First Night Celebrations in Connecticut 2009-2010!

Ring in the new year with First Night celebrations around Connecticut.

First Night Danbury & 5K
There will be music, dancing, and children’s entertainment with fireworks on the Green at 8:00 PM.
Downtown, Danbury, CT 06810
December 31, 2009 4:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Admission: $5.
Phone: (203) 792-1711
http://www.citycenterdanbury.com/



First Night Westport Weston/Westport
First Night WW is an alcohol-free Celebration of New Year's Eve through the Arts. Not only can you enjoy 9 hours of unequaled entertainment, you can enjoy the safe surroundings of beautiful downtown Westport while you walk in the town's holiday atmosphere. Or you can also choose to ride the free shuttle buses between the venues.
Admission: $10
Button Sales Locations: Available online.
http://www.firstnightww.com/


First Night Hartford 2009
It is Hartford's premier New Year's Eve party, a multicultural, artistically unique, alcohol-free New Year's experience with countless professional musicians, artists, performance groups and exhibits that inspire thousands of people of all ages to attend each year. It’s also an affordable way for everyone to ring in the New Year. This is the 21st year for First Night Hartford, so be sure to come and join the fun and keep the tradition going!
$10 adults, $2 youth (15 years and under)
Button Sales Locations: Online
http://www.firstnighthartford.org/












HAVE A HAPPY AND SAFE NEW YEAR 2009!!

CT Veterans Day Parade

10th Annual Connecticut Veterans Day Parade
Sunday, November 8, 2009 at 1pm
Downtown Hartford
Trinity - Asylum - Main Streets

The Connecticut Veterans Day Parade is attended by 25,000 to 40,000 spectators, includes 40 Veterans groups, 25 bands, and over 3,500 marchers from 96 units representing 49 towns. This is the largest Veterans Day Parade in New England, and one of the largest in the country.
http://www.ctveteransdayparade.com/


Mashantucket Pequot Honoring Nations
In recognition of Veterans Day, we acknowledge and thank Mashantucket Pequot and other Native veterans for their military service. Buddy Gwin (Hidatsa/Mandan) is master of ceremonies with guest speakers including Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Elder and Pequot War Chief Stan Harris. Kenny Merrick (Mandan/Dakota) of Mystic River Singers provides honoring songs on the hand drum. Free with Museum admission and free to Museum members.
Saturday, Nov. 14, 12 pm–2 pm
http://www.pequotmuseum.org/

Connecticut Science Center Opens

New England's biggest new attraction opens today in Hartford, CT. The $164 million Connecticut Science Center with the "magic carpet roof" has 150 interactive exhibits, 10 galleries, plus a 206-seat 3-D theater in around 40,000 square feet of exhibit space.



Exhibits include: Exploring Space, A River of Life; Invention Dimension, The Picture of Health, Kidspace, Sight and Sound Experience, Energy City, Sports Lab, Forces In Motion, and Planet Earth, plus a traveling exhibition gallery and an interactive WSFB Weather Studio (look out Scott Haney).


Beyond the exhibits, the Science Center is also home to the new Hoffman 3D Science Theatre featuring the latest state-of-the-art digital and audio technologies with stadium-seating for over 200 people.

Admission: $16 adults; $13 children. 860-724-3623; www.CTScienceCenter.org.

Get Your Green On, St Patrick's Day Parades in Connecticut

2009 Greenwich Saint Patrick's Parade
Sunday, March 8, 2009 at 2:00 pm
Greenwich Hibernian Association is sponsoring their 33rd annual St. Patrick's Day Parade. The parade will form at the Greenwich, Connecticut Town Hall at 101 Field Point Road, Greenwich, CT and march down Greenwich Avenue.

2009 Greater New Haven Saint Patrick's Day Parade
Sunday, March 15th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
The Greater New Haven St. Patrick's Day Parade on March 15 starts its march at 1:00 pm. It will step off from Derby Avenue and Chapel Street, marching down Chapel Street to Church Street. It passes the reviewing stand in front of New Haven's City Hall and continues on Church Street to Grove Street, turning right and ending on Orange Street.
http://www.stpatricksdayparade.org/


2009 Greater Hartford Saint Patrick's Day Parade
Saturday, March 14, 2009 - Starting at 11:00 am
The parade begins at Capitol Avenue by the State Capital, takes a left on Main Street, a left on Asylum, a left on Ford Street, and then ends by the Memorial Arch. The parade is held rain or shine.
http://www.irishamericanparade.com


Stamford St. Patrick's Day Parade 2009
Saturday, March 14th at noon
With more than 80 marching units, including Greenwich Pipe Band, Connecticut Firefighters' Pipes and Drum, Governor's Horse Guard, Trinity College Pipes and Drums, school and youth groups, Irish dancers, military groups, and more. It runs up Bedford and down Summer streets. For more information, call 249-3270.
http://www.ctaoh.com


2009 Mystic Saint Patrick’s Day Parade
Sunday, March 22nd, 2009 at 1pm
Mystic Connecticut will host a Saint Patrick Parade on March22nd starting at 1PM. Over 650 marchers scheduled to participate and for us it is a first for our corner of Connecticut. Everyone is cordially invited to attended. Please note arrive early as parking is anticipated to be a problem. The parade accessible off Interstate 95 at either exit 89 or 90. Just follow the signs for directions.



For more St. Patrick's Day Parades around the U.S.A. please visit:
http://www.saintpatricksdayparade.com/

That Hit And Run in Hartford

The outrageous hit-and-run story that has received national attention here in the U.S. has spread worldwide. The world is holding a mirror up to the people of Hartford, and what's looking back at them is not pretty.

The shocking surveillance video (see it on the Hartford Courant website below) shows 78-year-old Angel Arce Torres being struck by a vehicle that swerved over into the wrong lane and does not bother to stop to help him. Neither do the 10 -12 other vehicles who drive by as the man lies helpless in the street. Several bystanders appear to do nothing, and they do not approach Torres until a police car comes into view. It is known that there were at least four 911 calls from the scene.

Wherever those bystanders are today, no doubt they are looking inwards and asking themselves why they did not help. It's the question the world is asking them. And asking Hartford itself. Has it gotten so bad that we have no regard for life?

"At the end of the day we've got to look at ourselves and understand that our moral values have now changed." Police Chief Daryl Roberts said. "We have no regard for each other."

Torres is paralyzed from the neck down and remains in critical condition in Hartford Hospital.

Hartford Courant

Sydney Morning Herald

Save the Mark Twain House

Mark Twain's 3 Story Victorian mansion in Hartford is a Connecticut landmark, and it is in danger of closing due to financial problems.

Mark Twain said of this house, "To us, our house . . . had a heart, and a soul, and eyes to see us with; and approvals and solicitudes and deep sympathies; it was of us, and we were in its confidence and lived in its grace and in the peace of it benediction." www.twainquotes.com

To help save this landmark please visit:
http://www.marktwainhouse.org/

Park Street Portraits

Take a look at the stunning photography of Steve Miller, in Park Street, the Frog Hollow section of Hartford, CT.

http://issuu.com/xmitman/docs/park_st_med

Titanic Exhibition at the XL Center

The Titanic Exhibition is educational and fun for all ages!! Don't miss out!!


The Exhibition has been designed with a focus on the legendary RMS Titanic's compelling human stories as best told through nearly 300 authentic artifacts and extensive room re-creations. Visitors are quickly drawn back in time to 1912, as each receives a replica boarding pass of an actual passenger upon entrance. The Exhibition will then takes guests on a chronological journey through life on the Titanic. Attendees will marvel at authentically recreated first and third class cabins, view the Ship's Boiler Room, feel the temperature drop as they press their palms against the iceberg, and learn of the passengers and their countless stories of heroism and humanity.

One of the many galleries is dedicated to Connecticut connections where visitors discover the State’s reaction and ties to the events. In the “Memorial Gallery” guests will take their boarding pass to the memorial wall and learn if their passenger and traveling companions survived or perished.

Exhibit Times:
Monday- Thursday: 9:00 am - 8:00 pm
Friday - Sunday: 10:00 am - 9:00 pm

Dates: Saturday April 12, 2008 - Sunday, August 31, 2008
Phone: 860 249 6333
XL Center, Hartford, CT
Box Office: 860-525-4500
Admission: Adult $22, Child $18, Senior $20, Audio $7

Purchasing tickets on-line at www.Ticketmaster.com, at any Ticketmaster location, or charging by phone (860) 525-4500.

Cirque du Soleil Returns to Hartford with Kooza

KOOZA tells the story of The Innocent, a melancholy loner in search of his place in the world.

KOOZA is a return to the origins of Cirque du Soleil: It combines two circus traditions – acrobatic performance and the art of clowning. The show highlights the physical demands of human performance in all its splendor and fragility, presented in a colorful mélange that emphasizes bold slapstick humor.

The Innocent's journey brings him into contact with a panoply of comic characters such as the King, the Trickster, the Pickpocket, and the Obnoxious Tourist and his Bad Dog.

Between strength and fragility, laughter and smiles, turmoil and harmony, KOOZA explores themes of fear, identity, recognition and power. The show is set in an electrifying and exotic visual world full of surprises, thrills, chills, audacity and total involvement.

DATES:

KOOZA opens on April 1, 2008 and runs through April 27, 2008.
Showtimes 4:00 pm and 8:00 pm. No shows on Mondays.

WHERE:

Under the Grand Chapiteau, on Market Street, Hartford

PRICES

	Adults	Children 2-12	Students & Seniors 65+
Price level 1	$85.00	$59.50	$76.50
Price level 2	$75.00	$52.50	$67.50
Price level 3	$50.00	$35.00	$45.00
Tapis Rouge	$215.00	$152.00	N/A

Telephone Booking: 1-800-678-5440 (US)
Purchase Online: http://cirquedusoleil.com/

DIRECTIONS AND OTHER INFORMATION

• I-91 North (from New Haven): Take Exit 32-B (Trumbull Street). At the light at the end of the ramp, turn right onto Market Street. The Cirque du Soleil parking lot will be on your right.
  
• I-91 South (from Springfield): Take Exit 32-B (Trumbull Street). At the light at the end of the ramp, turn right onto Market Street. The Cirque du Soleil parking will be on your right.
  
• I-84 West (from Boston): Take Exit 50 (Main Street). At the light at the bottom of the exit ramp, turn right onto Market Street. The Cirque du Soleil parking will be on your right.
  
• I-84 East (from Danbury): Take Exit 50 (Main Street). At the end of the exit ramp is a light (Trumbull Street) - go straight through that light. Go straight through the second light (Main Street). At the third light (Market Street - on your right will be Talcott Street Garage), turn left and go under the highway. Continue straight past two lights and the Cirque du Soleil parking lot will be on your right.

The Grand Chapiteau (Big Top)
The Grand Chapiteau seats over 2,600 spectators per show, with an adjoining entrance tent.

Duration
2 hours 30 minutes, including a 30-minute intermission.

Hartford's Seal of Approval

Ok, I apologize. I admit to enjoying goofy headlines a little too much.

On Tuesday, a harbor seal swam up the Connecticut River into Hartford, apparently hot on the tail of a snack. The seal spent the afternoon sitting on the east side bank of the river across from Hartford. Officials say seals will occasionally stray from familiar water if they find fish in other areas.

Other places to see Seals in Connecticut include Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration, the Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk, who have daily harbor seal feedings at 11:45 a.m., 1:45 p.m. & 3:45 p.m. and Project Oceanology who conduct seal watch cruises.