Thank you!
Your support is sustaining the future of local news in our communities.

‘Quilts of Many Colors’ opens at Hunt Library

‘Quilts of Many Colors’ opens at Hunt Library

Garth Kobel, Art Wall Chair, Mary Randolph, Frank Halden, Ruth Giumarro, Project Chair, Maria Bulson, Barbara Lobdell, Sherry Newman, Elizabeth Frey-Thomas, Donna Heinz around “The Green Man.”

Robin Roraback

In honor of National Quilt Day, a tradition established in 1991, Hunt Library’s second annual quilt show, “Quilts of Many Colors,” will open Saturday, March 21, with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m. The quilts, made by members of the Hunt Library Quilters, will be displayed through April 17. All quilts will be for sale, and a portion of each sale goes to the library.

At the center of the exhibit is a quilt the Hunt Library Quilters collaborated on called the “Quilt of Many Colors,” inspired by Dolly Parton’s song”Coat of Many Colors.” Each member of the Hunt Library Quilters made two to four 10-inch squares for the twin-size quilt, with Gail Allyn embroidering “The Green Man” for the center square. The Green Man, a symbol of rebirth, is also a symbol of the library, seen carved in stone at the library’s entrance. One hundred percent of the sale of this quilt benefits the library.

Ruth Giumarro, who led the Hunt Library Quilters in this project, explained that the quilting group started last year with the theme “Playing With Art,” which was inspired by children’s book illustrator Eric Carle. Giumarro said, “We had so much fun last year that everyone said, ‘Let’s do it again!’”

“This has been exciting,” said Giumarro. “We started off small with seven people. This year more people came, and there are more who want to come.” The range of experience varies from none to years of sewing and quilting. All are welcome; be a resident of Falls Village is not required.

“It’s all practice,” explained Giumarro, who has been sewing since she was in seventh grade. “Getting a straight line is hardest.”

On March 6, the quilters gathered at Hunt Library to bring their own creations for the show and admire the finished “Quilt of Many Colors.” After looking at each other’s quilts and pricing them, they celebrated with cake.

The Hunt Library is located at 63 Main St. in Falls Village. More information is available at huntlibrary.org

Latest News

Voices from our Salisbury community about the housing we need for a healthy, economically vibrant future

Renee Wilcox

If you’ve ever wandered through Paley’s Farm Market, you probably know Renee Wilcox. For thirty years, she has been greeting you with unmistakable warmth—always ready with a smile. Renee grew up in Millerton, but it was in Salisbury that her family found something they’d never had before: a true sense of home. In 2003, she and her husband Bill were living in Millerton, but Bill—a volunteer with the Lakeville Hose Company—was already part of Salisbury life. When the Salisbury Housing Trust finished eight new homes on East Main Street (Dunham Drive), Renee and Bill were the first to sign on.

The story of those houses is really a story about the best parts of our community. Richard Dunham and his wife, Inge, along with the Housing Trust board, poured years of energy and hope into the project. Renee can’t help but light up when she talks about the people who helped her family settle in. Digby Brown came by to install appliances and bathroom cabinets; Barbara Niles spent hours painting; Carl Williams assembled bunk beds for the kids. Rick Cantele, at Salisbury Bank, helped them with their finances so they could qualify for a mortgage, while neighbors arrived at their door with fruit baskets and welcoming words.

Keep ReadingShow less
Trade Secrets: a glamorous garden event with a deeper mission

Heavy stone garden ornaments, a specialty of Judy Milne Antiques from Kingston, at Trade Secrets 2025.

Christine Bates

Tucked away on Porter Street in downtown Lakeville, Project SAGE is an unassuming building from a street view. But cross the threshold a week before Trade Secrets — one of the region’s biggest gardening events, long associated with Martha Stewart and glamorous plants of all varieties — and you’ll find a bustling world of employees and volunteers getting ready for the organization’s most important event of the year.

“It’s not usually like this,’ laughed Project SAGE director Kristen van Ginhoven. “But with Trade Secrets just around the corner, it’s definitely like this.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Two artists, two Hartford stages, one shared life

Caroline Kinsolving and Gary Capozzielo at home in Salisbury with their dogs, Petruchio and Beatrice

Provided
"He played his violin, I worked on my lines, we walked the dog, and suddenly we were circling each other perfectly."
Caroline Kinsolving

Actor Caroline Kinsolving and violinist Gary Capozziello enjoy their quiet life with their two dogs in Salisbury, yet are often pulled apart to perform on distant stages in far-flung cities. Currently, the planets have aligned, and both are working in Hartford, across Bushnell Park from one another. Bridgewater native Kinsolving is starring in “Circus Fire,” the current production of TheaterWorks Hartford, while Capozziello is a violinist and assistant concertmaster of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra. While Kinsolving hates being away from home, she feels the distance nourishes their relationship.

“We are guardians of each other’s confidence and self-esteem,” she said.

Keep ReadingShow less
google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.

Local filmmaker turns spotlight back on Hollywood’s Mermaid

Esther Williams in “Million Dollar Mermaid” (1952).

Provided

For decades, Esther Williams was one of Hollywood’s brightest stars, but the swimming sensation of the silver screen has largely faded from public memory — a disappearance that intrigued Millerton filmmaker Brian Gersten and inspired him to revisit her legacy.

As a millennial, Gersten grew up largely unaware of Williams’ influential career. His teen years in Chicago were spent with friends who obsessed over movies, spending hours at their local independent video store,and watching anything that caught their eye. Somehow, though, they never ventured into the glossy world of synchronized-swimming musicals of the 1940s and ‘50s.

Keep ReadingShow less
Hotchkiss to host inaugural International Piano Competition
Murong Yang ’08, a founding supporter of the Hotchkiss International Music Competition, helped establish the program through the Yang and Hamabata families to support young musicians and artistic excellence.
Provided

The Hotchkiss School will launch a major new addition to its arts programming with the inaugural Hotchkiss International Piano Competition, a three-day event taking place May 15–17 in Katherine M. Elfers Hall.

The competition will bring together young pianists ages 10 to 18 from around the world, with participants representing the United States, Thailand, Korea, China, Canada, and Azerbaijan. Performers will compete across multiple age divisions, culminating in final rounds that will be open to the public, offering audiences the opportunity to hear a wide range of emerging international talent in performance.

Keep ReadingShow less
Trash or treasure? Choose your groundcover with care
Violets, a keystone groundcover, under a magnolia tree.
Dee Salomon

This brief period in the spring, before the mosquitoes and poison ivy proliferate, is irresistible to me. I want to do everything all at once: plant, remove invasives, examine what is coming into leaf and tend to plants that need protection, whether from deer or downy mildew.

Amid the nonstop gardening work, I recently made time to join a tour of two nearby gardens. Each had a fascinating history, and we looked at photos to see how much had changed and what was still there and flourishing, including a stand of large yellowroot with delicate brown-and-yellow flowers that look like a cross between an orchid and a lilac. It has been there for decades, a lesson in successful gardening with native plants.

Keep ReadingShow less
google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.

google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.