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This little girl was fascinated with the bubble machine at Particle Accelerator fund-raiser event Aug. 7. More photos on page 4 and even more on our Facebook page Aug. 11. Linda Lemmon photo.



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top left: Jack Young Jr. in a photo at Particle Accelerator Aug. 7.  The fund-raiser was founded after Young's suicide at the age of 27.
middle left: Guitarist from synerGy
On the front page: Wall of Angels that honors those who passed.


Aug. 7 Putnam’s Rotary Park was filled with live music and local residents and families enjoying the gorgeous day and the free family event, Particle Accelerator: A Day of Music and Hope.
After moving the concert online last year, Particle returned to an in-person concert for its 15th year in 2021. Particle Accelerator is an annual benefit concert that raises awareness for suicide and depression and funds for United Services. The concert raised just over $8,000 for local community behavioral health services.
The free, all-day music festival featured 15 bands playing music of all genres and for all ages.
“Particle’s 15th year was a wonderful day of music and hope,” said event co-founder Grace Young. “The weather cooperated, the bands were phenomenal, and getting together out in the sunshine after last year’s pandemic made the event seem new again.”
The festival started in 2007 by family and friends of Putnam resident Jack Young Jr., who died by suicide on his 27th birthday that year. Event organizers include Grace and Jack Young Sr. and Eric and Sandy Gould, all of Putnam.
The annual benefit concert has two main goals, organizers said. The first is to raise funds and awareness to support United Services, Inc., one of Connecticut’s most comprehensive private, non-profit behavioral health centers, providing mental and behavioral health education, prevention, treatment and social services to the children, adults and families of northeastern Connecticut since 1964.
“As we all continue to struggle with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is more important than ever to start conversations in our communities and homes about mental health, depression and suicide,” said United Services President/CEO Diane L. Manning. “Particle Accelerator and United Services are here to help.”
Performers Saturday included: synerGy, Kala Farnham, Llama Tsunami, ilyAIMY, Elaine Drive, Infinite Groove, OK and the Night Crew and more.
“When I’m up there announcing bands, I look out into the crowd and I see hope, happiness and folks putting their differences aside to have a little fun, if only for a few minutes,” said event co-founder Eric Gould. “It’s an honor to help make that happen and I can’t thank all of these artists that donate their time and talent every year enough, nor can I thank organizers, volunteers and fans enough. I love every single one of you from the bottom of my heart.”
The second event goal is to provide information and support for depression and suicide prevention, while promoting music and civic engagement as a healthy alternative to drug and alcohol abuse among young adults.
Aug. 7 brought large crowds to the park, where residents could also learn about local mental health and other social service resources from United Services, the Windham County chapter for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), the Norwich Vet Center and Supporting and Engaging Resources for Action and Change (SERAC).
Particle Accelerator’s Wall of Angels, a moving tribute to friends and family members lost to suicide, honored more than 280 people this year with photos on the wall and the lighting of luminaria at dusk.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicide was the 10th leading cause of death for Americans in 2020, with 47,511 suicides reported.

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A look straight up at the grand staircase at the main entrance --- glass, metal, wood and light. More photos on page 5 and even more on our Facebook page when this story is updated Aug. 11. Linda Lemmon photo.

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Children's library: Ring lights, colorful carpet and - coming soon - a tree mural on wall on the right.

The wavy wood ceiling in the adult section of the new library.

Hallway with carpet planks and unique LED lighting.

The two-story wall of glass in the library.


By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM — The final push — jam packed with details and finishing touches and punch lists — is underway at the new Municipal Complex.
And the details are everywhere. Anthony DiMauro, Downes Construction Company project manager, said many finishes and details are done at this point, toward the end, to avoid damage.
In the library, some shades are on the windows in the adult section, the carpeting in the adult section is finished and a more fun and youthful mix of carpet colors and shapes lights up the children’s section. Three parts of the library are jaw dropping. In the adult section thin wooden panels undulate like waves across the ceiling. The soaring two-story section next to that, replete with a two-story wall of glass, is lighted with vertical light bars, looking much like smooth icicles. And in the children’s section, fun lights in the shape of rings are next to a mural wall that will feature curvy wood work and a wrap mural featuring a stylistic tree.
DiMauro said they anticipate finishing the grand staircase in the “in a week to week and a half.” Skinny vertical glass panels are being installed under the bannister. The bannister and rails will be capped and then a skid-resistant black paint will go on the treads and the metal work will be painted.
Some baseboards, some touchup painting, window treatments, signage and much more are being done. DiMauro said there will be a directory of offices next to the main entrance doors, next to the elevator on the first floor and on the second floor. All the offices are numbered and some already have their charcoal gray raised-letter signs on the woodwork. He said the grouting for all the tilework was done last weekend. Cleaning is also on the schedule.
Some of the details are a multitude of inspections. DiMauro said the fire marshal has been through and the building’s fire protections and alarms are “live.” The elevator inspection has yet to be done and the state has the option of inspecting the vault in the town clerk’s office. He said the inspection by the town’s building official, Chad Sessums, is set for the week of Aug. 16.
DiMauro said they will be prepared to receive furniture this week. He added there are a couple snags with some new furniture deliveries.
Outside, the concrete semicircle around the flagpoles “planter” will be done this week as will the painting of the lines on the newly paved parking lots and entrances/exits. The additional flags will be installed when they come in — adding additional flagpoles was a late idea.
The main entrance on the School Street will have its two exits and one entrance marked. Most of the site work is finished and he anticipates that hydro seeding will be done the week of Aug. 16.
The dark charcoal gray metal panels are being installed outside. DiMauro said the metal panels at the north and the south ends of the building are finished. More prep work finessing is needed before the metal panels are installed around the two-story main entrance. He anticipates that all the metal work will be finished by the end of next week.
Town Administrator Elaine Sistare said the project is still under budget and on schedule. She said “We are still expecting the building to be turned over in late August.” After getting settled in she hopes to be open to the public after Labor Day.
Town officials announced last week that the “old” Town Hall will be closed beginning Aug. 20 to begin the move. The town anticipates reopening the week of Sept. 7. Mayor Barney Seney said during that transition period between the two buildings business can still be done via phone, email or the drop box in the parking lot at the old town hall. “It was one of the lessons COVID-19 taught us,” Seney said. “Getting work done will still be possible.”

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Opera in the
Park returns
Win-win for Quiet Corner
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM — 15 years? No really – 15 years? Yes, that’s how long it’s been since operatic song graced Rotary Park.
Parks and Recreation Director Willie Bousquet said the upcoming “Night of Opera,” at 7:15 p.m. Aug. 14, is special for that reason and because it’s loaded with local connections.
“It had been 15 years since we’ve had opera in the park. This has been a long time coming,” Bousquet said. “People had been asking about when opera would return to the park.”
As it happened, the Performing Arts of Northeast Connecticut had been presenting the Salt Marsh Opera with children’s programs at the Loos Performing Arts Center. But COVID-19 put the brakes on that in 2020. Putnam was looking for opera and the Performing Arts of Northeast Connecticut and Salt Marsh Opera were looking for an outside venue for a performance. Win-win.
Bousquet said working with Salt Marsh which is based in N. Stonington, has been “awesome. It’s a good Connecticut experience,” he said. People will enjoy the opera and the music, he added.
Sara Jobin is the Salt Marsh opera conductor. She is a Grammy-nominated conductor with extensive experience in opera. She has broken “the glass podium” at several companies including San Francisco with her debut in 2004.  She has been principal conductor for the Center for Contemporary Opera since 2011 and champions American composers and worked with singers at all levels, from community choruses to Wagnerian soprano Nina Stemme. She lives in Richmond, Va.
Three opera singers slated to appear include: soprano Janani Sridhar, mezzo-soprano Sarah Nordin and bass-baritone Tyler Putnam.
Singaporean Sridhar is well known for her interpretation of operatic heroines. Some of her operatic highlights include: Micaëla (Carmen), Rusalka (Rusalka), Alice (Falstaff ), Musetta (La Bohème), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), and Violetta (La Traviata).
Praised by Opera News for the “clear beauty” of her voice and her “spot on comic timing,” Nordin brings an exquisite blend of vocal artistry and strong dramatic instincts to a variety of repertoire across opera and concert stages.
Possessing a voice described as “robust and resonant” by TheatreMania and deemed a “standout” by Opera Magazine, Putnam performs a variety of repertoire ranging from Sarastro in Mozart’s The Magic Flute to Luther Billis in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific. He was slated to perform here in 2020 but COVID-19 got in the way.

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