NORFOLK — The Norfolk Pub, the town’s only restaurant and bar, will close at the end of the month after 17 years in business, as uncertainty continues to surround the future of the Royal Arcanum, the hulking downtown building that housed the longtime institution.
On Wednesday, Jan. 7, the restaurant posted a notice on its doorway advising patrons that only cash will be accepted as “we prepare to close at month’s end.” The news has renewed speculation about what’s next for the Royal Arcanum, a Norfolk landmark that sold Sept. 8, 2025, for $1.4 million to American Folk & Heritage LLC, an entity associated with the prominent New York fashion brand Bode.
The Royal Arcanum, a large Arts and Crafts-style brick building, was built in 1904 by architect Alfredo Taylor as a home for the Norfolk Fire Department and several other town groups. Today, it houses the bookstore Les Renards & Co.; audiovisual consulting firm Boyce Nemec Designs, which has occupied a ground-floor office since the 1970s; Ruthann Olsson Interior Arts and Design; and the Pub. One of the commercial tenants, who requested anonymity, said their lease runs through Dec. 31, 2026.
The building also has contained additional office space and several residential apartments. According to a source close to the building, none of the residences were occupied at the time of the sale in September.
Local nonprofit the Norfolk Hub, which executed the sale, originally acquired the building in 2021 for $950,000 with assistance from a gift from the William and Mary Greve Foundation. In an Oct. 4 release, the group announced that $300,000 of the September sale proceeds had been allocated to the Foundation for Norfolk Living, a local affordable housing nonprofit, to support future housing projects.
An additional $500,000 was directed toward supporting the proposed firehouse project, according to the release.
The building’s new ownership — comprised of clothing designer Emily Adams Bode Aujla, her husband Aaron Aujla, an interior designer, and his brother Dev Aujla, CEO of Bode — has yet to announce plans for the Royal Arcanum, leaving many in town to speculate about what will occupy the vast structure.
Residents have been particularly concerned about the loss of the village’s only restaurant and bar, which has operated in the same location for decades under various names and owners.
Larry Hannafin and Sally Carr, both lifelong Norfolk residents with generations of family history in town, organized a petition in late December protesting the closure. “The pub is far more than a business,” the petition reads. “It is a vital gathering place, an economic anchor, a significant employer and a cornerstone of our town’s character.”
During an interview in late December with The Lakeville Journal, Hannafin and Carr expressed dismay at what they described as the loss of critical community infrastructure. “To live in a town that you can’t take a friend to supper with!” Carr exclaimed with exasperation.
“When I grew up there were five restaurants and five grocery stores,” Carr added.
Hannafin said he sent the signed petitions — which he last counted at 295 — to American Folk & Heritage on Wednesday. As of Friday, he said he had not received a response.
Dev Aujla said in a late December email to The Lakeville Journal that the closure followed a “conversation” between the new ownership and Norfolk Pub owner Heidi Forler. He did not elaborate and has not responded to follow-up requests for clarification. Forler declined to comment.
Norfolk Public Information Officer Jon Barbagallo said in late December that the town fire marshal was not involved, responding to circulating rumors that suggested otherwise. “This is strictly between the owners of the new building and the proprietors of the restaurant.”
Despite the imminent closure, the bar is maintaining its lively programming, with its popular trivia night returning on Wednesday, Jan. 14, followed by live music the following night.
Still, residents have begun mourning the loss of the town’s only watering hole and evening eatery, while looking anxiously toward the future.
A regular patron sitting at the bar Thursday evening praised the restaurant’s communal atmosphere. “Everyone knows everyone – it’s so great.” She described the closure as “tragic.”
First Selectman Henry Tirrell said Friday that the establishment has been a fixture his entire life and that he even spent the evening of his wedding day there. “It’s a sad thing to see it going away,” he said. “I certainly hope something can be restored there.”
Meanwhile, Lindsey Prevuznak, who has worked as a bartender at the Pub for a decade, announced the closure in a Facebook post Wednesday. Speaking with The Lakeville Journal on Friday, she reflected on the deep ties the establishment has with the community, describing its loss as “a heart break for entire community whose lives we enriched and touched.”
“I’m deeply grateful and humbled to have shared moments with such remarkable people.”
A notice posted on the door of the Norfolk Pub informs patrons that the establishment will accept cash only as it prepares to close at the end of the month. By Alec Linden
The Berkshire Resilience Brass Band brought lively brass and jazz-inspired music to the lawn at the David M. Hunt Library on Friday evening, July 24.
Audience members became part of the performance as well. During one number, the horn players switched to percussion, while a basket of rattles and other handheld instruments was available for audience members to play along. Sadeh and O’Dea encouraged several young children to shake along with the music.
The audience continued to grow throughout the evening, including a family who stopped after hearing the music while driving by.
Although the band’s performances sound spontaneous, they begin with a shared musical framework.
“We start with a tune or arrangement,” Rogers said. “Then we do or don’t follow it.”
Rogers estimated that any given performance is at least half improvisation.
It’s not left entirely to chance. O’Dea said the group rehearses once a week, on Sundays.
Patrick L. Sullivan
Deanna Hearn opened Lucky Orphans in 2003.
Growing up in the Bronx, Hearn was captivated whenever she saw horses. Her grandfather, a Korean War veteran, had cared for military horses during the war. After returning home, he struggled with addiction, and the invisible wounds of military service. Through every difficult chapter of his life, however, one thing consistently brought him peace.
“Horses bring peace,” he told his granddaughter.
When Hearn was 11, after years apart, Hearn and her grandfather began spending weekends riding together. Less than a year later, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Before he died, he asked family members to help buy Hearn’s first horse — a stubborn paint horse that bit, kicked and frequently threw her off. She wanted to sell him. Her father refused.
“Every life has value,” he told her.
Looking back, Hearn says that lesson became the foundation of everything she would later build.
What began as a boarding stable in 2003 took a different direction after the Dutchess County SPCA asked Hearn to care for horses seized in cruelty cases. She soon realized that although Dutchess County had one of New York’s largest horse populations, there was no dedicated nonprofit equipped to care for neglected and abused horses. Lucky Orphans officially became a nonprofit in 2008.
Some of the more than 40 horses at Lucky OrphansProvided
Today, Hearn is quick to point out that Lucky Orphans is not simply a rescue.
“We’re a sanctuary,” she said.
Many of the more than 40 horses living there arrive with broken bones, chronic illnesses, heart conditions, missing eyes or other injuries that make them unsuitable for riding or adoption. Rather than rehabilitating and rehoming them, Lucky Orphans makes a lifetime commitment to every horse.
In 2013, Hearn became certified in equine-assisted psychotherapy, combining her lifelong relationship with horses and the lessons she learned from her grandfather to create programs for veterans, trauma survivors, children and families facing emotional challenges. The transformations she witnesses continue to surprise her. She recalls one woman who arrived convinced she would not fit in with a group of strangers. During the session, a horse quietly chose to follow her without a rope or commands. For the first time in years, the woman said she felt truly seen.
Another memory has stayed with Hearn ever since. A teenager in a juvenile probation program, wearing an ankle monitor and struggling with anger, entered a round pen with a horse. As his frustration grew, the horse moved farther away. When he finally calmed himself, the horse walked directly toward him and rested its head against his chest.
“I told him, ‘If you can control your energy, you can control the world around you,’” Hearn said.
Stories like these sustain her through the difficult realities of running a nonprofit. Operating the sanctuary costs roughly $52,000 each month, and Hearn lives on the property, where the work never truly ends. Veterinary bills, staffing, fundraising and the daily care of dozens of horses are constant concerns. Then someone returns years later and tells her that the horses changed their child’s life.
“That’s why I keep going,” she said.
Looking ahead, Hearn hopes more people discover what makes Lucky Orphans unique. The organization is expanding its community programming with educational visits, yoga sessions, horse encounters, volunteer opportunities and family events designed to reconnect people with horses and with one another.
Her vision is simple: to create a place where people slow down, reconnect and remember something modern life often makes us forget. If horses could speak, Hearn believes they would offer just one piece of advice.
“They’d tell us to slow down,” she said.
After spending an afternoon at Lucky Orphans, it’s hard to disagree.
For more information or to plan a visit, go to luckyorphans.org
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