Regrading, repaving, drainage work, milling weather-beaten pavement and spreading out smooth new blacktop, hot and steaming — the summer’s road work is starting to get rolling.

“We’ve got our hands full,” Director of Public Works Peter Hill said Tuesday, July 12. “We’ve got a lot of cake on our plates when the pavers come to town.”

With preparatory work by the Highway Department done, repaving work was scheduled to start Wednesday, July 13, on five roads, four of them complete roads and two substantial sections of longer roads:

• Barrack Hill Road from Route 116 to Old West Mountain Road
• Mulberry Street
• Saw Mill Hill
• Old Sib Road from Tackora Trail to Rock Road
• Twelfth Lane

“I expect the paving to take about seven-to-10 days. Weather is always a factor,” the Highway Department’s Dave Bucchetti said in an e-mail to First Selectman Rudy Marconi’s office.

“Expect delays and detours,” he added.

The paving work will be completed by a contractor, Complete Construction, said Hill.

This work is being done under bids and contracts with the last of the road money encumbered from the 2015-16 budget.

Additional roads will be taken on with money in the new, 2016-17 budget.

“We’ve got a list we’re putting together for money we’ve got in 2016-17,” Hill said.

“…We’re going to be adding a few more — hopefully we’ll get them done — it’s tough to get the contractors, they’re so busy. This is our wish list,” Hill said.

More roads

The list includes:

• Cedar Lane
• Hamilton Road
• Limestone Road (from Great Hill Road to Bates Farm Road)
• Mead Ridge (both pieces)
• New Road (“Everybody wants New Road done, it’s in bad shape,” Hill said.)
• Old Trolley Road
• Old West Mountain Road
• Portland Avenue
• Remington Road

“And we’ve got a few more that we’d like to do,” Hill added.

The money available for road work is decreasing a bit from the last fiscal year to the new one.

“It was $2,750,000 for the fiscal year ending June 2016, and the new year it’s $1,875,000, plus $400,000 from State of Connecticut that we did not use in the snow budget, from 2016,” First Selectman Rudy Marconi said.

The $400,000 in “state road aid” money is usually set aside by the town as a fallback account for winter snow removal. But with the mild winter it wasn’t needed, and town officials designated it for paving.

“We can use it for anything associated with roads,” Marconi said of the state money.

And, knowing the state funds would be available, the Board of Selectmen reduced the amount of the “roads and infrastructure” appropriation they asked taxpayers for in the 2016-17 budget, lowering it to $1,875,000.

With that, plus the $400,000 from the state, there is a total of $2,275,000 for roads and infrastructure in the 2016-17 budget. The budget line was also renamed “Roads/ADA infrastructure” with the thought some of the money may be used for part of the town’s effort to improve compliance with the American with Disabilities Act, or ADA.

Although one contractor comes to mill down the old pavement, and another contractor puts down the new surface, the repaving work still requires a lot of time from the highway department.  

The department installs new drainage, repairs old drainage systems, replaces all the catch-basin tops, sweeps the roads. And while the paving crew works, the local department provides traffic control and also the water that’s used when the fresh pavement is being rolled.

“I’ve only got 16 guys, and it takes a big chunk of them,” Hill said.

In addition to that, the department has patch work to do on roads that aren’t going to get repaved this year.

“There’s areas all over town that we’re cutting and patching, other than our major paving,” Hill said. “We’ll never run out of work. We run out of money, but we never run out of work.”

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Governor Dannel P. Malloy announced Monday that in accordance with a proclamation from President Barack Obama directing flags to be lowered to honor the victims of the attack on police officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana — U.S. and state flags in Connecticut should remain flying at half-staff through sunset on Friday, July 22.

Accordingly, since no flag should fly higher than the U.S. flag, all state, local, municipal, corporate, and other flags should also be lowered during this same duration of time.

Flags are also currently at half-staff through sunset on Tuesday, July 19, to honor the victims of the recent attack in Nice, France. With this new order, flags should remain lowered through sunset on Friday.

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Beware of the virtual, colorful creatures invading Ridgefield’s beloved village.

That’s right, the summer’s biggest craze — Pokémon Go — has arrived in the downtown area and beyond.

From Planet Pizza, Ciuccoli Field, and Ballard Park to the Ridgefield Golf Course, Lake Mamanasco, and Pierrepont Park, the app has been motivating players to go outside for a nice summer walk so that they can catch their favorite Pokémon.

Different from the late 1990s card game and TV series — as well as the plethora of toys and numerous video games, Pokémon Go has an inherently physically-active user base that is connecting the fantasy world with the real one thanks to an augmented reality platform that uses GPS technology and actual geographic locations.

The technology, which transposes what a player sees on their cellphone screen and inserts various Pokémon for them to catch, introduces users to the game through a custom-designed avatar. Once the avatar is created, the user walks as one with the avatar, navigating his or her surroundings.

Does this explain why there’s been a recent influx of teenagers and young adults wondering down Main Street with their cellphones held up?

And now thanks to the latest app, PokéRadar, Ridgefield’s map of PokéStops is easier to manage than ever before.

In the village, Dimitri’s Diner on Prospect Street has become a PokéStop, according to the map. Meanwhile, the intersection of North Salem Road and North Street also appears to be a hub for at least two Pokémon.

Up north, Ridgefield High School has yet to join the fray, but their are plenty of other destinations to collect and train the virtual creatures, including Barrack Hill Road, Caudatowa Drive, and Evergreen Place.

Pokémon Go has even crossed into the realm of religion. St. Stephen’s Church is a PokéStop, where users can collect the virtual creature known as Squirtle, and Jesse Lee Church has a sign outside that invites players to come and catch the virtual creatures.

All environments 

The town’s major thoroughfares haven’t fared any better, falling into the popular trend, too.

Off the intersection of Route 7 and Route 35, users can find the coveted Charizard at HooDoo Brown Barbecue. And because Pokémon exist in different climates, users can find them in areas of water, like Great Pond and Topstone Park off of Route 7, as well as grassland and even desserts.

According to PokéRadar, users could be peeling off the state highway to head back into to town so they can collect more creatures on New Road, Powderhorn Drive, and Lounsbury Road.

The map also has Silver Spring Road, White Birch Road, and Silver Spring Golf Course as PokéStops in the southern part of town.

Safety tips

Both state and local police have warned about the digital entertainment platform, noting that while it encourages users to explore the outdoors, it also comes with a bevy of distractions.

To use Pokémon Go safely, residents need to remain aware of their surroundings and follow the basic guidelines below:

• Never play when driving
• Pay attention to the roads
• Do not enter unfamiliar places
• Do not trespass
• Stay visible at night

To read about how the national trend is affecting local businesses and users, pick up a copy of Thursday’s Ridgefield Press. 

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Every parent wants their child to learn and thrive — but not at the expense of playtime and fun.

At Ridgefield’s Cabbage Patch Nursery, a daycare center for children, 2 to 5, owner Andrea Castellano and her staff are focused on “out of the box” playtime learning in a safe, supportive environment.

Castellano, a mother and child care professional for 20 years, loves the community feeling in Ridgefield. She knew that opening Cabbage Patch at 29 Farrar Lane this summer would also give parents a new option for child care in town. While the center was previously home to another nursery school, Castellano has renovated much of the indoor space to fit Cabbage Patch’s expanded programs and unique offerings.

“Before we started I went around town and talked to parents,” Castellano said. “What parents are looking for is learning but having fun while learning, while still getting ready for kindergarten. It’s not the basic ABC’s.”

Classroom learning includes fun programs in math and science, music, art, taekwondo, Spanish and more — and has an entire room dedicated to sensory learning.  

“We have a large sensory room — with eight tables,” Castellano said.

As the mother of a child of with autism, Castellano knows how important sensory learning is for all children.

“It really de-stresses them and calms down their minds,” she said. “Once they are able to spend some time in the sensory room they can move on to the computer lab and their mind’s are more able to focus.”

Taekwondo is another “out of the box” program that makes Cabbage Patch stand apart. The program will be taught once a week by Castellano’s daughter, Ashlee, a black belt.

“It teaches discipline and restraint,” she said. “It’s a great outlet for kids.”

Parents will be able to follow the fun and the progress with daily photo updates from the school.

Choosing the right staff was also key for Cabbage Patch, Castellano said.

“It took me a long time to pick my staff,” she said. “I like that they are all eager and they talk to a child on their level, while always keeping communication open with parents.”

One staff member is trained in special education to provide services needed and each classroom of 16 students will have one head teacher and two aides. Every student will get one-on-one attention, Castellano said.

Families will also notice the unique classroom setup. In addition to a sensory room and computer lab, there are two main rooms that children will alternate in each year. This year, one room has an “Under the Sea” theme and the other is “The Enchanted Forest.” Depending on what room they are in, children will learn about the ocean or forest as part of their year. Students will also help pick new themes as it changes.

The large, enclosed outdoor space will be changing too. Castellano says the school will paving part of the play yard for students and eventually adding a farming area, with gardens and chickens, for more interactive learning.

Cabbage Patch is currently running summer programs but enrollment is open now for the fall. Find out more about the school, its programs and staff at CabbagePatchRidgefield.com.

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A construction crane fell on a car on the Tappan Zee Bridge Tuesday, causing at least one injury and closing the Hudson River bridge in both directions.

*Breaking News* Tappan Zee Bridge. A crane has collapsed and is blocking all lanes of the Tappan Zee Bridge. pic.twitter.com/vajCgTShcg

— RocklandFires (@RocklandFires) July 19, 2016

Images from a New York State Thruway Authority traffic camera show a crane lying across the roadway. Other local news footage showed at least one person being loaded onto an ambulance stretcher.

The crane landed on a car on the bridge around noon, according to some news reports; others have said it did not land on any vehicles but did cause injuries. State police announced that all seven lanes of the bridge were closed in both directions.

The bridge, which connects New York’s Westchester and Rockland counties, is a constantly crowded passage over the Hudson River. A new replacement bridge has been under construction beside the old bridge, several cranes have been helping to construct that new bridge.

Interstate 287, which includes the Tappan Zee Bridge, connects with Interstate 95 just south of Greenwich and the Hutchinson River Parkway just West of Greenwich, is a popular northern crossing of the Hudson River for Connecticut residents. It also links to Interstate 684, Interstate 87 and the Sprain River Parkway on the West side of the Hudson River, which are all popular north-south running roadways for residents of western Connecticut.

Interstate 287 and the Tappan Zee Bridge go over the Hudson River, connecticut Westchester and Rockland Counties. — Google Maps

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Color on Wheels Paint and Party Night will be held at the Ridgefield Library on Tuesday, July 26, from  7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at The Leir Children’s Program Room.

The Ladies Night Out party night benefiting the Ridgefield Library will be an evening of painting with friends while enjoying wine and appetizers. A raffle with prizes will be held.  

All proceeds from the evening will support the annual operating fund of the Ridgefield Library. A portion of the ticket is tax deductible and a tax receipt will be provided after the event.

For questions contact Laureen Bubniak, director of development at 203-438-2282, ext. 11029 or lmbubniak@ridgefieldlibrary.org.

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Amby Burfoot

Runner’s World editor and marathon runner Amby Burfoot will read from his recently released book, First Ladies of Running: 22 Inspiring Profiles of the Rebels, Rule-Breakers, and Visionaries Who Changed the Sport Forever, on Monday, July 25, at 7 p.m. in the Ridgefield Library’s main program room.

First Ladies of Running tells stories about independent female runners who refused to give up despite the cultural and sports barriers they faced such as being pushed off the road or having to hide their identities. Legends such as Doris Brown, Francie Larrieu, Mary Decker, Jackie Hansen, Miki Gorman, and Grete Waitz are chronicled by Burfoot as they paved the way for millions of girls and women around the world today who enjoy running and entering races. Women did not begin to run competitively in the United States until the early 1960s. In fact, in the mid-1960s, Indianapolis high schooler Cheryl Bridges was told that she was not allowed to run near the boys’ track team because she might distract them. Today’s female runners will learn more about the foundation that was laid for them to be able to enjoy this sport. Burfoot even ran the 1994 Marine Corps Marathon with Oprah Winfrey, whose successful finish opened the floodgate for other women runners.

Burfoot is a Wesleyan graduate who has won numerous New England distance titles. In 1968 he won the Boston Marathon and has been a Runner’s World magazine editor since 1978.

This program is underwritten by the Noreen L. Papa — Mothers: Live Your Life fund and is also part of the Summer of Running Program in celebration of the 40th year of the Wolfpit Running Club and the Pamby Half Marathon. Summer of Running programs are co-sponsored by Ridgefield Running Company and Pamby’s Half Marathon.

To register, visit ridgefieldlibrary.org or 203-438-2282 for more information.

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Ridgefield Parks & Recreation has two new and exciting technology camps for the Minecraft enthusiast in your family. Minecraft Adventure Camp is available for children ages 8 to 12. Campers will access a proprietary MinecraftEdu mod created for this class to address all of the 21st century skills, including critical thinking, creativity, problem solving, decision making, ICT literacy, and more. Campers will mine, craft, and build together to survive. Camp runs from Aug. 1 to Aug. 5 at the recreation center.  Modding in Minecraft Camp is available for children ages 8 to 13. There’s more than just mining and crafting in this camp. Students will conceptualize, design, and learn how to create mods and modify the game using JAVA. Camp runs from Aug. 8 to Aug. 12 at the recreation center.

LEGO lovers will enjoy our LEGO Robotics Camp. This is a wonderful hands-on opportunity for students to experiment and learn about the fundamentals of robotics, construction, and computer programming. We will be using familiar LEGO bricks to build around a micro computer and then using computer software to bring the robot to life. This camp is available for children ages 7 to 11 and runs from Aug. 8 to Aug. 12 at the recreation center.

For more details on all camps: ridgefieldparksandrec.org or 203-431-2755.

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The winning foursome of the Ridgefield Lions Jim Actis Memorial Golf Tournament on June 1 at Ridgefield Golf Course were, from left, Thomas Craig Bishop, Dominick Vanacore, Derek Hart and John De Spirito.

Next year’s tournament will be on June 7. All proceeds goes back to the community.

This year, the Ridgefield volunteer firefighters, Boys and Girls Club and the Lions scholarship fund were the recipients.

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Albert Stockli shows off some locally sourced foods, with his Stonehenge Inn in the background. He was a farm-to-table pioneer a half century ago. —RidgefieldHistory.com

Although he spent his final years at a country inn in the small Connecticut town of Ridgefield, Albert Stockli was one of the most renowned chefs in America, the man who helped create some of the nation’s top restaurants a half century ago.

Probably the best of them — and once the best in the United States — was the Four Seasons, which is closing its doors this week after 57 years of serving fine food.

A native of Switzerland, Chef Stockli began cooking at the age of nine, studied in the capitals of Europe and came to this country in the 1940s.

He joined Restaurant Associates as their chef and created the menu at the associates-owned Mermaid Tavern, the Forum of the Twelve Caesars, Trattoria, Charlie Brown’s, Zum Zum, and other famous New York City dining places.

But it was the Four Seasons, which opened in 1959, that was the most famous and respected.

“The Four Seasons, probably the most important New York restaurant of the 20th century, Americanized fine dining and set in motion many of the trends that still dominate restaurant culture in the United States,” wrote William Grimes in the Sunday, July 10, 2016, New York Times. “In its time, the Four Seasons was the most modern, the most daring, the most ‘New York’ restaurant the city had ever seen.”

Grimes called Stockli “Restaurant Associate’s chameleon-like Swiss chef” who “emphasized fresh ingredients supplied by small producers around the United States, seasonal changes and a contemporary, international slant on flavor combinations.”

“Food historians,” Grimes said, “now see it as the starting point for a series of trends that came to define American dining: the cult of freshness and organically grown ingredients…the inventive interpretation of regional American dishes, which became known as New American cooking; the international blending of styles and ingredients, later described as fusion.”

“In 1959, they were naming the places where the ingredients came from,” Jeremiah Tower, the chef at Chez Panisse in the early 1970s, said of The Four Seasons. “They would write: ‘Handpicked tomatoes from Long Island, carved tableside.’ They were the first to pick up on farm-to-table.”

However, a liver ailment grounded him for a year and in 1965 prompted Stockli to leave the city’s hectic life and his partners, Restaurant Associates, and to take over the kitchen at Stonehenge in Ridgefield.

Already famous under founder Victor Gilbert, Stockli’s Stonehenge gained a worldwide reputation for excellence. Many notables dined there, including scores of United Nations diplomats.

He was known for his inventive dishes that used fresh neighborhood foods — he visited farms and dairies himself — and had a network of hunters and fishermen who would bring him game. At a deer park near Millbrook, N.Y., he even maintained his own herd of Swiss Damhirsch, a variety of deer from his homeland that he used as a source of venison.

“Everything will be made fresh on the premises,” he told Craig Claiborne, then The Times’ food editor. “We will have game in the fall, the freshest of vegetables whenever they are available. There is a well‐stocked trout stream near the restaurant and customers may have trout whenever and however they like. We will make our pates and country sausage.”

In 1970, Stockli put together a book of his favorite recipes, which Knopf published as “Splendid Fare: The Albert Stockli Cookbook,” which is still being sold today.

Stockli was only 54 years old when he died in 1972. However, even today, many of the nation’s best restaurants, knowingly or not, follow the ways Albert Stockli procured and cooked his food 50 years ago.—J.S.

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Board of Finance member Marty Heiser, former Republican State Central Committeeman Gian-Carlo Peressutti, former Norwalk Mayor of Norwalk and current Ridgefield Parking Authority member Dick Moccia, and State Rep. John Frey take a photo from the floor of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.

Four Ridgefielders are at this week’s Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, as part of the 130-member Connecticut delegation.

Among those making the trip to the midwest are Board of Finance member Marty Heiser, former Republican State Central Committeeman Gian-Carlo Peressutti, former Norwalk Mayor of Norwalk and current Ridgefield Parking Authority member Dick Moccia, and State Rep. John Frey, who serves on the Republican National Committee and is a Sergeant at Arms at the convention.

Donald Trump was nominated Tuesday night. “I was on the floor when the New York delegation put him over the top,” Heiser said.

“Probably some of the most impressive speakers were Trump’s children,” he added. “I think you can tell a lot about a person form their children.”

Heiser missed Monday’s controversy over when anti-Trump forces were demanding that bound delegates be freed to vote their conscience.

“I was not in the building when they were asking for a roll call vote,” Heiser said. “But I talked to a member of the Rules Committee from Connecticut: They’re in their rights to request it, but they didn’t have the votes. And even if they had a roll call vote, Donald Trump would have won — overwhelmingly, not even close.”

Heiser was excited to a part of it.

“I’ve never been more proud to be a Republican and an American,” he said.

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The Chekhov International Theatre Festival is holding a celebrity bartender night at Luna Rossa on Thursday, July 21, from 6 to 9 pm. to help support the September festival. First Selectman Rudy Marconi will serve drinks along with board member and Chekhov enthusiast Jeffery Albanesi.

The Chekhov International Theatre Festival, which runs from Thursday, Sept. 22 to Saturday, Sept. 24, is now in its eighth year. In addition to indoor performances, this year’s festival will offer an outdoor Shakespeare performance on Saturday night at Ballard Park.

For more information and updates visit Chekhovfestival.com

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Two of Ridgefield’s mainstays — the Chorale and the Playhouse — each got some assistance from the Connecticut Office of the Arts (COA) earlier this week when they were named  Supporting Arts in Place grant recipients for the 2017 fiscal year.

The grants, which were spread out across 80 different organizations around the state and totaled $515,000, awarded the Ridgefield Playhouse with $18,630 and the Ridgefield Chorale with $3,581.

According to the Office of the Arts, the Supporting Arts in Place program awards matching grants to eligible arts organizations and municipal arts offices to strengthen the state’s nonprofit arts industry.

Supporting Arts in Place grants provide funding allocations derived from organizational data and are calculated by mathematical formula, a press release said.

Among the various nonprofits recognized, the Playhouse was awarded the most grant money. Coming in second was the Fairfield Theatre Company which received $16,571.

The goal of the COA is to develop and strengthen the arts in Connecticut and makes artistic experiences widely available to residents and visitors.

Through its grant programs, the Office of the Arts invests in Connecticut artists and arts organizations and encourages the public’s participation as creators, learners, supporters, and audience members.

Besides the Supporting Arts in Place grants, the COA gave out 49 additional grants, including Arts and Community Impact Project grants, Arts Learning Project grants, Public Art Community Project grants, and Regional Initiative Arts Project grants.

In total, the office awarded 129 grants that gave away $1,532,598 to Connecticut nonprofits.

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Months of delay in the construction of the new Route 35 bridge near the Fox Hill Condominiums will come to an end on Monday, July 25, as work recommences on relocating the sewer line. However, the one-way traffic pattern may not resume along with it.

That may not come until September at the earliest, when the bridge work resumes, said John Dunham, the district engineer for the state DOT.

At that time, the state will announced when the road will be made into an alternating one-way passage during the course of the construction, leading to backed-up traffic on Route 35 in both directions during the designated hours of 9  a.m. to 3 p.m.

A local businessman had pleaded for local roads to be used as detours, to avoid the traffic jams on Route 35, but state officials have no jurisdiction over local roads and the town has not announced any plans to provide a detour.

There are approximately 1,100 cars per hour on Route 35 during the hours of 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., according to DOT data.

The first step on July 25 is “directional boring,” said Charlie Fisher, town engineer, which will last three or four weeks.

Then in September will come the bridge work, said First Selectman Rudy Marconi.

“Then we’ll anticipate the traffic,” Marconi said.

The Route 35 project hit delays because a sewer pipe was found in an unexpected place, not on any of the maps that prepared the construction company for the work.

Now that the plans have been redrawn, work can commence.

Route 7 bridge

It is not the only bridge construction project in town. A Route 7 bridge over the Norwalk River also hit a delay when a larger than expected erosion hole was found. The Route 7 project will be done on five consecutive Saturdays this summer, although it could extend to Sundays and other days of the week at limited hours if needed. In any event, the state wants to make sure the road closings do not happen at the same time as the Route 35 project. The Saturday work involves closing Route 7 and detouring traffic through the center of Ridgefield.

“On the Route 7 project I checked with our design team and they are still waiting for sign-off from the ACOE (Army Corp of Engineers). Once they give approval we should have a better idea of when work can resume,” Dunham said.

The Route 35 project consists of constructing a temporary roadway and bridge over Ridgefield Brook to maintain traffic in both directions.

The bridge will be replaced by removing the existing superstructure and a portion of the abutments and constructing a new span consisting of pile caps and a precast concrete deck. Also, storm water collection and drainage systems will be installed.

This DOT project was awarded to Baier Construction Co. Inc. at a cost of $2.5 million on July 17 of 2015.  It was scheduled to be completed in May 2017, but that has been set back probably a year, Dunham said, to May of 2018.

Construction won’t be beginning until August, Dunham told The Press Tuesday.

Check back in at theridgefieldpress.com later this week for more updates.

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The average sale price of a single family home was $788,030, compared with an average list price of $849,439 in the second quarter.

The second quarter of 2016 was a very good one for Ridgefield real estate sales, with volume up appreciably from the year before on both single-family homes and condominiums, according to data provided by the Ridgefield Board of Realtors.

A total of $76.4 million in sales was posted for single-family homes in the quarter, with 97 sold, up from $69 million the same quarter a year ago.

A total of $4.7 million was posted for 13 condominium sales, up from $4.4 million the same time a year ago.

The average sale price of a single family home was $788,030, compared with an average list price of $849,439, which shows homes sold at 93% of their asking price. The most expensive house sold was $2.6 million and the least expensive, $280,000.

The average condominium sales price was $363,585 and the average list price was $383,569,  a 90% capture rate for list price.

The most expensive condo sold was $1.8 million, and the least expensive, $144,000.

The average days on the market for a single family home was 146, and for condos, 101.

There are currently 365 homes and condos listed on the market, with total volume of $447 million, showing inventory remains high.

The data shows that the housing market is stronger than it was a year ago, with more houses and condos selling, but it is still not at the point where prices are moving higher. In other words, it is still a buyer’s market.

“I think it’s pretty steady, I think the market is pretty good,” said Bob Neumann of Neumann Real Estate. “We had an early start to the spring season and it’s been consistent. Our inventory is still high, with 321 homes on the market, and sales are as good if not better than the previous year, and in the upper end there is activity. I just don’t see prices really doing much,” Neumann said.

The number of homes priced at more than $1 million that are selling this year is greater than last year, he said. A total of 60 sold in that category all of last year, and so far in the first six months of this year, 52 have either been closed or placed under contract.

“I think our business has been steady in the upper end. Prices aren’t going anywhere but it’s steady.”

The slow, steady growth is not enough to please some real estate agents. The market should be much more active than it is, said Lonnie Shapiro of Coldwell Banker.

“The market is not as vibrant as we expected,” Shapiro said, adding: “I do think one of the reasons is the millennials between 18 and 35 are not out there buying houses the way the 25 to 35 year-olds used to. They are holding back. Volume could be up, but it should have been up more by now. That millennial demographic is not out there.”

Shapiro believes young would-be homebuyers are scared of the housing crash they witnessed while growing up, and are laden with student debt.

“They face an uncertain economic future,” Shapiro said. “That’s why we’re still not perking up the way we should have been by now.”

The young buyers are needed to buy the low-end condominiums and then gradually move up to larger houses, as many homeowners trade up to more expensive homes. That’s often the circle of housing in Ridgefield, she said, but the market shows many other scenarios for how houses are sold in town.

In general, there is an overabundance of inventory with a lot of price reductions, Shapiro said.

Town Clerk Barbara Serfilippi sees the market growing from her own perspective, where she has counted more conveyance tax dollars in the second quarter.

She took in $214,000 in conveyance taxes for the quarter, compared to $199,000 last year at this time.

“So it looks good. We’re holding our own, I think we’re doing very well,” Serfilippi said, adding that that the even better news from her office is that there have been no foreclosures.

It will only get better in the third quarter for Art Meyer of Berkshire Hathaway Home Services New England Properties, president of the Ridgefield Board of Realtors.

“Interest rates will remain low because of the Brexit, so I’m pretty confident. I think we’re coming up strong and we’ll have a better third quarter than last year,” Meyer said.

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Online courses with ed2go are available through Ridgefield Continuing Education.  The instructor-facilitated online courses are interactive and allow learning from any location at any time. Many classes are available including business, computer, writing, psychology, languages, health and online test preps.

All courses run for six weeks. A new session of each course begins on the second or third Wednesday of each month.

Courses are project-oriented and include lessons, quizzes, hands-on assignments, discussion areas, and supplementary links. Most of the courses cost between $99 and $120. Visit ridgefieldschools.org and click ed2go online courses or call Peggy Bruno at 203-431-2812.

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Caleb Klauder Band

The Caleb Klauder Band will be performing in Ridgefield for the first time at CHIRP on Tuesday, July 26, at 7 p.m. in a concert underwritten by long-term supporters Bob and Loire Leavitt.

Caleb Klauder, formerly a member of the Foghorn Stringband, is now leading his own honky-tonk band that plays his original country songs alongside classics from George Jones, The Louvin Brothers and Dolly Parton.

Show organizers say: “There is a drive to Caleb’s music and a twang to Caleb’s voice that makes it unique and captivating. This is country music made for people who want to have fun and who want to dance, harkening back to the old dance hall days when people of all walks of life came together to simply dance, socialize, and enjoy live music.”

Raised on Orcas Island, Wash. and now living in Portland, Ore., Klauder is a northwesterner, yet his maternal family roots lay in East Tennessee.

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Photo Editing Made Easy with Picasa is a two-hour workshop available through Ridgefield Continuing Education for those who want to learn how to do easy photo-editing and organizing of digital pictures without using expensive software.

The course will go through all the steps using free downloadable software.

Instructor Eileen Burton has been using Picasa, iPad, and iPhone for several years and taught many classes in their efficient use.

Picasa meets on Tuesday, July 26, from 1 to 3 p.m. A workshop on iPhone or iPad Photography (covers both) meets on Thursday, July 28, from 1 to 3 p.m. Each class meets at the Venus Building (old high school) and costs $44.

Ridgefield seniors, age 62 and older pay $35. Advance registration is required. Visit ridgefieldschools.org or phone Peggy Bruno at 203-431-2812.

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Keeler kids sitting on the stone steps outside the Keeler Tavern Museum Monday were, from left: Everett Axel, Aoife Dolan, Lily Kristan and Tyler Wall. — Macklin Reid photo

Rolling hoops, jumping rope, lemonade and ice cream — there was fun and enjoyment for kids in the old days, but life could be hard, too.

“I had to bring the water in from the well — well, I didn’t have to bring the water in from the well. I had six children. The children helped me with my chores,” Erika Askin, in the character of Sarah Hoyt, told a roomful of first to third graders.

The kids sat cross-legged on the wood-planked floor in The Keeler Tavern Museum on Monday, July 11, the first day of two weeks of the Keeler Kids program.

“I’m teaching Mary to knit,” Askin said with a nod to Madison Knoop, a high school intern playing Sarah’s daughter, Mary Hoyt. “She’s getting married soon…”

And they showed the youngsters the basics of knitting.

“Both men and women knew how to knit,” Askin said. A sailor, out at sea for months on end in ship powered only by the wind, might knit himself a warm hat, if he wanted one.

“You go in the back, wrap it around, pull it through,” Askin said, showing the kids. “…It’s not complicated, but it takes time.”

There are two sessions. This week’s, with 16 first through third graders attending, covers colonial life at the Keeler Tavern; next week’s, for some 30 fourth through eighth graders, has Ridgefield During the Civil War as its theme.

“With the older kids we rotate through the centuries,” said Keeler Tavern Executive Director Hildegard Grob.

“Last year we did the 18th Century — it was The Battle of Ridgefield. Now we’re doing the Civil War, the 19th Century. Next year we’ll be doing the 20th Century — Cass Gilbert building high-rise skyscrapers. Everything reflects the history that was lived here.

“The kids learn how people lived and what their daily chores were like, compared to how we live today,” Grob said.

“It’s very hands-on. We do a lot of crafts. We play a lot of games.”

The Session One look at colonial life has a “living off the land” sub-theme, and includes a visit to The Hickories farm on Lounsbury Road, and a visit from a beekeeper. In addition to knitting, the kids learn about household crafts such as weaving, spinning, braiding and making rugs, and learn to do a colonial line dance.

In the museum’s barn, they work building their own model homesteads which will form a village by the end of the week. A visit from architect Elizabeth DiSalvo got the kids started off.

“She talked about early dwellings, how they basically used what they could find off the land to create their dwellings,” Grob said. “Very few windows, and a center chimney. Those were all one-room dwellings. The whole family life happened in one room — you ate, you slept, you spun your wool, you dipped your candles, you read by candlelight…”

The week ends Friday with an ice cream social that parents are invited to attend.

“We make our own ice cream. We make our own lemonade,” Grob said.

Second session

During the second session, July 18-22, the kids in grades four to six have a different program from the kids in grades seven and eight.

“The younger kids will be enlisted into the army for the Civil War,” Grob said, “and on the last day we honorably discharge them.”

They’ll be initiated into a civil war practice that was the opposite of draft dodging.

“You had to be 18 to serve in the Union Army,” Grob said.

“The trick was, they’d put an ‘18’ in their shoe, and they’d be standing on it. And they’d say ‘Are you over 18?’ And they’d say ‘yes’ without lying.”

The kids in grades seven and eight will be “hired on as photojournalists to document our work here and put together a camp newspaper,” Grob said.

They’ll build a pinhole camera obscura and learn about making etchings, which often illustrated newspaper stores in the period.

Other activities next week include a visit to Weir Farm, hunting through one of Ridgefield’s old cemeteries for the graves of former Keeler Tavern residents, and playing a game of vintage baseball.

Some of the moms who were picking youngsters up at the end of Monday’s opening session were asked why they’d put their children in the program.

“My daughter loves going to the museum,” said Tracey Devere. “She came to the camp last year and she’s been talking about doing it all year long,” Devere said.

Patty Wall was picking up her son.

“We initially enrolled because he was crazy about the colonial era. He had a huge Paul Revere fascination. He’s my history buff.

“This is a gem, right here in town,” she said of the museum.

“Mine are just repeaters,” said Sarah Baudendistel. “They’ve done it as long as it’s been offered. They love it.”

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With sweltering temperatures expected across Connecticut over the next several days, air conditioners and fans will be working overtime. High electricity usage during a heat wave can put a strain on the electric system, but Eversource is prepared to meet that demand and is offering tips on how customers can save energy, stay comfortable and keep electric bills low.

“Typically the demand for electricity grows by 75% during peak summer months,” said Steve Gilkey, vice president of Electric Field Operations for Eversource in Connecticut. “We prepare well in advance of the summer months to ensure the system is able to handle the additional demand, especially for long stretches of extreme heat. This includes conducting ground and aerial inspections of the overhead and underground systems in the cooler months to detect and resolve any issues ahead of time. It’s all about ensuring reliable service for our customers.”

To help customers endure the peak of summertime heat, Eversource is offering easy tips to keep homes more comfortable and energy bills low.

• Increase the temperature on air conditioners. Keep air conditioners set at a moderate temperature throughout the day; cranking the unit up after work uses more electricity. Programmable thermostats or temperature timers can also help keep costs manageable, especially when away from home.
• Keep air conditioner filters and coils clean. Clean air conditioner filters and coils at least every three months. Dirty filters block air flow, reducing efficiency and making it harder to deliver the cool air.
• Don’t block air flow. Keep air vents clear of obstructions such as furniture, curtains and rugs. For those with central air and floor vents, consider using vent deflectors to direct and increase the reach of cooled air.
• Seal home cracks and gaps. Seal cracks or gaps in walls and outlets, and window and door frames, to keep cool air from escaping and letting hot air in.
• Save major appliance use until the evening. Help conserve energy by using appliances like clothes washers and dryers early in the morning or late in the evening, when there is less demand on the electric system.

Eversource’s energy efficiency expert, Enoch Lenge, offers additional tips on saving energy and money at eversource.com.

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