LYME, CT–The nonprofit Lyme Ambulance Association is hosting a free workshop for older adults and their family members about how to maintain “independence, strength and joy” at home.
The workshop will cover simple home safety modifications to make daily living easier, ways to stay active and connected in the community, and how to access the local caregiving support network.
The event will be held from 10 to 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 28, at the Hamburg Fire Station, 213 Hamburg Road. Anyone with questions is invited to contact Deputy Chief Ariana Eaton at deputychief@lymeambulance.org or (860) 434-7225.
The event will be held Saturday, June 21, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Lyme Art Association.
OLD LYME–Lyme Art Association’s Family Day brings goats, music and more to the gallery grounds for free fun on Saturday.
The event will be held rain or shine from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 90 Lyme Street.
In addition to providing a chance to interact with goats, the event will include creative art activities, live music from award-winning songwriter Kelly Riley and refreshments.
Join the association at 11 a.m. to honor the winners of the young artists show, WET: A World of Water:
Ages 5 – 7: First place, Maddy Pietruszka; second place, David Ojeda; third place, Asher Lawrence
Ages 8 – 10: First place, Kiarra Yang; second place, Yulia Chen; third place, Hugo Gostkiewicz
Ages 11 – 13: First place: Pheobe Chen; second place, Mason Li; third place, Sophia Lin
Ages 14 – 18: First place, Danlu Li; second place, Jennifer Hui; third place, Ayla Jolly-Ballentine
Later on Saturday, check out Make Music Old Lyme, featuring a 4 p.m. performance by Sunny Train at the Lymes’ Youth Service Bureau and musicians up and down Lyme Street from 5 to 7 p.m.
Pamela Pike Gordinier’s “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Round” in acrylic & charcoal is one of the signature paintings of the “Expanding Visions” exhibition at the Lyme Art Association (LAA.) Image courtesy of the LAA.
OLD LYME—On Saturday, June 14. an Opening Reception and awards ceremony for both the “Expanding Visions” show and the Hudson Valley Art Association’s 92nd Annual Juried Exhibition will be held at the Lyme Art Association (LAA) from 5 to 7 p.m. All are welcome and admission is free.
The shows run through July 17.
A third show titled, “WET: A World of Water,” will also be on view and runs through June 27 in the Association’s Mile Brook Gallery.
Artists between the ages of 5 and 18 painted and drew pieces depicting life in and around the water.
The awards ceremony for the youth show will be held during LAA’s Family Day at 11 a.m. on Saturday, June 21.
The exhibitions will be on view at the Lyme Art Association, located at 90 Lyme Street in Old Lyme, CT. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday.
Olivia Lathrop, granddaughter of Jerry and Dee Vowles, grabs a brass ring from the carousel purchased for her mother on what Jerry Vowles called “a crazy whim.” All photos courtesy of the Vowles.
OLD LYME—This carousel is turning 100.
On Saturday, Carousel Shop proprietors Dee and Jerry Vowles will ring in the centennial summer with free rides, 100 cent ice cream and hot dogs, t-shirt raffles and a celebration of the simple pleasures in life.
“The carousel just brings happiness to a lot of kids and families,” Dee Vowles said.
The merry-go-round at Sound View Beach has been spinning in its current incarnation since 1976, but the Vowles said the origin of the 20 painted horses goes back about a century.
The Allan Herschell carousel was outfitted with a Coney Island brass ring dispenser when the horses first came out of the gate around 1925, according to specifications laid out by Jerry Vowles. A diesel engine propelled them while the steam-powered whistle of a calliope provided a soundtrack that would last for generations.
Those celebrating the carousel’s 100th birthday will have the opportunity to suggest names for 16 of the horses. Monikers have already been bestowed on Rainbow, Magic, Buttercup and Sundae.
While the amusement ride still boasts original parts that helped the couple narrow its date of origin to 1924 or 1925, the circular march of time is evident in a soft-start electric motor, teflon bearings and digital music.
Jerry Vowles said the couple disassembled and restored the carousel from 2008 to 2009. That’s when they used parts newly manufactured from original molds to replace some elements of the carousel.
The Vowles bought the carousel operation in 1987 from Paul Bennanato. The merry-go-round had arrived in Old Lyme just over a decade earlier to replace the late 1800s-era model that had been there since 1948, according to Jerry Vowles.
The couple’s daughter, Jennifer Lathrop, was an infant when they purchased the carousel.
“It is her carousel,” Jerry Vowles said. “We bought it for her when she was two-months-old, kind of on a crazy whim.”
Dee Vowles said Lathrop and her brother Jay help out their parents while nephew Tommy Logio serves as manager.
“So it’s definitely been a family affair,” she said.
A busy evening in 2022 typifies summers in Sound View at the Carousel Shop.
She said other family members and friends who help the couple open and close the shop every year—including sister Ree and honorary sister Roe—will make the trip to Sound View for the carousel’s birthday celebration.
“We’ve seen in the 37 years we’ve been here a real following,” she said. “People appreciate us being here, and having a good time at the carousel.”
The Carousel at Sound View Beach 100th Birthday Celebration will be held on Saturday, June 14, from 2 to 4 p.m. at 75 Hartford Avenue.
Audience members at a previous Music at the Lighthouse performance enjoy operatic sounds from the Long Island Sound. Photo courtesy of Salt Marsh Opera.
STONINGTON–Salt Marsh Opera invites you to an evening of beloved opera arias and timeless Broadway melodies with the return of Music at the Lighthouse.
The performance will be held at 6 p.m. on Sunday, June 22 at the Old Lighthouse Museum in Stonington Borough, 7 Water St. The lawn opens at 5 p.m.
The Salt Marsh Opera will welcome mezzo-soprano Sarah Nordin and and bass-baritone Tyler Putnam.
This is an open-air concert by the sea on the lawn of the lighthouse museum. Families are welcome to bring their blankets and lawn chairs.
Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the concert. Tickets will be available at the Salt Marsh Opera box office at (860) 535-0753 or at Tom’s Newstand in the borough.
