
Victor Flores was proud to return home to North Canaan from Harvard University (where he is a sophomore) to cast his ballot in the Nov. 3 election. Photo by Tom Zetterstrom
Connecticut voters chose Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden over Republican President Donald Trump on Tuesday, Nov. 3. Although vote counts continued through this week, it has been generally acknowledged that Biden was the victor nationwide as well.
In total in Connecticut, the ticket of Biden and Kamala Harris received 1,070,195 votes, and the ticket of Trump and Vice President Mike Pence garnered 711,137 votes.
Incumbent U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes (D-5) beat GOP challenger David X. Sullivan for the 5th Congressional District seat, 171,891 to 142,678.
Incumbent state Sen. Craig R. Miner (R-30) won his reelection bid for the state Senate as of this writing. He led challenger David R. Gronbach, 28,684 to 23,115.
Incumbent state Rep. Maria Horn (D-64) won reelection, beating Republican Brian Ohler 7,144 to 6,638.
Voters in the six Region One towns went big for the Democratic presidential and vice presidential nominees, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
The six towns in the Region One School District are Canaan (Falls Village), Cornwall, Kent, North Canaan, Salisbury and Sharon.
In Cornwall, 760 preferred the Democrats to 250 for the incumbent Republicans, President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.
In Falls Village, Biden won the vote with 437. Trump took 209 votes.
Kent went for Biden 1,249 to Trump’s 568.
The margin was much closer in North Canaan, where Biden beat Trump 842 to 786.
Salisbury was lopsided, with Biden getting 2,023 votes to a scanty 502 votes for Trump.
And Sharon went for Biden, 1,019 to 510.
Region One voters preferred incumbent Democratic Congresswoman Jahana Hayes to Republican challenger David X. Sullivan by similar margins. Hayes appeared on two lines on the ballot, the Democratic and Working Families lines. In Cornwall, Hayes received 758 votes to Sullivan’s 255.
Falls Village went for Hayes, 431 to 192.
Hayes took Kent, 1,263 to 566.
The challenger won in North Canaan, 716 to 491.
In Salisbury, Hayes won with 1,969 votes. Sullivan netted 525 votes.
And in Sharon, Hayes beat Sullivan 1,003 to 499.
The final results in the 30th District State Senate race was late in being announced. Incumbent state Sen. Craig Miner (R-30) said in a phone interview Wednesday afternoon, Nov.4, that the problem was a large number of absentee ballots in New Milford, as many as 5,000.
(New Milford is Gronbach’s home town, where he served as mayor.)
Gronbach conceded the race late Tuesday night.
Miner did not fare well in most Region One towns.
In Cornwall, Gronbach won, 682 to 317. In Falls Village he received 355 votes vs. 256 for Miner, and in Kent Gronbach cruised with 1139 votes to Miner’s 659.
Miner won in North Canaan, 954 to 601.
In Salisbury, Gronbach won handily, 1,754 to 667. It was a little tighter in Sharon, with Gronbach prevailing 906 to 579.
Nonetheless, Miner prevailed.
State Rep. Maria Horn (D-64) won reelection in a rematch from 2018 with Republican Brian Ohler. Ohler carried two Region One towns: North Canaan 1,138 to 512 for Horn, and Falls Village, where Ohler was ahead by 330 to 318.
Ohler is a North Canaan native son.
Horn dominated in the other four towns. In Cornwall, it was Horn 699 to 328. In Kent Horn received 1,154 votes to Ohler’s 690.
Salisbury went for Horn, 1,728 to 797, and in Sharon Horn won with 871-672.
Many voters took advantage of the relaxed restrictions on absentee ballots, because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Wednesday morning, Connecticut Secretary of the State Denise Merrill said the state should permanently relax the absentee voting rules.
“More than 650,000 voters cast an absentee ballot in 2020 — the people have spoken,” she said in a news release.
Kevin Kelly
“I was exposed to that cutthroat, ‘Yes, chef’ culture. It’s not for me. I don’t want anyone apologizing for who they are or what they love.”— Kevin Kelly
Kevin Kelly doesn’t call himself a chef; he prefers “cook.” His business, After Hours, based in Great Barrington, operates as what Kelly calls “a restaurant without a home,” a pop-up dining concept that prioritizes collaboration over competition, flexibility over permanence, and accessibility over exclusivity.
Kelly grew up in Great Barrington and has roots in the Southern Berkshires that go back ten generations. He began working in restaurants at age 14. “I started at Allium and was hooked right off the bat,” he said. He worked across the region from Cantina 229 in New Marlborough to The Old Inn on the Green at Jacob’s Pillow before heading to Babson College in Boston to study business. After a few years in Boston kitchens, he returned home to open a restaurant. But the math didn’t work. “The traditional model just didn’t feel financially sustainable,” he said. “So, I took a step back and asked, ‘If that doesn’t work, then what does?’”
The answer became After Hours. Rather than investing in a single location, Kelly partners with various venues and brings the restaurant experience to them. He uses the commercial kitchen at The Thornewood, a former inn turned workforce housing in Great Barrington. “They didn’t really have much use for the commercial kitchen, and I happened to connect with them when they acquired the property. We were actually the first tenant in the building,” said Kelly. Events are usually family-style and rooted in seasonal, local ingredients, sourced from local farms whenever possible including Dancing Greens, Indian Line, Off The Shelf and North Plain.
Since launching in December 2023, After Hours has hosted more than 150 events and partnered with nearly 100 local businesses including Wards Nursery in Great Barrington, Paige’s Place in Otis, Massachusetts, The Berkshire Botanical Garden, and coming up is a summer residency at The White Hart in Salisbury. From multi-course dinners to casual market pop-ups, its model adapts to the space, the moment, and the ingredients. “We design menus based on the venue,” said Kelly. “Whatever the kitchen allows, we make it work.”
Looking for partnerships that are mutually beneficial adds to the community-oriented business model. “Something we always look to curate with events and event partners is finding ways to mutually collaborate on marketing. So, Wards is a great example where they’re really looking to tap into a younger demographic and that’s something we’re able to really bring to the table.”
Now, Kelly is extending the model with a new initiative called The After Hours Supper Club. A subscription-based model, members will receive monthly meals for two or four with seasonally inspired mains, small plates, desserts, and extras. A portion of the proceeds supports Berkshire Bounty, a nonprofit fighting local food insecurity.
The Supper Club is not Kelly’s first collaboration with Berkshire Bounty. Last Thanksgiving, he launched a “buy one, give one” meal kit where one purchased meal equaled one donated to a local family. “Berkshire Bounty is so grateful for the continued support from Kevin and After Hours. Through Kevin’s creativity and care, together we are making an impact on food security in this community and providing nourishing food for the most vulnerable among us,” said Morgan Ovitsky, Executive Director of Berkshire Bounty.The subscription model allows After Hours to extend its reach into homes across the region. “We’ve had strong early interest,” said Kelly. “We’re fulfilling our first orders in June.”
Staffing such a fluid operation is a challenge. To address this, Kelly also created After Hours Gigs, a flexible labor system where people can sign up for one-off shifts. “Most people around here have three or four jobs,” he said. “This lets them pick up a gig with low commitment.” About 15 to 20 people work regularly through the system, but Kelly is often still scrambling to fill roles on busy weekends. With five events in just four days on the calendar, Kelly keeps moving. “It’s a lot,” he said. “But you just do it. One event at a time.”
There is a distinctly anti-macho ethos to his kitchens. “I was exposed to that cutthroat, ‘Yes, chef’ culture. It’s not for me. I don’t want anyone apologizing for who they are or what they love.” When someone asks what to wear to a gig, his response is simple. “Be comfortable. Be presentable. Be yourself.”
What Kelly has built with After Hours is less a brand than a belief that food should be personal, shared, grounded in place and people. So, what’s the most delicious thing he’s made recently? “A white pizza with ramp pesto,” he told me, eyes lighting up. “We’ve started doing Sicilian slices at the farmer’s market. Breakfast pizzas are next.”
For more information, visit: www.afterhoursgb.com
Dee Salomon on what makes a garden a garden.
On June 20 and 21, the Cornwall Library will celebrate its 10th anniversary of Books & Blooms, the two-day celebration of gardens, art, and the rural beauty of Cornwall. This beloved annual benefit features a talk, reception, art exhibit, and self-guided tours of four extraordinary local gardens.
The first Library sponsored garden tour was in June 2010 and featured a talk by Page Dickey, an avid gardener and author. This year’s Books & Blooms will coincide with Ellen Moon’s exhibit “Thinking About Gardens,” a collection of watercolors capturing the quiet spirit of Cornwall’s private gardens. Moon, a weekly storyteller to the first grade at Cornwall Consolidated School and art curator for The Cornwall Library, paints en plein air. Her work investigates what constitutes a garden. In the description of the show, she writes: “there are many sorts...formal, botanical, cottage, vegetable, herb...even a path through the woods is a kind of garden. My current working definition of a garden is a human intervention in the landscape to enhance human appreciation of the landscape.” Also on display are two of her hand-embroidered jackets. One depicts spring’s flowering trees and pollinators. The other, a kimono, was inspired by Yeats’s “The Song of the Wandering Aengus.”
On Friday, June 20 at 5:30 p.m. writer and garden philosopher Dee Salomon will give a talk titled, “What Makes a Garden a Garden?” at Cornwall Town Hall. Beloved for her “Ungardener” column here in our newspapers, Salomon will reflect on the meaning of gardens and their place in the human imagination. The presentation is followed by a festive cocktail reception at the library, with live music by the Crownback Funk Trio, an improvisational blend of funk, blues, and jazz.
Then on Saturday, participants can enjoy self-guided tours of four distinctive Cornwall gardens, each with docents on hand to answer questions. From a terraced Italianate hillside overlooking the Housatonic River to a wild deer-frequented garden brimming with perennials and daffodils, these gardens tell stories of transformation, imagination, and place.
Books & Blooms is a reflection of the Cornwall Library’s vital role in town. “The library really is the central meeting place,” said event organizer Kirk Van Tassel. “People come here for talks, kids’ programs, art exhibits. It’s a cornerstone of community life.”
To purchase tickets, visit cornwalllibrary.org