This week: the roadside flower fueling a 2,500-mile flight, and why the monarchs passing through the county right now will never come back. Plus a full events calendar, and the last concert of the season on the Litchfield Green Wednesday evening.
Glad you’re back!
Patrick
The Litchfield Ledger
The best thing about Litchfield County isn't the landscape.
It's the people you haven't met yet.
Thu, Aug 20, 2026
6:30 PM
The Roadside Flower Fueling a Flight to Mexico
A summer monarch lives a few weeks. The generation emerging now is built differently, wired to live eight months, long enough to fly to the mountains of central Mexico, wait out the winter in the fir forests there, and begin the trip back north in spring. From here, the flight runs about 2,500 miles, and none of them has ever made it before. The great-grandparents that left Mexico in spring died somewhere along the way north.
They make the whole trip on nectar, and in New England in late August, nectar means goldenrod. The fields turning yellow this week along Route 202, in the meadows at Topsmead, on the roadsides from Kent up to Winsted, are the first fuel stops on a route that runs down the spine of the Appalachians, across Texas, and into the mountains west of Mexico City.
On a warm afternoon, a single stand of goldenrod hums. Bumblebees, honeybees, wasps, beetles, and butterflies all work the flowers at once, and the monarchs drop down in among them, tanking up for an hour or a day before the wind turns right and they push on.
The strange part is that monarchs gain weight on migration. They leave Connecticut lean and arrive in Mexico in early November carrying the fat that has to last them through the winter, all of it built along the way from flowers like these.
Goldenrod takes the blame for late-summer sneezing, but its pollen is heavy and sticky, made to travel on the bodies of insects rather than on the wind, and it barely moves a few feet from the plant on its own. The sneezing is ragweed, a plain green plant that blooms unnoticed in the same ditches at the same time.
The push through Litchfield County runs from now into early October, building through September as the cold fronts start coming down from Canada, each one carrying a fresh wave of butterflies south on its trailing wind. Stand next to a field of goldenrod on a warm afternoon and watch for a while. Anything orange drifting south is on its way to Mexico.
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Our view hiking the Escarpment trail in the Catskills this weekend.
Tuesday the 18th
Gunn Memorial Library, Washington – Crafting History: Ribbon Flower Pins. A suffrage-themed workshop with the Gunn Museum. Learn about local suffragists and make a ribbon flower pin of your own. 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM MAKE A PIN
Wednesday the 19th
Litchfield Green, Litchfield – The last Summer Concert on the Green of the season. Bring a chair and a picnic and see the series out. 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM ONE LAST SHOW
Thursday the 20th
Judea Garden, New Preston – The last Weed & Wine Thursday of the summer at the Steep Rock garden that grows food for area food banks. Pull weeds, then stay for a glass. 5:30 PM WEED AND WINE
Friday the 21st
Gunn Memorial Library, Washington – Dig Into 3D Printing: Design a Button, a beginner-friendly Makerspace session. 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM PRESS A BUTTON
Alain White Field, Bantam – The Bantam Community Farmers Market. 3:00 PM SHOP LOCAL
Kent Farmers Market, Kent – Growers and makers on the green, Friday afternoons. 3:00 PM – 6:00 PM SHOP THE MARKET
The Meeting House, Washington – The Washington Friends of Music Summer Festival, third of four Friday concerts at the First Congregational Church. Students and anyone under 21 free. 5:30 PM HEAR THE PROGRAM
Washington Town Beach, Washington – The Summer Beach Party on Lake Waramaug's East Shore. 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM DOWN TO THE LAKE
South Farms, Morris – The Boondocks Film Society screens Say Anything, with live music, themed food and cocktails, and a commemorative poster to take home. 6:30 PM HOLD UP THE BOOMBOX
Judy Black Park, Washington Depot – Outdoor Movie Night in the park. Bring a blanket. 7:00 PM MOVIE IN THE PARK
Sharon Playhouse, Sharon – Zombie Prom opens, the Launchpad Company's musical comedy performed by local theater artists ages 15 to 20. Runs through Sunday. 7:00 PM GO TO PROM
Saturday the 22nd
Cornwall Village Green, Cornwall – The Cornwall COOP Farmers Market on the green. 9:00 AM SHOP THE GREEN
Judy Black Park, Washington Depot – The Washington Farmers Market. 9:30 AM – 12:30 PM MEET THE FARMERS
The Wish House, West Cornwall – The West Cornwall Farm Market. 10:00 AM MEET THE GROWERS
Institute for American Indian Studies, Washington – Super Summer Fun: A Family Camp Experience, an afternoon of hands-on activities on the museum grounds. 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM SPEND THE AFTERNOON
Hopkins Vineyard, Warren – Live music at the vineyard above Lake Waramaug. 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM WINE AMONG THE VINES
Woodbury Public Library, Woodbury – The Clothing Swap, the one you dropped off for last week. Check the library calendar for hours. SWAP THE CLOSET
Judy Black Park, Washington Depot – Kitchen Céilí: Concert & Contra Dance, traditional Irish and New England music with dancing in the park. 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM JOIN THE DANCE
Gordon Hall, Music Mountain, Falls Village – Buster Keaton's The General (1926) with a live score by pianist Donald Sosin and singer Joanna Seaton. 7:00 PM SILENT FILM, LIVE MUSIC
Sharon Playhouse, Sharon – Zombie Prom, night two. 7:00 PM GO TO PROM
Sunday the 23rd
Hopkins Vineyard, Warren – Live music at the vineyard through the afternoon. 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM WINE AMONG THE VINES
Gordon Hall, Music Mountain, Falls Village – The Lysander Piano Trio in the Sunday chamber series, with a free pre-concert talk at 2. 3:00 PM HEAR THE TRIO
Sharon Playhouse, Sharon – Zombie Prom, the closing matinee. 3:00 PM LAST DANCE
Monday the 24th
Cornwall Conservation Trust, West Cornwall – Bridges Across the Housatonic, an exhibition of paintings of the river crossings, on view this week. Check the Trust's site for gallery hours. SEE THE BRIDGES
A few poll respondents mentioned they didn’t know the Ledger was on Instagram! It is. Photographs of the county between issues, plus events that don’t make the newsletter.
