Monthly Archives: May 2015

Lyme Dedicates New Buldings, Passes Town Budget

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Townspeople gather to celebrate the dedication of the new Lyme Town Hall and Library.

Townspeople gather to celebrate the dedication of the new Lyme Town Hall and Library.

The sun broke through the clouds Tuesday evening as the residents of Lyme gathered in front of the Lyme Public Library to dedicate the new library building and the renovated town hall.  First Selectman, Ralph Eno thanked the donors, the building committee, and all those who supported the project.

Dan Hagan, Building Committee chair, echoed his message and specifically thanked the architect Bruce Tuthill for working closely with the town to create buildings that should serve the community for the next 30 years.

At the end of the dedication, a group accompanied Selectman Steve Mattson to town hall to ring the town bell.  The bell dates back to the 1860s when the building was a Baptist church.

Most of the crowd stayed for the annual town meeting which was held for the first time in the new town hall meeting room.  Previous town meetings had been held in the school gymnasium, the firehouse or the public hall.

A payment of $25,000 from the open space fund was approved to help purchase a parcel of land on Selden Road which will allow limited public water access.  The remainder of the purchase price has been pledged by private donors.

The residents approved the 2015-2016 town budget of $10,065,892, an increase of 1.16%.  Most of the increase was for capital expenditures on equipment needed by the town crew and for servicing the debt on the new building.  After the meeting the Finance Committee set the new tax rate at 17.75 mills, up from the current rate of 17 mills.

Lyme-Old Lyme Chamber Meeting Tonight Features Conn. College  President, All Welcome

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Katherine Bergeron

Katherine Bergeron

A “native daughter” of Old Lyme will be returning to her home town to reflect on current trends in higher education which will guide the next generation of “thinkers, doers, and leaders.”

President Katherine Bergeron of Connecticut College will be the speaker at the monthly dinner meeting of the Lyme-Old Lyme Chamber of Commerce. The Wednesday, May 20 gathering will begin at 6 p.m. at the Old Lyme Inn and is open to members and friends.

Bergeron’s talk is on “The Liberal Arts College in the 21st Century.”

President Bergeron is a 1976 graduate of Old Lyme High School. Her life in the town was the precursor to a distinguished academic career at Wesleyan and and Cornell, followed by faculty posts at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Tufts University, the University of California at Berkeley, and then at Brown University, where she later was appointed dean of the college and led numerous curricular innovations.

Since becoming president of Connecticut College on Jan. 1, 2014, she has worked to advance the design of “a new liberal arts curriculum,” designed to “produce a new generation of thinkers, doers, and leaders, prepared for the challenges of an ever more complex and dynamic future.”

Editor’s Note: To reserve dinner seating at $25 per person, contact email@lolcc.com or jancushing@att.net.  All are welcome to attend this special event — it is not limited to Chamber members.

Dedication of Lyme Town Campus Center Tonight Precedes Budget Meeting

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Lyme Town Hall

Lyme Town Hall

Lyme residents, neighbors and friends are invited to celebrate the end of the town hall and library building project at a dedication of the two buildings on Tuesday, May 19.  Participants should meet at the library at 6:30 p.m.

After a short ceremony, the event will move to the town hall.  Selectman Steve Mattson has volunteered to ring the town bell to mark the occasion.  Townspeople are encouraged to stay for the annual town budget meeting, which will be held for the first time, in the new town meeting room at 7:30 p.m.

Lyme Public Library

Lyme Public Library

The dedication marks the end of a nearly six-year project which began in 2009 when First Selectman Ralph Eno appointed the Lyme Town Campus Planning Committee.  Committee members were Mac Godley, Dan Hagan, Richard Lightfoot, Chuck Lynch, Steve Mattson, Allen Petri, David Tiffany and Janis Witkins.

Actual construction began in September 2013 and was finished in April 2015.

The renovated and expanded Lyme Town Hall is approximately 5,000 square feet, twice its original size, and features a new vault for the safe storage of the town’s records.  The library increased from almost 4,100 square feet to approximately 6,800 square feet and includes new space for the Lyme Local History Archives.

With a program room, two small meeting rooms and plenty of space for socializing, the new library serves both as a library and a community center for Lyme.  Both buildings are wired for current technology with open public wifi available throughout the campus, including the new town green.

The total project budget was $5.08 million, and it is anticipated that the project will come in slightly under that number.  Over $1.5 million was raised through grants and the generosity of private donors.

World Renowned Singers Pittsinger, Schumann to Star in Ivoryton’s ‘South Pacific’

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David Pittsinger

David Pittsinger

Ivoryton Playhouse has announced that world renowned American bass-baritone David Pittsinger* will be revisiting the role of Emile deBecque – the role he played in the Lincoln Center production to great critical acclaim – in the July production of South Pacific at the Ivoryton Playhouse.

Peter Marks of the Washington Post wrote of his performance’ “That quadruple bassoon of a voice interpreting the Richard Rodgers melodies – among the most melting ever composed for the theater – is all the seduction that you or Nellie need. Somehow, the effortlessness of Pittsinger’s technique helps in the illusion that the great romance at the core of “South Pacific” truly is operatic in scope.

Mr. Pittsinger is a stage performer of the greatest distinction. Having appeared on the world’s leading opera and concert stages in Vienna, Salzburg, Brussels, Paris, Tanglewood, Pesaro, New York, Santa Fe, Cincinnati, Los Angeles and San Francisco, he is equally at home in baroque through contemporary operas, as well as musical theater.

Patricia Schumann

Patricia Schumann

 

He will be joined by his wife, internationally celebrated soprano Patricia Schuman*, who will also be making her Ivoryton Playhouse debut, as Bloody Mary. A performer of great breadth, Ms. Schuman began her career with the great Mozart repertoire, performing Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni) and Contessa Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro) at the Metropolitan Opera and has performed at most of the great opera houses throughout Europe and the United States.

David and Patricia made their home in Essex almost 20 years ago, and even though their work in the opera world has them travelling all over the world, they both feel a special connection to Connecticut shoreline. David, who grew up in Clinton and attended the University of Connecticut and Yale, is thrilled to be giving back to his community and the Playhouse is honored to welcome both of them to the historic Ivoryton stage.

South Pacific opens at the Ivoryton Playhouse on July 1 and runs through July 26. Performance times are Wednesday and Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. Additional matinee performances are at 2 p.m. on Thursday, July 16, Saturday, July 18, and Saturday, July 25. Evening performances are Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. There is no performance on Saturday, July 4.

Tickets are $42 for adults, $37 for seniors, $20 for students and $15 for children and are available by calling the Playhouse box office at 860-767-7318 or by visiting our website at www.ivorytonplayhouse.org (Group rates are available by calling the box office for information.)

The Playhouse is located at 103 Main Street in Ivoryton.

‘A Year in Connecticut’ Photo Exhibit on View at Old Lyme Library

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The signature photograph of the, "A Year in Connecticut" exhibition by Steve Nadler, which opens Sunday afternoon.

The signature photograph for the, “A Year in Connecticut” exhibition by Steve Nadler, which opens Sunday afternoon.

A new exhibition and sale of landscape photographs by Steve Nadler is on view at the Old Lyme Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library.

The exhibition titled, “A Year in Connecticut,” is Nadler’s photo essay on the natural beauty that exists in southeastern Connecticut.

Nadler explains, “My year is not 12 consecutive months but rather the four seasons that represent one full year.  As you walk through the exhibit area, my hope is that you experience the feeling of the changing seasons in all their glory.”

He continues, “My intent is for you to understand that it is not what you see in these images but more importantly, how you feel when you see them.”

Nadler will speak more about his work in a short gallery talk at 2:30 p.m.

The show runs through June 30, and the library will benefit from a portion of the sales of the photographs.

For more information, visit the library’s website or call 860-434-1684.  The library is located at 2 Library Ln. in Old Lyme, CT 06371.