Friends of Topsmead marks successful 1st year

LITCHFIELD — The Friends of Topsmead State Forest in Litchfield are holding its second annual meeting at 10 a.m. on Oct. 19. The meeting will be held at the Litchfield Community Center, 421 Bantam Road. All members and interested public are invited to attend.

The Friends of Topsmead State Forest is a nonprofit organization that provides programs to engage the public and local school students in learning about and preserving the ecology of the park, and enhancing the visitor experience at Topsmead State Forest. Incorporated as a 501(c)(3) in August 2018, the group has already made a positive impact on Topsmead by initiating several projects.

At the meeting, members of the Friends of Topsmead will elect the board of directors and officers for 2020, and president Carol Gould will present a summary of the organization’s accomplishments, and goals for the coming year. She will also present the results of a member survey conducted in the past month.

Board members will be on hand to speak about the successful bluebird trail project, the monarch butterfly project, restoration of the Orintas family butterfly garden and early progress on a welcome center in the shed near the main house. The organization has held several member events in the past year: an early spring workday; Topsmead in Bloom; and a Butterfly Garden rededicationBritish Tea late this summer.

The featured speaker will be Christina Volpe, Secretary of the Connecticut Freedom Trail and Historian and Outreach Coordinator for Heritage Consultants LLC. Volpe will speak about the making of an oral history. This topic is relevant to the Friends of Topsmead as the organization is working on an oral history video project called, “Bob Orintas Remembers Life at Topsmead."

Orintas, who spent his summers living at Topsmead, is the son of the late John Ortintas, who served as Edith Morton Chase's chauffeur. He is retiring from the board at the end of this year.

For information, contact board member Jenny Riggs at 8603356148. For more information about the Friends of Topsmead State Forest and/or to donate to the "Bob Orintas Remembers Life at Topsmead" or other projects, go to http://www.friendsof topsmead.org .