Please share photos of events, people, beautiful Lyme scenes, art, wildlife … You have the power to generate smiles.
CCL held an Open House on Monday, May 5th, 5-7pm in our new office in the Lyme Center Academy Building. We enjoyed refreshments, visiting with new and long-time friends of CCL, and hearing both encouraging gratitude and helpful suggestions for our work together.
Wow, Lyme! You know how to show up. Saturday, May 6th, 2017 is a day to remember.
Jeff Valence and Tami Dowd put on an extraordinary breakfast of eggs, french toast, sausage, and bacon, with maple syrup provided by Kingland Farms. Many volunteers were on-site bright and early to set up and clean up.
Workers hit the road under not-so-nice skies that cleared by late morning.
Sue Hanlon, Kathy McGowan, Sarah Shipton, and Erin Wetherell coordinated the project requests, volunteer matching, and electronic sign-ups. If you see any of these ladies, please thank them for their masterful work. Erin said,
“The spring Day of Service is a wonderful way to begin the month of May and give back to a community that gave so much to me when I was growing up. I really enjoy the opportunity to bring residents of all ages together in the name of service, and to meet new people as well as re-connect with people that knew me when I was young. Any town that serves real maple syrup with breakfast is a special one.“
The recipients of service also had a special day. Patty received the following in a note on Sunday:
“I was so happy yesterday. When the weather was so miserable I didn’t think anyone would come. Around 10 the volunteers showed up. I smiled to myself when they were both wearing boots! I thought they were only going to rake a small section of my garden but they kept going and going … In all my 85 years I have never lived in an area where the community is so knit together and willing to help others like me. Yes, we could pay to have these things done but that isn’t always available to those of us with limited income.“
If you were one of the more than 150 volunteers who joined in the work and fun on Saturday, THANK YOU! If you missed out this year, we hope you’ll be with us next time.
Join us on the Third Thursday of every month for lively conversation at a local restaurant. Choose from the lunch offerings on the menu — there’s always a variety of foods for every taste. Bring a guest! All are invited. Check the Events Calendar for the location each month.
Our October 2016 Day of Service was great! Check out the collection of photos we gathered during the day. A lot was accomplished.
Lyme’s Independence Day celebration was held on Saturday July 2, 2016 on the Common. It was a great success!
The day began with a breakfast hosted by “Those Guys” in the Congregational Church. The Horse Sheds were filled with a craft festival hosted by Matt Brown, with many local artists participating. Later in the afternoon, the focus shifted to the Common, where there was a variety of music and talent shared, while the kids enjoyed draft horse cart rides, a dunk tank (with good sports including Mr. Valence and Pastor Amy), an assortment of Old Fashioned kids games, and prepping for the Parade. During the afternoon, Dan Freihofer’s cool red pickup was gussied up as the local ice cream truck, brought into service for the ice cream give-away in memory of our friend Bill Ackerly, the ice cream man of the A.T.
There was great participation in the parade! Old cars, trucks, fancied-up bikes of all sizes, floats, horses, Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts … and lots of folk simply sitting back and enjoying the show!
Following the Parade there was more live music, including patriotic moments and a sing-a-long under the big tent while the BBQ grills got warmed up.
An incredible spread was enjoyed by a great crowd. Ingredients were mostly locally sourced. The grand finale was a dance party with funk &soul band “Toast.” Cool, indeed.
What an amazing first Day of Service in May 2016! Over 200 people of all ages turned out to clean up every road in Lyme and do more than 25 projects for neighbors and community spaces.
