Ridgefield Library

Saturday, July 19 @ 2:00 pm:  Families with children of all ages are invited to a storytime and short hike at the Woodcock Nature Center! Join Ms. Kathleen from the Ridgefield Library and Kelly Donahoe from Woodcock Nature Center for this active storytime celebrating outdoor adventures. We’ll meet at the Pavillion at WNC to read a story, visit the Nature Center to meet an ambassador animal and then take a guided hike on the nearby trails. Registration is required. Please register once for your family and make note of the number of attendees in the special notes.

Tuesday, July 15 @ 6:00 pm:  Join us for Scams, Tech and Theft – Staying Safe in Today’s World: A Presentation for All Ages: Kids, Parents, Adults and Seniors

Our panel of will consist of Andrew Neblett, Dr. Wes DeSantis and Detective Victoria Ryan, who will cover safety tips for protecting yourself against:

Local crimes and internet/phone scams

Digital scams

Keeping yourself and your children safe

Protecting your Cell Phone

Social Media Traps

Airport and Travel Safety Tips

Artificial Intelligence

Home Computing/WIFI Safety

Detective Victoria Ryan has been with the Ridgefield Police Department for 13 years and assigned to the Detective Bureau since 2019.

Dr. Wes DeSantis has been with Ridgefield public schools for 17 years, and Director of Educational Technology Since 2020.

Andrew Neblett has been responsible for IT support and services for the Town of Ridgefield since 2006. He is IT Director and Region 5 ESF17 Cybersecurity Chair.

This timely program is not to be missed!

Click here for more information and to register.

Wednesday, July 9 @ 7:00 pm:  Monica Ong’s second collection of poetry, Planetaria, brings playful literary experiments on the page to poetry, science and art lovers alike.

Poet-artist Monica Ong has created an extraordinary collection of visual-poems that uses the visual language of astronomy to imagine the sky from a female perspective. The resulting image-poems are playful visual experiments that explore the precarious territories of motherhood, women in science, and diaspora identity. A full-color, fine-art volume, Planetaria is equally engaging to followers of poetry, art and science alike.

Copies of Planetaria will be available for purchase at the event through our partner, Books on the Common.

Click here to learn more and to register.

Monday, July 7 @ 7:00 pm:  Come and discover the story of America’s first female Landscape Architect, Beatrix Farrand. She found success in the 1920s and 30s in the male-dominated field of landscape design. Born in New York City in 1872, Farrand is known for the gardens she designed for the White House, Dumbarton Oaks, New York Botanical Garden and Yale University. Her career included commissions to design about 110 gardens for private residences, estates and country homes, public parks, botanic gardens and college campuses.

Farrand owed her success to her unerring eye for design, profound knowledge of horticulture and deep commitment to her profession that inspired others to follow in her footsteps. She was famous for her complex flower borders as well as her advocacy of native landscapes and plants, which she wove into a classical design framework. This presentation will discuss her early influences and education as well as her most notable projects.

Click here to learn more and register.

Monday, July 7 @ 11:00 am:  For families with children of all ages. Come to our All Age Family Storytime at 10:30 am to meet a member of the Ridgefield Fire Department and stay for this opportunity to touch a fire truck in the Library parking lot immediately following storytime. No registration required.

Wednesday, June 25 @ 6:00 pm:   Families with children of all ages join Christine’s Critters for an unforgettable, interactive program! Meet live hawks, owls, falcons, snakes and lizards up close while learning about their incredible adaptations and their important role in our ecosystem. With the opportunity to get up close to these magnificent animals, hear fascinating rescue stories and learn about the challenges wildlife face, it’s a truly unique experience for nature lovers of all ages. Registration is encouraged but drop ins are welcome as space permits. 

Wednesday, June 25 @ 1:00 pm: The Alzheimer’s Association offers a range of caregiver skills-building courses, which aim to help caregivers feel more prepared to handle the challenges that come with caring for someone living with dementia.

This evidence-based course, “Managing Money: A Caregiver’s Guide to Finance,” helps caregivers understand the costs of caregiving and the benefits of early planning, and teaches them how to start a conversation about finances, assess financial and legal needs, avoid financial abuse and fraud, and find support when needed.

This is a hybrid event. It’s best to attend in person, but the Zoom link is provided when you register.

Click here to learn more and to register.

Cancelled: Monday, June 30 @ 7:00 pm:  Ridgefield author Gerri Lewis will discuss Grave Words, the latest entry in her Deadly Deadlines mystery series:

For obituary writer Winter Snow trouble is piling higher than the thirty-foot face of the Lake Mamanasco cliffs she can see from her windows. Her business is in a death drought. Her own name is listed as deceased in her client’s obituary. And her best friend, Scoop, a reporter for the local newspaper, is a person of interest in a string of arsons plaguing her hometown of Ridgefield, Connecticut. To top it off, the town’s only homeless person, Chester, is found dead in one of the burning buildings. When Winter begins asking too many questions and clues begin to tumble into place, she realizes too late that there’s more to Chester’s death than meets the eye.

Click here to learn more and to register.

Saturday, June 21:  Ridgefield is joining over 1,000 cities worldwide for Make Music Day, a live, free, all-day musical celebration. Come join the fun!  Performances on the Library Lawn will be held from 11:00am to 5:00pm.  

Scheduled activities and performers on the Library Lawn:

11:00 am – 12:00 pm: String Busters (Americana/Bluegrass)

12:00 pm – 1:00 pm: The Four Horsemen Songwriters (Americana/Bluegrass/Indie-Folk//Pop)

1:00 pm – 1:45 pm: Gracey DePhillips (Jazz/Funk/Kids)

1:45 pm – 2:00 pm: Yashvi and Zoe (Pop)

2:00 pm – 3:00 pm: PJ Giovaniello (Metal/Rock)

3:15 pm – 3:45 pm: Songs for Ekta (Indian)

4:00 pm – 5:00 pm: True Religion (Blues/Ragtime)

See all Ridgefield Events HERE

PLEASE NOTE: Performances on the Library Lawn will be canceled in case of rain.

Tuesday, June 17 @ 7:00 pm:  This program is a reading/performance by Ridgefield author Chris Belden and contributors to the book Closer to Freedom, which he edited. Closer to Freedom is an anthology of prose and poetry written in the workshop Belden ran for over ten years at Garner Correctional Institution, a maximum security prison in Newtown. Scheduled to participate are former Garner librarian Mark Aldrich as well as Floyd Lawrence and Alexis Melendez. In addition to readings from the book, there will be a performance of a short play written by inmates. 

Our partner Books on the Common will have copies for purchase and signing.

Click here for more information and to register.