Category Archives: Departments

A Few Tickets Still Available for Lyme Art Association’s Signature Spring Fundraiser

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Among the silent auction items at the 2025 Sea & Sky Soiree is “Abandoned Orchard” by Jim Laurino. Image courtesy of Lyme Art Association.

OLD LYME —The Lyme Art Association promises an evening of fine art, music, and cultured camaraderie at its Sea & Sky Soirée on Saturday, May 3. 

Described in a press release as the place where “art meets elegance,” the signature spring fundraiser includes live jazz, hors d’oeuvres from Flanders Fish Market, a silent auction showcasing works of art, and a raffle of themed baskets featuring unique items and experiences.  

Basket Raffle tickets are now on sale. Visit this link to purchase tickets in advance of the event. Raffle tickets can be purchased ahead of time and picked up at the event or at Lyme Art Association (LAA) starting or purchased at LAA.

Tickets are one for $10, three for $20, or ten for $50. Baskets are currently on display at the LAA. The raffle drawing will take place at the Sea & Sky Soirée. Participants need not be present to win.

The event will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. in the association’s historic gallery at 90 Lyme St.

Lyme Art Association Executive Director Elsbeth Dowd prepared for last year’s silent auction in this photo courtesy of Lyme Art Association.

Proceeds support educational programs, exhibitions, and special projects carried out as part of the association’s mission to promote the visual arts.

Sponsorships and auction donations are still being accepted.

For more information or to donate auction items, contact Elsbeth Dowd at elsbeth@lymeartassociation.org or call 860-434-7802.

Tickets are available at www.lymeartassociation.org/sea-sky-soiree.

Lyme First Selectman David Lahm Will Not Seek Reelection; No Candidates Announced Yet

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LYME – Newly unaffiliated First Selectman David Lahm will not be seeking reelection in November. 

“I’ll be 66 years old when I leave office,” he said from the Town Hall Tuesday night. “I’ve been a volunteer in one way or another in this town, and in the service of our country in the military, since 1975. It’s time for my wife and I to build some time for us.”

Lahm was a Republican selectman when he was appointed to the top seat in 2022 after the mid-term retirement of Democrat Steve Mattson. 

He said he informed the leadership of both major political parties back in January of his intention not to run for another term. No candidates for the first selectman’s seat have been announced. 

“All things considered, I would have liked to have spent another term, but I look at some people I know who are no longer with us, and I don’t want to be one of these guys who works and then, six months after he retires, dies,” Lahm said. 

Lahm acknowledged that he switched his political affiliation from Republican to unaffiliated a few weeks ago. He said he based the decision on “national politics” under President Donald Trump. 

“I can’t be affiliated with that administration,” he said. 

But his discontent with the situation nationally did not drive his local reelection decision, according to the first selectman. He said officials in Lyme “have a long tradition of working across the aisle.”

Lahm recalled starting out his voting life as a Democrat. He became a registered Republican in 1992. 

“I changed then because I felt the Democratic Party had left me, and I now feel the Republican Party has left me,” he said. 

Lahm began volunteering in Lyme at age 16 as part of the Lyme Fire Company. He went on to join the U.S. Army, earn his law degree, and serve in the Connecticut National Guard until his retirement as a full colonel in 2012. His service includes tours in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Lahm was elected to the Board of Selectmen in 2021. Democrat Kristina White was appointed to take his place when he took over for Mattson as first selectman.

The board under Lahm’s leadership changed its name to the Board of Selectpeople in 2023, though he said at the time they would retain the gendered forms of their titles individually.

Republican Town Committee Chairwoman Mary Powell-St. Louis in a Wednesday phone call said the committee is finalizing its slate of candidates for all board and commission seats up for election in November. She expects to announce the full slate by the end of June.

Powell-St. Louis said she’s been the local Republican chairwoman since March of last year. She replaced Lahm, who resigned from the committee the previous December.

She said she wishes him well on “the next chapter of his journey.”

“I think he’s been a solid force for the town and I think his leadership was well received by the entire community – the Republican, Democratic and unaffiliated sides,” she said. 

She described Lahm’s decision to change his political affiliation as a personal one. 

She said the Republican Town Committee is more concerned with local issues than what happens on the national stage. 

“Speaking for myself, I think that the national politics don’t belong in the small town of Lyme,” she said. “We’re focused on the local issues and local representation.” 

John Kiker, a selectman and the chairman of the Democratic Town Committee, said Lahm’s inclusive leadership style will be missed. 

Kiker and Democrat Kristina White serve with Lahm on the three-member board. 

“He definitely sought our input on all matters,” he said. 

Kiker also emphasized Lahm’s thoughtful way of addressing problems. 

“He has a very calm way of dealing with people, taking things in and making a decision,” he said. 

White in a Wednesday phone interview said Lahm’s commitment to Lyme, a town that has always relied on volunteers, is evident. 

“I think he just exemplifies how we run the town, and exemplifies the character of the town that has always been for people to step up and volunteer,” she said. “And he did that, both as a selectman and stepping in after Steve Mattson resigned.”

Both Kiker and White said they will be running for reelection as selectmen. 

Kiker said local Democratic leadership has identified a possible candidate for first selectman. He declined to announce the name pending a vote by the full Democratic Town Committee in May.

Old Lyme Selectmen Place Halls Road Improvements Committee on Hold

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OLD LYME – The Old Lyme Board of Selectmen on Monday pressed pause on the Halls Road Improvements Committee (HRIC).

Selectmen at their regular meeting agreed to the move in the wake of months of controversy involving the future of a short span of road lined with outdated strip malls set between two highway interchanges. At the center of the dispute was a proposal from the Halls Road committee calling for the creation of an overlay district in the commercial zone that would allow apartments and condominiums to be built above, or behind, ground-floor businesses set close to the street. 

Months of vocal opposition to the group’s work culminated on April 14 when the committee’s vision for Halls Road was rejected in a 4-1 vote by the Zoning Commission. HRIC chairwoman Edie Twining resigned a few days later after six years at the helm. 

Many residents – more than 1,200 in an online petition and more than 500 packed into an April public hearing – did not see eye to eye with the committee.

First Selectwoman Martha Shoemaker in a phone interview Tuesday said the town’s three selectmen agreed to put the Halls Road committee on a “hiatus.”

There are currently four vacancies on the nine-member committee, according to the town website. 

“All three of us so much appreciate all the work the Halls Road Improvements Committee has done over the years, and we just want to plan for the best way forward,” she said. 

Shoemaker and HRIC member Paul Gianquinto will meet with the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) on May 5 to discuss unfinished business involving a plan for physical improvements to Halls Road. Representatives of the DEEP have been in talks with town officials about the possibility of transferring ownership of the state’s property on the east bank of the Lieutenant River to Old Lyme, as long as the town agrees to build a fishing pier and parking spaces there. 

Shoemaker said she will bring the topic back to the Board of Selectmen for discussion after she and Gianquinto meet with the state. 

As part of the HRIC plan to make the road safer and more passable for walkers and bikers, selectmen in 2023 hired AI Engineers of Middletown to come up with plans for a pedestrian bridge over the Lieutenant River and a trail system between Lyme Street and Halls Road. The designs were funded with $135,000 in federal American Rescue Plan money and a $28,500 grant through the Connecticut Recreational Trails program.

Shoemaker said selectmen on Monday concurred with a longstanding call among residents to put sidewalks on the road. 

She said she’s had preliminary talks with the town engineer about what those sidewalks might look like but did not yet have specific details. She was also exploring grant options through the state to cover construction. 

The Halls Road Improvements Committee was introduced by Democrat Bonnie Reemsnyder in 2015 with the goal of advising the Board of Selectmen on how best to develop a master plan for the area. The result evoked images of village-like storefronts and apartments, a pedestrian bridge, more greenspace and sidewalks. 

But Reemsnyder successor Tim Griswold, a Republican, called the vision too grandiose. He said at the time that he preferred to focus on building sidewalks one segment at a time before considering such broad plans. He withdrew a previous zoning proposal to create a Halls Road Village District before it could go to public hearing. 

The recently rejected overlay district application was signed by Shoemaker in November. The proposal was represented at the public hearing by William Sweeney, the attorney for the Halls Road Improvements Committee since 2022.

Shoemaker emphasized HRIC members serve at the request of the Board of Selectmen. 

“We’re going to put them on pause for a little while,” she said.

Lecture, Guided Walk on ‘Native American Sites in Old Lyme’ at Watch Rock Preserve with Dr. John Pfeiffer, April 27

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A view looking south down the Connecticut River with Watch Rock Preserve to the left. Photo by Edie Twining.

OLD LYME — On Sunday, April 27, take a step back into the history of Old Lyme’s Native Americans with a presentation and walking tour led by Dr. John Pfeiffer, PhD, Anthropology, SUNY Albany.

At 1 p.m., Pfeiffer will give a lecture at the Old Lyme Historical Society, 55 Lyme St. Light refreshments will be offered.

At 2:15 p.m. take a guided walk led by Pfeiffer at Old Lyme’s Land Trust Watch Rock Preserve at 7 Joel Rd.

Pfeiffer has conducted over half a century of research as an anthropologist, historian, and archaeologist with our local Schaghticoke, Mohegan, and Nehantic tribes.  

Dress comfortably for the weather. 

The event is free, but registration is requested at oldlymelandtrust.org

This event is co-sponsored by OLHSI and The Old Lyme Land Trust

Old Lyme Town Band Celebrates 50 Years with Gala Community Concert, April 26

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On Saturday, April 26, the Old Lyme Town Band celebrates its 50th anniversary with a free Community Concert at Lyme-Old Lyme High School. All photos courtesy of Old Lyme Town Band.

OLD LYME —The Old Lyme Town Band (OLTB) sounds off its 50th anniversary season with a free gala concert in the auditorium of Lyme-Old Lyme High School on Saturday, April 26, at 7 p.m. A reception will follow the concert. All are welcome and there is no charge for admission.

These four early members of the Old Lyme Town Band still play in it today. Michele Smith Dickey at right conceived the idea of re-forming the band in 1975 after a 65-year hiatus. The other three members are from left to right, Barry Weiner, Ann Lander, and Ned Perkins.

it was Michele Smith Dickey of Old Lyme—a member of the current band—who conceived the idea of re-forming the band in 1975 after a 65-year hiatus. She notes there were about 30 musicians at that time and the first volunteer conductor was Donald Janse. That was, in Dickey’s words, when, “We started making music and making friends a half century ago”. “

The original incarnation of the Old Lyme Town Band (OLTB) spanned 1886-1910. It was re-formed by Dickey in anticipation of the US Bicentennial coming a year later in 1976.

This photo shows the band in 1910 shortly before it took a 65-year break.

“The group has played continually for half a century,” she noted, continuing, “It’s great to have a musical outlet for people of all ages where friendships are forged.”

A series of 15 conductors followed Janse through the years. Under the direction of its current conductor, Richard Chiappetta, the band entertains audiences with a variety of music including movie medleys, traditional marches, showtune favorites, and Americana selections. 

Dickey commented that the band has grown to more than 50 members since 1975 and continues to provide summer and holiday concerts to shoreline and river valley communities. 

The April 26 concert will feature a commissioned piece by composer Anthony Susi titled, “Impressions of Old Lyme.” It was inspired by three Lyme Art Colony painters in summer residence at the home of Florence Griswold, where the new school of painting became the center of American impressionistic art. Susi hopes “Impressions of Old Lyme,” expresses the rich art history of the community. “The French impressionists often painted scenes around Paris; the American impressionists in Old Lyme painted the rural landscapes of New England.”

This famous work,“Kalmia” by Willard Metcalf, is one of the paintings that inspired Anthony Susi’s original work, “Impressions of Old Lyme,” which will be given its premier by the Old Lyme Town Band at their celebratory concert on April 26.

They used a technique of high-key colors and broken brush strokes seen in the paintings “The Ledges” by Childe Hassam, “Peonies” by Matilda Browne, and “Kalmia” by Willard Metcalf. The works reflect the meadows, marshes, and flowers in the area known for inspiring art.

Brian Girasoli, OLTB President, said that the show will feature debut compositions as well as old favorites as the group celebrates 50 years of musicianship. 

“Since 1975, we  have been fortunate to not only have nearly a thousand people from the surrounding area provide his or her musical acumen, but also the support of the community to put on more than a dozen concerts each year,” he continued. 

Concert dates can be found at oldlymetownband.net/oltb and by visiting Old Lyme Town Band on Facebook. Regular annual events include a concert preceding the fireworks display at the Midsummer Festival, a summer concert on the Town Green, and a winter holiday concert at Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center in Old Saybrook.  New this summer will be a concert at Water’s Edge in Westbrook.

The OLTB welcomes players of all ages, students to retirees. No audition is necessary. Rehearsals are held Monday evenings from 7 to 9 p.m. at Christ the King Church in Old Lyme.

For more information contact oldlymetownband@gmail.com.