Dialogue & a movie?
POMFRET — The Pomfret Green Team will be hosting its winter 2022 series of thought-provoking movies starting Jan. 24. All movies will be shown via a Zoom meeting starting at 7 p.m. and a short dialogue will follow.  To register for the Zoom meeting, visit the Green Team web site at https://www.pomfretct.gov/green-team/pages/winter-film-series and click on the Zoom Meeting registration link. Co-sponsors include the Pomfret Library and the Connecticut Audubon Center at Pomfret.
Jan. 24: “Extinction: The Facts” (With a million species at risk of extinction, Sir David Attenborough explores how this crisis of biodiversity has consequences for us all, threatening food and water security, undermining our ability to control our climate and even putting us at greater risk of pandemic diseases.)
“Feb. 28: “The Nature Makers” (In a world increasingly dominated by humans, three teams of wildlife conservationists go to extraordinary and seemingly unnatural lengths to try to save threatened species and habitat in the American heartland.)
March 28: “2040” (2040 is a hybrid feature documentary that looks to the future, but is vitally important NOW! Award-winning director Damon Gameau (That Sugar Film) embarks on journey to explore what the future could look like by the year 2040 if we simply embraced the best solutions already available to us to improve our planet and shifted them rapidly into the mainstream. )

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COVID test site at the blue building at Murphy Park. Free. All welcome. Linda Lemmon photo.


Free COVID-19 tests
at Murphy Park
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM — Progressive Diagnostics started its first day of COVID-19 PCR & Antibody testing Jan. 21 and were swamped from the beginning.
The Trumbull company will be providing the tests “free and we turn down no one,” according to staffers at the site. All welcome.
Testing is from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday inside the blue Murphy Park building. Signage directs that you enter on the road next to the former armory and leave going by the Little League bleachers.
Appointments are required. Go to progressive-diagnostics.com to make an appointment.
Staffers said they were “swamped earlier but it settled out”. She added that the company “is going for” adding Saturdays on Feb. 5.
Two CT National Guard members were there assisting.
According to the Progressive Diagnostics website, the company is offering “same day results.”
“Same day results if tested by noon. Next day results if tested after noon. Samples collected Saturday or Sunday are reported Monday.”
The site added: “Turnaround times are on average and are not a guarantee. Holidays may also affect turnaround times.”

 

Fire & Ice
Fest coming
Feb. 12
PUTNAM — The 11th annual Fire & Ice Festival will be here Feb. 12. The Putnam Business Association, in partnership with The Town of Putnam, will once again host the largest single ice block competition in all of New England.
The blockbuster event, scheduled from noon to 9 p.m. on Feb. 12,, boasts more than five dozen ice carvings, ice photo opportunities, a 30-foot inflatable igloo, character meet and greets, roaming stilt and LED Light Walkers, glowing fire torches, fire dancing performances, a cake decorating contest, and the newest addition to Main St. — MoheganSunCasino.com’s game show “Temperature Rising.”
From noon to 5 p.m., watch professional, amateur and group carvers create their masterpieces, with an awards ceremony at the Congregational Church of Putnam at 6 p.m. Ice carvings will decorate the streets of downtown Putnam. Patrons can watch as 300-pound ice blocks are transformed into a variety of shapes and figures. The 300-lb ice blocks are sponsored by local businesses and carved by dedicated artists. Professional demonstrations are being sponsored by Quiet Corner Inn, Putnam Ford, Ketel One Vodka and The Broken Crust.  In addition, an event-inspired photo opportunities will be sponsored by Northeast Flooring and Kitchens, Jewett City Savings Bank, Woodstock Building Associates and Foster Corporation, and for adult patrons a MoheganSunCasino.com-sponsored Ice Bar serving drink specials by The Courthouse Bar and Grille and Ice Luges will be located throughout the festival grounds.
The “Temperature Rising” game show, hosted by MoheganSunCasino.com, will see players answer HOT or COLD questions, with a chance to win cash prizes up to $2,500.  Players are chosen at random from a pool of spectators who have downloaded, registered and deposited at least $10 to play games on the MoheganSunCasino.com Online Gaming App. Must be 21 or older to participate.
Back by popular demand will be a 30-foot inflatable igloo sponsored by Enchanted Jewelry. Character meet and greets will be available from 1 to 4 p.m. inside the igloo, as well as face painting and kid-inspired crafts and creations. Also returning are the Lover’s Lane, an arts and crafts alley presented by Putnam Public Schools, the REMAX hot air balloon, a stilt-walking princess and LED light-walker roving around which are sponsored by Byrnes Agency Insurance.
The Congregational Church of Putnam will feature fire pits and lunch offerings and free hot chocolate.  Inside the church will be a special cake contest, with creations inspired by the theme “Love is Brewing”.  Professional and novice baker’s culinary masterpieces will be on display all day. Entrants will be scored by specialty judges based on originality, best use of main ingredient and artistic creation. There will also be a people’s choice award.
As the sun goes down at the Fire & Ice Festival, fire torches will set downtown Putnam aglow. The ice sculpture masterpieces will be lit up. Adding to the spectacle, visitors will be wowed by fire dancing performances from duo Boston Circus Guild, courtesy of sponsors Gerardi Insurance, NorthStar Home Loans, Rawson Materials and Fluid Coating Technologies. Performances will take place at 6 and 7:30 p.m. with non-stop thrills choreographed to music culminating in a duo finale!
For more info or more on how to participate, either as a carver, a volunteer, a cake contest participant, or as a visitor to this unique festival, visit www.discoverputnam.com.

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