TOWN MANAGER'S MESSAGE:

It’s August again, and the dog days of summer are upon us once more.  If you venture out for an extended time, stay hydrated.  This is a busy summer for the Town.  We have had another great fireworks display.  We have had an active summer camp season with fun programming for our children.  As we look into August, we still have several projects underway.   

Wangumbaug Lake, or more commonly known as Coventry Lake is one of our greatest assets in the Town of Coventry.  That’s why so many people over the years have built their homes or summer homes around the Lake.  Many enjoy the Lake for fishing, boating and swimming.  It also provides a unique ecosystem with birds, wildlife and fish that deserve our community’s good stewardship.  In conjunction with our Lake Advisory Committee, we are treating Coventry Lake again this year to combat the hydrilla infestation that is lurking just below the water’s surface on the north shore of the Lake.  This treatment is something that would be so much more costly without the financial assistance of the State of Connecticut. We are pleased to again have received an Aquatic Invasive Species Grant in the amount of $75,000 toward the fluoridone treatments that are required. This covers about 50% of the treatment costs.   We received our first treatment in July and will have two more before summer’s end.  The treatments are safe and do not harm humans and animals, and so we can continue to enjoy the lake throughout the season.

Let’s not forget our other lake to the east, Eagleville Lake.  We are teaming up with the Town of Mansfield to treat this lake for invasive plants, such as fanwort.  We also have a serious problem here with water chestnut. This invasive plant issue has received some limited State grants that greatly help, but most of all, our volunteers have helped in manually removing these invasive plants by hand.   They recently held a successful water chestnut pull-party event. We thank them for their efforts. They certainly have made a difference in keeping up the water quality of Eagleville Lake.

Volunteers this summer have also made a difference in other Town improvement projects.  We have had volunteers join our Protected Spaces Stewardship Committee members to make trail improvements and to construct foot bridges.  Recently Boy Scout Troop 65 joined in and did a nice job on the new foot bridges in Williams Preserve.  We appreciate these volunteers and hope others will join in for future trail projects!  

Additionally, during this summer season we are working on road paving, drainage and the extension of the water line for residents on Plains Road that have had their wells contaminated with high levels of sodium chloride. The Town will be seeking bids for construction for the water line extension later this summer or in fall depending on the approval of State permitting.  This project is estimated to cost $2.6 million, but due to grants and forgivable loans that the Town was able to acquire, the cost to the Town will be approximately just less than $600,000.  This project was approved by Town voters at the May 6^th referendum.

Other Town projects remain in engineering, but are expected to move to construction soon. These involve sidewalks and crosswalks that will improve pedestrian safety.  One is the extension of the sidewalk on Main Street from Hemlock to Winterberry.  The Town will seek construction bids this fall.  Another project is the signaled crosswalks on Main Street in the Village and Cross Street at George Hersey Robertson School.  We also hope to advance this project forward this fall as well, pending the approval by the State of our engineering plans.

Summer is short, so enjoy these warm days of August.   I hope to see you all around Town this month. I’ll be at the Farmers' Market, or maybe on the Lakeview Restaurant deck enjoying lunch and the great view.  Should you wish to contact me, please email JDrumm@coventry-ct.gov or call the office at 860-742-6324. Frequent updates are also posted to the Town Manager’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/CoventryCTTownManager.

Sincerely,

James Drumm

COVENTRY PARKS & RECREATION:

The Before/After School Program, Rec Daze, is NOW OPEN for registrations. Program is open to children in Grades K – 5 and is held at the Community Building in Patriots Park. Monthly and daily options available. Morning program runs 7 am – 8:15 am with transportation to school and afternoon program runs with transportation from school 3:30pm – 6:00 pm.  

Half-price beach stickers available starting August 1! $12/first vehicle, $6/additional vehicle, $5 Senior Pass (55+)

Program registration:  https://secure.rec1.com/CT/coventry-ct/catalog 

BOOTH & DIMOCK MEMORIAL LIBRARY:

The Booth & Dimock Memorial Library is open Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 10:00-8:00, Friday from 10:00-6:00, and Saturday from 10:00-3:00. There is still time to sign up for Summer Reading, complete some fun challenges, and win prizes! Our Summer Reading Finale is an after-hours Library Laser Tag event on August 22 at 6:00. The children’s room will transform into a laser-tag arena where teams will compete in this fun all-ages event! 

We are pleased the announce the return of our Second Annual Tie Dye Day! Bring your own t-shirt or other fabric item on August 7 at 1:00 to create some groovy, custom tie dye clothing. This outdoor program is open to all ages and has a rain date of August 13 at 1:00. 

Adults and youth are welcome to participate in a variety of book clubs and story times offered at Booth & Dimock Library. These literacy-based programs help to foster a life-long love of reading! 

Books for the following book clubs can be checked out at the library.

• Mystery Book Club – August 1 at 1:00
• Wednesday Night Book Club – August 20 at 6:30
• Senior Center Book Club – August 27 at 1:30 – *Note: this book club takes place at the Senior Center.

Join us for the following story times!

• New Book Story Time – August 5 at 6:30 – Featuring new books at the library.
• Tiny Desk Story Time – August 8 at 2:00 – Pick out books you want to be read by our librarians!
• Sweet Dreams Story Time – August 19 at 6:30 – A soothing nighttime story.

Children’s Programs

Playgroup – Every Wednesday at 10:30 – Immerse your child in the enchantment of reading at our play group! Enjoy free-play and the change to socialize with other kids, all while nurturing a lifelong love for books.

Furry Scaly Friends – August 14 at 3:00 – The Furry Scaly Friends crew consists of dozens of creatures including ferrets, long haired guinea pigs, sugar gliders, rabbits, hedgehogs, chinchilla, prairie dogs, dwarf hamsters, long haired hamsters, gerbil, opossum, sulcata tortoise, mini pig, turtle, fire skink, ackie monitor, red footed tortoise, dumbo rats, hermit crabs, bearded dragon, tarantulas, leopard gecko, gargoyle gecko, jumping spider, axolotl, python, corn snake, hognose snake, milk snake, iguana, pac man frog, degu’s blue tongue skink and uromastyx! This free-form style program will allow you to go from pen to pen and meet each animal at your own pace, while also getting to learn more about each friend!

Science Thursday – Thursday August 21 at 4:00 – Calling all young scientists! Join us for an exciting program designed to spark curiosity and creativity in children grades 2 – 5. Each month, kids will explore cool scientific concepts through interactive, hands-on activities! 

Tween Programs
 *Note: Tween programs are reserved for kids grades 3-7.

Tween Dungeons and Dragons – August 1 at 4:30 – Enter our new world of monthly Tween DnD. Registration is required.

Tween Crafternoons – August 15 at 4:00 – Join us for an afternoon of all things crafting! Whether you want to make friendship bracelets, paint a picture, make personalized buttons, or even make custom shrinky dinks, we’ll have tons of ways to get creative all in one program.

Creative Wheels Caravan – Wednesday July 30 at 1:00pm – Get ready to ignite your imagination and cultivate your creativity with Creative Wheels Caravan! Join Lauren in her mobile crafting classroom to make your own screen-printed library bag! Best for grades 3-7. 

Teen Programs

* Note, teen programs are reserved for youth in grades 6-12, or ages 12-17.
 Bob-It Tournament – August 6 at 5:00 – Head to head elimination bouts with the library’s bop-it. Winner gets bragging rights.

Teen Crafternoon – August 8 at 4:00 – Button maker, shrinky dinks, friendship bracelets, and more. Just an afternoon of good crating, good music, and snacks.

Split Screen Gaming – August 13 at 5:00 – Let’s get together and play some of our favorite multiplayer Switch games! The group will decide between games like Super Smash, Mario Party, and Mario Kart!

Teen Dungeons and Dragons – August 14 and August 28 at 4:00 – Join our party for a Teen Dnd! We can provide your character, or you can bring your own leveled up to our current level. Found out current, level, character creation help, and more at www.coventrypl.org/teendnd.

Teen Cooking Class – August 19 at 4:00 – Learn to cook for yourself and others! This time we’re making chicken stir fry! In this hands-on class, together we’ll learn how to safely handle and prepare chicken, cut up loads of colorful vegies, and stir fry everything up with scratch-made sauce!

Kawaii Drawing Club – August 26 at 4:00 – Love cute, colorful, and creative art? Join Miss Rachel for Kawaii Art. This fun, relaxed program is perfect for teens who want to learn about or already enjoy drawing in the kawaii style. Work on your own projects or get inspired with prompts and easy tutorials,

For up-to-date information on these exciting programs, make sure to check out our website at www.coventrypl.org/events

Adult Programs

Sunday Matinee – August 3 at 2:00 – This monthly cinematic event intended aims to introduce the audience to exciting films they may have never seen before. A discussion of the feature film takes place before the movie starts.

Booth & Dimock Memorial Library
 1134 Main Street
 Coventry, CT 06238
 860-742-7606
 www.coventrypl.org
 bdlibrary@coventry-ct.gov