News: December 2020

December report

Norwich Nailed It has been very successful.  We had 57 weekly registrants over the 6-week program.  Given the success of the program, and the rising COVID-19 cases in the area, we are opening a second round of Norwich Nailed It sessions – expanding it into a full menu, and adding a new partner with Cabot Cheese Creamery.  We open on January 18^th.

‘What’s Weird This Week?’ is a program that ran over the winter school break.  It covered 3 weeks, from December 21^st – January 9^th.  Each participant was given an activity bag with several recipes, crafts, reading material and games that assisted them in celebrating every off beat holiday that occured during the week.  The idea of this program was to give families ways to celebrate each day together over the extended winter vacation.  We partnered with the Norwich Historical Society in our final week, which has resulted in planning for future joint programs.
We contracted with an air quality assessment company to review Tracy Hall’s current situation and recommend updates/upgrades.  We do not have the results yet.

The Town of Thetford found themselves without a Recreation Director as of late November, and they requested assistance from Norwich Recreation.  In response, we have added all Thetford residents into our system with “resident” status and have been consulting them as they move forward with their winter activity planning.  We will end this relationship when they hire a new Recreation Director, or when we conclude spring season planning.

Huntley Meadows was closed, and the grooming team has begun organizing.  The ice rink liner has been laid out, and a base layer of water put down in order to freeze the liner to the ground and prepare it for the full flooding.  We then had several days with temperatures in the upper 40s and 50s, so we are again in a holding pattern.  The Upper Valley Land Trust has offered Brookmead as open for programming – we will explore this option.

We worked with Dan Fraser (Dan & Whits) and Jennie Anderson (St. Barnabas), to set up pine boughs, ornaments and lights along the Town Green fence.  We used funds from the Colavita Cares fundraiser to pay for the boughs and ornaments (one ornament for every Vermonter lost to COVID-19), and the lights were supplied by Dan Fraser.