
Manchester at Night in December

They’re Baaaaaaacccckkkk!!!!!!!
The socially distanced scarecrows created by Manchester residents and organizations are again lining Main St in downtown Manchester.
Check out the scarecrow selfies on facebook. https://www.facebook.com/DowntownManchesterSpecialServicesDistrict/
Not much has been happening in the Manchester area since the COVID Quarantine started in mid-March. Absent are the MCC Band Shell Concerts, Yard Goats Baseball Games, Senior Center classes, recreational opportunities, and TheaterWorks and LTM productions.
Even with a partial reopening in the state, we have felt the need to continue being cautious about social distancing and wearing a mask. We haven’t visited any indoor dining establishments or attended summer social gatherings. When we were out for our nightly walk around the block with Esther earlier this week, we were surprised by a sign advertising a concert at Center Memorial Park.
A quick look at the Beller’s Music website revealed this flyer.
We decided to check it out. Most people arrived wearing masks and kept them on until they were seated safely. There was a big sign letting us know how far apart to sit.
The weather was perfect. A socially distanced audience, relaxing music, and plenty of shady spots to sit created a joyful, soul-nourishing and much appreciated night out. The five-piece band, Autumn Mode, played selections made famous by Jackson Browne, Neil Young, Marvin Gaye, and Steely Dan, to name a few.
The media arrived in Manchester before sunrise this morning. What’s the attraction? Super bowl Sunday? Road Race? No, just Chuckles making her predications.
According to Mayor Jay Moran, who speaks fluent groundhog, Chuckles made two predictions.
The Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce (GMCC) is located in a Cheney Mansion built by Frank Cheney, Manchester’s first fire chief. It’s situated at 20 Hartford Rd. close to Main St.
Early Wednesday morning the chamber, in partnership with AT&T, hosted a breakfast for people running for office. After eating breakfast provided by AT&T at the Shoppes at Buckland Hills and some time to wander around meeting people, April DiFalco, President of the GMCC asked everyone to sit down. The pre-election forum was set up with a panel of candidates facing the audience and a moderator, John Emra from AT&T.
The panelists seated from left to right were:
Each candidate had two minutes to introduce themselves. I took brief notes on the introductions that I will share here:
After each person spoke the candidates were asked questions; first by the moderator and then by the audience. The initial questions were on transportation and the crumbling infrastructure and how to fund both. John Larson is concerned that infrastructure funding has not increased for 8 years. He is an advocate for using federal funds to build two tunnels through Hartford to re-connect the city divided by I-84 and gain access to the riverfront cut off by I-91. Jennifer Nye does not want a tunnel but would go through the northend of Hartford.
Jason Doucette would fund infrastructure improvements by requiring tolls for out of state traffic. Steve Cassano supports a mix of spending. Mark Tweedie thought the cost of the tolls would be passed on to the consumer. Jeff Russell questioned if tolls were a violation of the commerce clause of the constitution.
Additional questions were asked about what has been done in the past year to train people to fill the 35,000 job vacancies at Pratt & Whitney, Sikorsky and Electric Boat. Steve Cassano stated that a program was started in Jr. High Schools to get students interested in those careers and Jason Rojas indicated that money was re-allocated to workforce programs.
The final question was asked by Darryl Thames of the Manchester Board of Education. He mentioned that state funding for schools has diminished and requested that the candidates share their views of funding public education. Jeff Russell addressed this question by speaking strongly about the need for better leadership from the U.S. Department of Education. We need someone who supports students by getting rid of these ludicrous tests that are turning public education into child abuse. Geoff Luxenberg also spoke up in support of more funding for the public school system.
At that point we ran out of time. I went back later to speak to April DiFranco and get pictures of the building. Since Election Day is tomorrow I felt that sharing this information as soon as I could was important so please excuse any errors and please vote tomorrow.
To vote go to this facebook page: facebook.com/DowntownManchesterScarecrowFestival
Or, better yet go downtown and see for yourself and then vote in one of the downtown stores.
On Tuesday, my granddaughter Rose and I attended a program at the Manchester Public Library called Toddling Tots. The children attending were in the age range of 12-24 months. The parents and grandparents were older. We had a great time singing songs, playing with scarves, listening to a story and looking at a book. The program was downstairs in the Howroyd Room.
We arrived a little early and stayed a little bit after the program was over. In the children’s section of the library there were two chairs just the right size for Rose to sit in, puppets to play with and lots of books to look at. The Children’s Department at Manchester Public Library is staffed by four librarians with Master’s of Library Science Degrees. They choose books, read reviews and prepare and present programming with an emphasis on encouraging a love of reading. What could be better?
Did you guess?
GREAT LIBRARIES is the correct answer!!!! That’s right, in Manchester, the library circulation numbers are just below the numbers for Greenwich, Stamford and Fairfield and comparable to West Hartford. However, Manchester has a much smaller library and only 25 parking spaces! Must be a lot of motivated readers in town.
Did you know that the Manchester Public Library got its start in the Cheney Mills in 1840? At that time the mills were smaller wooden structures, not the large brick buildings which dominate the west end of Manchester today. The women who skeined the silk worked in a large room together. The work was monotonous and they decided that while working they wanted someone to read to them. That was multitasking in the good old days! So, they pooled their money and started buying books. In all, they bought 150 books of which the library today still has 125 original copies. We saw a couple of them at the Manchester Government Academy Meeting last Thursday.
In 1850, these women decided they would like to have a circulating library and petitioned the town. All of the books previously purchased by the mill workers had been non-fiction. Some people wanted to add fiction to the collection. There were discussions and disagreements because another group thought non-fiction was all that should be allowed. You could call it fiction friction. But, eventually, it was agreed that both fiction and non-fiction books would be purchased. The books were first housed in the office of the Cheney Brothers and later moved to the basement of Cheney Hall. In 1880, the books were moved to a house on Wells St where they remained until the fire of 1913. During the fire, many of the books were saved using a bucket brigade in reverse or book saving brigade. The books were then moved to a house on Main St. Circulation increased with this more central location.
In 1937, labor was cheap because of the depression. Skilled craftsman worked for a dollar a day using WPA funds and matching town funds to construct what today is known as the Mary Cheney Library or the Main Branch of the Manchester Public Library. The Whiton Branch is a smaller building located in the north end of town. With a budget of $3 million and a full-time staff of 25, the library offers books, ebooks, audiobooks, downloadable movies, museum passes, kits for teachers and families, CDs, DVDs and lots of programs.
One interesting program is the Silk City Board Game Group which was mentioned in the Money Magazine write-up of Manchester’s #1 ranking. There is also a Read in the Park Day, Author Talks, a Mystery Book Club and a Cookbook Club to name a few. There are children’s programs that focus on literacy and a love of reading. Stay tuned for a follow-up library post on the Toddling Tots Program which I attended with my granddaughter, Rose.
For 50 of the past 60 years, I have entered a school building in late August or early September to begin a new school year either as a student or teacher/counselor. As I walked around the grounds at Bennet Academy trying to find the Board of Education meeting I was most impressed with it’s security. I couldn’t get in to the meeting or even find it because I parked in the back lot and signs directed me to locked gates that kept me from the front door. A nice young man who was supervising pickle ball and is a UConn student helped me find the meeting.
During the meeting, I listened to the Bennet administrators talk about the dedication and hard work of the staff. Helping 10 year olds from 7 different elementary schools adjust to a huge new building and the middle school schedule and opening lockers was a challenge. I heard about the entire staff, half of whom are new to the school, getting acclimated to a school that now housed 950 students from last year’s 400. I heard of suggestions to make changes for next year to introduce this year’s 4th graders to Bennett in the spring or over the summer. I could picture all of the pace and the confusion and the patience needed and felt exhausted for the teachers. I was glad that I did not have to participate in the frenzy.
The meeting was short or it was for me since I arrived late. Most items on the agenda had been covered. I would have liked to have had a tour of the building.