Caroline's Enchanted Garden: Fairy & Wizard Festival in Litchfield Hills

Fairy Parade

Connecticut Landmarks' Bellamy-Ferriday House & Garden located on 9 Main Street in the scenic village of Bethlehem in the heart of the Litchfield Hills will host the fourth annual Caroline's Enchanted Garden: Fairy & Wizard Festival, on Saturday, May 11th, from 1 to 4 pm.  

Children and families can participate in many magical activities offered at this unique festival for kids.  One popular activity is for kids to make a basket fairy house out of all natural materials including bark, leaves, twigs, pine cones, and moss to create a charming little home that any fairy would be pleased to move in to. Kids can bring the fairy house home as a souvenir or find a place for it in the Fairy Village to remain throughout the summer on the grounds of the Bellamy-Ferriday Gardens.  Another activity for kids is to follow the trail of fairy house's & woodland creatures made by staff and volunteers to the Fairy Village. Materials will also be available in the Fairy Village to make a fairy dwelling to stay on the property.

Fairy Castle

Back by popular demand, Cyril May, the Resourcerer and Director of Yale Recycling, will incorporate magic into a program that teaches children about the value of preserving open space using fairy and animal stories. He will tell tales while performing tricks around the Bellamy- Ferriday grounds, and give a Recycling is Magic show.

Other activities include a Garden Wizard offering children the opportunity to pot a small plant for Mother's Day, a strolling musician, story reader and puppeteer Sue Meister, pony rides with Joan Coogan of Watertown's Pony Tales and a game circle. Children are encouraged to come in fairy and wizard costume, and kids of all ages are invited to participate in hands-on craft activities, including making fairy wands out of apple tree suckers from the Ferriday orchard and creating wizard hats. The afternoon will conclude with a fairy and wizard parade around the Bellamy-Ferriday grounds.

Admission is $5 per person; $20 families/$15 CTL Member families.  http://www.ctlandmarks.org/?page=bellamy-ferriday-house-gardenhttp://www.ctlandmarks.org/?page=bellamy-ferriday-house-garden.  For area information www.litchfieldhills.com

About the Bellamy Ferriday House and Garden

The Bellamy-Ferriday House & Garden, located at 9 Main Street North, Bethlehem is open May through October. Hours are as follows: May – September, Thursday, Friday, Saturday & Sunday, 12 – 4pm; October, Saturday & Sunday 12 – 4pm. Open on Monday Holidays: Memorial Day, Labor Day and Columbus Day. Admission is $7 for adults; $6 for students, teachers and seniors; $4 for children age 6-18; children under 6 and Connecticut Landmarks' members are free. Families, 2 adults with children, are $15; groups of 10 or more are $5 each. For school groups and special curriculum-based programming, to reserve tours for groups of 10 or more, or to rent the facility, please call the Bellamy-Ferriday House & Garden at (203) 266-7596.

Bellamy-Ferriday House & Garden embodies the dramatically different passions of two extraordinary individuals. Bethlehem pastor Rev. Joseph Bellamy, a renowned leader of the Great Awakening, the emotional religious revival of the 1740s, built the house around 1754. In 1912, New Yorkers Henry and Eliza Ferriday acquired it as a summer residence. Mrs. Ferriday and her daughter, Caroline, designed a formal garden which today features historic-style roses, peonies, and lilacs. The Ferriday's other landscape improvements make the site a destination for gardeners. Caroline, an actress, conservationist and philanthropist, deeded the property and furnishings to Connecticut Landmarks on her death.

About Connecticut Landmarks

Founded in 1936, Connecticut Landmarks is the largest state-wide heritage museum organization in Connecticut. The historic landmark properties include: the Bellamy-Ferriday House & Garden, Bethlehem; the Butler-McCook House & Garden and Main Street History Center, Hartford; the Buttolph-Williams House, Wethersfield; the Hempsted Houses, New London; the Isham-Terry House, Hartford; the Nathan Hale Homestead, Coventry; and the Phelps-Hatheway House & Garden, Suffield.

Connecticut Landmarks' mission is to inspire interest and encourage learning about the American past by preserving selected historic properties, collections and stories and presenting programs that meaningfully engage the public and our communities. For more information, please visit www.ctlandmarks.org.

January Events at Stepping Stone Museum for Children

At the Stepping Stones Museum for Children, the new year begins with the final days of the show titled Native Voices: New England Tribal Families that will end on January 6th.  This unique exhibit is an introduction to Native Americans living in New England today. By visiting five different communities from northern to southern New England, visitors learn about Native American traditions and how modern families balance contemporary life with preservation of important cultural identities through stories and songs. Free with museum admission.

Opening on January 21 is a show titled Framed: Step into Art™ that was produced by the Minnesota Children's Museum for the members of the Youth Museum Exhibit Collaborative (YMEC). This exhibit allows you to enter the framework of famous paintings and experience art like never before.  Art viewers become art as they physically enter a scene and are encouraged to interpret, express and connect with art.  They can ride a giant chicken attached to a wagon, set up a camp in the Canadian Rockies, prepare dinner for a group of hungry farmers.  They can become an art gallery director, selecting and exhibiting art in their own gallery, as well as explore the exhibit through Art Hunt Cards.

January's Around the World program focus's on India. Stepping Stones takes children and parents to 12 different places around the globe, bringing the culture and its people to life. Now in its fourth year, the Around the World Performance Series presents professional artists, musicians, dancers, storytellers and youth performers representing a variety of cultures and traditions.

In its first year, the Museum's quarterly Accessibility Day program proved to be so popular that they are now offering it on a monthly basis.   Accessibility Day falls on Jan. 12 from 9 am - 11 am and offers free admission for families of children with special needs.
On Wednesday, January 16 parents are invited to the Parent Zone from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm where they will learn simple techniques to help their children with numbers, estimation and describing and comparing shapes.   This is a parents only workshop. Free childcare for children 3 and older. Free dinner included.  Limited space. Registration is required.

On January 25 the Stepping Stones Museum Presents the Story Book Pajama Party from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.  The event will consist of a compelling reading the tale in front of a large screen showing the pages in the book for all to see. After the story, the reading is brought to life when children meet the storybook character (bring your camera). There will also be a hands-on craft activity and a musical parade featuring the storybook character. Dinner is available for purchase in the museum's cafe.Members $10/person, Non-members $12/person. Tickets are non-refundable and non-transferable. Space is limited, registration recommended.

Stepping Stones Museum for Children is located at 303 West Avenue, Norwalk, CT, exit 14 North and 15 South off I-95. Museum hours are Monday-Sunday from 10 am-5 pm.  Admission is $15 for adults and children and $10 for seniors. Children under 1 are free. To learn more visit steppingstonesmuseum.org or call 203 899 0606.

For regional information visit www.visitfairfieldcountyct.com.

Breakfast with Frosty and Friends at Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo

Frosty the Snowman was a popular song written in 1950 and became an overnight classic by being adapted to a popular television special.  The song of Frosty recounts the fictional tale of a snowman that is magically brought to life through a black top hat that a group of children place atop his head. Although Frosty enjoys frolicking and romping throughout town with the children who constructed him, the sun becomes too much for him to bear and Frosty is forced to leave town, promising his friends that he will return.

On December 15 & 16, 22 & 23:  The Beardsley Zoo is getting into the holiday spirit by offering a special “Breakfast with Frosty & Friends” that will take place from, 9 a.m. - 10 am.  Families are invited to join Frosty and his friends for breakfast at Connecticut's only Zoo. Reservations are required and can be made by calling Amanda Bolanos at (203) 394-6574.  The cost of this special event that includes Zoo admission and breakfast is $10 per person for Zoo members and $20 per person for non-members.

The Beardsley Zoo is also offering a special Holiday Crafts & Fun Photo Opps event on December 15 & 16, 22 & 23 from 10 am - 2 pm.  Participants will enjoy making a variety of holiday crafts in the Zoo’s Research Station.  Afterward, there will be a memorable photo session in the Zoo’s festively decorated, tropical greenhouse.  A stroll through the grounds of the Zoo will allow families to visit their favorite animals and wish them happy holidays!

ZOO GIFT GIVING IDEAS:

As the holidays are approaching fast if you are looking for something unique you might consider picking up an unusual and thoughtful gift from the Beardsley Zoo for everyone on your list!

Membership to Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo for example can be enjoyed year-round. Your loved one gets free admission to the Zoo and free or discounted admission to over 150 zoos and aquariums nationwide. Membership also includes ZooBucks, carousel rides & guest passes! Contact Amanda Bolanos at 203-394-6574 for more information.

If you are looking for a more permanent gift, consider purchasing and engraving a 90^th Anniversary Brick for someone special. Bricks will be displayed at the Zoo's Front Gate for all to see! Contact Emily Bobowick at 203-394-6569 for more information.

If you have a real animal lover on your list, consider a gift of Animal Sponsorship.  With this gift, you will receive a Sponsorship Certificate, Fact Sheet & Photograph of your sponsored animal that you can visit at the Zoo.

If you are seeking something different, don’t forget to check out the gift shop at the Zoo. The Beardsley Zoo’s fabulous gift shop offers everything from children's games and handmade jewelry to clothing and animal-themed Christmas ornaments. You'll be amazed at the wide selection of gifts for him and her and for the little ones, too!

About Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo

Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo celebrates its 90th birthday in 2012 and is closer than you think! Connecticut's only zoo features 300 animals representing primarily North and South American species. Visitors won't want to miss our Amur (Siberian) tigers, Brazilian ocelot, Red wolves, and Golden Lion tamarins. Other highlights include our South American rainforest with free-flight aviary, the prairie dog exhibit with "pop-up" viewing areas, the New England Farmyard with goats, cows, pigs, sheep, and other barnyard critters, plus the Grasslands trail featuring bison, pronghorn, deer, and more. Visitors can grab a bite at the Peacock Café, eat in the Picnic Grove, and enjoy a ride on our colorful carousel. For more information, visit www.beardsleyzoo.org