CORNWALL — Anna D’Alvia wants to be a writer when she grows up. But it seems that it’s not going to work out the way she planned. It turns out she’s well ahead of schedule. She’s a writer now, and has already won prizes for two submissions to the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards.The eighth-grader at Cornwall Consolidated School placed in the Northeast Regional Competition. She earned a Silver Key Award for poetry and a Gold Key Award for a short story in the “flash fiction” category. The latter will be judged along with Gold Key Award winners nationwide. National winners are recognized at a ceremony at Carnegie Hall in New York City.Whether Anna makes it to Carnegie Hall or not, she can already count herself among fellow award winners that include Andy Warhol, Sylvia Plath, Truman Capote, Richard Avedon, Robert Redford and Joyce Carol Oates.“Surprised” was how Anna described her reaction to the news. She was up against students in middle school and high school.Writing for the contest was assigned as part of an online writing course from school, called Crafting the Essay. “I feel like I learned a lot for the course,” she said, “but I never expected to win awards.”Anna has known she wanted to write ever since reading the novel “Watership Down” by Richard Adams.“It inspired me. I think mostly because it is about animals, which I love.”Her favorite animal is the wolf, although her pets are a little more typical: a dog, a cat and a lizard.“The Last Leaf” is Anna’s winning anthropomorphic essay. “I found the last leaf on a tree one autumn and I saved it. It was lying on a shelf in my room all wrinkled and doing nothing. I decided to write my essay about its memories of when it was strong on the branch, and in the autumn, when all the other leaves had fallen down.”Anna’s poetry comes almost accidentally.“Sometimes when I’m stuck on a story I just write everything that’s on my mind, and sometimes it turns into a poem.”Her winning poem is called “Sounds in a Lonely World.”Anna entered another Scholastic competition, sending in a short novel. Given the length of the submission, winners won’t be announced for about a year, but Anna said a medal for that would be well worth the wait.
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North Canaan home sales rise; median price tops $350K
Christine Bates
Sep 30, 2026
This three unit income producing property built in 1877 at 121 Railroad Street sold on Aug. 24, 2026 for $335,000.
Christine Bates
NORTH CANAAN — The median sale price of a single-family home in North Canaan was $350,500 for the 12 months ending Aug. 31, up 25% from $279,900 a year earlier. The number of sales also rose from the previous 12-month period.
The median sale price was $235,000 for the 12 months ending August 2024 and has remained above $300,000 for the past year.
Twenty-seven single-family homes sold in the 12 months ending Aug. 31, compared with 20 in the previous 12-month period and 16 in the period ending August 2024. Annual sales peaked at 47 in the 12 months ending August 2021.
As of the end of September, eight single-family homes and one two-family home were listed for sale. The eight single-family listings represented roughly four months of inventory at the recent pace of sales. Two were priced below the $350,500 median, while five were listed above $500,000.
August Transfers
49 Reed St. - 3 bedroom/2 bath house on .32 acres transferred by Richard Knapp to Jovan Momcilov for $156,500
7 Locust Hill - 3 bedroom/1 bath on 4.62 acres transferred by Joseph Green to Taylor Allyn for $184,250
121 Railroad St. – 4 bedroom/3 bath/3 kitchen multifamily transferred by Michel Michels to Julia Ujvari for $335,000
14 Railroad St. – Restaurant currently Industry Kitchen transferred by Auro Properties LLC to SBPSG Reality LLC for $300,000
* Town of North Canaan real estate transfers recorded between August 1, 2026, and August 31, 2026, provided by North Canaan Town Clerk. Transfers without consideration are not included. Current market listings from Smart MLS and market data from Info Sparks. Note that recorded transfers frequently lag sales by a number of days. Compiled by Christine Bates, Real Estate Salesperson with William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty, Licensed in CT and NY.
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Rain and wind fail to deter Salisbury CROP Hunger walkers
Patrick L. Sullivan
Sep 30, 2026
Rev. Erik Karas of Christ Trinity Church in Sheffield addresses the participants before the CROP walk.
Patrick L. Sullivan
SALISBURY — More than 100 people turned out on a blustery, wet afternoon for the CROP Hunger Walk in Salisbury and Lakeville on Sunday, Sept. 27.
Organizer Patricia Palmer said she had been watching the weather forecast and decided Sunday morning to go ahead with the walk.
Participants came from Salisbury and nearby towns, with sizable contingents from Salisbury School, Indian Mountain School and The Hotchkiss School.
The event, now in its 43rd year, supports Church World Service’s international efforts to end hunger and poverty, as well as local food pantries. Individuals and teams register for the walk, and donors sponsor them.
Palmer said she wouldn’t have a final amount raised for a week or so, but added that last year’s walk raised $49,571.
The walk began at the Congregational Church, followed the Rail Trail to Patco in Lakeville, then returned along Main Street to Brook Street, where walkers rejoined the trail and headed back to the church.
Adam Smedberg of Church World Service gave an example of how donations are used.
In a rural part of Cambodia, he said, the rainy and dry seasons each last about six months. Children in one village must cross a river to get to school, which requires a boat during the rainy season.
After a boat capsized and sank one year, villagers were reluctant to send their children to school despite the boat being replaced.
Church World Service provided life jackets and training in how to use and store them so they would last for years.
Smedberg said that gave the villagers the confidence to send their children to school again.
Palmer noted that 25% of the money raised goes to local food banks.
The Rev. Erik Karas of Christ Trinity Church in Sheffield said the CROP Hunger Walk is part of an ongoing effort to end hunger worldwide.
“It’s easy to forget when everybody has enough,” he said. “We’d like it to be one and done and the world is fixed. But it doesn’t work that way.”
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Kent town officials get first look at Emery Park’s proposed master plan
Alec Linden
Sep 30, 2026
“The goal here is to get the pool open.”
—Timothy Cermola, Cardinal Vice President
KENT — Bringing public swimming back to Kent remains the top priority for planners of a major upgrade to Emery Park, which took a step forward last week with the completion of a highly anticipated master plan.
Meriden-based Cardinal Engineering presented preliminary designs to the Parks and Recreation Commission at a special meeting Sept. 22.
The town commissioned the plan in May to guide improvements to the hillside park and make it more accessible.
Cardinal’s Roy Seeley, who oversaw the master plan, said it quickly became clear that reopening the swimming pond, which has been out of use for six years, would also require broader improvements to the park’s infrastructure.
The engineers recommended addressing accessibility early to avoid problems and added expense later.
Landscape architect Phil Barlow outlined a design featuring a reconfigured parking lot with an adjacent picnic area, an upper level with a redesigned playground built mostly from wood, and a lower level with an oval walkway encircling a lawn and a pavilion with room for 50 people.
The plans also call for two new buildings: one to house a Parks and Recreation Department office and another for pond-related facilities, including restrooms.
Since the site is hilly, the work would require grading to keep walkways at a slope of less than 5% for accessibility.
“Everything would be accessible,” Barlow said.
Cardinal Vice President Timothy Cermola, who also attended the meeting, said the swimming pond remains the focus despite the broad scope of the proposed improvements.
“The goal here is to get the pool open,” he said.
“And to make sure everyone can use it,” added Parks and Recreation Commissioner Heidi Wilson.
Architect Michael Fortuna outlined his proposal for the swimming pond. A natural brook feeds a smaller pond just above the approximately 8,500-square-foot swimming area.
“The more naturalized a filter you have the better,” he said. Fortuna suggested converting approximately 2,500 square feet of the deepest part of the swimming pond into a “regeneration zone,” where native wetland plants would filter the water in place of mechanical filtration or chemical treatment. The swimming area would have a maximum depth of five feet.
“If you can have a couple thousand less feet of swim area, this is your better way forward because it gives you cleaner water,” he said. “Aesthetically it would be very nice too.”
Fortuna said keeping the swimming area a pond rather than turning it into a pool would give the town more flexibility in its design and use. “The goal here is to keep it naturalized … keep it a pond,” he said.
“The idea of losing the entire deep end is disheartening,” Wilson said, “but the concept of natural filtration is a good thing.”
Earlier in the summer, the engineers were concerned that the pond’s entire foundation would have to be replaced. A subsequent investigation found it was sound and would need only resurfacing of the concrete shell.
Still, the overall project carries a substantial price tag: Cardinal estimates it would cost approximately $4 million. Cermola said the work would be phased, with reopening the swimming pond the first priority.
The plans remain general, Cermola said.
The next step is to submit them for review by regulatory agencies, including the Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Commission and the state Department of Public Health. Details will be refined as that process moves forward.
The park remains open while planning continues. Beyond the central area covered by the proposed improvements, Emery Park has fields, other recreational areas and a rugged trail system with views over the village and the Housatonic River Valley.
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Salisbury School tunnel under Route 44 nears completion
Patrick L. Sullivan
Sep 30, 2026
The tunnel under Route 44 at Salisbury School is nearing completion.
Patrick L. Sullivan
SALISBURY — Construction of a tunnel beneath Route 44 connecting Salisbury School’s north and south campuses is nearing completion.
Vafa Vahid, the private boys’ school’s chief financial officer and chief operating officer, said Monday, Sept. 28, that the tunnel will likely be ready for use by mid-November.
He did not have a date for the removal of the temporary lane barriers on Route 44.
Vahid said construction began in May but stopped in June while the school awaited state permits.
Dayton Construction Company of Watertown is the contractor.
Vahid declined to give a specific cost but confirmed that it is “a multi-million dollar project.”
The tunnel will allow students, faculty and staff to walk between the campuses without crossing busy Route 44.
The north campus includes faculty and staff housing and athletic facilities.
Currently, pedestrians use a crossing marked by signs and a cone, sometimes with a crossing guard present.
Vahid said the primary reason for building the tunnel “is the safety of the kids.”
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Sugar maple replaces memorial elm outside Academy Building
Patrick L. Sullivan
Sep 30, 2026
A crew from Whitetail Landscaping and Excavation plant a new tree in front ofthe Academy Building in Salisbury.
Patrick L. Sullivan
SALISBURY — A new tree stands outside the Salisbury Association’s Academy Building on Main Street, continuing a memorial to Susan Getzendanner, the town’s only victim of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The Princeton American elm planted in her honor fell during the July 4 storm. Its accompanying plaque remained, but the loss of the tree left a gap in front of the building.
Getzendanner was a vice president at Fiduciary Trust. She was working on the 97th floor of 2 World Trade Center when the South Tower was struck on Sept. 11. Getzendanner divided her time between New York City and a cottage near Mount Riga, where she enjoyed hiking and gardening.
On Wednesday, Sept. 23, a crew from Whitetail Landscaping and Excavation of Salisbury came to the Academy Building to remove the elm’s stump and plant a 20-foot sugar maple donated by Old Farm Nursery in Lime Rock.
Whitetail Landscapingand Excavation donated its services.
Removing the stump left a sizable hole. The crew enlarged it to make room for the maple, then worked with shovels and a small excavator to set the tree in place.
Salisbury Association director Chris Abeel said he consulted members of Getzendanner’s family before replacing the elm. The original plaque honoring her will remain, he said, and the association will add a second plaque explaining why the memorial tree was replaced.
The new tree restores the living part of the memorial. After the crew had settled the maple into place, the association’s Lou Bucceri stepped back to take a look.
“It looks like it’s been there for years,” he said.
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Dahlias fill Sharon Historical Society for Best in Bloom festival
Ruth Epstein
Sep 30, 2026
Organizers of the Best in Bloom Dahlia Festival held at the Sharon Historical Society and Museum on Sept. 26 and 27 are, from left: society director Abbey Nova, Allison Chase and Stephanie Chase.
Ruth Epstein
SHARON — Dahlias filled the Sharon Historical Society and Museum for the inaugural Best in Bloom Dahlia Festival on Sept. 26 and 27.
Every room was filled with flowers that featured the brilliance of color, the uniqueness of shape and the sheer beauty of the blossoms.
Abbey Nova, the society’s executive director, came up with the idea for the festival. “I’m a dahlia grower myself and we’re always looking at ways to expand our mission and get people into the building. I was thinking of something other than pumpkins for the fall.”
She was surprised at the response when the call went out to bring dahlias to the festival, where they would be judged and put up for sale. Forty-two participants came forth bearing more than 210 blooms. They were placed in seven categories: dinner plate, ball and pompom, decorative, water lily, cactus and semi-cactus, junior growers and a collection of single, peony flowered, anemone and collarette.
Nova said most entries came from Sharon residents, but the competition did draw growers from other local towns, as well as some who came from a distance.
Helping to organize the event were Allison Chase and Stephanie Chase of Dahlia Daughters. Their late mother, Amanda Chase, had a dahlia business, which they took over upon her death. Allison Chase explained there are a number of varieties. “They are really event flowers used for weddings and parties because there are so many colors, shapes and sizes.”
One tuber can yield a great many flowers and they can also be hybridized. Once the flowers are gone, the tubers are dug up and placed in dark cool places to be ready to plant the next year.
But dahlia growers often have to battle the elements, Chase said, noting one year she was faced with an invasion of Japanese beetles.
She is grateful that this year was a great one for her dahlias, which she sells from a stand outside her home on Amenia Union Road.
Nova said dahlias bloom later in the growing season, often in late July or August. “They like the cool nights and will remain right up until frost.”
A cocktail party took place Saturday evening which filled the museum with hundreds of guests. Steve Ketterer, Allison Chase, Sarah Coon of Paley’s Farm Market and Lynden Miller, noted author and garden designer, were tasked with awarding ribbon winners.
Best in Show went to Betsy Ennis. First place winners in their categories were: Linda Sloane (dinner plate), Juliet and Leila Bell Scimeca (ball and pompom), Kathleen Fanning (decorative), Kathleen Fanning (water lily), Betsy Ennis (cactus and semi-cactus), Myra Plescia (collarette) and Adelaide Lee (junior grower).
On Sunday, local artist Colleen McGuire helped youngsters paint pictures of dahlias, while guests viewed all the submissions and made purchases.
Also on Sunday, the People’s Choice Award was given to Steve Ketterer for his dinner plate entry.
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