Your guide to the heart of Litchfield County:
Discover local stories, hidden gems, and must-know events.

Bolivar Hilario’s destination dining

By Charles Dubow

Bolivar Hilario has big plans. The young chef envisions a day when the newly opened Ore Hill restaurant in Kent will become “destination dining;” a place where foodies from Litchfield County and beyond will come to enjoy a unique blending of locally-sourced ingredients with the creativity of the kitchen. “I want to be able to serve an experience menu that showcases the incredible products curated by local farmers,” he says. “That’s why we are offering only a tasting menu of between five and seven small courses each night. We will be serving only what is freshest that week. It will be unlike any other fine dining experience in the area.”

Key to Hilario’s goal is Ore Hill’s partnership with Rock Cobble Farm, the 1,000 acre property on the estate of the late philanthropist Anne Bass. In addition to a herd of 100 Randall Lineback cattle, which provide both beef and dairy products, the farm grows more than 350 heirloom varieties of vegetables, fruits and flowers, most of which will wind up in one form or another on Ore Hill’s tables.

Hilario’s ambitions have carried him a long way from helping on his mother’s food truck outside Orlando, Florida. “I was this young kid and it was a lot of work. For a long time I fought against the idea of cooking but then I did a 360 and fell in love with it.” Instead of cooking school he worked in local restaurants and eventually found himself in New York, where he worked at Chumley’s and was executive sous chef at the now-defunct but highly regarded sushi restaurant Shoji. He came on board to Ore Hill’s sister restaurant Swyft in January 2021, where he also serves as executive chef. But this is not his first time in the Litchfield Hills. From 2015 to 2017 he was sous chef at Community Table in New Preston.

Did he think he would be back so soon? “Not really,” he laughs. “I mean, it’s a great part of the world and the local ingredients are incredible, but I thought I’d be in the city a little longer. But when the opportunity to come here arose, I knew I had to take it.”

Dining hours 6 & 8 pm, Fridays & Saturdays

3 Maple Street, Kent, orehillandswyft.com

Fiberglass Pools

By Clementina Verge

What’s better than a private water oasis for relaxation, exercise, and happy summer memories? One that involves the quickest installation, least maintenance, and lowest long-term costs possible. The answer is fiberglass pools, expertly installed by Marquee Pools & Service Inc., an established company with a longstanding record of design and execution.

“There is no replacing liners, no dealing with broken tiles,” explains company founder and owner Jim Vadas. “Between the speed of installation and the cost of ownership, fiberglass pools hands down cannot be beat.”

Vadas speaks from decades of hands-on experience. Since 1987, his Fairfield-based company has installed thousands of pools, including more than 150 fiberglass pools in recent years. Having acquired a loyal customer base throughout Southern Connecticut, Vadas is now expanding into Litchfield County, bringing an outstanding reputation in the industry for his knowledge, capabilities, and work ethic.

Licensed in Connecticut as a licensed swimming pool builder, a licensed SP1 (plumbing and piping) contractor, as well as a licensed home improvement contractor, Vadas brings with him a staff of timely, courteous, and capable employees—many of whom have been with the company since its inception. Additionally, his established industry relationships help speed up the pool installation process.

Increasingly in demand, backyard pools have been difficult to secure in recent years, sometimes taking months to complete. Not so for Marquee customers. 

“From the moment a fiberglass pool is placed in the ground, we can have it filled with water and ready for swimming in a couple of days,” Vadas assures. The complete process takes four to six weeks including masonry work.

Marquee Pools is a certified dealer for Latham Pools—the pinnacle in the fiberglass pool industry. As a Latham Grand Dealer, Marquee offers their full line of fiberglass pools, spas, and tanning ledges—available in an extensive line of shapes, models, and colors. 

From freeform designs that blend seamlessly into nature-oriented landscaping, to geometrical shapes that complement classical architecture—options abound, matching unique styles and backyards. Coupled with a Latham power cover, your fiberglass pool will require less heating, fewer chemicals, and provide the highest level of safety and convenience—all with the flip of a switch.

“Our most requested pools to date are the rectangle pools with the power cover option. The heat saving benefit and safety component are what makes it so attractive to customers,” says Vadas. Backed by a lifetime structural warranty, fiberglass pools mean swimming in hassle-free comfort and luxury for decades. It is the industry’s most cost-effective pool that can be owned. When the project is complete and the Marquee trucks back away, the team remains just a phone call away. The company strives to establish long-term customer relationships, offering exclusive, all-inclusive seasonal contracts. Pool owners can rest easy knowing the capable and committed team at Marquee Pools & Service, Inc. stands behind their investment. —marqueepools.com

New paintings by Amanda Acker, David Konigsberg, KK Kozik, and Sally Maca, and glass wall sculpture by David Licata. 

Kenise Barnes Fine Art is pleased to announce an exhibition featuring contemporary artwork that refers to landscape through specific depiction of place and through metaphor. The exhibition features artists working in Colorado, Michigan, the Hudson Valley, and Connecticut whose observations and portrayal of the natural world are intermixed with both distinct sense of place and a universal intimation of memory and emotion. The artists in the exhibition work in ways as varied as the terrain; Maca makes itty bitty postcard size landscape paintings; Konigsberg’s compositions are large with multiple figures and sweeping skies. Acker paints intimate scenes from life at home in the country, Kozik offers paintings of life in Litchfield County, including the fly fishing in the Housatonic River. Her paintings are at once representational and swerve into abstraction and pattern. Licata’s glass wall sculptures are fittingly inspired by the movement and fluidity of waterfalls. Through the points of view of artists our appreciation of the natural world is examined, expanded, and exalted. Show runs from May 20 – July 2, 2023. Reception May 20, 4:00 – 6:00 pm. Public invited.

The Beloved Animal Shelter Kicks Off a Campaign to Expand

By Wendy Carlson

Mochi and Noodle are known as the cuddlers at The Little Guild of St. Francis. The two diminutive dogs are in their bliss when they are ensconced in the arms of staff members who ferry them around the shelter. In a cat room, an inquisitive feline named King, has a birds-eye view of colorful fish projected on a computer monitor’s aquarium screensaver. King and the cute cuddlers are just a few of the dogs and cats up for adoption at the Guild, which plans to announce a fundraising campaign to build a new facility this spring.

The Guild is the northwest corner’s only no-kill shelter and has been in continuous operation since it was founded by Muriel Alvord Ward and Eleanora Kleinschmidt in 1957 in their Cornwall home. In 1989, The Little Guild moved to its current 3,000-square foot location in West Cornwall, where it focuses on finding homes for dogs and cats and providing outreach training and educational programs on pet care and health. But over the years it has outgrown the facility as the area developed. Since the outbreak of COVID the number of pets at the Guild has been on the rise, in step with a national trend this year showing that shelters are seeing an increase of dogs and cats, aggravated by inflation which has made owning and caring for pets more expensive and left owners struggling.

The growing need is part of the impetus behind the plans to build a new facility. “We’ve had such incredible community support for decades but the current building has hampered our abilities,” says executive director Jenny Langendoerfer.

The new 8,000-square-foot facility will be built adjacent to the existing structure. The current building can house up to 17 dogs and 23 cats and those numbers will stay roughly the same in the new space. But the kennels will be sound proofed and built in a pod configuration. Cats and dogs will be housed in separate parts of the building and will have quarantine rooms. The examination room will be enlarged and an all-purpose community room and meet-and-greet rooms will be added and there will be expanded outdoor training and play space. 

The design aligns with the Guild’s mission to better serve the population of the surrounding communities, said Langendoerfer. Beyond placing pets in forever homes, the Guild provides temporary housing for pets of families in crisis, and it offers other services, including providing food and medical assistance to keep animals in their home, community engagement in education and training, and on-site pet pantry that provides free pet food and supplies. 

The Guild partners with Friendly Hands Food Bank in Torrington to bring monthly pet pantry supplies to Torrington pet owners and holds an annual free vaccination event at Coe Park in Torrington, where it provides vouchers for no-cost spay and neuters at local veterinary practices. Adopters have access to no-cost training by staff, and schools and youth organizations can partake in educational programming. In turn, the community gives back, with more than 150 volunteers who donate their time to help care for the animals. 

“It’s a powerful positive force for good that we want to continue to share,” says Karen Doeblin, board president. 

So far, the Guild has raised $3.5 million, largely from foundations, toward the construction and will announce the campaign publicly once the plans are finalized.  Meanwhile,  The Guild’s Great Country Mutt Show, will be held this year on June 11, 11 am to 2:30 pm at Lime Rock Park. Dogowners will gather from around the county for this free event to compete in various categories including Sweetest Pair of Dogs, Best Ears, Best Trick, Best Lap Dog, Waggiest Tail, Pet and Parent Fashion Show, and last but not least –– Best Kisser!

Joy Brown’s Epic Ceramic Mural Spans Miles and Years

By KK Kozik

In a rural studio in South Kent, sculptor Joy Brown has labored for two years on a monumental ceramic mural destined for permanent installation across the globe in southern Japan. “One World,” composed of over 500 panels, tiles, and individual elements, is a crowning achievement for Brown. Made of clay from Macon, Georgia, the mural underwent two firings in the artist’s 30-foot long Japanese-style wood-firing “anagama” kiln with numerous local ceramic artists helping with the week-long process.

In November, Brown debuted the finished piece in a borrowed commercial space in the center of Kent. A documentary by Eduardo Montes-Bradley about “One World” and its message of cross-cultural connectedness was screened after the reception.

Brown’s personal history is central to the realization of the mural. Raised in Japan she attended an international high school where she befriended a young man, Shinichiro Watari. While life took them in different directions—Brown moved to Florida for college before returning to Japan to apprentice with masters of wood-fired ceramics, and Watari would find success in business and architecture—they reconnected years later when Brown was working as a potter in Wingdale, NY and Watari was based in Manhattan. Watari, who owned land in Kent, supported Brown’s work and sold her and her then-husband a five-acre parcel at a very low price. They built studios, a house, and the kiln and moved in in 1985. When Watari embarked on his passion project, the construction of Horokan (“To Wander”), a museum in his hometown on the island of Amami Oshima, he dedicated it to the children of that small village and honored a friendship that spanned both time and distance by commissioning Brown to create a 50-foot ceramic mural with the theme of One World.

As Brown reveals, “Some of the images in the mural come from the tropical island of Amami Oshima and others have recurred in my work for many years. The pods are part of my exploration of flow, the energy…that connects us all. We are all a part of a whole, an organic form flowing like a school of fish or flock of birds… ‘One World’ will flow across the museum wall, starting with Mother Earth, under the mangrove trees, dreaming the mandala of life, with life force ever-flowing. Her dream unfolds in nature and everyday life—people, plants, animals, mountains, seas, butterflies, community.”

The structure of “One World” proceeds from left to right, designed to be experienced when walking. Brown’s style relates to Tom Otterness’ and Fernando Botero’s simplified figures though the composition of “One World,” with a figure dozing amid foliage, recalls tableaux by Henri Rousseau. A separate section features a poem written by another high-school friend, inscribed in the clay in both English and Japanese. 

With the mural complete, now come the ultimate steps for consummating the cross-cultural endeavor. Each of the hundreds of pieces will be wrapped and fit into purpose-built crates and, with a prayer said for their safe arrival, their voyage to Japan will begin. —joybrownstudio.com

By Brandee Coleman Gilmore

Volunteering, done right, does a world of good. Obviously, it helps the people or organizations served, but research shows it benefits the wellbeing of those doing the work, too. If you find you’ve got the time to volunteer or need to get outside your own head on occasion, you probably don’t want to waste time surfing the internet looking for what to do. That’s why you’ve got us. We’ve compiled options in several sectors — everything from gardening to business mentoring. Even if you don’t see the perfect fit, it’ll get your gears turning and closer to getting started. 

NOURISHMENT:

F.I.S.H.
F.I.S.H., an acronym for Friends in Service to Humanity, runs a food pantry and homeless emergency shelter programs. 

Meals on Wheels
1) Delivered meals – prepared meals delivered to individuals who are unable to prepare or obtain nourishing meals on their own. Torrington Towers,

2) Congregate Meals – help serve at one of 6 Litchfield County locations: Winsted, Harwinton, Morris, Lakeville, Torrington, Falls Village. 

LIBRARIES:

Gunn Memorial
They need help in the book shop, stairwell gallery, offices, special events, and summer specific events.

Norfolk Library Associates
The Norfolk Library Associates are dedicated to supporting, through fundraising efforts, free programs and activities to expand and enhance regular library operations. 

ANIMAL SHELTERS:

Click for a list of shelters in the county.

CULTURE/HISTORY:

Kent Historical Society
Assist with mailings, archives, event hosting, program creation, publicity, gardening.

Litchfield Historical Society
Public facing or behind-the-scenes opportunities. Training provided.

Torrington Historical Society

NATURE CONSERVATION:

Hollister House

Join their cadre of Garden Docents who greet guests, answer questions, and have an interest in gardening and horticulture. Training provided. They also need Barn Talk, Special Event, and Special Project volunteers.

Housatonic Valley Association
Aid this environmental group in preserving the Housatonic Watershed, especially with their annual auction.

LAND TRUSTS:

Bridgewater Land Trust, Bridgewater
Land preservation and events.

Flanders Nature Center and Land Trust, Woodbury
Maple Sugaring, Flanders Festival, Field & Forest 5K, Flanders Annual Benefit & Auction, holiday wreath making workshop, landscape work, committees, hike and program leaders. 

Goshen Land Trust, Goshen
Invasive species removal, inspection of conserved properties, office work, fundraising, trail maintenance, and committee members. 

Kent Land Trust, Kent
Trail maintenance, land management, leading hikes, providing professional services, conducting programs, annual KLT Memorial Day Community picnic.

Litchfield Land Trust, Litchfield

Clearing trails, identifying areas requiring improvement, hosting/greeting at events/fairs, assisting with social/print media, inventorying/monitoring properties. 

Norfolk Land Trust, Norfolk
Monitor and maintain trails, or join an all-volunteer committee (finance, etc.) 

Roxbury Land Trust
Monitor and maintain trails, or guide trail walks highlighted by arresting views and Roxbury history. 

Salisbury Land Trust, Salisbury
Part of the Salisbury Association, assists with land monitoring, maintaining trails, beautification, community events or the historical society. Adhoc or part-time basis any time of the year.

Steep Rock Association, Washington
Assistance with record keeping, data input, landscape work, photography, office work for 5500 acres of protected land.  denise.arturi@steeprockassoc.org

Northwest Conservation District of Connecticut
Invasive plant removal, plantings, weeding on rain gardens in Woodbury, Bethlehem, or Roxbury. Plant sale at the end of April at Goshen Fairgrounds.

BUSINESS:
SCORE Northwest Connecticut
Encourage and guide small business owners or aspiring entrepreneurs as a mentor, subject matter expert, workshop presenter, or in admin/marketing.

Senior Medicare Patrol
Empower and assist Medicare beneficiaries, their families, and caregivers to prevent, detect, and report health care fraud, errors, and abuse through outreach, counseling, and education. 

ARTS:

Five Points Arts, Torrington
Gallery sitting, hospitality, events, gardening, facility improvements, and program assistance.

Infinity Music Hall, Norfolk
Network and help spread awareness about this unique venue as a street team member, or serve as an usher.

NWCT Arts Council, Torrington
Help build wellbeing and economic development assisting with cultural events, networking opportunities, and promotion services for artists and cultural organizations.

Warner Theatre, Torrington
An army of volunteers props up this architectural arts treasure as ushers, ticket takers, concessions workers, and helping at special events. 

Washington Art Association & Gallery, Washington
Help with the front desk, fundraising events, exhibit openings and the annual holiday shop.

The Rafa Nadal Academy has a successful record of producing some of the world’s most talented junior tennis players at its academy in Mallorca, Spain. Rafa Nadal’s head coach, Toni Nadal along with ex pro Carlos Moya and his team have long put aspiring tennis players through their paces in order to improve all aspects of their game. This summer the Rafa Nadal Academy is bringing its developmental tennis program to the United States by offering tennis camps in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island and New Jersey. The leader in tennis programming will offer the Rafa Nadal camp to both junior players and adults at the state-of the-art facilities of the The Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, CT from July 3 – 8.

The camps are led by official Rafa Nadal Academy coaches and offer exclusive tennis coaching to boys and girls ages 9 to 18 using the same on and off court training that is used at the Rafa Nadal Academy. Adults also have an opportunity to receive coaching in small groups. With the popularity of tennis on the rise and Rafa Nadal’s recent record breaking grand slam victory creating headlines, the summer is the perfect time for aspiring players to improve their game.

“We are delighted to share our unique approach to high performance tennis and support the growth of tennis in the U.S. It’s a natural expansion of our academy in Spain and a great way to introduce players to our proven methodology. By supporting players development on and off the court  we hope to improve the mental, physical, and technical aspects of their game so they can become better players,” shares Tomas Sorensen, Head of Coaching at the Rafa Nadal Academy.

“The Rafa Nadal Academy camps are always well received because we provide training not usually available here in the U.S. The camp is a great taste of high level tennis and many of our players use the camp to prepare for tournaments and sharpen their skills. Some go on to the academy in Mallorca as a result of their positive experience,” says Marta Ramos, Director of U.S operations. “We are excited to bring this dynamic camp to young players across the Northeast and the incredible facilities at Hotchkiss, which has its own storied tennis program.”

Space on this summer’s camps is limited and available on a first come first served basis. For more information please visit:

Athena.rafanadalacademycamps.com

Interested in the performing arts? Under the direction of Michael Kevin Baldwin, The Sharon Playhouse is offering wonderful educational programming this spring.

Baldwin breaks the educational programming into three main buckets: classes, partnerships, and camps. The Playhouse offers classes from September through May. For young ones (starting at age three) there are such classes as Movement for Munchkins, Creative Dramatics, and Let’s Act. For tweens and teens there are classes like Stage Combat, Playing the Part, and Improv. And for adults, the offerings include Tap Dance, Scene Study, Adult Comedy Night (which includes a free drink at the bar!), Playwriting, and the popular Play Soirees.

The Playhouse has established educational partnerships with many local schools and organizations, including Indian Mountain School and Sharon Center School. Throughout the school year, Sharon Playhouse teaching artists offer in-school skills-building in the Performing Arts including techniques on how to devise original scripts. Baldwin also recently led a workshop with the staff of Project SAGE (formerly Women’s Support Services) on how to bring a sense of play and joy into the workplace.

Finally, there is the popular Summer Youth Theater “Camp” Program. Seven weeks of theater camp offer local youth, ages 5-18, the opportunity to play a role in a production on the mainstage of the Bobbie Olsen Theater. This summer’s youth productions include Peter and the Starcatcher (ages 13-18), Disney’s Newsies, Jr. (ages 10-16), A Year with Frog and Toad, Kids (ages 7-11), and Sharon Playhouse Stars (ages 5-7).

Regardless of your age, there is something fun and exciting for everyone at the Playhouse!

An Ordinary Guy Rises to the Occasion 

By Nancy McMillan

In 1975, Litchfield native Ralph White, serving as a junior executive at the Bangkok branch of Chase Bank, was summoned to Saigon to take on a mission no one wanted to fulfill. Saigon was falling to the North Vietnamese and Chase needed someone to evacuate their employees out of the country. Young, single, and expendable, the 27-year-old didn’t hesitate. His new book, Getting Out of Saigon, to be released in April, recounts the riveting narrative. 

“I was an ordinary guy faced with extraordinary circumstances who rose to the occasion,” White says.

Over the course of 13 days, he navigated the labyrinth of U.S. political operations as well as the local underground network of activists. In the briefcase he was never without, he carried $25,000 in cash and a gun.

Despite continuous and mounting challenges, he arranged the evacuation by developing an unorthodox solution to safely shepherd his 113 wards out of the country.

Decades later, White was rocked by the events on September 11, 2001, which killed five of his friends. He changed every aspect of his life and turned to writing. In 2009, he founded the Columbia Fiction Foundry. In 2017, he decided to write his Saigon story. He is also the author of Litchfield (2011), a local history featuring 200 vintage photographs of his hometown. He lives in New York City and Litchfield.

White expects that film rights and international rights will be sold later this year.

By Pamela Brown

Eliot Johnson is an award-winning builder who appreciates preserving his family’s farm. “It’s always been a big part of my life. Farming is my hobby,” says Johnson, owner of West Mountain Builders and Far Fields Farm in Washington.

Although Johnson’s grandfather retired before he was born, his grandson experienced farm life. “Every summer, my cousins, the Potters, would run their heifers down Nettleton Hollow Road from their farm on Sunny Ridge Road to graze here. I was always drawn to farming, so as a kid, it was an exciting day when the animals arrived for the season or when the Potters clattered down the road in June with their tractors to make first-cutting hay,” Johnson reminisces.   

“My great-grandfather Walter Lathrop Senior, a banker, helped buy this property on West Mountain Road for my grandfather in 1941. He ran an award-winning dairy farm here until 1973,” explains Johnson who grew up on the property and is raising his three sons in the same house, with his wife. They raise a small herd of cattle and make square hay bales for retail sale on part of the family’s original land. In 2020 Steep Rock Preserve purchased land across the street from Eliot’s dad and his sisters, and now it’s the Johnson Farm Preserve, Steep Rock’s smallest nature preserve.

While Johnson enjoys tending the farm, his full-time career focuses on West Mountain Builders. In 2003, he took over his father’s company, Walter Johnson Builders, changed the name, and found his niche. “It’s a good fit for my skills and personality. I enjoy the fast pace, managing multiple projects, and creating beautifully finished homes,” he says. “A few years ago, my wife Stephanie came on board to run the office and made work more fun because we really enjoy working together.”  

The thriving Litchfield community inspires Johnson. “We love Washington. It’s a beautiful town, and it’s a pretty sophisticated community—we’ve got small local farms and a lot of really interesting, well-supported organizations. You go down to The Judy Black Park on a Friday night in the summertime there’s a lot going on,” says Johnson whose family established a connection to the town. “In his time, my grandfather drove the ambulance, belonged to the Lions Club, and was on the school board for Region 12. One other important mentor in my life, who is a carpenter in his day job, does the hard work of a volunteer fireman. This set a high bar for me.”

Johnson served as the building chair of the Washington Art Association and is a longtime member of the board of Steep Rock Preserve. Stephanie, an artist, served as vice president of the Washington Art Association for several years. “Growing up in Bridgewater, I watched my mother volunteer for several organizations despite her incredibly busy schedule. I learned from her that donating your time is part of living in a small town,” says Stephanie.

With a family, demanding job, the farm, and community work, Johnson’s life is full but he finds refreshment in his roots. “I feel relaxed when I’m home working on the farm,” he says. “I’m in a really good place and if I can hold this for another 20 years I’d be thrilled.”