NCC musical, fundraising activities

NORWALK, Conn. — A gigantic tag sale in a neighboring community, a musical at Norwalk Community College, a concert at the Lockwood Mathews Mansion and a gala for The Child & Family Guidance Center.

NCC presents spring musical

Norwalk Community College music and theater students are presenting their spring musical, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, starting next week. The performance dates and times are Monday, April 10 at 7 p.m., Tuesday, April 11 at 7 p.m., Wednesday, April 12 at 5:30 p.m. and two performances on Thursday, April 13 at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m.

The Tony-Award winning comedy features several unique students who enter a spelling bee only to find that there is more to life than winning or losing.

The 90-minute show in the PepsiCo Theater on East Campus is free, but seating is limited as the entire audience is onstage at the bee! You can sign up for a reservation on the bulletin board in E108.

The audience also has the option to join in the action, so audience members who are interested in entering the bee as a speller, contact Christine Mangone at [email protected]

Earth Day cleanup
Mayor Harry Rilling is hosting Norwalk’s Citywide Cleanup on Earth Day, Saturday April 22, beginning at 10 a.m. at Lowe’s, 100 Connecticut Ave. Contact [email protected] for more details.

Learn how to be a part of the ‘pollinator pathway’

Wilton residents are creating a “Pollinator Pathway” through town, modeled after a project started by one woman in Norway who single-handedly introduced the concept to her town and won universal endorsement.

This gives you an opportunity to learn about pollinators at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 18, at a Wilton Library panel discussion. The Wilton Pollinator Pathway: How to Bring Butterflies and Bees Back to Your Yard.

Speakers include Jim Nordgren, an environmental consultant from South Salem who served as Executive Director of the Northeast Wilderness Trust and the Bedford Audubon Society and who has written natural resource inventories and open space plans for land trusts, municipalities, recreational and religious institutions and individuals. Shaun McCoshum, Ph.D., the Preserve Manager and Educator for Westchester Land Trust, whose academic work focuses on native bee and butterfly ecology, including monarch butterflies. Victor DeMasi, a lepidopterist, research affiliate for Yale’s Peabody Museum, Redding wetland conservation officer and NRWA Advisory Board member, has been studying butterflies and moths along the Norwalk River since 1977. His fieldwork with butterflies is cited in Connecticut Butterfly Atlas and his mark-recapture studies with Swallowtails is cited in Swallowtails of the Americas. Register through the Wilton Library.

New Canaan Country School hosts community tag sale

New Canaan Country School will host its 10th annual Deal Days tag sale on Saturday, April 22. This community-wide event offers thousands of items at great value prices including: antiques, art, furniture, clothing, baby gear, collectibles, household accessories, sporting goods, toys, outdoor and garden gear, vehicles, musical instruments and more.

Early-bird shoppers can access the tag sale between 8:30 and 9:30 a.m. for a fee of $10. Admission is free for all from 9:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. The sale will be held in the Watson Gym on the Country School campus which is located at 635 Frogtown Road, New Canaan and free parking will be available. Shoppers may provide cash or credit card payment in the form of MasterCard, Visa and American Express (no personal checks).  Country School gladly accepts tag sale donations from the public, and all donations are tax-deductible. For more information about making donations and to schedule a free pick-up of your items, please visit: www.countryschool.net/dealdays.

This epic tag sale is a wonderful opportunity to de-clutter and do good for a worthy cause; proceeds from the event support the school’s financial aid program.

The Deal Days 2017 committee heads, include school-parent volunteers representing five towns, including  Jenny Harrington and Tatiana Mendoza of Norwalk and Nicole Intile of Rowayton. For further information about attending or donating to the 2017 Deal Days Tag Sale, visit: www.countryschool.net/dealdays.

New Canaan Country School is a co-ed, independent, day school for students in Pre-K (ages 3 & 4) through Grade 9. Located on a 75-acre campus in New Canaan, the school offers transportation to students from Fairfield and Westchester counties. For more information, please visit www.countryschool.net.

Champions for Children fundraising gala

The Child & Family Guidance Center will host its second annual Champions for Children Fundraising gala on Thursday, May 4, from 6:30 to 9 p.m., at  Shorehaven Golf Club, located at 14 Canfield Avenue, Norwalk. Net proceeds will fuel critical mental health and community programs serving Fairfield County’s most vulnerable.

This evening of inspiration will include live music, a silent auction, cocktails, tastings and a dessert table. The following Champions for Children honorees will be celebrated for their personal growth, philanthropy, or policymaking efforts to help ensure availability of mental health supports:

• Yoelee Bracero, CFGC client, and Natacha Jackson, CFGC counselor
• Barbara and Bob Scinto, for their generosity of talent and treasure
• U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, for spearheading the Mental Health Reform Act of 2016

Event sponsors include: Farmers Insurance, RD Scinto, Inc., Alexandra Wallace-Currie, Serendipity Magazine (Main Media Sponsor), Ann T. D’Addario Family Foundation, Marcum LLP, iMission Partners, and The Southfield Center for Development.

For more than 90 years, The Child & Family Guidance Center has served children and teens confronting behavioral and emotional challenges. Last year alone, this nonprofit agency served nearly 3,300 people through its 16 programs, via its Bridgeport, Fairfield, Stratford, and Norwalk offices. Most of the families served struggle with such basic needs as food, clothing and shelter, and many have been adversely impacted by significant trauma.

“We see daily the healing impact of our mental health services on the children in our communities and their families,” commented Michael Patota, President/CEO of The Child & Family Guidance Center. “We never deny services based on a person’s ability to pay. This is only possible when individuals and local businesses work with us to support local youth in need. The Champions for Children Gala is a great way to make a positive impact on Fairfield County’s youth.”

Tickets and sponsorships are available by calling 203-394-6529 ext. 3069, or visiting www.cfguidance.org.

LMMM partners with St. Mary’s Church for concert

On Sunday, May 7, from 2 to 4 p.m., in collaboration with the Rev. Father Richard Cipolla and the Parish of St. Mary’s in Norwalk, the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum will feature Heavenly Notes: St. Mary’s at the Mansion, a rare fundraising concert highlighting the church’s outstanding professional choir. The event will include a reception with light refreshments and tour of the Mansion’s new exhibits.

The performance will feature music from the Victorian and Edwardian eras led by organist and choirmaster David Hughes. As described in Florence Mathews’ diary, there was a longstanding relationship between St. Mary’s and the Mathews family, as the church was central to the life of many of the servants who lived and worked at the mansion during the Edwardian era. Built in 1848, and originally located on Chapel Street in Norwalk, St. Mary’s burned to the ground and was replaced by a magnificent Gothic Revival stone church in 1871 on West Avenue, half a mile from the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion. It was recently restored by award-winning John Canning & Co. who also restored the library at the Mansion.

Soprano Elizabeth Baber Weaver has performed and recorded masterpieces of Renaissance music as a member of the vocal chamber group Pomerium. She has appeared as a guest artist with the acclaimed quartet, New York Polyphony, including their Grammy-nominated album, Sing thee Nowell. She has received critical praise in The New York Times and in The Washington Post for her “angelic brightness and dedication.”

Bass Charles Weaver performs on early plucked-string instruments both as a recitalist and as an accompanist. He is on the faculty and has also been a vocal coach at the Juilliard School and for the Yale Baroque Opera Project. Chamber music appearances include Early Music New York, Hesperus, Piffaro, Parthenia, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Folger Consort, and Blue Heron, to name a few. He is on the faculty of the New York Continuo Collective and is assistant director of the St. Mary’s Student Schola program in Norwalk, Conn..

Hughes, a native of Stamford, directs a professional, a volunteer and several children’s choirs at St. Mary’s. He has led the St. Mary’s Student Schola at World Youth Day in Madrid in 2011 and is an active composer. Mr. Hughes has written extensively for choir and organ including film scores and documentaries such as Navis Pictures’ St. Bernadette of Lourdes.

Reservations are required due to limited seating. Tickets to the concert are $30 for the third rows and up, and $50/$100 for second row/front row seating. The reception is $10. The Museum’s 2017 cultural and educational programs are made possible in part by generous funding from LMMM’s Founding Patrons: The Estate of Mrs. Cynthia Clark Brown, LMMM’s 2017 Season Distinguished Benefactors: The Maurice Goodman Foundation, 2017 LMMM Distinguished Benefactors for Education: GE and Fairfield County’s Community Foundation. The Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum is a National Historic Landmark. For more information on schedules and programs visit www.lockwoodmathewsmansion.com, e-mail [email protected], or call 203-838-9799.