Last week I shared with you my background prior to my arrival in Winsted. So how did I get to Winsted?After my termination from Davison, Mich., I made the decision that, based upon the terrible economic situation in Michigan, I would, for the first time in my career, look for employment in another state.The primary impetus for this decision was my three daughters. With my ex-wife remaining in Michigan for the foreseeable future, the girls would always have educational and employment opportunities in that state. If I moved to a different state, I could perhaps develop additional such opportunities for them elsewhere.I used the resources of my professional organization, the International City/County Managers Association (ICMA), to primarily apply to smaller communities throughout the country.In addition to manager positions in the smaller communities, I also applied for assistant manager or other staff positions in larger communities. All in all, I probably applied to close to 120 communities, typically competing against another 50 to 100 other applicants.I was selected for interviews in several communities: Thorne Bay, Ala.; St. Clair, Mo.; Greenwood, Del.; Hoyt Lakes, Min.; Orono, Maine; Windcrest, Texas; New Buffalo, Mich.; Cheboygan, Mich.; and Bellow Falls, Vt.Traveling to those communities was fascinating. In some instances I flew, but I enjoyed driving to many of the towns. Sitting in the various restaurants and listening to the people talk, I found it interesting that many of the issues are common despite the distances between everyone: lack of confidence in the federal and state governments, medical costs, retirement savings and costs, personal finances.From that perspective, Winsted is not unique: Others everywhere are struggling with so many of the same issues.What was most surprising, and, again, not unique to Winsted, is the excitement and optimism that exists at the local level. Yes, significant differences exist everywhere, but, for the most part, local people strongly believe that their community will be fine and that prosperity will return.My first impressions when I visited those communities were telling. In some of the towns, I knew immediately that something was not connecting with me, and that it would not be a good fit for me. That was not to say that the communities were bad — far from it. Nearly all of them were solid and successful. My gut instinct, though, said keep looking. In only one or two instances was I truly disappointed to have not been selected for final consideration.I had previously responded to the Winsted notice seeking town manager applicants, but had not been selected for further review (due to my out-of-state background). When I saw the position re-posted, I re-emphasized my desire to serve in a setting like Winchester, and, this time, I was invited to an online interview with the Board of Selectmen.That was in early February, and I was also scheduled for a visit and interview in Bellows Falls, Vt. My brother had just secured a job working with 20th Century-Fox in Greenwich, and he was residing in Danbury. I drove to his place for Super Bowl weekend. Then, on my drive north to Vermont on the following Monday, I made my first visit to Winsted.I found the setting very attractive, but I didn’t feel a strong draw at the time. I could envision many re-development opportunities and partnerships, but something just didn’t connect. I received a quick tour of Town Hall and met several staff in passing, but as I left and headed north to Vermont, I remember telling some friends that my first impression was nothing remarkable.After my online interview, I was invited to return for a formal interview. It was during this interview that I began to feel a sense of enthusiasm and optimism in the community. I was given tours that showed me many of the town’s assets and strengths. I became excited about serving the community and living in such a beautiful area.When I was offered the position, I had other interviews scheduled in both Wisconsin and Iowa. The opportunity here required a relatively immediate response. I accepted the offer and, with no afterthoughts or regrets, I cancelled my remaining interviews and began preparations to move to Connecticut.I have met many of you, and look forward to meeting more. Nearly everyone cautions me about the political environment here — that I will get frustrated and leave.I hope my enthusiasm and passion for my adopted town is evident. It is truly genuine. I want to be a part of this community for a long time, and I look forward to building upon the strengths, overcoming the challenges, and making Winchester an even more attractive and wonderful place to live, work, and play.P.S. Happy Mother’s Day, Mom. Dale Martin is the town manager of Winchester.
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Meg Sher, executive director of the David M. Hunt Library in Falls Village.
“I was a library kid. I walked to the library after school,” she said.
For Sher, the library is as much about the people as it about the books.
“Part of the job I love so much is that running the library is such a community,” she said.
She treasures the relationships she has built, whether recommending books, celebrating accomplishments or helping patrons through difficult times.
“I am thankful that our community is so supportive of the library, unlike what is happening in some other places where librarians are villainized,” Sher said.
Sher takes pride in the Hunt Library’s reputation for being “open and welcoming to everyone. People come in and see things and get pulled into things they weren’t expecting. Our library is seen as a positive force.”
Sher came to Falls Village after being awarded a fellowship at Adamah Farm, then a program of the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center. She worked at pickling, in the greenhouse and later in the development office. She also worked as a nanny.
At the same time, “I was in the library all the time,” she recalled. “I’m a voracious reader. The library is where I met a lot of my first friends in Falls Village.”
She became assistant librarian at Hunt and worked in that position for almost a decade before becoming the executive director four years ago.
Meg Sher, executive director of the David M. Hunt Library in Falls Village.L. Tomaino
Sher met her husband, Adam, while working at Adamah. They had their wedding there in 2012. He now emcees many events which she co-organizes with the Falls Village Recreation Commission.
Sher and her family live near the library.
“It’s an easy commute,” she said with a smile. “My kids run back and forth. I can go home to walk the dog if I need to.”
“My kids have grown up here.” Her oldest son, Eli, “loves volunteering. He helps with Augustfest and often helps set up chairs for ArtWall gatherings.” Her younger son, Noah, is often at events and was eager to taste cookies at last year’s holiday cookie swap.
When she is not at the library, Sher likes to hike with her family. Bella, their Portuguese water dog, often accompanies them.
Sher enjoys seeking out people to offer events at the library.
“I do a lot of different community programming. It is one of my favorite parts of the job.”
Augustfest, featuring food, music and an auction, is the library’s biggest fundraiser.
“This summer we had a record 152 attendees, which was pretty incredible.”
Yonah Sadeh, a filmmaker from Falls Village, inaugurated the VideoWall this year, Sher explained.
“I’ve known Yonah since he was two. It’s wonderful to work with him as an adult.”
The VideoWall complements the library’s ArtWall, which showcases a new artist each month. Sher praised the ArtWall committee for its work and highlighted December’s popular “12x12 Show,” featuring works by local artists, each measuring 12 by 12 inches and priced at $150.
Sher added that some of the artists who exhibit at the ArtWall offer workshops to students at Kellogg School, next door to the library. In September, artist Danielle Mailer worked with the children. Vincent Inconiglios taught a class last November.
Being next to the school, said Sher, is a great advantage.
“Kids are coming after school, to see friends, work on projects, find a great book. Kids that love the library end up using the library as grownups.”
This past year, in partnership with Adamah, the library and school created a garden, with excess produce made available at The Center on Main.
This year is Sher’s second year participating in the Troutbeck Symposium in Amenia with James King, director of the library at Salisbury School. The Troutbeck Symposium is “a gathering of a year of student historical inquiry across the region” in which students “uncover stories that have been overlooked, forgotten, or never recorded.”
Last year, Sher and King began a project with a group of students researching Irish immigrants in Falls Village, exploring ancestry and creating small magazines about their findings.
They continued this year, visiting St. Patrick’s Catholic Cemetery on Dublin Road, cleaning seven gravestones and even righting one with the help of stonemason and gravestone restoration expert Karl Munson. Paul Kozeazny, a representative of the Catholic archdiocese, helped secure access to the site.
A film documenting their activities will be shown at the symposium in spring 2027.
A full schedule of programs and events, ranging from tech help to ceramic mug-making, can be found on the library’s website.
Despite spending her days surrounded by books, and a busy schedule of programming, Sher still loves to settle in with a book at home.
For more information on library programs and events, visit huntlibrary.org
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Touré was born in northern Mali in 1981. His father, the renowned guitarist Ali Farka Touré, came from a family of soldiers and wanted his son to join the army. The younger Touré studied drums and the calabash and practiced guitar in secret. He earned his father’s blessing to pursue music shortly before Ali died in 2006, and they played two tracks together on Vieux’s debut album.
Touré is known for his deft, polyrhythmic playing, and his songs grow out of riffs that repeat and layer to hypnotic effect. He draws on rock, blues, Latin music and various African traditions. This distinctive blend builds on his father’s work adapting the sonic traditions of Mali’s arid north to the guitar.
Vieux’s album “Mon Pays” (“My Country,” 2013) honored Mali’s culture after Tuareg separatists and extremist groups seized the north in 2012. “Samba” (2017) was recorded before about 50 listeners in Woodstock, New York. In 2022 came “Les Racines” (“The Roots”), a return to his father’s desert blues, and “Ali,” on which he and the trio Khruangbin reworked eight of the elder Touré’s songs.
Touré leads the Ali Farka Touré Foundation, which focuses on cultural and educational work in Mali. Around the anniversary of Ali’s death, it holds a festival in Bamako, Mali’s capital. Bamako has been under blockade for much of the past year, besieged by JNIM, an al-Qaeda affiliate. Against this backdrop, Touré continues to carry the music of Mali to audiences abroad.
At the Nov. 5 concert, Touré’s desert blues will share the bill with Gnawa, the music LanGus plays, which developed in Morocco among West Africans who were brought north across the desert as enslaved people. Gnawa is religious music traditionally performed at all-night healing ceremonies called lila, intended to carry participants into trance.
Samir LanGusProvided
LanGus was born and raised outside Agadir, Morocco, and began learning Gnawa from its masters at age 8. He plays the sintir, a three-stringed bass lute made of wood and camel skin. The player strikes a low string with the thumb to create a deep, resonant pulse. Iron castanets clatter over the sintir’s bass line, and vocalists trade call-and-response refrains.
LanGus infuses the tradition with jazz and improvisation. In New York, he founded the ensemble Innov Gnawa. His first solo album, “Gnawa Love,” came out in February.
Touré and LanGus’s Nov. 5 concert is one of the last public events at Race Brook Lodge, which is for sale and ended full-service operations at the end of 2025. The lodge’s final scheduled event, on Nov. 6, is an evening of Rumi’s poetry with translator and vocalist Haleh Liza Gafori, cellist Isabel Castellvi and ceremonial bard James Bird.
For tickets, visit rblodge.com.
James FitzGerald is a student at Yale Law School, where he focuses on ecological restoration and international environmental cooperation. He splits his time between Lakeville and New Haven.
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