NORTH CANAAN — By producing 2 billion disposable plastic syringes a year, BD’s (Becton Dickinson and Company) North Canaan plant has the potential to touch a quarter of the world’s population.
“And that’s just out of this one factory alone,” said Dustin Andersen, plant director of the 400,000-square-foot manufacturing plant on Grace Way off rural Route 63.
“I tell all the new hires when they come in, we make 6 million syringes a day, which means every person in the state of Connecticut could come into this factory, we could give them a syringe every day, and still have millions left over to distribute,” noted Andersen, who oversees operations at the 60-year-old facility, which spans 10 acres under one roof.
“When you’re working for a company that has that kind of impact, it really stands for something.”
BD is one of a handful of manufacturers in the state’s bucolic Northwest Corner making a significant impact locally and globally by stimulating the economy, providing jobs for the community, launching innovative technology and embracing renewable resources.
In addition to BD, a handful of other major manufacturers in the Northwest Corner with a global scope include:
— The Lakeville-based ITW (Illinois Tool Works) Seats & Motion Division within the ITW Automotive Segment, which molds and assembles 45 million headrest guides per year for Ford and Toyota vehicles throughout North America and Venezuela.
— CowPots, one of three businesses owned and operated by the multigenerational Freund family farm in East Canaan, where tens of millions of eco-friendly flowerpots made from composted manure have been manufactured over the past 27 years using the longest continuously operating methane digester in the country.
— Hutzler Manufacturing, a four-generation family-owned and -operated business in North Canaan that has been designing and producing housewares since 1938, including innovative utensils for several popular fast-food giants.
“Rural manufacturers are a critical piece of Connecticut’s overall economy and their products impact lives around the world,” said Chris DiPentima, resident and CEO of the Connecticut Business and Industry Association (CBIA).
They are also “critical to local economic development, supporting and revitalizing local communities not only through the hundreds of millions in state and local taxes that they pay, but also because they create five additional jobs in other parts of the state’s economy for every one manufacturing job, and generate $2.60 in additional economic activity for every $1 spent in manufacturing.”
Those are huge multipliers, said DiPentima, “equivalent to what Silicon Valley experienced with the tech-sector boom — and high wage careers with the average Connecticut manufacturing salary at $92,633, 36% higher than the national average and 14% more than the state’s average salary.”
Courtesy of BD
Dustin Andersen is the plant director at BD Canaan, which is the largest employer in the Northwest Corner, with more than 400 employees.
Innovation transformed BD
The first wave of disposable plastic syringes were manufactured out of BD’s North Canaan facility in 1961 in its original 25,000-square-foot-building, manned by eight associates. The innovation soon transformed BD by replacing traditional glass syringes to ensure more sterile conditions.
“The PlastiPak syringe was really what put us on the map,” said Andersen.
One year later, BD purchased a 77-acre tract of land and broke ground for the construction of a 55,000-square-foot state-of-the-art plant, and since then, has expanded the North Canaan facility eight times, for a total of 360,000 square feet.
Until you’ve toured the plant, it’s difficult to comprehend the scale of the operation.
The operation is a vital facility for the BD Medical -Medical Surgical Systems unit of its parent, Becton Dickinson and Company, which was founded in 1897 and is headquartered in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey.
About 400 employees work at the North Canaan facility, making it the largest employer and taxpayer in the Northwest Corner.
“Everybody around here knows somebody who is working at BD,” Andersen explained.
Jeanine Hodgekiss, BD’s customer complaint and validation quality manager and a second-generation associate, noted that the “quality” within the facility extends far beyond the products produced.
“I’ve been at BD for 34 years, and my dad worked there over 30 years,” said Hodgekiss “When people think of quality, they think of the product. But BD also provides the quality of life.”
Steve Furth is the plant manager at ITW Seats & Motion Division in Lakeville, which manufactures automobile headrest guides for Ford and Toyota. Debra A. Aleksinas
Building a ‘model factory’ in Lakeville
The odds are that anyone who owns a Toyota Tacoma pickup truck is driving around with a plastic component tucked into the vehicle’s headrest that was molded by ITW’s Seats & Motion Division in Lakeville. Ditto for Ford vehicles on the road today.
The global operation takes place in a commercial building adjacent to the Lakeville Hose Company, where plastic headrest guides, a key safety component in automobiles, are produced by 38 molding and 15 assembly machines in the 20,000-square-foot plant.
“We make them for 98% of the Fords that are built in North America,” said Steve Furth, the operation’s plant manager, during a recent tour of the totally automated facility.
“Toyota is getting close to Ford” in terms of production, said Furth as he pointed out the five molding machines and three assembly machines pumping out and assembling headrest guides for Tacoma vehicles. “We ship 100,000 parts a week.”
As he spoke, the machines whirred as they completed various steps of the process, work that up until about three years ago, was done primarily through manual labor.
To keep up with the volume, for several years, ITW rented warehouse space in Millerton, New York, for storage, packing and shipping. Now, the entire process takes place in Lakeville.
“Three years ago, the company decided it was time to do what we call ‘model factory,’” said Furth, which improved efficiency through automation but resulted in the closing of the Millerton site and downsizing the workforce from 50 to about 35.
“It did take some jobs away, but it improved our efficiency tenfold. We now produce about 45 million parts per year.”
Furth, who has been employed by ITW for 15 years, marveled that even though ITW global has 35 locations worldwide with an estimated 28,000 employees, that a modest plant in rural Lakeville is part of that world-wide success.
“How this little factory got started in this area up here, nobody knows, but here we are.
”‘Dirty Jobs,’ the pandemic, fueled CowPots
Tucked away on a winding dirt road behind the Freund family farm’s dairy operation and farm market and bakery, is a manufacturing plant that molds eco-friendly flowerpots made from composted manure.
On a recent visit to the operation, Amanda Freund, third generation of the family farm, manages the CowPots operation with her father, Matt Freund. The second-generation Freund, with help from a friend with an engineering background, designed the technology used to mold dried manure into flower pots as an alternative to peat pots, which take longer to biodegrade.
Diversification, said Amanda Freund, was a saving grace when the pandemic hit in 2020. The family’s 300-cow dairy operation was in ”crisis mode,” she recalled, as demand for milk dried up when schools, restaurants and other customers closed shop.
But at the same time, “everyone was home, and gardening blew up,” and demand for CowPots skyrocketed.
In 2007, CowPots gained “incredible national exposure” when it was featured not only on “Larry King Live,” but also in a segment of “Dirty Jobs” with Mike Rowe.
“It was incredible national exposure, with reruns in 125 countries to this day, which I can always track by the spike in visits to my website,” Freund noted.
The CowPots operation maintains a health permit with the USDA to be able to export product to the European Union, and Freund said she is two to three years into a discussion with a company in Australia “that has begun the process of licensing our technology and some form of royalties.”
“With 500 million tons of plastic per year produced from the horticultural industry,” she said, “we’re pushing to be part of the solution.”
An engineering breakthrough
Also on Grace Way in North Canaan, across from BD, is the Hutzler Manufacturing Company Inc., a four-generation, family-owned and -operated manufacturer and worldwide distributor of high-quality housewares since 1938.
According to the company’s website, in the 1970s, Hutzler made the engineering breakthrough that fiberglass can give additional strength that was lacking from traditional nylon. They used this knowledge to produce fiberglas-reinforced nylon utensils, “which are still used today by McDonalds, Burger King and Pizza Hut.”
Company officials did not respond to requests for comment.
Transportation challenges and solutions
While the sight and sounds of big rigs rumbling around the Northwest Corner may annoy some, transportation costs can be expensive and compounded in rural areas where trucks need to make special trips, said Cow-Pots’ Freund.
“There is great value to us, being a small manufacturer in the community, and having the larger companies like BD make a lot of shipping trips, with the trucks coming and going,” she explained. As transportation frequency increases in the area, said Freund, it helps to lower her transportation costs.
CBIA’s DiPentima noted that rural manufacturers struggle with employees’ transportation needs.
“One thing we have heard from the rural manufacturers is that there is not much of it for their employees, especially for what is referred to as the ‘last mile,’ meaning employees can get to a train or bus hub but have challenges getting to their workplace from there.”
Transportation along with housing, child care and cost of health insurance are top issues that CBIA hears from businesses and are at the center of its 2024 legislative policy solutions, said DiPentima.
This article has been updated to reflect the correct name of the PlastiPak syringe and the location of Franklin Lakes, New Jersey.
A Life Star helicopter lands on the front lawn of Housatonic Valley Regional High School on Saturday, May 16, to transport a motorcycle crash victim to a hospital.
Life Star arrived at the high school at approximately 2 p.m., where a crowd gathered to watch the helicopter land as the Lakeville-based Blue Studio dance recital was about to begin. The crash victim was transferred from an ambulance to the helicopter shortly after it landed before being transported to Hartford Hospital, according to a member of the Lakeville Hose Company who assisted with the landing.
Fire departments, police and EMS personnel remained on scene during the response.
Connecticut State Police said the crash occurred around 1 p.m. and involved a car and motorcycle, but did not release additional details. A state police spokesperson said the roads reopened quickly and described the injury as minor.
However, Chris Ohmen, a volunteer firefighter with the Lakeville Hose Company who was at the scene, said the “injuries warranted a Life Star transport” and that he was directed to “clear the area and set up a landing zone.”
The incident marks the second serious crash in two days in the area. A van crashed into a utility pole on Route 112 less than 24 hours earlier, causing road closures and traffic delays. The driver of that crash was transported to a hospital with serious injuries.
A motorcycle crash victim was transferred from an ambulance to a Life Star helicopter shortly after 2 p.m. Saturday, May 16, before being transported to Hartford Hospital, according to an emergency responder. lakevillejournal.com
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Heavy stone garden ornaments, a specialty of Judy Milne Antiques from Kingston, at Trade Secrets 2025.
Van Ginhoven points to towers of boxes containing event programs, various ribbons, elegant decor and stacks of magazines, all in preparation for the event.
Project SAGE will celebrate its 26th year hosting Trade Secrets, but it’s so much more than a garden event.
“It’s a fundraiser for domestic violence prevention and intervention,” van Ginhoven said. “Anybody who attends knows they’re supporting a really meaningful and important cause.”
The fundraiser accounts for at least 30 percent of the organization’s overall budget, she said, and attracts around 3,000 people from across the region each year, creating an unmatched opportunity for Project SAGE to share its mission and generate support.
The event, though expensive to produce, generates enough income to significantly support Project SAGE’s direct services and prevention services.
Officials said a wave of new underwriters have emerged this year.
“We’re very grateful, because we live in a time when funding is uncertain,” van Ginhoven said.
Hundreds of copies of the annual Trade Secrets guide sat at Project SAGE headquarters, ready for distribution at the event. The book doubles as a domestic violence resource, complete with warning signs, myth-busting information and scripts for difficult conversations.
Volunteers will be present throughout the event to connect with community members. Each volunteer must be certified as a domestic violence counselor in order to work with Project SAGE.
“It means they can help us drive clients, move clients, take them to appointments or the grocery store,” van Ginhoven said.
Project SAGE officials said education about domestic violence should start early. The organization has developed a comprehensive curriculum spanning early childhood through grade 12 and visits schools throughout the region. The class of 2026 will be the first graduating class at Housatonic Valley Regional High School to have received all four years of training from Project SAGE.
Martha Stewart signing her new book at Trade Secrets 2025.Christine Bates
The organization’s partnerships extend throughout the region and include on-site training in schools and nonprofit organizations, including the Sharon Playhouse. Community support also goes directly to Project SAGE, including a recently donated array of colorful gift bags bearing positing affirmations and filled with toiletries and basic necessities from students at the Frederick Gunn School in Washington, Connecticut.
The people who visit Project SAGE have often left uncomfortable or dangerous situations and leave without any belongings.
“Some of them have nothing,” van Ginhoven said. “They just show up because they had the courage to leave.”
Project SAGE staff say many referrals come through local hospitals, police and sister agencies.
The organization serves people in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York.
With the stress of event planning mounting, van Ginhoven spent a “previous life” preparing for this exact moment. She spent 30 working at the intersection of arts and activism, having co-founded WAM Theatre, a Lenox-based organization focused on stories and issues affecting those who self-identify as women and girls. During her tenure, WAM donated $100,000 to 25 local and global organizations working toward gender equity in areas such as girls’ education, teen pregnancy prevention, gender-based violence, sexual trafficking awareness and midwife training.
“I love the adrenaline of putting on a show,” van Ginhoven said with a laugh. With the help of volunteers and organizers, she said she isn’t bothered by the stress.
“The show will go on,” she said.
Caroline Kinsolving and Gary Capozzielo at home in Salisbury with their dogs, Petruchio and Beatrice
“We met during the pandemic, a bleak time,” Kinsolving said. “On our first date, we met at The Hickory Stick Bookshop and walked outside six feet apart. We fell in love.”
They lived in a tiny studio near Averill Farm in Washington, Connecticut.
“He played his violin, I worked on my lines, we walked the dog, and suddenly we were circling each other perfectly,” Capozziello said with a laugh. “When I told her I was a violinist, she mentioned ‘Appalachian Spring’ by Aaron Copland. I sent her a recording of me playing it, and it became our song.”
“For our wedding, we wanted all our friends and family out in the field listening to that music,” Kinsolving said. Capozziello’s friends from Orchestra New England performed the piece at their wedding.
“Circus Fire,” written by Connecticut’s own Jacques Lamarre and directed by Jared Mezzocchi, is a multimedia world-premiere tribute to the Hartford Circus Fire. On July 6, 1944, the big top of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus caught fire, killing 167 and injuring 700 in Connecticut’s worst fire disaster.
Capozziello, who grew up in Fairfield, began: “I came from very limited means, though my parents gave me the kind of support that mattered most. I had a hard time in school. My music teachers, noticing my knack for music, kept me in school.” As he became a teenager, he realized how demanding classical violin truly is. “I had the honor of playing in a master class for Isaac Stern when I was 18,” he said. “That was the wake-up call. He was relentless with my intonation, telling me I must ‘feel the fire in my belly.’”
At SUNY Purchase, he “met a wonderful violin teacher who taught me to play, study and practice five hours a day.” After studying at the New England Conservatory, Capozziello earned his doctorate from The Hartt School in 2018. He now teaches at The Hotchkiss School and performs with the Hartford Symphony.
He explained that his role as assistant concertmaster is the direct line between conductor and musicians, and that the orchestra is “a family dynamic, a democratic unit, truly a living, breathing organism.”
Caroline Kinsolving and Gary Capozzielo Jennifer Almquist
On May 2, Capozziello was soloist with Orchestra New England, performing the world premiere of Neely Bruce’s “Concerto for Violin,” along with “The River” by Jan Swafford and Aaron Copland’s “Appalachian Spring” at Battell Chapel at Yale.
“I care about bringing classical music into communities and spaces where people may not expect it,” said Capozziello.“Music is most powerful to me when it feels alive, humanand accessible, not distant or formal.”
For 20 years, Kinsolving has acted in film, television and theater in London, New York and Los Angeles. “I was first onstage at Washington Montessori School playing Peter Pan,” she said. “I improvised a line, got a laugh and liked the feeling.”
She enjoys performing Shakespeare. “I love Titania’s monologue because it speaks to our current climate crisis. Lady Macbeth surprised me. I fell in love with her while I was doing it. I could play those scenes forever; so much range and depth to explore,” she said.
Kinsolving added, “I love Shakespeare’s comedies for the fun and rhythm. I have loved Rosalind, Viola, Olivia, Helena and Kate, yet the top of my bucket list is Beatrice. Each character reflects a shade of my soul. Shakespeare had the brilliance to illuminate them. If I ever get a tattoo, it will be a list of their names.”
Kinsolving, whose parents, poet Susan Kinsolving and author William Kinsolving, live in Lakeville, studied at Milton Academy, universities in China, and Vassar College. Her theater training includes Stella Adler Studio of Acting, Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, Yale Drama Intensive and she is currently studying online through Juilliard.. She founded Theatre for Good, which donates its proceeds to charity.
Both artists are looking forward to June, when they will have more time to spend with their dogs.
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