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Hello Autumn

A few weeks ago we were saying goodbye to summer. School had started. Summer vacations had concluded. It was an in-between time to look back at a full season of outdoor events and activities. Now, fall is settling in. We have months of cold weather ahead and the signs are all around. Many birds that migrate south over winter have left. The low-flying barn swallows begin their migration when the temperature drops. The honking of Canada geese is a familiar fall sound in the Northwest Corner hills. The bright-colored goldfinch has left. Some of our townspeople also migrate south as snowbirds.

Students have settled into school, and for some midterms are already here. Fall sports are geared up for turf battles between schools. Many parents are in the throes of the soccer travel challenge. Some sports have begun to move indoors. 

Homeowners are debating when to bring in the outdoor furniture — if at all — and some have mowed the lawn for the last time. Others are busy with another seasonal ritual: raking leaves. Or not.

Inside, the furnace has fired up. Or not. Some hapless homeowners have to call for service because the furnace didn’t work on the first fall temperature test. 

Once the house warms up, it becomes a draw for all the mice seeking shelter and food for the winter ahead. These pointy-nosed invaders are highly successful with their annual migration into our historic, Colonial-era homes. Just another sign of the season. 

Every fall New England becomes a destination for leaf peepers, but this year the fall colors may be less pronounced, according to the experts. A major factor was the wet summer season. The National Weather Service reported that Litchfield County’s summer rainfall was double the normal amount. Rain dilutes the sugars in the leaves, affecting the hues.  Cold nights help trigger the  changeover, but many nights have only seen temps in the forties. We’re at the end of the third week in October, when the color change is typically in peak range, and professional photographers and leaf watchers are scrambling to capture and witness fall foliage in all its boldness and glory.

Black bears are stocking up for a long winter’s hibernation that typically starts around Thanksgiving. Now, they can be seen everywhere, of course. 

Another ubiquitous sign of the fall season can be found on front lawns and roadsides throughout the Northwest Corner: campaign placards. Tuesday, Nov. 7 is Election Day, and this election cycle will see contested races for selectman in Cornwall, Falls Village, Kent, North Canaan, and Salisbury. Throughout October, profiles on participating candidates are published in The Lakeville Journal in our ‘Meet the candidates’ series.  This week, read about candidates in North Canaan and Sharon on page A8 and A9.

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Legal Notices - July 9, 2026

Legal Notices - July 9, 2026

Legal Notice

Notice of Formation of Kaits Kleaning LLC. Art. Of Org. filed with SSNY on 05-22-2026. Office Lo-cation: Dutchess county. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 24 Attlebury Hill Road, Standfordville NY 12581.

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Tenmile Distillery is making history the old-fashioned way

Cheers! The Revolutionary Whisky Series at Ten Mile Distillery, each named for a significant battle of the American Revolution, celebrates America at 250.

D.H. Callahan

In December 2024, the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau officially established the Standard of Identity for American Single Malt Whisky. It was the first new classification in more than half a century, creating new possibilities for American distillers. One of the distilleries taking advantage of this new landscape is Wassaic’s Tenmile Distillery. It is well positioned to make history because Tenmile has always honored traditional whiskey-making practices.

Single malts are often associated with Scotch whisky. Perhaps that’s why, years before the new standard was adopted, Tenmile hired Shane Fraser, a Scottish master distiller with 30 years of experience at some of Scotland’s most prestigious distilleries. Fraser began designing the distillery from the ground up. Alongside owner and general manager Joel LeVangia, he emphasized time-honored traditions, favoring hands-on craftsmanship over the increasingly automated methods used by larger producers. When it comes to making the best whisky possible, Tenmile believes in learning from the past. That philosophy extends beyond the distilling process.

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The magic of Belinda Sinclair

The magic of Belinda Sinclair

Belinda Sinclair

Dean Chamberlain
Sinclair’s show explores the ways women have been practicing forms of magic for centuries, and there is plenty of history to tell.

Belinda Sinclair is the kind of magician who impresses people who don’t like magic. Her tricks are mind-boggling. Her stories are captivating. And if she picks you to write your name on a card, get ready to be wowed. Repeat attendees of her shows, of which there are many, take almost as much delight in watching new jaws drop as they do in seeing an illusion reach its astonishing conclusion.

Since the summer of 2025, Sinclair has been baffling local audiences at the Hughes Memorial Library in West Cornwall, but her magical run comes to a close at the end of August.

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“Nixon in China” comes to Tanglewood

“Nixon in China” comes to Tanglewood

Renée Fleming, Andris Nelsons and Thomas Hampson.

Hilary Scott

On Friday, July 17 at 8 p.m. in the Koussevitzky Music Shed at Tanglewood, two of the greatest American voices of their generation, soprano Renée Fleming and baritone Thomas Hampson, join Music Director Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra in a performance of excerpts from John Adams’ groundbreaking opera “Nixon in China.” The piece, performed earlier this year in Boston and at Carnegie Hall in New York City, is a highlight of a program that also includes “Meditations on Grace” (2024) by BSO Composer Chair Carlos Simon, and the melodic and technically demanding Violin Concerto by Samuel Barber.

Fleming is internationally celebrated for her vocal and dramatic artistry, as well as for her advocacy for the powerful impact of the creative arts in health. Hampson has long been recognized as one of the most innovative musicians of our time and has received countless international honors for his singular artistry and cultural leadership. Both performed in “Nixon in China” earlier this year at the Paris Opera under the baton of Kent Nagano.

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Local playwright revisits Revolutionary moment in “Rebel Town”

The cast and crew of “Rebeltown: The Musical.”

Jack Sheedy

John Alan Segalla was working in Boston a few years ago, giving historic tours at the site of the Boston Tea Party. Now, as America celebrates 250 years as a nation, the Canaan native is about to debut a new version of his original musical, “Rebel Town,” inspired largely by the Boston Tea Party, the protest that helped launch the American Revolution.

“It wasn’t until I got to Boston and learned the Tea Party story that I fell in love with this moment in history, and I saw the story as wildly compelling and very important, and really a story that was very misunderstood, mistaught in schools,” Segalla said at a recent rehearsal in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, ahead of the show’s July 10 opening.

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An invitation to paint a community mural in Torrington

Community mural design by Macayla Muzzulin will be painted by volunteers on July 11 in Franklin Plaza in Torrington.

Provided

From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, July 11, Five Points Arts in Torrington will host a community mural project celebrating the nation’s 250th anniversary. Volunteers of every age and artistic ability are invited to help paint a 20-by-6-foot mural designed by artist Macayla Muzzulin. The mural will be completed in one day, transformed from a numbered outline into a permanent public artwork along the river in downtown Torrington.

“We firmly believe art is for everyone,” said Five Points founder and executive director, Judith McElhone. “It’s so great to be able to do this with such talent, and with Launchpad artists, volunteers and staff there to help.”

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