Join the West Hartford YMCA for a benefit performance of "Dying For Laughs" at the Park Road Playhouse on Wednesday October 1st. All proceeds from this event benefit the West Hartford YMCA Strong Kids Campaign. Arrive at 6:15pm for light dinner, soda, beer and wine. Show begins at 7:30pm. Tickets are $35 each and include all refreshments. For more information, or to reserve tickets, please contact the West Hartford YMCA at 521-5830.

Susan B. Komen Foundation's fundraising event, "Tint the town Pink! at Blue Back Square. October 20-25, 2008

The West Hartford Magic Girls Travel Basketball Program will be holding open tryouts for their 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade teams on Wednesday, October 1, 2008 at Sedgwick Middle School.

5th and 6th grade tryouts will be held from 6:00pm - 7:30pm. 7th and 8th grade tryouts will be held from 7:30pm - 9:00pm.

All players participating in the travel program must be residents of West Hartford.

Pre-registration is recommended by sending an email with the player's name, address, and grade to Ed Connors  ed@connorsagency.com or call 860-614-5353.

Commission on Persons with Disabilities, 7:00pm

Wednesday & Thursday, October 1 & 2: ESOL “Using the Dictionary” workshops: 6:30-8 p.m.
New English speakers can learn to use the American dictionary.

The Hartt School is pleased to present the internationally celebrated Orion String Quartet, who will present an all-Beethoven program, on Thursday, October 2, at 7:30 PM in Millard Auditorium at the University of Hartford. Admission ranges from $30 to $36, with discounts for seniors, students and groups. Tickets are available by calling the University of Hartford Box Office at (860) 768-4228 or on line at www.hartford.edu/hartt

THE WOLVES ARE BACK !

Children’s Museum will hold Wolf Night 2008

The wolves will be back at The Children’s Museum in West Hartford. This year, Wolf Night will be held at 7:00 p.m. On Friday, October 3, 2008, at 7 p.m., The Children’s Museum will be sponsoring Wolf Night 2008, an evening of wolf discovery.

This popular event, is presented by The Children’s Museum with support from the The Wolf Conservation Center. Wolf Night 2008 includes an up-close encounter for kids with Atka, a live Artic Grey Wolf, as well as fascinating and informative presentation about the lives, history, and predatory roles of wolves in nature. Said Cindy King, Director of the Museum’s Wildlife Sanctuary, "This is always a great family event. The range for North American wolves is growing again, but it’s an animal that still remains a mix of fairy tale and myth for most children. But here, it’s up close and personal."

Admission to Wolf Night 2008 is $10 for members of The Children’s Museum and $12 for non-members with pre-registration required. Pre-registration will be accepted by email to Events@TheChildrensMuseumCT.org or by telephone at 860.231.2830, extension 44.

HARTT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA BEGINS SEASON WITH A 70TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION

Lauded Pianist Oxana Yablonskaya is Soloist and Pierre-Alain Chevalier Guest Conducts

Help celebrate Noah Webster’s 250th Birthday by participating in a town-wide Spelling Bee!

The preliminary rounds of the bee will be held Saturday, October 4, 2008, at the West Hartford Public Library located at 20 South Main Street. Participation is open to the first 50 contestants in each age category. The categories are:

Students in grades 3 – 6: arrive at 10:00 a.m. and expect to stay at the library until 11:15 a.m.

Students in grades 7 – 12: arrive at 11:30 a.m. and stay until 12:30 p.m.

Adults (ages 19 – 54): arrive at 1:30 p.m. and stay until 2:30 p.m.

Older and Wiser (ages 55+): arrive at 2:45 p.m. and stay until 4:00 p.m.

The preliminary rounds will be a written spelling test. The top 10 scorers in each category will advance to the final round of the bee to be held on Saturday, October 18 at Town Hall.

Final Round: The final round of the Spelling Bee will be held on Saturday, October 18, 2008, beginning at 1:00 p.m. at the West Hartford Town Hall. Rob Kyff, West Hartford’s very own “Word Guy,” will moderate the final rounds of the bee. Winners in each category will receive a $50 gift certificate to Barnes & Noble; 2^nd and 3^rd place finalists will receive a dictionary.

For more information on the preliminary round of the Spelling Bee, please call Susan Hansen at the Bishops Corner branch library at 561-8214 or e-mail shansen@westhartford.org.

Park Road Parade, 10:30am

The 10th annual Park Road Parade, set for Saturday, October 4, will be bigger and better than last year, according to parade organizer Richard Patrissi. The parade steps off at 10:30 AM, at Ringgold Street and ends at South Quaker Lane.

Over 100 contingents are expected to march in this year’s parade. The parade has a great cross representation of musical groups, dancers, clowns, Park Road businesses, civic groups, cultural organizations and local celebrities and officials. "The Park Road Parade is a true representation of all that is good in West Hartford," Mr. Patrissi said.

Each year the parade draws over 7,000 people to Park Road neighborhood. Parade goers will be entertained by floats, antique cars and 2008 Ferrari’s, stilt walkers, dogs of all shapes and sizes, sports mascots including University of Hartford’s Howie the Hawk and Hartford Wolf Pack’s Sonar and police and fire color guards.

A parade would not be complete without marching bands. The 2008 Park Road Parade will feature the Conard High School and Sedgwick Middle School bands, the University of Hartford Steel Drum Band, the Connecticut Patriots Ancient Fife & Drum, the Windsor Fife and Drum Heartbeat Dixieland Jazz Band, and Rob the Drummer.

Awards are awarded each year to the best floats in the categories of best car, most unique float and best neighborhood group.

A parade of this magnitude involves lots of volunteers and hundreds of hours of planning. A big Thank You goes out to all of them.

The Park Road Parade began in 1998 to celebrate the completion of a two-year road renovation project. The project spanned Prospect Avenue to South Quaker Lane and included a new pavement, streetlights, and sidewalks. The theme then and now is to celebrate the neighborhood: its diversity of people, businesses and culture.

Bring the whole family to this wonderful celebration of West Hartford. For more information, please call Richard Patrissi at 233-2447.

Another exciting season of West Hartford Boys Travel Basketball is only weeks away. Open tryouts are going to be held on Saturday, October 4th at King Philip Middle School. Sixth Grade tryouts will begin at 3:00 p.m., Seventh Grade at 4:30 p.m., and Eighth Grade at 6:00 p.m. Please bring your birth certificate. If you have any questions, contact Mike Zullo at thezullo@comcast.net or call 490-3753.

"The 40 Days of Community"

Beginning on Sunday, October 5th at 10 AM, Calvary Fellowship will embark on a spiritual growth campaign called "The 40 Days of Purpose." Last year, during "The 40 Days of Purpose" (based on "The Purpose Driven Life" by Rick Warren) the questions was "What on Earth am I here for?" This year it shifts to "What on Earth are WE here for?"

The entire campaign will center on community. Our focus will not only to be to build community within our church, but also to serve the community we are in throughout this 40-day campaign.

You can participate by attending the services (special prequel begins this Sunday 9/28) and/or by making us aware of any community service projects that we could potentially participate in.

The fourth annual Harvest House Tour will be held, Sunday, October 5, from Noon to 4:00 PM. Five distinctive styles of living will be featured in the West Hill vicinity of West Hartford. Come and enjoy the beauty of these lovely homes. In addition there will be refreshments and entertainment as part of the ticket fee.

Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 the day of the tour. Advance tickets may be purchased at the Noah Webster House, 521-5362 ext. 10, or the Bookworm in West Hartford Center or Wine Cellars 4, Farmington Ave. Farmington. All proceeds benefit the Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society.

The Noah Webster House museum is sponsoring the reading aloud of the 1828 version of Noah Webster’s Dictionary. The relay kicked off in April 2008 with the President’s College of the University of Hartford reading the 4,686 words of the letter “A”. Since then, other organizations have pledged their time to read other letters. The Avon Free Public Library will read 984 words of the letter "V" on October 5 at 2 PM at the library on 281 Contry Club Road, Avon.

In honor of St. Francis’s feast day, the First Church of Christ, UCC of West Hartford will hold an afternoon service: “Blessing of the Animals”, on Sunday October 5th at 4 p.m.  Held on the front lawn of the church, the service will be lead by Rev. Geordie Campbell and Rev. Susan Izard.  The service is open to the public who are asked to have dogs on leashes and cats and smaller animals in pet carriers. First Church is at 12 South Main Street, on the corner of Farmington Ave. and South Main Street in West Hartford Center.

According to Rev. Izard, Pastor of Spiritual Life, “St. Francis is the Patron Saint of animals because he believed all living creatures were valuable and good. This is a much loved alternative worship time, in which members, friends and neighbors are invited to bring their pets to be blessed.  It is one of the ways that we celebrate the diversity of God’s creation.

For more information contact First Church – 233-9605. www.whfirstchurch.org.

The West Hartford Fire Department will hold an Open House from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM at each of its fire stations during Fire Prevention week, October 6-10. The Open Houses feature demonstrations on EDITH (Exit Drills In The Home), Stop-Drop-Roll and how to use a Fire Extinguisher.  Attendees will also get to squirt a fire hose and meet the Fire Fighters, receive fire prevention handouts and refreshments. Fun for the Whole Family!  The Open House schedule is:

Monday, October 6th - Station #1, 561 Prospect Avenue
Tuesday, October 7th - Station #2, 20 Brace Road
Wednesday, October 8th - Station #3, 1068 New Britain Avenue

Thursday, October 9th - Station #4, 2458 Albany Avenue
Friday, October 10th - Station #5, 51 Berkshire Road

Town Plan & Zoning Meeting, 7:00pm

West Hartford Public Schools' Mentor Program  - Informational Open House
"Sharing Life’s Experiences"

You can make a difference in the life of a child…

Please join us: Tuesday, October 7, 2008 - 12:00 to 2:00 p.m. or 5:00 to 6:00 p.m.
West Hartford Town Hall – Room 422
50 South Main Street
West Hartford, CT

To learn more about our K-12 Mentoring Program, please come by to speak with us (& have a bite to eat)! We look forward to seeing you there!

Contact: Carol Wilkas
School/Business/ Community Partnership Coordinator
(860) 231-6009

The Budget Referendum will be held on Tuesday, October 7. Please vote at your usual polling location. Polls are open from 6 AM to 8 PM.

Due to the budge referendum, the "Meet Your Preschool Teacher and Community Organization Night" scheduled for Tuesday October 7th has been rescheduled to Tuesday, October 28th from 7:00 - 8:00 p.m. in the Town Hall Auditorium, 50 South Main Street, West Hartford.

St. Thomas the Apostle, a fully accredited, Catholic elementary school for children from age three through grade 5, will host its first Open House of the year on Wednesday, Oct. 8, from 9:00 a.m. until noon. Preschool programs are available for three and four year olds. Before and after care are available for children in PreK 4 through grade five.

“We invite prospective parents to drop in at their convenience for a tour, to see our students and teachers in action, and to ask any questions they may have,” said Diane Klingman, Coordinator of Admissions at the school. Children may accompany their parents, if needed.

Applications are currently being accepted for September 2009 enrollment. The school is located at 25 Dover Road, off Farmington Avenue just east of West Hartford Center.

For more information, or to register for Open House, visit the school’s website -www.stthomasapostlewh.org or contact Diane Klingman at 860-236-6257 or dpklingman@stthomasapostlewh.org

Come to the Bishops Corner Library on Wednesday, October 8, at 3:00 p.m. for a very special story time. Meet Chip, a guide dog who is so incredible he had a book written about him. When Chip was a puppy, he was trained by a woman who was a special education teacher. Her students wrote a book about Chip that won a contest by Scholastic Press, Inc. and was published.

If you have ever wondered what a guide dog does or how you should act around a person with a guide dog then you need to meet Chip and his owner, Andrea, at the library. Parents and children are invited to hear Chip’s story and ask questions about guide dogs. No registration necessary. For more information call the library at 561-8213 or 561-8212. The library is located at 15 Starkel Road, West Hartford.

Yom Kippur
Public schools are closed

WEST HARTFORD CONNECTIONS LEADS EXCHANGE GROUP

West Hartford Connections Leads Group, operated by the West Hartford Chamber of Commerce will meet on Fridays, October 10th & 24th at Pond House Cafe, 1555 Asylum Avenue in West Hartford. All business professionals are invited to attend. The meeting schedule will continue the 2nd and 4th Friday of each month from 7:30- 9:30 AM with the location rotating monthly.

Don't miss the Moms and More Consignment Sale on Saturday, October 11 from 9 am – 1 pm at 111 Overbrook Rd. Kids, babies, maternity items will benefit the Moms and More Halloween Parade. Rain or Shine.

Voter registration will be conducted by members of the League of Women Voters of Greater Hartford on Saturday, October 11, 10:00 am – 1:00 pm at the Main Library, 20 South Main Street, West Hartford. Please bring some form of identification.

World Food Program at Blue Back Square

A live preview performance of Mozart's opera Don Giovanni will take place on Sat., Oct. 11, 2:00-3:00 p.m. at the Noah Webster Library. Don Giovanni, a.k.a. Don Juan, is the legendary "love-em-and leave-em" scoundrel of history and opera. Set in Spain in the 1600s, this is the chronicle of the lover's conquests, said to have numbered in the thousands. Those he seduced and abandoned are bent on vengeance. He is pursued by past conquests and by a ghost that demands that he repent and reform--the Don brazenly refuses and is consumed by the fires of hell. In the end, virtue vanquishes vice.