since 1927, Douglas Library has stood at that site.
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Open mic night rocks Music Lab
Nov 12, 2025
Musicians playing together Thursday evening, Nov. 6, at The Music Lab in North Canaan.
L. Tomaino
NORTH CANAAN — At The Music Lab Thursday, Nov. 6, the softly-lit, cozy space hosted 10 musicians with instruments including guitars, a banjo, an electric bass, a flute, keyboard and drums.
Every Thursday from 6:30 to 9 p.m. a dedicated group of local musicians enter through the back of the Lab at 93B Main Street for what is billed as Acoustic Night Live.
All musicians were welcome to participate. Other visitors are welcome to come and listen.
As Sean Claydon, founder and CEO, said, it is “really a musicians’ jam — pretty unique actually.”
The music was played indoors on this chilly November night, but Claydon has built an outdoor listening and performance area for warmer weather, leading into the Lab, with board flooring, a raised stage and colorful paint. On milder days, musicians play there too.
“Families come down, listen, hang out,” said Claydon.
They keep the sound to acoustic level and have reportedly never had any noise complaints — the opposite in fact, with neighbors enjoying what they hear.
The musicians played and sang each other’s original songs, working as a team, and played other songs too: Bob Dylan, Neil Young and The Grateful Dead.
Jason Tindall, who is in charge of Acoustic Night, led on guitar and many of the vocal parts.
The Lab also offers music lessons and can be rented for recording sessions, private parties and workshops.
“I enjoy it so much,” remarked Claydon. “Hanging out with kids and teaching them.” He also teaches adults and “anyone who is interested in learning.”
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Little Guild facility nears completion
Nov 12, 2025
Riley Klein
The Little Guild’s new animal shelter in West Cornwall is expected to open in January or February 2026. By early November, the exterior looked ready for winter.
KENT — A longstanding parking dispute between Elizabeth Street residents and antique auto restoration shop and dealership Motoriot may finally be coming to an end, First Selectman Marty Lindenmayer reported at the Board of Selectmen’s Nov. 5 meeting.
“I think we have worked out the issues that were really causing the problems at this point,” reported Lindenmayer, saying that he had received an email from Motoriot that evening that “[expressed] their interest in being a better business.” The concession from Motoriot comes after P&Z authorized a cease and desist order against the Bridge Street establishment on Oct. 28.
The conflict centered on Motoriot employees parking along Elizabeth Street during business hours, which residents said blocked mailboxes, left oil stains and caused traffic congestion during Kent Center School’s drop-off and pick-up times. At the Oct. 28 meeting, Alyssa Helm, president of the Riverview Condominium Homeowners Association on Elizabeth Street, said Motoriot owner Jason Doornick had been consistently rude and antagonistic when approached about the issue.
For his part, Doornick has argued that parking on Elizabeth Street is public, so his employees have the right to park there if they choose. Kent’s zoning regulations, however, state that a business must provide adequate parking for its employees and customers.
Land Use Administrator Tai Kern stated at that meeting that the issue has history: “I’ve tried for two years to bring him into compliance.”
Since the cease-and-desist order was issued, Doornick has been cooperative, Lindenmayer said, noting that the business owner has pledged to follow the parking plan outlined in Motoriot’s zoning permit, which designates specific on-site spaces for employees.
Lindenmayer said that he would remove temporary signs installed on Oct. 27 banning all parking on the northwestern side of Elizabeth Street, confident that the compliance from Motoriot will continue in the wake of the cease and desist order.
Selectman Glenn Sanchez stated his satisfaction with the outcome: “Too bad that it came to that but it had to.”
Selectman Lynn Mellis Worthington concurred, stating that she was “glad there’s cooperation.”
Swimming hole update
The BOS was joined by Housatonic River Commission Chair Jesse Klingebiel at the Nov. 5 meeting to discuss options to address an overcrowding issue at a North Kent Road swimming hole that ultimately left the popular riverfront spot closed for the latter part of the summer.
Klingebiel reported that grant funding through the HRC’s community grants program does exist for projects that promote “safe accessibility” to the river, and proposed several ideas to help mitigate the impacts of overuse and littering at the site, such as a gate with a hired attendant to monitor access to the site or an on-site dumpster.
The selectmen agreed that before any permanent solution can be sought, the various stakeholder groups of the site need to come together to work out a collective plan. The site and its access route are owned and managed by several interest groups: the town, the Kent Land Trust, the Housatonic Railroad, Eversource Energy, the Housatonic Valley Association and the state’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
DEEP has been particularly slow to respond, Lindenmayer reported, but was optimistic that he could get them in the room sometime over the winter for a productive discussion: “We’ll bang on the door.”
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