LIFE

With a major expansion and improvement project in the books, the International Skating Center of Connecticut has plenty to celebrate but a new and upgraded facility only tells part of the story.

Despite the inherent risks, there’s nothing as magical as an open-air concert on a perfect summer or fall evening. In what is likely the ideal setting, The Simsbury Meadows Performing Arts Center (SMPAC) shows will be enhanced this year by ongoing facility upgrades, national acts like the Indigo Girls and Jason Blaine, and the return of community staples like the Hartford Symphony Orchestra’s Talcott Mountain Music Festival.

On the second floor of the Simsbury fire station on Hopmeadow Street (Main Station), you’ll find the studio for WSIM, which has been broadcasting at 103.5 FM since 2015. Most of the time you’ll hear a very eclectic rotation of music, but there are also six live shows, and in an emergency it’s where you’ll listen for news and updates. When microbursts tore up parts of town in August 2024, it was a crucial link.

Simsbury resident “Brynn” Oliver, age 23, diagnosed with cerebral palsy at 5 months turned her world of disability upside down: Athlete. Teacher’s Assistant. College grad.

With moments that ranged from a soul-stirring “Call Him Up” by the Gertrude Banks Gospel Choir to a reflective version of U2’s MLK from Combined Ensembles, Simsbury High School’s Choral Collage was pure musical bliss.

Eighty years. With the exception of one year (i.e., Covid) the Simsbury Light Opera Company (SLOCO) has put on a production every year for 80 years with Gilbert & Sullivan operettas as its primary choice of shows.

When you spot the red Jeep at the intersection of Powder Horn Dr. and Squadron Line Rd. in Simsbury at either 8:30 a.m. or 3:30 p.m., you’ll know Miss Michele is here – Michele Abbott, that is. Her post is just up the hill from Squadron Line Elementary School, where she’s been a crossing guard since 2014.

The annual Community Celebration, held at First Church of Christ, Simsbury for many years, is particularly poignant for local residents as King came to the town is the summers of 1944 and 1947 with his fellow Morehouse College students to work in tobacco fields.