January 13-28: The 2023 Escape Room Fundraiser at the Ridgefield Library invites you to board a 1903 luxury passenger train — can you solve the clues to stop the runaway train before time (and track) run out? This annual fundraiser helps to support the Library’s operating budget. Each private 60-minute session costs $250 and accommodates between 3-8 participants. This event is great for groups of adults, groups of teens and families with children ages 10 and up. Click here to learn more and make a reservation.
December 1st @ 7:00 pm: Join us as we welcome author Scott MacMillan for a discussion of his new book, Hope Over Fate: Fazle Hasan Abed and the Science of Ending Global Poverty. Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times called Abed “one of the unsung heroes of modern times.” Fazle Hasan Abed was a mild-mannered accountant who may be the most influential man most people have never even heard of. As the founder of BRAC, originally the Bangladesh Rehabilitation Assistance Committee, his work had a profound impact on the lives of millions. A former finance executive with almost no experience in relief aid, he founded BRAC in 1972, aiming to help a few thousand war refugees. A half century later, BRAC is by many measures the largest nongovernmental organization in the world—and by many accounts, the most effective anti-poverty program ever.
This program will be held in the Library’s Main Program Room. Learn more and register here.
November 29th @ 7:00pm: Author Max Tucci will be here to discuss his new book, The Delmonico Way: Sublime Entertaining and Legendary Recipes from the Restaurant That Made New York. Featuring stories, ideas for entertaining and seventy-five recipes from the Tuccis, the family that ran Delmonico’s in its golden era. Each chapter is organized around a style of dining that Delmonico’s pioneered or perfected under the Tucci’s proprietorship. Vintage era photographs, ephemera, menus and countless other gems featured in The Delmonico Way remind us that entertaining with style, elegance, sophistication and intention remains just as relevant today as it did during the restaurant’s storied past. Max Tucci is the grandson of former Delmonico’s owner Oscar Tucci.
Books on the Common will have copies of The Delmonico Way for purchase and signing.
For more information and to register, please click here.
The Library will be closed on Thursday, November 24th and Friday, November 25th, in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday. We will be open regular hours on Saturday, November 26th and Sunday, November 27th.
November 25-27: The Ridgefield Library has enjoyed a close partnership with Books on the Common for many years. Together they bring the community dozens of author and book events each year. Ridgefield is so fortunate to have an independent bookstore in its town. Thanksgiving weekend is the perfect time to support both the bookstore and the Ridgefield Library and to get a jump on your holiday shopping. The 18th Annual Library Days at Books on the Common will take place November 25-27. Customers can simply show their Ridgefield Library card at the cash register, and 15% of the proceeds of their purchase will be donated by the bookstore to the Library.
Books on the Common is located at 404 Main Street and store hours during Library Days are Friday 10:00 am – 7:00 pm, Saturday 10:00 am – 5:00 pm and Sunday 11:00 am – 5:00 pm. Ridgefield residents who do not have a library card can register for one at the Library’s Circulation Desk, or by going to www.ridgefieldlibrary.org, click on My Account and Request a Library Card.
The community’s support of Books on the Common, and the bookstore’s support of the Library, help keep Ridgefield an exceptional place to live, at the holidays and year-round.
November 17th @ 7:00pm: Join us for this fascinating and timely discussion, “Can We Really Wake Up the Dead? Pigs, Brain Death and the Future of Transplant Medicine” with Dr. Arthur L. Caplan. Dr. Arthur L. Caplan is the Drs. William F. and Virginia Connolly Mitty Professor of Bioethics at New York University Grossman School of Medicine and the founding director of the Division of Medical Ethics. He also founded the Bioethics Departments at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Minnesota. He received his PhD from Columbia University. Caplan has made many contributions to public policy including: helping to found the National Marrow Donor Program; helping to create the system for distributing organs in the U.S.; and advising on the content of the National Organ Transplant Act of 1984 rules governing living organ donation, and legislation and regulation in many other areas of health care including blood safety and compassionate use. This program will be held in the Library’s Main Program Room.
Learn more and register to attend.
This program is part of our H.G. Wells Scholarly Series, made possible by the generosity of the Friends of the Ridgefield Library.
November 16th @ 7:00pm: This online presentation is the third in a series of programs for the disability community offered in partnership with SPHERE of CT and the Ridgefield Public Schools. Andrew Arboe is the founder of Driving with Autism, a driver readiness program that helps people start on the path to obtain their license. Driving with Autism hosts live webinar series that break down driving into achievable goals and offers resources to aid any driver. As Driving with Autism evolves, Andrew envisions partnerships with certified driving schools in all 50 states. Andrew is also the Director of Community Outreach at Planning Across the Spectrum. In that role, he reaches out to various autism, disability, and neurodiversity organizations nationwide to collaborate on community empowerment by organizing and speaking at conferences, connecting attendees with Planning Across the Spectrum’s comprehensive special needs planning services.
November 13th @ 2:00pm: This ARTalk will focus on how the power and potential of the digital age and its many tools can empower artists, art enthusiasts, creative communities and businesses. Cash will explore how Ridgefield’s arts and cultural organizations, as part of Connecticut’s first-in-the-state cultural designation, have embraced a wider adoption of digital tools in daily life, especially during a pandemic. Cash is the new Ridgefield Arts Council Chair and has nearly a decade of experience in the global fine art market and creative economy. She is currently Senior Vice President of Artnet, the leading online resource for the sale, study, and analysis of fine art and its markets.
In her role at Artnet, Colleen manages its proprietary auctions business and oversees a global team in their facilitation of $30 million plus in sales of Post-War & Contemporary Art, Prints & Multiples and Photographs. She also oversees Artnet’s Gallery Network, which features 250,000 plus artworks from primary market galleries across the world.
Prior to her work at Artnet, Colleen held roles at Christie’s, Apollo Global Management, and several public institutions including the New York State Council on the Arts, the New York City Council and the consortium responsible for the redevelopment of LaGuardia Airport’s Terminal B. Colleen holds a BA with Special Honors from Hunter College and is a frequent speaker in CUNY’s Arts Administration Program.
Learn more and register to attend.
The 2022-2023 ARTalk series is co-sponsored by the Ridgefield Library and the Ridgefield Guild of Artists.
November 9th @ 7:00pm: Join us for a virtual reading and talkback with newly appointed Connecticut State Poet Laureate Antoinette Brim-Bell and Jaida Taveras, the state’s first-ever Youth Poet Laureate. The two honored poets will read from recent works, share hopes for their roles as laureates, and answer questions from the audience – and each other.
Antoinette Brim-Bell (photo, right) is the author of These Women You Gave Me, Icarus in Love, and Psalm of the Sunflower. She is a Cave Canem Foundation fellow, a recipient of the Walker Foundation Scholarship, and a Pushcart Prize nominee. Her work has appeared widely in literary journals and anthologies. A sought-after speaker, editor, educator, and consultant, Brim-Bell is a Professor of English at Capital Community College.
Jaida Taveras attends Washington University, where she is majoring in philosophy. Jaida is a member of the university’s slam team and teaches poetry to students in the St. Louis area. At Naugatuck High School, she served as a student representative of the Connecticut State Board of Education, a writer with Poetry Ourselves, an orator with the American Legion, and a performer with the Poetry Out Loud recitation competition.
Learn more and register to receive the Zoom link.
November 6th @ 2:00pm: The Ridgefield Folk Concert Series continues with local favorites, String Busters. String Busters is an acoustic band that plays a wide range of musical styles, from blues and bluegrass to country, folk and more. Each seasoned musician in the band contributes to fresh interpretations of well-loved songs. The band also performs its own original songs.
Will Demers- vocals, guitar, mandolin
Mat Kastner- vocals, guitar, slide guitar, mandolin
Dan Bonis- vocals, banjo, mandolin, guitar, dobro, suitcase percussion
Ed Spallina- vocals, upright bass
Doors open at 1:30pm, performance starts at 2:00pm. Learn more and register.
Ridgefield Folk is made possible through the generous support of the Friends of the Ridgefield Library.