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SUMMARY:Southeastern Connecticut Out Of The Darkness Walk
DESCRIPTION:Southeastern Connecticut Out Of The Darkness Walk brings hundreds of people together at McCook Point Park in Niantic on Saturday\, September 12\, for a morning centered on remembrance\, support\, and a shared determination to prevent suicide. \nOrganized by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s Connecticut Chapter\, the annual community walk welcomes people who have lost someone to suicide\, those with their own lived experience\, friends and family members\, mental health professionals\, and anyone who wants to support suicide prevention. \nCheck-in begins at 10 a.m.\, followed by the event at 11 a.m. Participation is free\, although advance registration is encouraged. The walk itself is noncompetitive and will cover between one and three miles\, with organizers posting the final Niantic route as Walk Day approaches. \nMore Than a Fundraising Walk\nOut of the Darkness Walks take place in hundreds of communities around the country each year\, but AFSP deliberately designed them to be more than charity walks. \nFor many participants\, the reason for showing up is deeply personal. \nSome walk in memory of a child\, parent\, sibling\, spouse\, friend or coworker lost to suicide. Others have survived a suicide attempt or experienced suicidal thoughts themselves. Some come to support someone they love\, while others simply believe mental health and suicide prevention deserve more attention. \nThe result is an event where people who might never otherwise meet discover that they share an experience. \nThat idea is built into the name. Out of the Darkness is about bringing suicide into the open\, replacing silence and stigma with conversation and making it easier for people to seek help before reaching a crisis. \nThe Niantic event includes an opening ceremony\, activities focused on hope and healing\, resource tables and AFSP’s Honor Bead program. \nThe Meaning Behind the Honor Beads\nOne of the most recognizable parts of an Out of the Darkness Walk is also one of its quietest. \nParticipants receive complimentary Honor Beads\, with different colors representing the reason a person is walking. \nWhite represents the loss of a child. Red represents the loss of a spouse or partner. Gold represents the loss of a parent. Orange represents the loss of a sibling\, while purple represents the loss of another relative or friend. \nOther colors speak to different experiences. Teal represents someone who has struggled personally or attempted suicide. Green represents a personal struggle or attempt\, while blue shows general support for suicide prevention. Silver represents the loss of a first responder or member of the military. \nParticipants may wear more than one strand. \nThe beads create a kind of visual language throughout the walk. Someone who has difficulty approaching a stranger and explaining why they’re there may notice another person wearing the same color and immediately understand that they share something significant. \nFor an event dealing with experiences that can be difficult to put into words\, that recognition can matter. \nWhy AFSP Walks\nThe American Foundation for Suicide Prevention was established in 1987 by a group that included researchers and families who had lost loved ones to suicide. \nIts work now stretches across scientific research\, public education\, advocacy\, community programs and support for people affected by suicide loss. \nThe Out of the Darkness program has become one of the organization’s most visible efforts. AFSP reported nearly 600 Community and Campus Walks and more than 220\,000 participants in its 2025 annual reporting. \nThe money raised through the walks helps fund research into suicide and its prevention\, educational programs in schools and workplaces\, advocacy for public policies related to mental health and suicide prevention\, and programs supporting people who have experienced suicide loss. \nFunds raised through the Southeastern Connecticut Walk specifically help support AFSP programs and work across Connecticut. \nWalking During Suicide Prevention Week\nThis year’s Niantic walk falls at a particularly meaningful point on the calendar. \nSeptember is National Suicide Prevention Month\, and September 6–12 is National Suicide Prevention Week in 2026. World Suicide Prevention Day takes place Thursday\, September 10\, just two days before the Southeastern Connecticut walk. \nAFSP is using the month to encourage people to talk more openly about suicide prevention\, learn how to recognize when someone may need help and become involved in their own communities. \nThe September 12 gathering at McCook Point Park puts that national effort into a distinctly local setting. \nPeople aren’t simply sharing a social media post or wearing a ribbon. They’re physically showing up beside neighbors who may be carrying grief\, supporting someone who’s struggling or dealing with experiences of their own. \nFundraising Is Encouraged\, But It Isn’t Required\nThere is no registration fee or fundraising minimum to participate in the Southeastern Connecticut Out of the Darkness Walk. \nPeople can register individually\, join an existing team or create a team of their own. Each registered participant receives a personal fundraising page that can be customized with a photograph and the story behind why they’re walking. \nAFSP also offers incentives for participants who choose to fundraise. \nAnyone who individually raises at least $150 by September 12 earns the official 2026 Out of the Darkness Walk T-shirt at the event. Participants who raise more than $250 qualify for an additional recognition gift sent after Walk Day. \nBut raising money isn’t a condition of joining the community. \nSomeone who simply needs to be there can walk. \nDonations to the Southeastern Connecticut event remain open through December 31\, 2026. \nMcCook Point Provides a Waterfront Setting\nThe walk takes place at McCook Point Park\, overlooking Long Island Sound in Niantic. \nThe East Lyme town park encompasses McCook Point and the adjoining McCook Beach\, with lawns\, walking areas and views across Niantic Bay and Long Island Sound. Its combination of open green space and waterfront makes it particularly well suited to an event that includes gathering\, remembrance and a community walk. \nParticipants should plan to arrive before the 11 a.m. start if they need to check in. Registration opens at 10 a.m.\, providing time for walkers to gather\, visit resource tables and take part in activities before the formal program begins. \nThe exact 2026 walking route has not yet been announced. AFSP says Community Walk routes generally range from one to three miles and are noncompetitive. \nThere is no pressure to finish first. That’s not what this walk is about. \nA Place for People Who “Get It”\nPerhaps the most important part of an Out of the Darkness Walk happens outside the mileage and fundraising totals. \nAFSP describes the walks as places where people can find others who “get it.” \nSuicide loss can leave families and friends carrying questions and grief that are difficult to explain to people who haven’t experienced it. People who have survived their own suicidal crisis may face a different kind of isolation\, including fear about how others will react if they talk about what happened. \nAt McCook Point Park\, those experiences don’t have to be hidden. \nSome participants will arrive carrying photographs or wearing shirts honoring someone they’ve lost. Others will wear Honor Beads that quietly tell their story. Teams may walk together under the name of a person they’re remembering. \nAnd some people may simply walk. \nAll of them belong there. \nDetails\nEvent: Southeastern Connecticut Out Of The Darkness Walk\nDate: Saturday\, September 12\, 2026\nCheck-In: 10 a.m.\nEvent Start: 11 a.m.\nEvent Hours: 11 a.m.–2 p.m.\nLocation: McCook Point Park\nAddress: 12 Atlantic Street\, Niantic\, CT 06357\nOrganizer: American Foundation for Suicide Prevention\, Connecticut Chapter\nAdmission: Free\nRegistration: Advance registration is encouraged\nWalk Length: Between 1 and 3 miles; final 2026 route to be announced\nFormat: Noncompetitive community walk\nProgram: Opening ceremony\, hope and healing activities\, resource tables and complimentary Honor Beads\nFundraising: Encouraged but not required to participate\nWalk T-Shirt: Participants who individually raise at least $150 by September 12 receive the official Out of the Darkness Walk shirt at the event\nDonations: Accepted through December 31\, 2026\nEvent Contact: Natasha Mozden\nPhone: 860-917-8831\nEmail: natashamozden@gmail.com \nMore information is available at the Event Website link below. \nTo register for the walk or make a donation\, click the Event Website link below. \n  \n  \nFeatured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people\, location\, or activities shown. \n\nIf you or someone you know is in crisis\, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.\nReference:\nAmerican Foundation for Suicide Prevention – Connecticut Chapter \nAmerican Foundation for Suicide Prevention – Out of the Darkness Walks \nAmerican Foundation for Suicide Prevention – Honor Beads
URL:https://thectbeacon.com/event/southeastern-connecticut-out-of-the-darkness-walk/
LOCATION:McCook Point Park\, 8-10 Atlantic Street\, Niantic\, 06357\, United States
CATEGORIES:McCook Point Park
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SUMMARY:Westerly Land Trust Farm Dinner Celebrates Local Food at Barlow Nature Preserve
DESCRIPTION:[The dinner is sold out\, but you can register on a waitlist by clicking the Event Ticketing link at the bottom of the page] \nWesterly Land Trust Farm Dinner returns to Barlow Nature Preserve on Saturday\, September 12\, bringing guests together for an outdoor meal built around locally grown food and the land that produced it. \nThe annual dinner begins at 3:30 p.m. at the 80-acre preserve on Westerly Bradford Road. This isn’t simply dinner with a pretty farm as the backdrop. The location is part of the story. \nBarlow Nature Preserve has become a working example of the Westerly Land Trust’s efforts to connect conservation\, sustainable agriculture and the community. The property is home to Frontier Farm and Echo Rock Flowers\, and ingredients grown locally will make their way onto the dinner table. \nThis year’s meal will be prepared by husband-and-wife chefs Johan Jensen and Abbey Hemmann\, the team behind Whitecrest Eatery and Backdoor Kitchen. \nFrom Preserved Land to Working Farm\nThe story of Barlow Nature Preserve begins well before the first dinner table is set. \nThe 80-acre property became the Eleanor F. & Edward W. Barlow Nature Preserve following a bequest from Eleanor Barlow in 2018. The land contains an unusually diverse combination of agricultural fields\, upland forest and extensive freshwater wetlands and sits beside Rhode Island’s 111-acre Newton Swamp Management Area. \nRather than simply preserve the property and leave it untouched\, the Westerly Land Trust saw an opportunity. \nThe organization decided to make Barlow its headquarters while also returning part of the property to active agriculture. The existing farmhouse was renovated into office space in 2019\, and young local farmers were invited onto the land to begin rebuilding its agricultural life. \nToday\, that work can be seen in the fields surrounding the Farm Dinner. \nFarming With Conservation in Mind\nOnly about five acres of the 80-acre preserve are suitable for farming\, according to reporting by ecoRI News. That farmland is now used by Frontier Farm and Echo Rock Flowers\, which employ regenerative growing practices. \nFrontier Farm moved to Barlow in 2019 and developed a 2.5-acre commercial farm there. The farm grows vegetables\, fruits and herbs without synthetic chemicals or fertilizers and uses regenerative and no-till methods whenever possible. \nThat’s particularly important at Barlow because of what’s beyond the cultivated fields. \nThe property contains extensive freshwater wetlands adjoining Newton Swamp. Protecting soil and limiting agricultural runoff were important considerations when farming was reintroduced. The Land Trust worked with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service on irrigation and water infrastructure while its farmers committed to environmentally responsible soil-management practices. \nIn other words\, the vegetables growing here aren’t separate from the Land Trust’s conservation work. They’re part of it. \nThe Farms Behind the Dinner\nGuests at the Farm Dinner will be eating in the same landscape where food and flowers are being grown throughout the season. \nFrontier Farm focuses on sustainably grown produce\, while Echo Rock Flowers fills another part of the property with locally grown cut flowers. \nThe two farms also operate the seasonal Barlow Farm Stand\, selling produce and flowers grown on the preserve along with products from other area farms. For 2026\, the stand operates on an honor system and accepts cash and Venmo. \nThe Land Trust has increasingly used Barlow as a place where people can experience agriculture rather than simply read about it. Its Farm Squad children’s program\, for example\, introduces kids to planting\, pollinators\, soil health\, harvesting\, composting and farm biodiversity right on the property. \nThat makes the Farm Dinner something of a culmination of the growing season: people gathering around a table on land they’ve watched produce food throughout the summer. \nDinner by Whitecrest Eatery and Backdoor Kitchen\nFor the 2026 Farm Dinner\, Westerly Land Trust has invited chefs Johan Jensen and Abbey Hemmann to prepare the menu. \nThe husband-and-wife team is behind Whitecrest Eatery and Backdoor Kitchen and will create the meal around local ingredients. \nJensen is known for globally influenced cooking and an approach that puts flavor ahead of unnecessary formality. Hemmann brings an equally important ingredient to the evening: hospitality. \nThe result should fit the setting particularly well. This isn’t intended to feel like a restaurant dining room transplanted into a field. The idea is to gather around a table with neighbors\, eat food connected to the surrounding landscape and celebrate the people preserving and working that land. \nMore Than 80 Acres to Protect\nBarlow represents only one piece of a much larger conservation effort. \nThe Westerly Land Trust\, established in 1987\, now protects more than 1\,900 acres of forests\, wetlands\, grasslands and agricultural fields throughout Westerly. Its properties are used not only for conservation but also for public recreation\, environmental education and community programs. \nThe Farm Dinner celebrates that work while helping connect the people supporting conservation with the places being protected. \nAnd Barlow is particularly suited to telling that story because visitors can see several pieces of it at once: cultivated fields\, working farmers\, woods\, wetlands and trails all occupying the same protected landscape. \nExplore Barlow Nature Preserve\nThe dinner might also introduce some guests to a preserve worth returning to another day. \nBarlow Nature Preserve has two separate trail systems\, with routes through woods and along the agricultural portions of the property. \nOne trail area overlooks the hayfield and working farm\, with several trees identified by species. Another runs near Newton Swamp\, offering a more wooded walk with wetland and marsh views. \nVisitors heading toward the farm stand will also find a Little Free Library devoted to nature books. There’s even a hidden compartment on the back containing seeds visitors can take home. \nIt’s a small detail\, but it captures what Barlow has become: not simply land saved from development\, but land being actively used to get people interested in farming\, nature and conservation. \nEvent Details\nEvent: Westerly Land Trust Farm Dinner\nDate: Saturday\, September 12\, 2026\nTime: 3:30–7:30 p.m.\nLocation: Barlow Nature Preserve\nAddress: 449 Westerly Bradford Road\, Westerly\, RI\nChefs: Johan Jensen and Abbey Hemmann\nFeaturing: A locally sourced dinner celebrating Westerly’s farms and conserved land \nMore information is available at the Event Website link at the bottom of the page. \nYou can register to be put on a waitlist by clicking the Event Ticketing link below. \n  \n 
URL:https://thectbeacon.com/event/westerly-land-trust-farm-dinner-celebrates-local-food-at-barlow-nature-preserve/
LOCATION:Barlow Nature Preserve\, 449 Westerly Bradford Road\, Westerly\, RI\, 02891\, United States
CATEGORIES:Barlow Nature Preserve
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SUMMARY:Green-Tie Celebration Goes to the Movies for DPNC
DESCRIPTION:Green-Tie Celebration rolls out the red carpet at Coogan Farm on Friday\, September 18\, as the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center turns its annual fundraiser into a night at the movies\, complete with costumes\, cocktails\, dinner bites\, an auction\, and an environmental hero whose work has changed the landscape of the farm itself. \nThis year’s theme is “The Nature Center Goes to the Movies\,” and guests are encouraged to arrive dressed as a favorite movie star or character. \n{Donate to the DPNC} \nThere will even be an award for the evening’s best costume. \nBut behind the movie-premiere fun is the serious purpose that has always driven Green-Tie. \nThis is the Nature Center’s primary annual fundraiser\, supporting its environmental education programs\, wildlife rehabilitation\, conservation work\, land stewardship\, and day-to-day operations. \nAnd in the middle of this year’s celebration\, the spotlight will turn to Lydia Pan\, recipient of the 2026 Maggie Jones Environmental Hero Award. \nGreen-Tie Has Never Been a Black-Tie Kind of Gala\nThe name tells you something about the personality of this fundraiser. \nGreen-Tie has traditionally rejected the idea that supporting conservation requires an evening of tuxedos and ballroom chandeliers. \nPast dress suggestions have ranged from wellies and wool to gowns and fascinators. \nThe celebration takes place outdoors at Coogan Farm\, under a large tent\, with the surrounding fields and preserved landscape serving as the setting. \nFor 2026\, DPNC is taking that playful tradition all the way to Hollywood. \nThe movie theme invites guests to dress as a favorite actor\, actress or movie character. The Nature Center is promising a “red carpet” celebration\, and the best-dressed guest gets an award. \nJames Bond? \nDorothy Gale? \nIndiana Jones? \nAudrey Hepburn? \nThe Dude? \nDPNC isn’t prescribing the movie or the decade. \nJust remember that you’re still going to a farm. \nLydia Pan Gets the Starring Role\nEvery good movie needs a lead. \nThis year’s belongs to Lydia Pan. \nPan will receive the Maggie Jones Environmental Hero Award for her extensive volunteer work at Coogan Farm\, particularly her efforts to remove invasive plants\, restore native habitat and teach other volunteers how to continue the work. \nThat last part is important. \nPan isn’t simply pulling weeds. \nShe has been leading volunteers in identifying invasive species\, understanding why they threaten native ecosystems and learning practical methods for controlling them. \nHer work at Coogan Farm has included tackling species familiar to anyone who has fought an overgrown Connecticut property: multiflora rose\, Japanese barberry\, Oriental bittersweet\, Japanese honeysuckle\, autumn olive and mugwort\, among others. \nShe has also led public educational programs at the farm devoted specifically to invasive-plant management. \nThe Connecticut Invasive Plant Working Group recorded Pan leading a public Coogan Farm program that covered Connecticut’s invasive-plant regulations\, identification and management techniques and alternatives using native plants. \nShe has continued leading habitat restoration work and public programs at the property. \nRemoving an Invasive Plant Is Only Half the Job\nPulling something unwanted out of the ground can feel satisfying. \nEcological restoration is more complicated. \nInvasive plants can dominate an area so thoroughly that removing them simply creates open ground where the same species\, or another invasive\, can return. \nThat’s why restoration often involves a second step: helping native plants reestablish themselves. \nNative vegetation provides food and habitat for insects\, birds and other wildlife that evolved alongside it. \nPan’s work at Coogan Farm has focused on both sides of that equation\, reducing invasive plants while encouraging native alternatives. \nIt’s slow work. \nThere is no movie montage where an entire ecosystem gets restored in three minutes while inspirational music plays. \nThe real version takes seasons. \nAnd volunteers. \nLots of volunteers. \n{Donate to the DPNC} \nPan Has Been Teaching Those Volunteers How to Do It\nDPNC describes Pan’s contribution not only as eradicating invasive species and beautifying Coogan Farm but as directing and encouraging volunteers through hands-on learning. \nThat multiplies the effect of one knowledgeable person. \nA volunteer who learns to recognize Oriental bittersweet at Coogan Farm can recognize it at home. \nSomeone who learns why Japanese barberry can be damaging doesn’t stop knowing that when the volunteer session ends. \nPan has also worked with Wild Ones’ Mountain Laurel Chapter\, an organization devoted to native plants and natural landscaping. \nIn 2023\, the organization described her as president of the chapter and noted that she had already spent several years leading a Coogan Farm volunteer team working to eliminate or reduce invasive plants and replace them with native alternatives supporting pollinators and wildlife. \nThat makes the award especially appropriate. \nThe work combines conservation with education\, two things at the center of DPNC’s mission. \nThe Maggie Jones Award Is Still a Young Tradition\nThe Maggie Jones Environmental Hero Award was established in 2023 to recognize people and organizations demonstrating exceptional commitment to environmental protection\, education and community involvement. \nIts namesake is former DPNC Executive Director Maggie Jones\, whose leadership became inseparable from the modern history of the Nature Center. \nJones served as executive director for decades and helped guide major conservation projects\, including the effort to preserve Coogan Farm. \nWhen DPNC created the award in 2023\, there was an obvious choice for its first recipient. \nMaggie Jones. \nThe Mystic Garden Club received the honor in 2024. \nIn 2025\, it went to longtime conservation advocate and Groton Open Space Association founding member Sidney Van Zandt\, recognizing more than six decades of land-conservation work. \nPan now joins that group in 2026. \nThe Gala Is Taking Place on Land the Award’s Namesake Helped Save\nThere is a satisfying bit of symmetry here. \nGreen-Tie isn’t honoring environmental work in a rented ballroom. \nIt’s happening on land that exists as protected open space in significant part because of the conservation effort led by the organization hosting the party. \nDPNC acquired Coogan Farm in 2013 following a grassroots campaign to protect one of the last undeveloped pieces of farmland between downtown Mystic\, Mystic Seaport Museum and Mystic Aquarium. \nThe preserved property totals 45 acres. \nMore than 60 volunteers and 760 donors participated in the campaign\, along with the Trust for Public Land. \nThe acquisition extended a larger greenway while protecting habitat\, open space and portions of two watersheds. \nThe landscape also preserves centuries of Mystic history. \nFor a conservation fundraiser\, it’s difficult to imagine a more appropriate venue. \nCoogan Farm Goes Back Centuries\nLong before anyone called it Coogan Farm\, the land overlooking the Mystic River had a complicated history. \nIndigenous Pequot people used the area and surrounding estuaries before European colonization. \nFollowing the Pequot War\, land in the area was granted to English settlers\, including Captain John Gallup. \nAgriculture\, pasture and orchards became part of the landscape over subsequent centuries. \nThe Coogan name arrived much later. \nWalter C. Morgan purchased the property in 1902. His daughter\, Clara Avery Morgan\, inherited it and married Clarence A. Coogan in 1918\, eventually giving the property the name by which it is known today. \nThe preserved landscape still contains stone walls\, foundations\, meadows\, hedgerows and an heirloom orchard. \nThat combination of cultural and natural history is why DPNC describes it as both a Nature and Heritage Center. \n{Donate to the DPNC} \nThe Giving Garden Turned Preserved Land Into Working Land\nSaving Coogan Farm didn’t mean freezing it in time. \nOne of DPNC’s most visible projects there is the Craig Floyd Giving Garden. \nCreated after the property was acquired\, the garden was designed around two interconnected ideas: teaching sustainable agriculture and growing nutritious food for people who need it. \nIt began in 2014 through a partnership among DPNC\, the Robert G. Youngs Family Foundation and United Way. \nThe first growing season produced a little more than a ton of food. \nBy 2016\, the garden was producing more than six tons of vegetables in a single season. \nToday\, DPNC operates the garden as a permanent part of its mission. \nProduce is distributed to people experiencing food insecurity in New London County through the Gemma E. Moran United Way/Labor Food Center and its network. \nThe garden also functions as an outdoor classroom. \nThis Isn’t Your Grandfather’s Vegetable Garden\nThe Giving Garden emphasizes regenerative agriculture\, attempting to grow food while improving rather than depleting the soil. \nIts features extend beyond rows of vegetables. \nThere are fruit crops\, herbs\, spices\, mushrooms\, flowers\, composting areas and honeybee hives. \nWalking paths allow people to move through the growing areas\, and a natural amphitheater provides space for instruction. \nVolunteers do much of the planting\, tending and harvesting. \nThat volunteer culture is part of the reason Pan’s work fits so naturally into the larger story of Coogan Farm. \nThe place is preserved land\, but it isn’t passive land. \nPeople are constantly working on it. \nGrowing food. \nRestoring habitat. \nRemoving invasives. \nTeaching classes. \nMaintaining trails. \nLearning from one another. \nGreen-Tie Helps Pay for Much More Than Coogan Farm\nThe fundraiser supports the larger Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center\, which has been providing environmental education in Mystic since 1946. \nDPNC now manages and stewards a roughly 400-acre greenway with more than 10 miles of trails. \nAt its main Pequotsepos Road campus\, the Nature Center combines a natural-history museum with native wildlife exhibits\, educational spaces and trails through southeastern Connecticut habitats. \nIts resident animals include non-releasable birds of prey used as wildlife ambassadors. \nDPNC also operates a wildlife rescue and rehabilitation program. \nIts educators work with children and adults through school programs\, camps\, preschool\, workshops\, hikes and other environmental programs. \nGreen-Tie helps support all of it. \nThat’s why DPNC describes the celebration as its most important fundraiser of the year rather than a fundraiser for one particular project. \nDinner Comes From Dog Watch Cafe\nThis isn’t a movie night where dinner means popcorn. \nThe 2026 celebration includes heavy hors d’oeuvres from Dog Watch Cafe\, the Stonington restaurant known for its waterfront location overlooking Dodson Boatyard. \nDrinks will also be part of the evening. \nDPNC is advertising an auction as part of the fundraiser as well\, giving guests another way to support the organization beyond the ticket price. \nAnd for people who cannot attend\, there’s a remote option. \nDPNC specifically invites supporters who can’t make it to Coogan Farm to “raise your paddle remotely” by donating online. \n{Donate to the DPNC} \nTickets Start at $130\nThere are four ticket levels for the 2026 Green-Tie Celebration. \nA Single Red Carpet Ticket is $130. \nA Patron Red Carpet Ticket is $200. \nAn Actors Guild package is $900 for six tickets. \nA Directors Circle package is $1\,500 for 10 tickets. \nThe increasing levels allow supporters to make a larger contribution to DPNC while attending the same annual celebration. \nAdvance ticket purchase is important for an event of this kind\, particularly because food and event planning depend on knowing attendance ahead of time. \nPark at Mystic Seaport\, Not Coogan Farm\nThis is one logistical detail worth knowing before leaving home. \nMost Green-Tie guests do not park at Coogan Farm. \nInstead\, attendees should park in the North Lot at Mystic Seaport Museum. \nContinuous shuttle service will run between the parking lot and Coogan Farm from 6 to 9 p.m. \nGuests with handicapped parking permits can use the limited accessible parking available at Coogan Farm. \nThe arrangement has been used for previous Green-Tie celebrations and solves a fairly obvious problem: a preserved farm isn’t supposed to have a massive event parking lot. \nAnd Yes\, the Show Goes On in the Rain\nGreen-Tie is a rain-or-shine event. \nThe celebration takes place under a tent at Coogan Farm\, so a questionable forecast doesn’t automatically mean cancellation. \nThat is worth considering when planning a movie-inspired costume. \nA floor-length gown may deliver a magnificent red-carpet entrance. \nIt may be somewhat less magnificent after crossing wet farm ground. \nComfortable footwear isn’t a bad supporting actor. \nThe Movie Theme Is Fun. The Place Is the Point.\nThe red carpet gives Green-Tie its personality this year. \nThe costumes will get attention. \nSomeone will win best dressed. \nThere will be drinks\, food\, an auction and plenty of reasons to treat September 18 as a night out. \nBut look beyond the tent and the theme makes a different kind of sense. \nYou’re standing on 45 acres that people organized to prevent from being developed. \nNearby\, volunteers grow food for people who need it. \nAcross the property\, other volunteers are restoring native habitat. \nA woman who has spent years leading that work will receive an environmental award named for the woman who helped save the farm in the first place. \nAnd the money raised that night will help an organization that has been teaching southeastern Connecticut about its wildlife\, habitats and natural history for 80 years. \nThat’s a pretty good plot. \nDetails\nEvent: Green-Tie Celebration: The Nature Center Goes to the Movies\nDate: Friday\, September 18\, 2026\nTime: 6–8 p.m.\nLocation: Coogan Farm Nature & Heritage Center\nAddress: 162 Greenmanville Avenue\, Mystic\, CT 06355\nOrganizer: Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center\nPurpose: DPNC’s primary annual fundraiser\, supporting operations and environmental education programs\nTheme: The Nature Center Goes to the Movies\nAttire: Guests are encouraged to dress as a favorite movie star or movie character\nBest Dressed: A costume award will be presented\nFood: Heavy hors d’oeuvres provided by Dog Watch Cafe\nAlso Included: Drinks\, auction and evening celebration\n2026 Honoree: Lydia Pan\nAward: Maggie Jones Environmental Hero Award\nSingle Red Carpet Ticket: $130\nPatron Red Carpet Ticket: $200\nActors Guild: $900 for six tickets\nDirectors Circle: $1\,500 for 10 tickets\nWeather: Rain or shine; celebration takes place under a tent\nParking: Park in the North Lot at Mystic Seaport Museum\nShuttle: Continuous shuttle service between Mystic Seaport Museum and Coogan Farm from 6–9 p.m.\nAccessible Parking: Limited parking at Coogan Farm is reserved for vehicles with handicapped parking permits\nCan’t Attend: Supporters can donate online and participate in the fundraising remotely\n{Donate to the DPNC} \nMore information is available at the Event Website link below. \nTo purchase tickets\, click the Event Ticketing link below. \n  \n  \nFeatured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people\, location\, or activities shown.
URL:https://thectbeacon.com/event/green-tie-celebration-goes-to-the-movies-for-denison-pequotsepos-nature-centers-biggest-fundraiser-of-the-year/
LOCATION:Coogan Farm Nature & Heritage Center\, 162 Greenmanville Avenue\, Mystic\, 06355\, United States
CATEGORIES:Coogan Farm Nature & Heritage Center
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260920T170000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260920T190000
DTSTAMP:20260915T215319Z
CREATED:20260915T215319Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260915T215319Z
UID:10007871-1789923600-1789930800@thectbeacon.com
SUMMARY:Swing Band Benefit Concert Brings Three Big Bands and a Dance Floor to the UNITED
DESCRIPTION:Swing Band Benefit Concert fills the UNITED Theatre with brass\, reeds\, rhythm and the music of the big-band era on Sunday\, September 20\, as three regional jazz orchestras share the stage for a concert benefiting music education on both sides of the Connecticut-Rhode Island line. \nThe third annual benefit runs from 5 to 7 p.m. in the UNITED’s Black Box Auditorium in Westerly. This year’s lineup brings together the Time and Changes Jazz Orchestra\, As Time Goes By and the Sean Nelson Jazz Orchestra. \nThe music reaches back to Frank Sinatra\, Benny Goodman\, Glenn Miller and Count Basie\, but this isn’t being presented as a sit-down history lesson. \nThe UNITED’s invitation is considerably simpler: listen\, dance\, and donate. \nAnd the money raised goes back into music\, supporting the UNITED Music School and music programs in the Westerly and New London public schools. \nThree Bands\, One Concert\nThe structure gives the evening something closer to a miniature big-band festival than a conventional concert. \nTime and Changes Jazz Orchestra opens the show. \nThe group performs in the classic 17-piece big-band configuration\, the kind of lineup capable of producing the enormous ensemble sound associated with the swing era. \nNext comes As Time Goes By\, a local swing and jazz band that also organized the benefit. \nThen the Sean Nelson Jazz Orchestra closes the evening with another 17-piece ensemble drawing musicians from around New England. \nPut all three together and there will be a lot of musicians moving through the UNITED stage in two hours. \nThat’s appropriate for music that was built around scale. \nWhy 17 Musicians?\nThere’s a reason two of Sunday’s ensembles are specifically described as 17-piece bands. \nThe classic big-band format generally divides its musicians into sections: saxophones\, trumpets\, trombones and a rhythm section. \nRather than simply having everyone play simultaneously\, arrangers can move melodies and harmonies among those sections. \nSaxophones can carry one passage before trumpets answer. \nTrombones can add a darker layer underneath them. \nThe rhythm section keeps everything moving while individual musicians step forward for solos. \nThen the arranger can bring the entire ensemble together. \nThat’s where the sheer power of a big band comes from. \nA 17-piece jazz orchestra can whisper\, but when everybody arrives at the same musical destination at once\, it doesn’t stay quiet for long. \nTime and Changes Opens With the Classic Big-Band Sound\nThe Time and Changes Jazz Orchestra gets first crack at the room. \nIts billing as a classic 17-piece big band immediately establishes the musical vocabulary for the evening. \nThis is music descended from the large jazz orchestras that became one of America’s dominant forms of popular entertainment during the 1930s and ’40s. \nBefore rock bands filled arenas\, big bands filled ballrooms. \nAnd before recorded music became the default soundtrack for a night out\, people danced to actual orchestras. \nThat connection between jazz and dancing is important to Sunday’s concert because the UNITED isn’t asking audiences simply to admire the arrangements. \nDancing is part of the evening. \nAs Time Goes By Is the Band Behind the Benefit\nThe middle set belongs to As Time Goes By\, the local swing and jazz group that organized the Swing Band Benefit Concert. \nThat gives the band’s appearance a different role. \nThey’re not simply one of three acts on the bill. They’re helping bring the bands together around a common purpose. \nThis is now the event’s third year\, giving what began as a benefit concert the beginnings of an annual Westerly tradition. \nAs Time Goes By occupies the center position between two large jazz orchestras\, creating some musical variety while keeping the evening rooted firmly in swing and jazz. \nAnd its name couldn’t be much more appropriate for a concert drawing heavily from the American songbook. \nSean Nelson Jazz Orchestra Closes the Night\nThe final set belongs to the Sean Nelson Jazz Orchestra. \nLike Time and Changes\, Nelson’s group is a 17-piece jazz orchestra\, with the UNITED describing its membership as musicians drawn from across New England. \nNelson is a trombonist\, composer\, arranger and bandleader whose work spans jazz performance and large-ensemble writing. \nA jazz orchestra gives an arranger an unusually broad musical palette. \nInstead of thinking only about melody\, chords and rhythm\, the arranger can work with instrumental color: which section carries a line\, which instruments answer it\, where the ensemble pulls back and when the entire band comes roaring in. \nThat’s part of what separates hearing this music from a recording. \nA big band moves air. \nIn a live room\, you feel the brass as much as hear it. \nSinatra\, Goodman\, Miller and Basie Point Toward the Songbook\nThe UNITED is highlighting music associated with Frank Sinatra\, Benny Goodman\, Glenn Miller and Count Basie. \nThose four names cover a surprising amount of musical territory. \nGoodman’s orchestra helped push swing into the center of American popular culture during the 1930s. \nMiller developed one of the era’s most recognizable ensemble sounds\, producing recordings that became inseparable from the World War II generation. \nBasie’s orchestra approached swing differently\, with an extraordinary emphasis on rhythm\, space and blues. \nAnd Sinatra’s career connected the big-band era with the emergence of the modern solo pop vocalist. \nHe first became a national star singing with the Harry James and Tommy Dorsey orchestras before establishing the solo career that eventually made him one of the defining American singers of the 20th century. \nSunday’s program isn’t advertised as a recreation of one specific orchestra or period. \nInstead\, those names provide the musical coordinates. \nThis Music Was Made for Dancing\nBig-band jazz eventually became something people often encountered in concert halls\, jazz festivals and record collections. \nThat can obscure its original function. \nPeople danced to it. \nSwing developed alongside an enormous social-dance culture\, and the relationship between dancers and musicians influenced the music itself. \nThe rhythm had to move. \nTempos mattered. \nArrangements needed momentum. \nA packed dance floor wasn’t a distraction from the orchestra. It was evidence that the orchestra was doing its job. \nThat’s why the UNITED’s “come listen\, dance and donate” description is more than a catchy invitation. \nDancing puts this music back into something resembling its original environment. \nNobody has to dance\, of course. \nBut the opportunity is there for anyone who hears a Basie-style rhythm section and finds sitting still increasingly difficult. \nThe Benefit Looks Forward While the Music Looks Back\nThe most important part of the concert may be what happens after the final note. \nProceeds from the 2026 event benefit the UNITED Music School\, along with music programs in the Westerly and New London public schools. \nThat gives the evening a nice symmetry. \nProfessional and experienced regional musicians are performing music with roots stretching back nearly a century to help younger musicians get access to instruments\, instruction and school music programs now. \nThe UNITED Music School operates as part of the theater’s broader educational mission\, offering music instruction and performance opportunities from its downtown Westerly campus. \nSupporting public-school programs extends the impact beyond the theater itself. \nAnd notably\, the beneficiaries cross the state line. \nWesterly is in Rhode Island. \nNew London is in Connecticut. \nMusic doesn’t care much about the border. \nThe UNITED Is an Appropriate Home for It\nThe setting also carries its own musical history. \nThe UNITED originally opened as a vaudeville theater in 1926\, placing its beginnings just before the big-band era exploded nationally. \nAfter decades as a movie theater and a long period of closure\, the building was extensively redeveloped and reopened in 2021 as a multidisciplinary arts center. \nToday it combines cinemas\, live-performance spaces and a music school under one roof. \nSunday’s concert brings all of those strands together particularly well. \nIt’s a live performance of music rooted in the first half of the 20th century\, presented inside a restored 1920s theater\, raising money to teach musicians who will carry music into the future. \nTwo Hours\, Three Bands and a Lot of Horns\nThere are easier ways to raise money. \nYou can hold a raffle. \nYou can sell baked goods. \nOr you can put three swing bands onstage\, assemble dozens of musicians\, clear some room for dancing and let Count Basie\, Glenn Miller\, Benny Goodman and Sinatra provide the inspiration. \nThe Swing Band Benefit Concert has chosen the latter. \nFor anyone who loves the sound of a full horn section\, Sunday evening should provide plenty of it. \nAnd every ticket helps make sure another generation gets the chance to learn how to make some noise of its own. \nDetails\nEvent: Swing Band Benefit Concert\nDate: Sunday\, September 20\, 2026\nTime: 5–7 p.m.\nLocation: UNITED Theatre\, Black Box Auditorium\nAddress: 5 Canal Street\, Westerly\, RI 02891\nPerformers: Time and Changes Jazz Orchestra\, As Time Goes By and Sean Nelson Jazz Orchestra\nMusic: Big band\, swing and jazz\, including selections associated with Frank Sinatra\, Benny Goodman\, Glenn Miller and Count Basie\nAdult Tickets: $22\nUnder 18: $12\nBeneficiaries: UNITED Music School and music programs in the Westerly and New London public schools\nDancing: Encouraged\nPhone: 401-388-8208\nEmail: info@unitedtheatre.org\nAccessibility: The UNITED’s cinemas are wheelchair accessible. The theater recommends contacting the box office before purchasing live-performance tickets to discuss the best accessible seating location. Assistive listening devices are also available.\nTicket Policy: UNITED event tickets are non-refundable and non-transferable. \nMore information is available at the Event Website link below. \nTo purchase tickets\, click the Event Ticketing link below. \n  \n  \nFeatured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people\, location\, or activities shown.
URL:https://thectbeacon.com/event/swing-band-benefit-concert-brings-three-big-bands-and-a-dance-floor-to-the-united/
LOCATION:United Theatre\, 5 Canal Street\, Westerly\, RI\, 02891\, United States
CATEGORIES:United Theater
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260922T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260922T210000
DTSTAMP:20260913T201716Z
CREATED:20260913T201651Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260913T201716Z
UID:10007594-1790100000-1790110800@thectbeacon.com
SUMMARY:She Sings Dylan Reimagines a Legendary Songbook at River Jam at The Hounds
DESCRIPTION:She Sings Dylan at The Hounds brings a different perspective to one of American music’s most familiar songbooks Tuesday\, September 22\, when the Connecticut-based band takes over The Hounds Terrace in Stonington for the latest chapter of River Jam. \nThe concert runs from 6 to 9 p.m. and features She Sings Dylan\, a group built around an intriguing premise: take Bob Dylan’s enormous catalog and approach it through the voices and interpretations of women. \nIt’s also music for a cause. \nThe evening supports the Pawcatuck Neighborhood Center\, with guests encouraged to bring a can of dog food to donate to the center’s pet-support efforts. Light bites from Dogwatch Catering are included with admission. The Hounds operates a cash bar\, and guests should bring their own chairs. \nDylan’s Songs\, From a Different Point of View\nShe Sings Dylan isn’t built around impersonating Bob Dylan. \nThat’s the point. \nThe band describes its approach as Dylan’s catalog “reimagined through a female lens\,” taking songs listeners may have known for decades and changing the voices\, arrangements and perspective around them. \nThat concept has plenty of historical precedent. \nDylan’s songs have always had lives beyond Dylan. \nJoan Baez became one of his most important early interpreters. Nina Simone transformed The Ballad of Hollis Brown and Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues. Linda Ronstadt recorded I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight. Sheryl Crow has repeatedly explored Dylan’s catalog. \nShe Sings Dylan explicitly cites Baez\, Simone\, Ronstadt and Crow among the artists informing its approach. \nThat gives the band plenty of room to work. \nThis isn’t necessarily about reproducing the records. \nIt’s about the songs. \nThe Band Grew Out of a Rolling Thunder Project\nThe group’s roots go back more than a decade. \nIn 2014 and 2015\, musicians who would eventually form She Sings Dylan performed under the name Rolling Thunder Revival. \nThat project had a significant connection to Dylan’s actual musical history: the performers worked alongside Rob Stoner\, Dylan’s bassist and musical director during the famed Rolling Thunder Revue era. \nStoner played bass on Dylan’s Desire and toured with him during the Rolling Thunder Revue and subsequent performances. \nThe Rolling Thunder Revue itself was one of the strangest and most celebrated periods of Dylan’s career. \nBeginning in 1975\, Dylan assembled a traveling collection of musicians and artists that included Joan Baez\, Roger McGuinn\, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott\, Scarlet Rivera and others. Instead of simply mounting a conventional arena tour\, the ensemble moved through smaller cities and venues with the loose atmosphere of a traveling musical caravan. \nShe Sings Dylan eventually emerged from its own Rolling Thunder-inspired project with a more distinctive idea. \nThe women took the lead. \nMeet She Sings Dylan\nThe current lineup is anchored by Kate Hubbard on lead vocals and Sophia Coppola on vocals\, mandolin\, melodica and clarinet. \nThey’re joined by: \nJeff Martinson – guitar\nBill Carbone – drums\nSean Elkind – keyboards\nMarty Moroney – bass \nCollectively\, those musicians bring connections to a sizable chunk of the Northeast’s jam and roots-music world\, including Max Creek\, The Z3\, 10 Ft. Ganja Plant and Mystic Dead. \nThat background is particularly useful when you’re playing Dylan. \nHis songs can survive radical rearrangement. \nThey’ve been played as folk\, country\, blues\, gospel\, rock\, soul\, reggae and virtually everything in between. Dylan himself has spent decades changing tempos\, melodies and arrangements of his own songs onstage. \nA band doesn’t need to treat the studio recording as sacred to treat the song seriously. \nDon’t Expect a Greatest-Hits Tribute Show\nShe Sings Dylan says its repertoire includes both classics and deep cuts. \nThat’s an important distinction. \nDylan has been releasing music since his self-titled debut arrived in 1962. His catalog stretches from early acoustic folk through electric rock\, country\, gospel\, blues\, traditional American music and the reflective songwriting of his later career. \nThe obvious songs alone could fill an evening: Blowin’ in the Wind\, The Times They Are A-Changin’\, Mr. Tambourine Man\, Like a Rolling Stone\, All Along the Watchtower\, Tangled Up in Blue. \nBut Dylan’s catalog rewards going much deeper than that. \nShe Sings Dylan’s approach gives the band freedom to pull from that broader songbook rather than presenting a predictable procession of hits. \nAnd the Stonington show comes just three days after the band is scheduled to perform at Wormtown Music Festival in Greenfield\, Massachusetts. \nAfter The Hounds\, She Sings Dylan heads to Mohegan Sun’s Wolf Den on October 1. \nDylan Going Electric Is Part of the Story\nThe concert’s promotional material singles out one of the most famous moments in American music history: Bob Dylan “going electric” at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. \nIt’s a good piece of trivia\, but the story is more interesting than the shorthand. \nDylan appeared at Newport on July 25\, 1965\, strapped on an electric guitar and performed with a plugged-in band that included members of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. \nThe set included Maggie’s Farm and Like a Rolling Stone. \nThe reaction has become legendary. \nSome people booed. \nExactly why they booed remains debated. Some objected to Dylan abandoning the acoustic folk presentation with which he’d become identified. Others may have been reacting to the sound quality or the unusually short electric set. \nWhat isn’t really debatable is what happened next. \nDylan did not go back. \nHis move toward electric rock had already begun on record\, but Newport became the symbolic moment when one of folk music’s biggest stars publicly broke with expectations. \nIt helped redraw the boundaries between folk and rock. \nMore than 60 years later\, musicians are still finding new ways to rearrange those songs. \nShe Sings Dylan is part of that continuing tradition. \nRiver Jam Is Different This Year\nThere’s another story behind the September 22 concert. \nFor a decade\, Mystic River Jam meant a summer weekend at Mystic Shipyard. \nThe annual two-day festival brought together regional rock\, reggae\, blues\, country and jam bands while raising money for local charitable organizations. Mystic Dead became one of its recurring headliners\, and the event developed a loyal local following. \nBut organizers announced in January that the traditional Mystic River Jam festival would not take place in 2026 after its 10-year run. \nThat didn’t mean River Jam disappeared. \nInstead\, the organization has moved into a different format. \nThis year\, River Jam has been bringing individual concerts to The Hounds in Stonington\, allowing the community-music and charitable sides of the old festival to continue without staging the full two-day Mystic Shipyard production. \nThe series began earlier this year with Mystic Dead at The Hounds. \nShe Sings Dylan is the September installment. \nThe Troublemakers follow on October 27\, and Mystic Dead returns for a New Year’s Eve show on December 31. \nSo River Jam isn’t really gone. \nIt’s having a very different year. \nThe Hounds Provides a New Home\nThe Hounds sits at 769 Stonington Road\, between Mystic and Stonington Borough. \nThe event venue occupies a property overlooking coastal marshland\, with its Terrace providing a covered outdoor gathering space adjoining the main Quarterdeck Room. \nIt’s a very different environment from the former River Jam setup at Mystic Shipyard. \nInstead of a full weekend festival with multiple bands and vendors\, these Hounds evenings are smaller\, individual concerts. \nThe September 22 event takes place on the Terrace. \nAnd there’s one practical detail worth remembering before leaving home: \nBring a chair. \nThe organizers specifically ask guests to bring their own chairs for the concert. \nYour Ticket Includes Food\nThe night isn’t just the concert. \nLight bites from Dogwatch Catering are included in the ticket price. \nDogwatch Catering is part of the same local hospitality family associated with Dog Watch Cafe in Stonington and has extensive experience handling weddings\, private parties and community events around southeastern Connecticut. \nBeverages are handled separately. \nThe Hounds will operate a cash bar during the concert. \nThat gives the evening a format somewhere between an outdoor concert and a casual catered gathering: bring your chair\, find a spot on the Terrace\, grab something to eat and settle in for three hours of Dylan. \nBring Dog Food\, Too\nThe charitable component is particularly specific this time. \nMystic River Jam is asking attendees to bring a can of dog food for the Pawcatuck Neighborhood Center. \nThe center serves residents of Stonington\, Pawcatuck\, Mystic\, North Stonington and Westerly\, providing food assistance and a much broader range of social and essential services. \nIts food pantry alone serves more than 2\,200 people\, according to River Jam. \nBut households facing financial hardship don’t stop having pets. \nFood assistance programs increasingly recognize that helping people keep their animals fed can be part of keeping a household stable. When money gets tight\, pet food becomes another expense competing with groceries\, rent\, utilities and medication. \nThat’s why this concert’s dog-food collection matters. \nThe cows in Mystic River Jam’s wonderfully strange promotional graphic may be the ones telling you to attend. \nThe dogs are the ones you’re being asked to help. \nRiver Jam’s Charitable Roots Run Deep\nThe charitable element isn’t something added to River Jam this year. \nGiving back has been central to the organization for years. \nThe former Mystic Shipyard festival raised money for organizations including the Pawcatuck Neighborhood Center and Sails Up 4 Cancer. \nIn 2024\, River Jam received the Pawcatuck Neighborhood Center’s Good Neighbor Award for its support of the community. \nThe traditional festival also relied heavily on local volunteers and businesses\, helping turn it into something more than a weekend concert series. \nThat history makes the move to smaller benefit concerts at The Hounds feel less like abandoning River Jam and more like preserving the part that mattered most. \nMusic still brings people together. \nThe gathering still helps somebody. \nA Tuesday Night for People Who Really Like Songs\nThere’s also something appealingly uncomplicated about this one. \nNo giant festival grounds. \nNo six-stage schedule. \nNo need to decide between two bands playing at the same time. \nBring a chair. \nBring a can of dog food. \nHave something from Dogwatch Catering. \nGet a drink from the bar. \nThen spend three hours with a band digging into one of the deepest song catalogs in American popular music. \nBob Dylan has spent more than 60 years refusing to perform his own songs exactly the way people expect. \nA band called She Sings Dylan doing the same thing seems entirely appropriate. \nDetails\nEvent: She Sings Dylan at The Hounds\nSeries: River Jam at The Hounds\nDate: Tuesday\, September 22\, 2026\nTime: 6–9 p.m.\nVenue: The Hounds Terrace\nAddress: 769 Stonington Road\, Stonington\, CT 06378\nPerformers: Kate Hubbard\, Sophia Coppola\, Jeff Martinson\, Bill Carbone\, Sean Elkind and Marty Moroney\nMusic: Bob Dylan classics and deep cuts reimagined through a female-fronted perspective\nFood: Light bites from Dogwatch Catering included with the ticket\nDrinks: Cash bar provided by The Hounds\nSeating: Bring your own chair\nDonation Requested: Bring a can of dog food to support the Pawcatuck Neighborhood Center’s pet-support efforts\nBeneficiary: Pawcatuck Neighborhood Center\nQuestions: Courtney Moore\, 860-961-0246\nUpcoming River Jam at The Hounds Shows: The Troublemakers\, October 27; Mystic Dead New Year’s Eve\, December 31 \nMore information is available at the Event Website link below. \nTo purchase tickets\, click the Event Ticketing link below. \n  \n  \nFeatured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people\, location\, or activities shown.
URL:https://thectbeacon.com/event/she-sings-dylan-reimagines-a-legendary-songbook-at-river-jam-at-the-hounds/
LOCATION:The Hounds\, 769 Stonington Road\, Stonington\, CT\, 06378\, United States
CATEGORIES:The Hounds
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260924T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260924T210000
DTSTAMP:20260928T002518Z
CREATED:20260921T025840Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260928T002518Z
UID:10008488-1790272800-1790283600@thectbeacon.com
SUMMARY:Tide to Table at Mystic Aquarium Connects What’s on the Plate to What’s Happening Beneath the Water
DESCRIPTION:Tide to Table at Mystic Aquarium Connects What’s on the Plate to What’s Happening Beneath the Water Thursday\, Sept. 24\, bringing together chefs\, scientists\, farmers\, conservationists and an Emmy-nominated filmmaker for an evening built around one deceptively simple idea: some of New England’s best meals begin in the ocean. \nThe three-hour event combines a documentary screening\, a conversation about the health of New England’s coastal waters\, tastings from regional chefs\, an open bar and after-hours access to Mystic Aquarium’s Main Gallery. \nBut the food isn’t separate from the environmental discussion. It’s the point of it. \nThe fish on a restaurant plate\, the shellfish growing along the coast\, the people who harvest them and the marine animals living in those same waters are all connected to the health of a single ecosystem. \nTide to Table is designed to put that entire chain in the same room. \nRhode Island’s Wild Coast Comes to the Screen\nThe evening begins with an exclusive 20-minute preview of Tides of Change\, the second episode of Ocean State: Rhode Island’s Wild Coast. \nDirected and produced by Emmy-nominated filmmaker Tomas Koeck\, the four-part PBS documentary series turns its cameras toward the surprisingly wild marine world just beyond southern New England’s beaches and harbors. \nTides of Change focuses on winter\, one of the most difficult seasons for wildlife along the coast. Rescue and research teams follow animals facing changing conditions\, injury and other threats as scientists work to understand and protect the ecosystem. \nThere’s an especially appropriate Mystic connection. \nThe episode includes Mystic Aquarium’s Animal Rescue Team\, bringing some of the work normally happening behind the scenes at the Aquarium onto the screen. \nThat makes the screening more than a film being shown in an interesting venue. Some of the people and conservation work represented in the documentary are part of the place where the audience is sitting. \nFrom the Film to the Dinner Plate\nAfter the screening\, Koeck joins James Beard Award-winning chef David Standridge\, members of Mystic Aquarium’s Animal Rescue staff and other local experts for a panel discussion. \nThe subject moves directly from what guests have just watched to something much more familiar: dinner. \nWhat happens when warming waters\, changing seasons\, pressures on marine wildlife and the health of fisheries begin affecting the food system? \nAnd what role can fishermen\, farmers\, scientists\, restaurants and consumers play in keeping New England’s coastal food system viable? \nIt’s an unusually broad way of approaching sustainable seafood because the conversation isn’t limited to which fish someone should or shouldn’t order. \nInstead\, Tide to Table looks at the ecosystem that makes the meal possible in the first place. \nDavid Standridge Has Been Building a Menu Around These Questions\nFor Standridge\, the connection between conservation and cooking isn’t simply a theme created for Thursday night’s event. \nAt The Shipwright’s Daughter in downtown Mystic\, his cooking has become closely associated with the waters and farms of southern New England. The restaurant’s menus change with what’s available from regional fishermen\, growers and producers. \nStandridge received the 2024 James Beard Award for Best Chef: Northeast\, giving Mystic one of the country’s most closely watched chefs while bringing national attention to the kind of local sourcing that sits at the center of Tide to Table. \nThat approach asks a chef to work with the ecosystem rather than demand that the ecosystem continually supply whatever a restaurant wants. \nIt can mean making use of abundant or overlooked species\, adapting menus as availability changes and finding culinary value in ingredients that might otherwise receive little attention. \nTide to Table expands that philosophy beyond one restaurant kitchen. \nThen Everybody Eats\nAfter talking about the ecosystem\, guests get to taste what it produces. \nThe second half of the evening shifts into an after-hours Aquarium experience with complimentary tastings from New England chefs and an open bar. \nGuests will also have access to the Aquarium’s Main Gallery after regular visiting hours. \nIt’s a setting that makes the connection unusually difficult to miss. \nInstead of discussing sustainable seafood in a conference room\, guests move from watching New England’s marine wildlife on screen and hearing from people who work with the coastal environment to tasting food prepared by chefs while surrounded by the Aquarium’s marine exhibits. \nThe participating organizations reinforce the same idea. \nThe evening brings together The Shipwright’s Daughter\, Mystic Aquarium\, Eating with the Ecosystem\, The Yellow Farmhouse and Stoneridge\, organizations approaching the regional food system from different directions. \nEating With the Ecosystem\nEating with the Ecosystem is particularly important to the concept behind the night. \nThe nonprofit works to strengthen connections among New England’s marine ecosystems\, commercial fisheries and the people who eat seafood. \nOne of the problems facing regional fisheries is that consumers tend to concentrate demand on a relatively small number of familiar species\, even though New England waters contain a much broader variety of edible seafood. \nA more diverse regional diet can give fishermen more markets for what is actually available while reducing dependence on a handful of heavily demanded species. \nThat changes the idea of sustainable seafood from simply choosing something carrying the right label into a larger question: Can we learn to eat from the ecosystem we actually have? \nIt’s a question particularly suited to southeastern Connecticut and Rhode Island\, where fishing\, aquaculture\, restaurants\, tourism and marine conservation all meet within a relatively small stretch of coastline. \nAn Evening With a Purpose Beyond Dinner\nThe $175 ticket isn’t simply admission to a high-end tasting event. \nProceeds support the research\, conservation and outreach work of Mystic Aquarium and Eating with the Ecosystem\, including efforts to develop community-based approaches to protecting coastal waters. \nThat gives Tide to Table an interesting circular structure. \nThe coastal environment provides the ingredients. Chefs turn those ingredients into dinner. Scientists and conservationists explain what’s happening to the ecosystem producing them. And the event raises money to support work intended to protect that ecosystem. \nFor three hours\, the food chain becomes visible. \n. \nDetails\nEvent: Tide to Table at Mystic Aquarium\nDate: Thursday\, Sept. 24\, 2026\nTime: 6–9 p.m.\nLocation: Mystic Aquarium\nAddress: 55 Coogan Boulevard\, Mystic\, CT 06355\nAdmission: $175 per person\nFilm: 20-minute preview of Tides of Change\, Episode 2 of Ocean State: Rhode Island’s Wild Coast\nFilmmaker: Tomas Koeck\nPanel: Koeck\, James Beard Award-winning chef David Standridge\, Mystic Aquarium Animal Rescue staff and other local experts\nFood: Complimentary tastings from New England chefs\nDrinks: Open bar\nAquarium Access: After-hours access to the Main Gallery\nPresented With: The Shipwright’s Daughter\, Mystic Aquarium\, Eating with the Ecosystem\, The Yellow Farmhouse and Stoneridge\nBeneficiaries: Proceeds support research\, conservation and outreach efforts by Mystic Aquarium and Eating with the Ecosystem \n  \n  \nFeatured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people\, location\, or activities shown.
URL:https://thectbeacon.com/event/tide-to-table-at-mystic-aquarium-connects-whats-on-the-plate-to-whats-happening-beneath-the-water/
LOCATION:Mystic Aquarium\, 55 Coogan Blvs\, Mystic\, CT\, 06355\, United States
CATEGORIES:Mystic Aquarium
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://thectbeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Tide-to-Table-at-Mystic-Aquarium-Connects-Whats-on-the-Plate-to-Whats-Happening-Beneath-the-Water.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260925T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260925T170000
DTSTAMP:20260924T160515Z
CREATED:20260924T160515Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260924T160515Z
UID:10008601-1790330400-1790355600@thectbeacon.com
SUMMARY:Honor Book Weekend Lets You Put a Loved One’s Name Inside the Mystic & Noank Library
DESCRIPTION:Honor Book Weekend Lets You Put a Loved One’s Name Inside the Mystic & Noank Library Friday and Saturday\, when a collaboration with Bank Square Books turns buying a book into something that can remain on the library’s shelves for years. \nThe idea is wonderfully simple. \nMystic & Noank Library librarians have pre-selected books they would like to add to the collection. Visitors browse those titles at Bank Square Books\, choose one or more to purchase for the library and dedicate the donation to someone they want to honor or remember. \nThe book then becomes part of the library’s collection\, complete with a custom bookplate creating a permanent record of the donation. \nOne transaction supports the library\, supports an independent Mystic bookstore and creates a lasting tribute to someone who matters to you. \nThe Librarians Have Already Done the Shopping\nHonor Book Weekend isn’t a general book drive. \nInstead of purchasing an arbitrary title and hoping the library needs it\, visitors choose from books selected in advance by Mystic & Noank Library staff. \nThat distinction matters. \nModern libraries have limited shelf space and collections that are continually changing. Librarians have to consider demand\, gaps in the collection\, condition\, relevance and what their particular community actually reads. \nHere\, that selection work has already happened. \nThe donor’s job is the fun part: browse the choices and find the book that feels right. \nPerhaps it’s a children’s book dedicated to a new grandchild\, a novel honoring someone who never went anywhere without a book\, a history title for the person who loved the past or something chosen simply because it reminds you of somebody. \nOnce donated\, the custom bookplate connects that person to the book. \nIt’s a small memorial that doesn’t have to feel like one. \nOne Purchase Helps Two Mystic Institutions\nThere’s another layer to the weekend. \nThe books aren’t being ordered from a warehouse. They’re being purchased through Bank Square Books\, Mystic’s independent bookstore. \nBank Square has been part of the community since 1988 and describes its mission as extending beyond selling books. The store hosts author appearances\, book clubs\, children’s programming and workshops while also donating books and money to local nonprofit organizations. \nIts relationship with Mystic & Noank Library is visible throughout the year. \nThe two organizations collaborate on literary programming and author events\, creating the sort of relationship that makes sense in a town where an independent bookstore and independent library serve many of the same readers. \nHonor Book Weekend makes that partnership particularly direct. \nBuy one book and the bookstore makes a sale. \nThe library gains a title its librarians have already decided belongs in the collection. \nAnd the donor gets to attach someone’s name to it. \nMystic & Noank Isn’t a Municipal Library\nThere’s also a financial reason events like this matter more than people might assume. \nDespite serving the community as a public library\, Mystic & Noank Library is a private nonprofit rather than a municipal library. \nAccording to the library’s 2025 annual report\, roughly 27 percent of its operating funding came from the towns of Stonington and Groton and the State of Connecticut. \nThe rest has to come from the library itself through fundraising\, philanthropy\, its endowment and careful financial management. \nThat means community support isn’t merely paying for extras. \nIt helps sustain the institution. \nDonating a requested book is a particularly tangible way to contribute because you can see exactly where the money goes. \nIt goes onto a shelf. \nA Library Built by a Gift\nThere’s something especially fitting about honoring someone through a donation to Mystic & Noank Library. \nThe institution itself began with philanthropy. \nIn 1891\, Mystic ship captain Elihu Spicer announced plans to build a library for the communities of Mystic and Noank. He died before seeing the project completed\, but his sister\, Sarah Dickinson\, continued the effort. \nThe Roman-brick library was dedicated in January 1894 and remains one of downtown Mystic’s most recognizable civic buildings. \nMore than 130 years later\, the model has changed considerably. The library now offers digital books and audiobooks\, streaming services\, computers\, children’s programming\, workshops\, book discussions\, museum passes and community events alongside the shelves of physical books. \nBut the basic idea behind Spicer’s gift remains remarkably recognizable. \nSomeone gives something because they believe other people should be able to use it. \nHonor Book Weekend reduces that idea to its smallest possible unit. \nOne book. \nOne donor. \nOne name inside the cover. \nAnd then\, potentially\, hundreds of readers who will never know the person being honored but will continue benefiting from the gift. \nTwo Days to Choose a Book\nHonor Book Weekend runs Friday\, Sept. 25\, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday\, Sept. 26\, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. \nThe event takes place off-site at Bank Square Books rather than at the library. \nOne important location note: although some older library calendar information still displays Bank Square Books’ former downtown address\, Bank Square Books is now located at 80 Stonington Road\, Suite 8\, in Mystic\, and the event description specifically directs participants to the new location. \nThere’s no requirement that the person being honored be a reader\, donor or library patron. \nThe permanence comes afterward. \nYears from now\, somebody may pull the book from a shelf at Mystic & Noank Library\, open the cover and find a name waiting inside. \nMore information is available at the Event Website link below. \nDetails\nEvent: MNL Honor Books at Bank Square Books\nDates: Friday\, Sept. 25 and Saturday\, Sept. 26\, 2026\nFriday Hours: 10 a.m.–5 p.m.\nSaturday Hours: 10 a.m.–1 p.m.\nLocation: Bank Square Books\nCurrent Address: 80 Stonington Road\, Suite 8\, Mystic\, CT 06355\nWho Can Participate: Everyone\nHow It Works: Browse books pre-selected by Mystic & Noank Library librarians\, purchase one or more for the library’s collection and dedicate the donation in honor or memory of someone\nBookplate: Donated books receive a custom bookplate creating a permanent record of the gift\nBenefits: Mystic & Noank Library and Bank Square Books\nLibrary Contact: Christine Bradley\nPhone: 860-536-7721 \n  \n  \nFeatured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people\, location\, or activities shown.
URL:https://thectbeacon.com/event/honor-book-weekend-lets-you-put-a-loved-ones-name-inside-the-mystic-noank-library/2026-09-25/
LOCATION:Bank Square Books\, 80 Stonington Rd\, Mystic\, 06355\, United States
CATEGORIES:Bank Square Books
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://thectbeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Honor-Book-Weekend-Lets-You-Put-a-Loved-Ones-Name-Inside-the-Mystic-and-Noank-Library.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260925T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260925T210000
DTSTAMP:20260928T002443Z
CREATED:20260818T185404Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260928T002443Z
UID:10007220-1790359200-1790370000@thectbeacon.com
SUMMARY:Granite Theatre's Heritage and Horizons Gala
DESCRIPTION:Granite Theatre’s Heritage and Horizons Gala brings an evening of American-inspired food\, music and storytelling to Stonington on Friday\, September 25\, while raising money for the future of one of Westerly’s longtime community arts organizations. \nHeld at The Hounds\, the gala will mark America’s 250th anniversary with a cabaret-style celebration drawing from generations of American music and theater. Guests can expect performances\, storytelling and historical theatrical imagery surrounded by vintage Americana-inspired décor. \nBut the evening isn’t intended simply as a look backward. \nProceeds will support Granite Theatre and its work providing live theater\, educational opportunities and creative experiences in Westerly\, including the theater’s growing youth programming. Granite operates as Renaissance City Theatre\, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that relies on contributions and community support. \nHeritage and Horizons: Celebrating the Past\, Investing in the Future\nThe theme for the September gala is “Heritage and Horizons: Celebrating our Foundations and Investing in our Future.” \nGranite is tying that theme to the country’s 250th anniversary by presenting a cabaret-style program exploring American music and storytelling across generations. \nRather than staging a traditional theatrical production\, the evening is designed as a celebration\, with performances and stories woven into the event alongside food and socializing. \nThe fundraiser comes during an important period for the theater itself. \nGranite entered its 2026 season under new artistic leadership\, while continuing to develop educational programs intended to introduce younger performers to theater. Its current mission emphasizes making theatrical entertainment and education accessible throughout the community. \nA Westerly Theater With a History of Its Own\nGranite’s story makes the “Heritage” portion of the gala particularly appropriate. \nThe theater occupies a restored Greek Revival church built in the 1840s at the highest point of downtown Westerly. The former Broad Street Christian Church eventually became home to theatrical organizations before opening its doors as the Granite Theatre in 2000. \nToday\, the intimate theater seats about 140 people\, giving productions a scale quite different from larger regional performing arts centers. \nGranite has developed into a year-round community theater presenting plays and musicals while creating opportunities for local performers\, technicians and volunteers. \nIts 2026 mainstage season illustrates the range. Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! opened the summer\, followed by the youth production Willy Wonka Jr. in August and Almost\, Maine in September. Following the gala\, Granite will return to the stage with Arthur Miller’s The Crucible in October and The Best Christmas Pageant Ever for the holiday season. \nAddison Roush Leads Granite’s 2026 Season\nThe gala also comes during the first season under Artistic Director Addison Roush. \nRoush grew up in Waco\, Texas\, and traces his interest in theater to seeing The Music Man and Alice Through the Looking Glass when he was 10. He began performing himself that same year. He later earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting and Directing from Sam Houston State University\, where his work included lead roles\, directing and play workshops. \nGranite audiences had already seen him onstage before he took the leadership position. Roush appeared as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in the theater’s production of The Rocky Horror Show. \nThe Granite Theatre board selected Roush from a field of candidates to succeed Nicole DiMattei beginning in January 2026. He was initially announced as interim artistic director with responsibility for overseeing the season and personally directing three productions. Granite now lists him simply as its Artistic Director. \nHe’s joined in the theater’s current leadership by Theatre Manager Caitlyn Ordway\, a Rhode Island native whose academic background includes writing and rhetoric\, film media and theater. Granite says her role focuses in part on creating a collaborative environment for staff and volunteers and making audiences feel welcome and engaged. \nInvesting in Young Performers\nThe “Horizons” side of the fundraiser becomes clearer when you look at what Granite has been building for children and teenagers. \nThe theater operates educational programs designed around the idea that theater can develop more than acting\, singing and dancing skills. Granite specifically identifies communication\, social development\, confidence and self-esteem among the benefits it hopes students gain from participating. \nIts youth program serves children and teenagers and has already resulted in full productions. \nIn 2026\, young performers ages 8 to 18 rehearsed and performed Disney’s Newsies Jr. in June. Granite followed that during the summer with Willy Wonka Jr.\, including a theater camp and August performances involving young actors. \nThat gives some substance to the gala’s promise to “invest in our future.” Money raised isn’t simply maintaining a building or filling out another theater season. It helps an organization trying to create a place where the area’s next generation can learn how theater works from both sides of the curtain. \nAn Americana Evening at The Hounds\nThe setting takes the gala across the state line from Granite’s Westerly home to The Hounds at 769 Stonington Road in Stonington. \nThe Hounds is an event venue situated near Stonington Borough and protected marshland\, giving the fundraiser a setting that fits the evening’s New England-meets-Americana atmosphere. \nGuests can expect vintage Americana-inspired décor\, historical theatrical imagery and a program combining performances and storytelling. \nGranite describes the evening as both a celebration of 250 years of American stories and an investment in ensuring another generation has a place to tell its own. \nEvent Details\nEvent: Heritage and Horizons: Granite Theatre Gala Fundraiser\nDate: Friday\, September 25\, 2026\nVenue: The Hounds\nAddress: 769 Stonington Road\, Stonington\, CT 06378 \nWhat to Expect: An Americana-inspired cabaret evening featuring live performances\, storytelling\, historical theatrical imagery\, food and a celebration of American artistic traditions. \nBeneficiary: Proceeds support the nonprofit Granite Theatre’s theatrical productions\, educational programs and community arts mission. \n  \n  \n  \n 
URL:https://thectbeacon.com/event/granite-theatres-heritage-and-horizons-gala/
LOCATION:The Hounds\, 769 Stonington Road\, Stonington\, CT\, 06378\, United States
CATEGORIES:The Hounds
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://thectbeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Granite-Theatres-Heritage-and-Horizons-Gala.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260926T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260926T130000
DTSTAMP:20260924T160515Z
CREATED:20260924T160515Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260924T160515Z
UID:10008602-1790416800-1790427600@thectbeacon.com
SUMMARY:Honor Book Weekend Lets You Put a Loved One’s Name Inside the Mystic & Noank Library
DESCRIPTION:Honor Book Weekend Lets You Put a Loved One’s Name Inside the Mystic & Noank Library Friday and Saturday\, when a collaboration with Bank Square Books turns buying a book into something that can remain on the library’s shelves for years. \nThe idea is wonderfully simple. \nMystic & Noank Library librarians have pre-selected books they would like to add to the collection. Visitors browse those titles at Bank Square Books\, choose one or more to purchase for the library and dedicate the donation to someone they want to honor or remember. \nThe book then becomes part of the library’s collection\, complete with a custom bookplate creating a permanent record of the donation. \nOne transaction supports the library\, supports an independent Mystic bookstore and creates a lasting tribute to someone who matters to you. \nThe Librarians Have Already Done the Shopping\nHonor Book Weekend isn’t a general book drive. \nInstead of purchasing an arbitrary title and hoping the library needs it\, visitors choose from books selected in advance by Mystic & Noank Library staff. \nThat distinction matters. \nModern libraries have limited shelf space and collections that are continually changing. Librarians have to consider demand\, gaps in the collection\, condition\, relevance and what their particular community actually reads. \nHere\, that selection work has already happened. \nThe donor’s job is the fun part: browse the choices and find the book that feels right. \nPerhaps it’s a children’s book dedicated to a new grandchild\, a novel honoring someone who never went anywhere without a book\, a history title for the person who loved the past or something chosen simply because it reminds you of somebody. \nOnce donated\, the custom bookplate connects that person to the book. \nIt’s a small memorial that doesn’t have to feel like one. \nOne Purchase Helps Two Mystic Institutions\nThere’s another layer to the weekend. \nThe books aren’t being ordered from a warehouse. They’re being purchased through Bank Square Books\, Mystic’s independent bookstore. \nBank Square has been part of the community since 1988 and describes its mission as extending beyond selling books. The store hosts author appearances\, book clubs\, children’s programming and workshops while also donating books and money to local nonprofit organizations. \nIts relationship with Mystic & Noank Library is visible throughout the year. \nThe two organizations collaborate on literary programming and author events\, creating the sort of relationship that makes sense in a town where an independent bookstore and independent library serve many of the same readers. \nHonor Book Weekend makes that partnership particularly direct. \nBuy one book and the bookstore makes a sale. \nThe library gains a title its librarians have already decided belongs in the collection. \nAnd the donor gets to attach someone’s name to it. \nMystic & Noank Isn’t a Municipal Library\nThere’s also a financial reason events like this matter more than people might assume. \nDespite serving the community as a public library\, Mystic & Noank Library is a private nonprofit rather than a municipal library. \nAccording to the library’s 2025 annual report\, roughly 27 percent of its operating funding came from the towns of Stonington and Groton and the State of Connecticut. \nThe rest has to come from the library itself through fundraising\, philanthropy\, its endowment and careful financial management. \nThat means community support isn’t merely paying for extras. \nIt helps sustain the institution. \nDonating a requested book is a particularly tangible way to contribute because you can see exactly where the money goes. \nIt goes onto a shelf. \nA Library Built by a Gift\nThere’s something especially fitting about honoring someone through a donation to Mystic & Noank Library. \nThe institution itself began with philanthropy. \nIn 1891\, Mystic ship captain Elihu Spicer announced plans to build a library for the communities of Mystic and Noank. He died before seeing the project completed\, but his sister\, Sarah Dickinson\, continued the effort. \nThe Roman-brick library was dedicated in January 1894 and remains one of downtown Mystic’s most recognizable civic buildings. \nMore than 130 years later\, the model has changed considerably. The library now offers digital books and audiobooks\, streaming services\, computers\, children’s programming\, workshops\, book discussions\, museum passes and community events alongside the shelves of physical books. \nBut the basic idea behind Spicer’s gift remains remarkably recognizable. \nSomeone gives something because they believe other people should be able to use it. \nHonor Book Weekend reduces that idea to its smallest possible unit. \nOne book. \nOne donor. \nOne name inside the cover. \nAnd then\, potentially\, hundreds of readers who will never know the person being honored but will continue benefiting from the gift. \nTwo Days to Choose a Book\nHonor Book Weekend runs Friday\, Sept. 25\, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday\, Sept. 26\, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. \nThe event takes place off-site at Bank Square Books rather than at the library. \nOne important location note: although some older library calendar information still displays Bank Square Books’ former downtown address\, Bank Square Books is now located at 80 Stonington Road\, Suite 8\, in Mystic\, and the event description specifically directs participants to the new location. \nThere’s no requirement that the person being honored be a reader\, donor or library patron. \nThe permanence comes afterward. \nYears from now\, somebody may pull the book from a shelf at Mystic & Noank Library\, open the cover and find a name waiting inside. \nMore information is available at the Event Website link below. \nDetails\nEvent: MNL Honor Books at Bank Square Books\nDates: Friday\, Sept. 25 and Saturday\, Sept. 26\, 2026\nFriday Hours: 10 a.m.–5 p.m.\nSaturday Hours: 10 a.m.–1 p.m.\nLocation: Bank Square Books\nCurrent Address: 80 Stonington Road\, Suite 8\, Mystic\, CT 06355\nWho Can Participate: Everyone\nHow It Works: Browse books pre-selected by Mystic & Noank Library librarians\, purchase one or more for the library’s collection and dedicate the donation in honor or memory of someone\nBookplate: Donated books receive a custom bookplate creating a permanent record of the gift\nBenefits: Mystic & Noank Library and Bank Square Books\nLibrary Contact: Christine Bradley\nPhone: 860-536-7721 \n  \n  \nFeatured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people\, location\, or activities shown.
URL:https://thectbeacon.com/event/honor-book-weekend-lets-you-put-a-loved-ones-name-inside-the-mystic-noank-library/2026-09-26/
LOCATION:Bank Square Books\, 80 Stonington Rd\, Mystic\, 06355\, United States
CATEGORIES:Bank Square Books
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://thectbeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Honor-Book-Weekend-Lets-You-Put-a-Loved-Ones-Name-Inside-the-Mystic-and-Noank-Library.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260926T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260926T220000
DTSTAMP:20260926T163648Z
CREATED:20260921T013641Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260926T163648Z
UID:10008485-1790445600-1790460000@thectbeacon.com
SUMMARY:Florence Griswold Museum’s 44th Benefit Auction Recreates the World of the Lyme Art Colony (moved)
DESCRIPTION:NOTE: The benefit auction has been moved to Sunday September 27 from 4 pm to 8 pm due to the nor’easter.\nFlorence Griswold Museum’s 44th Benefit Auction Recreates the World of the Lyme Art Colony Saturday\, Sept. 26\, transforming the Old Lyme museum grounds into an evening inspired by the artists who gathered there more than a century ago. \nRunning from 6 to 10 p.m.\, this year’s annual fundraiser is built around the light\, landscape\, and creative energy that helped turn Florence Griswold’s boardinghouse into the center of one of America’s most significant art colonies. \nRather than holding a conventional gala with assigned tables and a formal dinner\, the Museum is taking a more immersive approach. Guests will move through the property for cocktails\, food stations\, and hors d’oeuvres while artists work\, auctions unfold\, and the historic grounds become part of the evening. \nArtistic and creative attire is encouraged. Black tie is optional. \nThe Place Where American Impressionists Came to Stay\nThe theme has unusually deep ties to the property hosting the party. \nAt the turn of the 20th century\, artists began arriving at Florence Griswold’s home in Old Lyme\, attracted by the Connecticut landscape and the opportunity to work alongside other painters. \nThe arrival of Henry Ward Ranger in 1899 helped establish what became known as the Lyme Art Colony. Other artists followed\, including Childe Hassam\, Willard Metcalf\, Matilda Browne and William Chadwick. \nMany stayed as boarders in Florence Griswold’s house. \nWhat developed was part boardinghouse\, part artists’ clubhouse and part creative experiment. Painters worked outdoors during the day\, then returned to the house for meals and evenings together. \nThey also left their work behind in an extraordinary way. \nArtists painted directly onto doors and wall panels inside the house\, creating an informal collection that remains there today. Instead of encountering the Lyme Art Colony only through paintings hanging in a modern gallery\, visitors can enter the rooms where its members ate\, talked and lived. \nSaturday night’s benefit takes that history as its starting point. \nArtists Creating Art While the Party Unfolds\nThe Museum describes the evening as an opportunity to experience artists creating their own masterpieces while guests circulate through the event. \nThat connects the fundraiser to one of the defining features of the original Lyme Art Colony: art wasn’t isolated from everyday life on the property. \nPainters worked throughout the surrounding landscape\, capturing the Lieutenant River\, gardens\, fields\, trees and changing New England light. The Museum grounds still preserve much of the relationship between art and landscape that attracted them. \nThe 13-acre campus now includes the historic Florence Griswold House\, the Robert and Nancy Krieble Gallery\, gardens and the half-mile Robert F. Schumann Artists’ Trail. \nOn Sept. 26\, those surroundings become more than scenery for a fundraiser. They’re part of the theme. \nNo Sit-Down Dinner This Year\nThe Museum is deliberately moving away from the traditional gala dinner format. \nInstead of spending much of the evening at a table\, guests will find hors d’oeuvres\, food stations and cocktails distributed throughout the event\, encouraging people to explore and socialize. \nFood comes from Gourmet Galley\, the catering team behind the Museum’s seasonal Café Flo. \nVegetarian and gluten-free options will be available. \nIt’s a format that makes particular sense on this property. Café Flo normally overlooks the Lieutenant River\, the Museum grounds stretch well beyond the galleries and the historic house itself is central to the story being celebrated. \nThe evening is intended to use that setting rather than confine the benefit to a ballroom. \nHow the Evening Unfolds\nThe benefit is structured to keep guests moving rather than settling in for a traditional gala dinner. \nFrom 6 to 10 p.m.\, cocktails and heavy hors d’oeuvres will be served throughout the evening. The first two hours also give guests time to explore the silent auction and watch demonstrations by artists working during the party. \nAt 8 p.m.\, the silent auction closes and guests gather beneath the tent for a champagne toast. The live auction begins at 8:30 p.m. \nThen the evening shifts from bidding to music. From 9 to 10 p.m.\, a live jazz and funk quartet performs\, leading into what the Museum is billing as a grand finale under the stars. \nThe Silent Auction Starts Before the Party\nGuests don’t have to wait until Sept. 26 to start bidding\, and they don’t have to attend the benefit to participate. \nThe Museum’s online silent auction opens Monday\, Sept. 14 at 8 a.m. and continues until 8 p.m. on Sept. 26\, when bidding closes during the benefit. \nThe auction is built around what the Museum describes as rare experiences\, art and objects of beauty that aren’t easily found elsewhere. Offerings include exceptional works of art\, décor\, experiences and travel. \nAn early preview begins Sept. 8\, giving bidders nearly a week to look through the offerings before online bidding officially opens. \nEvery silent-auction bid is placed online\, including bids from guests attending the benefit in person. That also means supporters can participate from home and still win without ever setting foot at the party. \nSilent Auction Preview: Begins Sept. 8\nOnline Bidding Opens: Sept. 14 at 8 a.m.\nOnline Bidding Closes: Sept. 26 at 8 p.m.\nAttendance Required to Bid: No\nOnline Bidding: FloGrisAuction.GiveSmart.com \nThe Auction Extends Beyond Old Lyme\nThe benefit has been held every September for more than four decades\, but bidding isn’t limited to the people attending Saturday night’s event. \nAn accompanying online silent auction is open to bidders from anywhere\, with hundreds of items spanning art\, home décor\, jewelry\, travel and experiences. \nA live auction will also take place during the benefit. \nThat makes the auction itself substantially larger than the four-hour party in Old Lyme\, while allowing supporters who aren’t attending the benefit to participate. \nWhere the Money Goes\nThe evening is one of the Museum’s major annual fundraisers. \nProceeds directly support the Florence Griswold Museum’s education and outreach programs\, extending the impact of the auction beyond exhibitions and preservation of the historic property. \nThat’s particularly fitting for an institution built around the idea that art should be experienced rather than simply stored. \nToday\, the Museum combines the historic house and its Lyme Art Colony collection with changing exhibitions\, family programming\, classes\, public events and educational activities. \nFor one September night\, though\, the focus returns to the people who first made the property famous and the environment they found when they arrived in Old Lyme: artists gathering together\, food and conversation flowing and somebody nearby working on the next painting. \nMore information is available at the Event Website link below. \nTo purchase tickets\, click the Event Ticketing link below. \nDetails\nEvent: 44th Annual Florence Griswold Museum Benefit Auction\nDate: Saturday\, Sept. 26\, 2026\nTime: 6–10 p.m.\nVenue: Florence Griswold Museum\nAddress: 96 Lyme Street\, Old Lyme\, CT 06371\nFormat: Indoor/outdoor benefit evening with food\, cocktails\, artists\, live auction and online silent auction\nFood: Hors d’oeuvres and food stations by Gourmet Galley\nDietary Options: Vegetarian and gluten-free options available\nAuctions: Live auction during the event plus an online silent auction with hundreds of items\nAttire: Artistic and creative attire encouraged; black tie optional\nBeneficiary: Florence Griswold Museum education and outreach programs\nNote: Café Flo is closed Sept. 26 for the Museum event \n  \n  \nFeatured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people\, location\, or activities shown.
URL:https://thectbeacon.com/event/florence-griswold-museums-44th-benefit-auction-recreates-the-world-of-the-lyme-art-colony/
LOCATION:Florence Griswold Museum\, 96 Lyme Street\, Old Lyme\, 06371\, United States
CATEGORIES:Florence Griswold Museum
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260927T170000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260927T210000
DTSTAMP:20260926T170124Z
CREATED:20260923T202034Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260926T170124Z
UID:10008529-1790528400-1790542800@thectbeacon.com
SUMMARY:Sip & Sign Pairs Local Authors With a Fundraiser for Families Starting Over (rescheduled)
DESCRIPTION:NOTE: This event has been rescheduled to Sun\, Oct 18 @ 5 PM due to the nor’easter.\nSip & Sign Pairs Local Authors With a Fundraiser for Families Starting Over Sunday\, Sept. 27\, bringing a group of writers to the Stonington Free Library for four hours of books\, drinks\, conversation\, and fundraising for Operation Fresh Start. \nThe annual event runs from 5 to 9 p.m. and puts the authors at the center of the evening. Guests can meet them\, hear about their latest books and projects\, and purchase books directly during the event. \nThe 2026 lineup includes Becki A. Jacobson\, Debbie McGrath\, Jimmy Bennett\, Kelly Jarvis\, MJ Soni\, and Marilyn Wright Dayton. \nAdmission is $45\, including hors d’oeuvres\, one raffle ticket\, and one drink ticket\, with beverages provided by Rum Tropic Distillery. \nThere’s also a silent auction filled with items donated by area businesses and individuals. \nBut the reason for the gathering begins with something much simpler than books or cocktails: a suitcase. \nNote: Check out the additional ways you can help Operation Fresh Start year-round. \nIt Started With Children Carrying Their Lives in Garbage Bags\nOperation Fresh Start founder Shannon DePerry began what would become the organization in 2020 after thinking about children entering foster care with their possessions packed into garbage bags. \nShe decided to organize a luggage drive. \nThe response was much larger than expected. \nAccording to Operation Fresh Start\, the community donated more than 600 suitcases\, duffel bags and backpacks\, along with enough supplies to assemble 300 toiletry bags. Those donations went to organizations serving foster children and families\, including Waterford Country School\, Thames River Family Program\, Noank Community Support Services\, foster-care agencies and local shelters. \nDePerry initially envisioned it as a one-time project. \nThen the pandemic arrived. \nNeeds within the community increased\, and the effort continued. \nDePerry and her mother-in-law put flowers from their gardens onto a roadside flower cart and sold them to raise money for people they were helping. The little operation generated approximately $4\,000\, all of which went back into the community. \nWhat began with a luggage drive eventually became Operation Fresh Start Inc.: New Beginnings\, formally established as a nonprofit in 2021. \nWhat a “Fresh Start” Actually Means\nThe organization’s primary focus remains children in the foster-care system\, but its work has expanded to other people trying to rebuild their lives. \nThat can mean a foster child arriving at a new placement\, a young adult aging out of foster care\, a parent moving into an apartment or a local family hit by circumstances that have left them without basic necessities. \nOperation Fresh Start supplies things that can sound ordinary until you don’t have them. \nBedding. Towels. Cleaning products. Toiletries. Diapers. Baby wipes. Pajamas. School supplies. Household goods. \nThe organization assembles welcome baskets to help people turn an empty apartment into a functioning home and organizes programs including backpack drives\, holiday assistance and its Grammie Pajammies initiative. \nIt also works with organizations including the Thames River Family Program\, Pawcatuck Neighborhood Center\, Waterford Country School and other agencies that encounter families who need help. \nThe philosophy is right there in the organization’s name. \nThe goal isn’t to solve every problem a family faces. It’s to provide some of the practical things that make starting again possible. \nSix Authors\, One Room\nSip & Sign approaches fundraising differently. \nInstead of a formal gala or benefit dinner\, the evening is structured around books and conversations with writers. \nThe announced author lineup is: \n\nBecki A. Jacobson\nDebbie McGrath\nJimmy Bennett\nKelly Jarvis\nMJ Soni\nMarilyn Wright Dayton\n\nThe authors will share their latest work and projects throughout the evening\, with books available for purchase. \nThat gives the event something many fundraising receptions don’t have: plenty to do without following a rigid program. \nGuests can move around the library\, meet writers\, browse books\, have something to eat or drink\, look through the auction items and spend time with other Operation Fresh Start supporters. \nA raffle ticket is included with admission. \nA Library After Hours\nThe location adds another layer to the evening. \nStonington Free Library has occupied its building at 20 High Street in Stonington Borough since 1900\, making it a particularly fitting setting for a fundraiser built around writers and books. \nThe library normally closes at 3 p.m. on Sundays. \nFor Sip & Sign\, the doors reopen for an evening event that continues until 9. \nThat turns the century-old library from a daytime reading and community space into something closer to an intimate literary reception. \nThe combination also connects two organizations that operate on a particularly local scale. \nThe library serves the Stonington community with books\, programs\, technology and gathering spaces. Operation Fresh Start works with families and organizations throughout New London County. \nOn Sunday night\, buying a ticket\, bidding on an auction item or discovering a new author helps connect the two. \nAnd it all traces back to a woman who saw children carrying their belongings in garbage bags and decided they deserved something better to carry them in. \nMore information is available at the Event Website link below. \nTo purchase tickets\, click the Event Ticketing link below. \nDetails\nEvent: Operation Fresh Start Sip & Sign\nDate: Sunday\, Sept. 27\, 2026\nTime: 5–9 p.m.\nLocation: Stonington Free Library\nAddress: 20 High St.\, Stonington\, CT 06378\nAdmission: $45 per person\nFeatured Authors: Becki A. Jacobson\, Debbie McGrath\, Jimmy Bennett\, Kelly Jarvis\, MJ Soni and Marilyn Wright Dayton\nIncluded With Admission: Hors d’oeuvres\, one drink ticket and one raffle ticket\nDrinks: Provided by Rum Tropic Distillery\nAlso Featured: Silent auction with items donated by local businesses and individuals\nBooks: Participating authors’ books will be available for purchase\nBeneficiary: Operation Fresh Start Inc.: New Beginnings\nEvent Contact: Shannon DePerry\nRefunds: Available up to seven days before the event \n\n  \nFeatured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people\, location\, or activities shown.
URL:https://thectbeacon.com/event/sip-sign-pairs-local-authors-with-a-fundraiser-for-families-starting-over/
LOCATION:Stonington Free Library\, 20 High Street\, Stonington\, CT\, 06378\, United States
CATEGORIES:Stonington Free Library
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260928T080000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260928T160000
DTSTAMP:20260923T022446Z
CREATED:20260923T022446Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260923T022446Z
UID:10008527-1790582400-1790611200@thectbeacon.com
SUMMARY:The Habitat Classic Tees Off to Help Build 65 Eastern Connecticut Homes
DESCRIPTION:The Habitat Classic Tees Off to Help Build 65 Eastern Connecticut Homes tees off Monday\, Sept. 28\, bringing golfers to Mohegan Sun Golf Club for a first-year tournament with a goal far bigger than anything written on a scorecard. \nHabitat for Humanity of Eastern Connecticut says it currently has land available for 65 new homes across its service area. \nFamilies are waiting. The land is ready. The nonprofit now needs money to turn those building sites into homes. \nThat’s where the appropriately named Habitat Classic: Fore the 65 comes in. \nThe day includes an 18-hole scramble\, breakfast\, lunch\, snacks and dessert\, drink tickets\, contests\, prizes\, raffles and golfer gifts\, with proceeds going toward Habitat’s affordable-home-building work across eastern Connecticut. \nAnd someone could leave with considerably more than a trophy. \nMake a Hole-in-One\, Drive Home in a New Kia\nOne of the tournament’s biggest prizes comes with one of golf’s most elusive shots. \nA designated hole will offer a new Kia Sportage from Kia of Groton as a hole-in-one prize. \nPlayers will also compete in more attainable contests throughout the round\, including longest drive and closest to the pin\, along with prizes for top teams and individual performances. \nThe tournament uses a scramble format\, which makes the event considerably more approachable for casual golfers. \nEach member of a team hits a shot\, the group selects the best result and everyone plays the next shot from that location. The process continues until the ball is holed. \nIt keeps the game moving\, takes some pressure off individual players and means one ugly tee shot doesn’t necessarily destroy the hole. \nHabitat is specifically welcoming golfers across skill levels. \nWhy 65?\nThe number attached to the tournament isn’t arbitrary. \nHabitat for Humanity of Eastern Connecticut says it has land available to build 65 homes across New London County\, Windham County and the eastern portion of Tolland County. \nThe affiliate describes funding as the major obstacle standing between those sites and completed homes. \nThat’s an unusually concrete fundraising goal. \nInstead of raising money for an abstract future expansion\, the organization already knows where its next major wave of homebuilding can happen. \nAnd the need extends beyond those 65 properties. \nHabitat reports that more families are currently seeking affordable homeownership opportunities than it can serve. \nHabitat Homes Aren’t Giveaways\nThere’s a persistent misconception about Habitat for Humanity that’s worth clearing up: families don’t simply receive free houses. \nHabitat for Humanity of Eastern Connecticut works with qualifying households to make homeownership affordable. \nProspective homeowners must demonstrate a need for better housing\, meet income and financial requirements and be able to afford ongoing housing expenses. \nThey also become active partners in the process. \nHabitat homeowners complete sweat equity\, which can include helping construct Habitat homes\, attending homeownership preparation classes and volunteering in other ways. \nThe completed home is then sold to the homeowner with an affordable\, no-profit mortgage. \nThe local affiliate currently serves households earning between 50% and 80% of area median income\, providing another route to homeownership for families who may struggle to compete in the conventional housing market. \nNearly Four Decades of Building in Eastern Connecticut\nHabitat for Humanity of Eastern Connecticut has been doing that work since 1987. \nThe nonprofit says it has partnered with more than 110 families through its homeownership program while developing a service area that is now the largest Habitat affiliate territory in Connecticut. \nThat territory covers New London and Windham counties along with eastern Tolland County. \nIts work extends beyond construction sites. \nThe organization operates Habitat ReStores in Waterford and Plainfield\, where donated furniture\, appliances and other household items are resold rather than discarded. Revenue supports Habitat’s mission while usable materials get another life. \nHabitat also offers homeowner-readiness programming covering subjects such as budgeting\, credit\, the homebuying process and preparing for the responsibilities that come with owning a house. \nBut construction remains at the center of the mission. \nThe 65 planned homes represent the next significant chapter. \nA Full Day at Mohegan Sun Golf Club\nGolfers will have plenty of time to settle in before the first drive. \nRegistration and breakfast begin at 8 a.m. \nThe practice facility opens at 9 a.m.\, followed by a 10 a.m. shotgun start\, meaning groups begin simultaneously from different holes around the course rather than everyone waiting to tee off from No. 1. \nThe tournament runs through approximately 4 p.m. \nRegistration includes the round\, golf cart\, meals and drink tickets. Players also receive a golfer gift bag and raffle entry. \nFall-inspired food and drinks are planned throughout the day\, including breakfast\, lunch\, snacks and dessert. \nA Course With Nearly 60 Years of History\nThe tournament takes place at Mohegan Sun Golf Club in Baltic\, about 20 minutes from the Mohegan Sun resort. \nThe 18-hole course was designed by noted golf architect Geoffrey Cornish and originally opened in 1960 as Pautipaug Country Club. \nMohegan Sun purchased the property in 2007 and later undertook a major renovation\, transforming it into its current resort golf course. \nThe layout runs through the rolling countryside of Sprague\, with native fescues\, elevation changes\, wooded sections and water coming into play. \nMultiple sets of tees allow the course to play at different lengths\, an especially useful feature for a charity scramble intended to welcome golfers with a wide range of experience. \nThe property also includes a driving range and practice areas\, which will be available before the tournament. \nOne Day of Golf\, 65 Future Front Doors\nGolf tournaments are a familiar part of nonprofit fundraising\, but the strength of this one is the specificity of the target. \nSixty-five isn’t a fundraising slogan. \nIt’s 65 places where a house can be built. \nHabitat already has the land. It has families looking for a path toward stable\, affordable homeownership. It has volunteers and construction experience. \nNow it needs the resources to connect those pieces. \nSo Monday’s golfers will spend the day chasing birdies\, longest drives\, closest-to-the-pin prizes and perhaps the extremely unlikely but considerably more exciting prospect of driving home in a new Kia. \nHabitat will be keeping its eye on a different number. \nSixty-five. \nMore information is available at the Event Website link below. \nTo register to play or inquire about sponsorship opportunities\, click the Event Registration link below. \nDetails\nEvent: The Habitat Classic: Fore the 65\nDate: Monday\, Sept. 28\, 2026\nTime: 8 a.m.–4 p.m.\nLocation: Mohegan Sun Golf Club\nAddress: 7 Dows Lane\, Baltic\, CT 06330\nBeneficiary: Habitat for Humanity of Eastern Connecticut\nFormat: 18-hole scramble\nSkill Level: All skill levels welcome\n8 a.m.: Registration and breakfast\n9 a.m.: Practice facility opens\n10 a.m.: Shotgun start\nRegistration Includes: Green fees\, golf cart\, breakfast\, lunch\, snacks\, dessert and drink tickets\nAlso Included: Golfer gift bag and raffle entry\nContests: Team and individual prizes\, longest drive\, closest to the pin and additional contests\nHole-in-One Prize: New Kia Sportage from Kia of Groton\nFundraising Goal: Supporting Habitat’s plans to build 65 homes across eastern Connecticut\nService Area: New London County\, Windham County and eastern Tolland County\nDevelopment Contact: Melissa Kibler\, 860-442-7890 ext. 204\nMission Engagement Contact: MaryLou Gannotti\, Habitat for Humanity of Eastern Connecticut \n  \n  \n  \nFeatured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people\, location\, or activities shown.
URL:https://thectbeacon.com/event/the-habitat-classic-tees-off-to-help-build-65-eastern-connecticut-homes/
LOCATION:Mohegan Sun Golf Club\, 7 Dows Lane\, Baltic\, 06330\, United States
CATEGORIES:Mohegan Sun Golf Club
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