
Events Search and Views Navigation
March 2021
Celebrate “Daffodil Days”
Celebrate "Daffodil Days" March 15 - April 30 *Stay in touch via Instagram & Facebook for exact Bloom Dates* Daffodil Days...your Spring Destination! Thanks to The Essex Foundation’s community beautification project...30,000 daffodil plantings are waiting to blossom across Essex, Centerbrook, and Ivoryton villages!!! Our stores and restaurants are ready to celebrate this natural event, with daffodil related products, promotions, and drink/menu specialties. Since actual bloom time is weather dependent, EBOT will be tracking the daffodils and share specific bloom dates…
Find out more »Spectrum Art Gallery Exhibit: Entanglements
Spectrum Art Gallery and Artisans Store of Centerbrook presents its newest exhibit, Entanglements with an opening weekend Saturday, March 20 (1-6pm) and Sunday, March 21 (1-6pm) with wine and safely bagged snacks. The six-week exhibit (through May 2) is located at 61 Main Street, Centerbrook, CT. Entanglements will allow visitors to discover original representational and abstract artwork that explores the complex and creative ways objects and people intertwine. A wide selection of paintings, mixed media, sculpture, and photography are available.
Find out more »April 2021
One Book/One Community
A free virtual author talk with award-winning authors James Fallows and Deborah Fallows on Zoom for “Our Towns: a 100,00-Mile Journey Into The Heart of America” is the culminating event of the Essex Library’s American Library Association Libraries Transforming Communities grant to support community engagement efforts. RSVP: (860) 767-1560 or click HERE!
Find out more »Support Local Restaurants in Essex Child & Family Raffle
Twelve lucky winners will soon be enjoying gift card meals in Essex, Deep River, or Chester restaurants because they purchased Let’s Eat Out! raffle tickets. The raffle, sponsored by the Essex Child & Family Auxiliary, promotes business for local restaurants that have struggled during the pandemic, while also showing appreciation for owners and staff. The Auxiliary is declaring that help is on the way! Community members can jumpstart the revenue flow for the restaurants by participating in this “win-win” fundraiser.…
Find out more »Zoom Workshop: Flower Magic Collage and Mixed Media Class
Learn to make organic looking papers to tear and adhere to create a floral collage mixed media piece. We will focus on composition, color, shapes and textures separating values (light, medium, darks) for a cohesive composition. To create luminosity and transparency rice papers will be painted, tinted and stained using fluid acrylics, inks, watercolor and gouache mediums transforming your tissue papers into stunning crystalline papers. Material list available upon registration. Dates: Weds. April 7, 14, 21, 28; May 5. Makeup: May…
Find out more »Yale Science Communication Presents ‘CELLular TELEPHONE’
Ever wonder why we get sick? The cells in our body constantly communicate with each other through a network of ‘telephone calls’ to precisely maintain the delicate balance of our health. But what happens when this information is lost in translation between cells? Join the Essex Library community on Thursday, April 22 at 7 p.m. on Zoom, as three Yale scientists discuss how even a slight miscommunication in this game of ‘CELLular telephone’ can lead to various diseases. This virtual…
Find out more »Spectrum Art Gallery: Acrylic Studio Workshop
Develop confidence with better techniques of drawing, composition, and color theory. Work from reference photos (yours or supplied) of primarily landscape or still life images. Painting demonstrations and instructor painting along allows for freedom and assistance to explore the medium. Develop to a finished stage, working with final values to make your pieces cohesive and dynamic. A list of basic supplies will be sent to interested artists. All levels welcome. All teaching is done with a positive approach and an…
Find out more »Zoom Workshop: Design Principles
This 4 week course serves as an introduction to the basic elements of design (line, shape, value, texture, space) and their organization on a two-dimensional surface through the principles of design (balance, unity, emphasis, repetition, rhythm, etc.) into effective design statements. Students will develop imagery from simple abstract line work to more complex representational imagery. For example, projects will include incorporating lines and solid shapes in one design. In another students will play with the juxtaposition of disparate objects in…
Find out more »FISH MIGRATION AND THE MILL POND FISHWAY IN CENTERBROOK
Fishways are structures that let fish get around dams and the Falls River in Essex now has three fishways, which are part of an effort to reestablish a run of migratory alewives from Long Island Sound up to Mill Pond. As part of the Essex Library’s celebration of Earth Day, this illustrated Zoom talk on Saturday, April 24 at 3 p.m. will introduce the three fishways and provide a virtual tour of the Mill Pond Fishway, built in 2019 at…
Find out more »Spectrum Art Gallery: Painting Abstract Landscapes
This workshop offers an introduction to painting abstract landscapes using acrylic paints or your familiar practiced medium. This workshop is for beginners and experienced painters who want to enhance their technical skills and learn the art of abstraction. See the traditional landscape differently and use painting techniques to extend your vision in a new direction. Focused on teaching abstraction learn to arrange the elements of perspective, scale, shape, form, line, and color towards developing a unique abstract composition. The goal…
Find out more »CRM Virtual Speaker Series: The Memories and Lives of Old Trees and What They Can Tell Us About Climate History
Connecticut River Museum Talks with special guest Neil Pederson, Senior Ecologist, Harvard University Forest Did you know that, until recently, people in the Northeastern US have been living in one of the wettest eras of the last 500 years? Trees do. Did you know that, until recently, global warming had not impacted the Northeastern US like it had in other regions or the globe as a whole? How do we know these things? Trees are witnesses of how our shared…
Find out more »Connecticut Spring Boat Show 2021
The 2021 Connecticut Spring Boat Show will be held Friday, April 30 - Sunday, May 2 at Safe Harbor Essex Island at 11 Ferry Street, Essex. Tickets are $20 per adult and provide access for all three days. Kids 13 and under are free. Attendees will see a wide range of new and used brokerage boats including both power and sail models with sea trials available.
Find out more »2021 Connecticut Spring Boat Show
The 2021 Connecticut Spring Boat Show will be held Friday, April 30 - Sunday, May 2 at Safe Harbor Essex Island, 11 Ferry Street, Essex, CT. The annual show is a production of WindCheck Magazine and is sponsored by Safe Harbor, Yacht Brokers Association of America, Essex Boat Works, Essex Steam Train and Riverboat and YachtWorld. Boaters from all over New England down to New York get excited to visit the Connecticut Spring Boat Show. Attendees will see a wide range of new and…
Find out more »May 2021
STEAM Girls Series: Erica Cirino
STEAM Girls Series Featuring: Erica Cirino Thursday, May 6, 2021 4:30 pm Connecticut River Museum’s STEAMgirls Program FREE Program! A virtual program to serve girls, age 10-16, interested in studying the academic areas of STEAM: Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics. Click here to register! Thanks to a generous grant through The Petit Family Foundation, we are able to offer this program free of charge. Once monthly after school for a four-month period, STEAMgirls participants meet and speak with accomplished…
Find out more »Zoom Workshop: The Artists Process Creating a Seascape from Start to Finish
What does it take to create a painting from start to finish? In this Zoom workshop the instructor will walk you through the process of creating a Seascape painting. He will talk about how to choose subject matter, lay out the composition and find balance in your pieces. He will share a detailed account of how he creates his paintings layer by layer with techniques that are applicable to most two dimensional media. How to finish an artwork and prepare…
Find out more »Essex Library Asks For Your Feedback In Community Survery
The Essex Library has launched a survey, inviting feedback from library users and also non-users in the community, to aid in the composition of a strategic plan for 2022-2025. The survey covers topics including collections, programs and services, and the facility itself. It takes roughly 5 minutes to complete and the Library’s Strategic Planning Committee is hoping to hear back from a wide variety of constituencies and as many people as possible in order to guide decisions for the strategic…
Find out more »CRM Virtual Speaker Series: The Connecticut, New England’s Great River
Connecticut River Museum Talks with special guest Adair Mulligan, Executive Director at Hanover Conservancy. The largest river in New England rises in a small beaver pond near the Canadian border and flows over 400 miles through four states, falling 2670 feet to the sea through America’s only watershed-based national fish and wildlife refuge. This program begins with an armchair tour of this great river in New Hampshire and Vermont, exploring its history and natural beauty through the seasons and among…
Find out more »Coloring for Adults
We’re all stressed these days, especially after a year of dealing with navigating life amid a global pandemic. Coloring has been a longtime popular outlet to creatively diffuse this stress and encourage creativity. We’re not talking about kiddie books and crayolas. We will work with beautifully detailed books filled with mandalas, floral images, fantastical creatures, enchanting women, entangled designs, and more. A wide variety of mediums are used in this workshop–colored pencils, markers, gel pens. Participants will select from handouts…
Find out more »June 2021
At Gallery: Introduction to Peyote Stitch, Gold Band Bracelet
Peyote stitch dates back to ancient Egypt, evidenced by artifacts found in King Tutankhamun’s tomb. Also in North America, Native Americans, namely the Kiowa and Comanche tribes, use the stitch giving it its name. This off-loom beading technique creates both flat bands and structural shapes. In this class, learn flat, odd-count peyote to create a flat and fluid bracelet. All it takes is Fireline thread, a beading needle and delica seed beads. By using the same basic thread path, the…
Find out more »CRM Virtual Speaker Series: Courageous Dissent – How Harry Bingham Defied His Government to Save Lives
Connecticut River Museum Talks with special guest Robert Kim Bingham, Retired Federal Attorney, US Department of Justice and US Department of Homeland Security. Courageous Dissent is the first book published about America’s unsung diplomat hero Hiram (Harry) Bingham IV, the author’s father, who was in charge of issuing visas to America and freedom while stationed as a US vice-consul in Marseilles, France, just before World War II. It captures Bingham’s compelling story of placing humanity above his career during the early…
Find out more »STEAM Girls Series: Gabriel Chevalier
STEAM Girls Series Featuring: Gabriel Chevalier Thursday, June 10, 2021 4:30 pm STEAMgirls Program Featuring: Gabriel Chevalier FREE program! A virtual program to serve girls, age 10-16, interested in studying the academic areas of STEAM: Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math. Thanks to a generous grant through The Petit Family Foundation, we are able to offer this program free of charge. Click here to register! Once monthly after school for a four-month period, STEAMgirls participants meet and speak with accomplished…
Find out more »Early Summer Pressed Botanical Workshop
The focus of this workshop is making cards and other larger pieces suitable for framing and gift giving. All pieces made in the workshop will have Spring and Early Summer themes using pressed petals and leaves. Learn how to press the botanicals and apply them to a heavy cardstock. Your creations will make a lovely gift for someone or to keep for yourself. Supplies include an abundance of pressed botanicals, cards and paper. No experience necessary. Spectrum Gallery adheres to…
Find out more »STEAM Girls Series: Shani Mensing
STEAM Girls Series Featuring: Shani Mensing Tuesday, June 22, 2021 4:30 pm STEAMgirls Program FREE program! A virtual program to serve girls, age 10-16, interested in studying the academic areas of STEAM: Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math. Thanks to a generous grant through The Petit Family Foundation, we are able to offer this program free of charge. Click here to register! Once monthly after school for a four-month period, STEAMgirls participants meet and speak with accomplished young women, learning…
Find out more »July 2021
Alfresco Thursdays 2021
Alfresco Thursdays has proven to be THE go-to, weekly event for summer fun! Shops are open until 8pm and restaurants spill onto patios, decks, and reimagined parking areas. The alfresco spirit is contagious as the community and visitors come together to eat, shop, stroll and socialize - masked and socially distanced of course.
Find out more »12th Annual Essex Auto Club Car Show
The Essex Auto Club will hold it’s 12th Annual Car Show in Essex on July 4th. As in prior years, this event promises to have a wide variety of automobiles on display, ranging from classics to more contemporary offerings – there’s something for everyone to see. The Car Show will be held at the Connecticut River Museum – both “Upper” and “Lower” lawns – from 10:00am-2:00pm on Sunday, July 4th. The Essex Auto Club is a non-profit organization – all…
Find out more »Contact Us
Essex Board of Trade, Inc., P.O. Box 322
Essex, CT 06426 860-767-3904 or email message@experienceessex.com