Last year’s Annual Report illustrated how heavily influenced our lives were with the pandemic, its myriad uncertainties and restrictions reflected in myriad cancellations. This year chronicled the slow and cautious return to “normalcy”, with headlines like “Town Hall Reopens after Covid Hiatus” and the emergence of community activities in safe environments. Our nature preserves provided outdoor programs, Fletcher Memorial Library hosted “Bach in the Garden” with guitarist Mark Davis, and the Senior luncheons resumed. The Recreation Commission celebrated Arbor Day at the elementary school, announced “A Return to Music and Dancin’” last summer and sponsored an open air performance of Flock Theater’s “Cyrano”, and in December, teamed with Trail Wood as children constructed bird feeders, later strung on trees near the homes of elderly residents where members of our Mennonite community serenaded them with Christmas carols.
Schools continued in-person instruction, kept us apprised of precautions, and announced achievements with honor rolls and Dean’s lists and for graduations and degrees conferred to our local scholars. Students at the elementary school also apprised us of their studies with essays on the anniversary of 911, New Year celebrations around the world, and birds, and with a wonderful assortment of poetry. Less delightfully, the Superintendents informed us of budgets, as did the Board of Finance. The most significant news of schools is contained in this issue’s information on the question of combining Hampton and Scotland elementary schools under a cooperative agreement. We updated residents on the committee’s progress, and its controversies, through the year and have included relevant facts this month in order for residents to make informed decisions on this extremely important matter.
In other news, we covered the Planning and Zoning Commission’s approval of: a campground, and the consequent filing of a law suit against the Town; a store at Organic Roots Farm, followed with an article on it; the Affordable Housing Plan, and the subsequent amendment to facilitate accessory dwellings and the possibility of converting some of our old homes into multi-family dwellings, a measure which met resistance as evidenced in this edition.
In October, we introduced the candidates running for municipal office, and in November, those in contention for the three-way race for First Selectman. The eight Letters to the Editor we received this year were mostly supporting certain candidates. We also reported on the Registrars of Voters’ referrals to the Election Enforcement Commission after complaints were lodged against the First Selectman and the Town Clerk, and subsequently the Commission’s decision to investigate the alleged violations.
Our small town newspaper seldom includes global news, yet three issues rose to the rare occasion this year: the pandemic, which infiltrated all facets of our lives; the court rulings after the Capitol insurrection with an editorial called “Wheels of Justice”; and April’s front page couldn’t fail to acknowledge Ukraine.
Town organizations continued their columns. “Baby Boomers and Beyond” provided resources for seniors in Hampton, and beyond. “Scouting News” informed us of their activities throughout the pandemic. The library apprised us of new books, art displayed at Top Shelf Gallery, which included resident Ian O’Brien’s unique ink illustrations, and regular events as they returned, from Story Hour to Mah Jong. The Fire Department started a monthly column, “Smoke, Mirrors and Spotlights”, with reports on the department’s responses, and another featuring individual volunteers which enlightens us in several ways. The Gazette also recognized Citizen of the Year Noel Waite for his life-long commitment to the department where he’s served in every official capacity; and this issue covers the awards ceremony honoring David Foster for his generous gift to the department, and ultimately the town. We also shone a spotlight on Janice Trecker, for inclusion in the anthology, Best Mystery Stories of the Year, Bright Acres Farm for starring in a commercial, Stonehurst of Hampton Valley for earning two prestigious awards as a wedding venue, and artists Shirley Bernstein and Lula Blocton for their exhibits in museums in Hartford and New York, also reported by our sister paper, The New York Times.
We celebrated the artistry of words with the publication of sixteen poems and Teale’s journal entries, and Pete Vertefeuille’s photography graced the cover of the August issue with a hummingbird and December with a stonewall, which was the theme of this year’s calendar – we thank all eleven artists who contributed their photographs and paintings to our annual calendar, its popularity continues to escalate.
Twelve people contributed to our Recipe of the Month, and contributions to our series “Remembering…” ranged from an 1890 account from the Farmer Poet of Hampton, through a turn-of-the-century memoir, to George Miller’s memories of our town in the 1940’s and Kit Crowne’s hysterical tales of growing up here in the 60’s. Other features included Pat Boss’s crosswords, Marcia Kilpatrick’s environmental advice in “Green Thumbs” and “Nip the Knotweed”, and the editor’s “In the Garden” with columns on water gardening, garden furniture, the natural garden and the garden of our neighbor, Dot Blocker. Angela Fichter provided us with humorous, yet informative, articles like “Ticks, Ticked-Off and Ticking” and “Hither, Thither and Yon”. We missed our neighbors during the pandemic, yet Auntie Mac fielded complaints concerning our neighbors’ boundary issues, political signs, nightly strolls, and gossip sessions. On the advice of an inquiry from “Gossip Girl”, Auntie also started a Society Column, relaying and describing the spring flings and birthday bashes of our nonagenarians.
We relied on the memories of those who grew up here for our “Rural Heritage” articles, from the Consolidated School, through holidays, to learning to swim in Miller’s Pond. We featured several barns – Marny Lawton’s, which is her art studio, the Trecker’s, now a “machine for living and working”, and the Thompson’s, with recollections which proved, once and for all, that Hampton was never “a one horse town”. We chronicled the metamorphosis of Full Moon Farm, from a dairy operation, through an electronics repair shop, to its current use as a farmer’s market, and traced the Pre-Revolutionary War roots of Lone Elm Farm, where Keith Christadore sells vegetables from the Jewett’s corn crib grown on the Burnham’s acres. We also recorded the history of the Fire Department and in “Fire!”, the perils prior to its establishment, and with April’s promise of humor, shared snippets of Hampton’s presence on Society Pages.
With gratitude, we said “goodbye” to Anne Christie, instrumental in the library’s butterfly garden, community room and fall festival, Jinny Smanik, Congregational Church minister for several years, and Toby Vertefeuille, highway department member extraordinaire; and on a solemn note, a final farewell to 21 residents, including former Citizen of the Year, Phyllis Stone.
Our happiest announcement this year? A return to our traditional Memorial Day. Whenever we happened upon one another these last two years – at the post office, the transfer station, the polls – we were reminded, if only for a moment, of how much we missed one another. Of all the myriad ways we slowly return to “normal”, being with our neighbors is surely the best of them.
Juan Arriola, Chairman, The Hampton Gazette