This weekend in Norwalk: an opening reception on West Avenue, sunset cruises past three lighthouses, and the last look at A Journey of Hope

Morning, Norwalk. This is the quiet weekend before the loud one. The Oyster Festival takes Veterans Memorial Park the following Friday, Music Theatre of Connecticut opens its 40th season the same night, and both of those are still a week out. What is left in between is a genuinely good Labor Day weekend if you like your city at half volume: a new show opening on West Avenue, a boat that leaves at 5:30 and puts you back on the dock by dark, and a mansion exhibit closing on Sunday that you have had since March to see.

Best for families this weekend: Music With Deirdre at the Norwalk Public Library on Friday morning, free and thirty minutes long, and the 45 minute house tour at the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum, which is the version a kid will actually sit through.

The Norwalk Islands Sunset Cruise, departing the Norwalk Seaport Association dock at 90 Water Street (South Norwalk), 5:30 to 7:30 PM, Wednesday through Sunday into September. Two hours out past Peck Ledge, Green Ledge and Sheffield Island lighthouses with a captain's mate telling you which merchants and rum runners used this water first. The boat caps at 49 passengers, everyone needs a ticket regardless of age, and you are allowed to bring your own snacks and drinks aboard, which is the part people find out about too late. Tickets are $33 and nonrefundable unless the weather cancels the run. Ticketed, all ages, outdoors. Details.

"Abundance" at The Norwalk Art Space, 455 West Avenue, free, on view through November 5. Five artists on the natural systems that keep us fed and standing: Mia Brownell, Wende Caporale-Greene, Duvian Montoya, Constance Old, and photographer Joan Fitzsimmons. Free, all ages, indoors. Details.

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Opening reception for "Abundance" at The Norwalk Art Space, 455 West Avenue, 6 to 8 PM. Free, and the one night the artists are in the room. Free, all ages, indoors. Details.

3D Design for Teens at the Norwalk Public Library, Studio One, 1 Belden Avenue, 5 to 6 PM. Free, teens, indoors. Details.

Heated Rivalry meetup at Troupe429, 3 Wall Street, 7:30 PM. First Thursday of the month, and the crowd that shows up for it has opinions. Free, 21+, indoors. Details.

Music With Deirdre at the Norwalk Public Library, 1 Belden Avenue, 10:30 to 11 AM. Thirty minutes, free, and pitched at the age where thirty minutes is the correct length. Free, kids welcome, indoors. Details.

CHOICES Medicare counseling at the Norwalk Public Library, 1 Belden Avenue, 10 AM to 1 PM. Connecticut's Health Insurance Assistance, Outreach, Information and Referral program, in person, no appointment fee. Free, adults, indoors. Details.

Social Security Video Connect at the Norwalk Public Library, 1 Belden Avenue, 10 AM to noon. A video appointment with a Social Security representative without the drive to Bridgeport. Free, adults, indoors. Details.

Norwalk is getting the legal power to padlock the smoke shops selling cannabis without a license, and the fines are not small. A new state statute takes effect October 1 that lets the city close and seal a business after a judge signs off, with penalties of $30,000 a day for an operator selling unlicensed marijuana and $10,000 a day for a landlord who knowingly leases to one. Assistant Corporation Counsel Brian Candela put it plainly: "The new statute will allow the city to close and seal the business." Police Chief James Walsh estimates 35 to 45 vape and smoke shops are operating in Norwalk, and employees at more than a dozen have already been arrested for illegal cannabis or THC vape sales. The city plans to write to landlords with documented evidence first and start suing on October 2 if the sales continue. Source: NancyOnNorwalk.

The city wants buses to run both directions on Lexington Avenue, and the sidewalks are what pays for it. Lexington is currently too narrow for two way bus service, so the redesign presented at an August 31 open house would narrow sidewalks to a minimum of four feet on one side to fit buses going both ways to the train station. It also adds a raised intersection at Cardinal Place, pedestrian crossing beacons, and free street trees for homeowners who want one. Jim Travers, the city's Director of Transportation, Mobility and Parking, is running it, with design by the engineering firm GPI and money from the state Community Investment Fund secured with help from Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff. Worth noting the context: a separate federal grant for another Norwalk project was cut from $3.5 million to $800,000. No construction date is set. Source: NancyOnNorwalk.

Mayor Barbara Smyth and four state legislators put out a joint statement after federal immigration enforcement activity in the city on August 27. State Sen. Bob Duff, State Rep. Kadeem Roberts, State Rep. Dominique Johnson and Interim Schools Superintendent Sandra Faioes joined the mayor, who said "Norwalk is a city that welcomes and values all of our residents, regardless of immigration status" and noted the police department operates under Connecticut's TRUST Act. Similar activity was reported in Danbury, Stamford and Hamden. The statement points residents to Building One Community, the Connecticut Institute for Refugees and Immigrants, Jewish Family Services of Greenwich, and the Connecticut Immigrant Support Network. Source: NancyOnNorwalk.

Short list, and that is the honest read on the weekend. The sunset cruise runs again at 5:30 PM out of 90 Water Street, and the mansion is open for tours.

Coding Saturdays with the Norwalk Public Library, on Zoom, 11 AM to noon. Free, teens, online. Details.

The last day of "A Journey of Hope" at the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum, 295 West Avenue. The exhibit has been up since March 12 and closes with the museum on Sunday. The 45 minute tour of the first floor period rooms and servants' quarters runs at 1 PM, and the 90 minute version at noon and 2 PM. Tours sell out often enough that the museum tells you to buy ahead, and this is the weekend where that advice has teeth. Ticketed, all ages, indoors. Details.

The sunset cruise runs its last sailing of the weekend, 90 Water Street, 5:30 to 7:30 PM. Ticketed, all ages, outdoors. Details.

The Norwalk Public Library closes at 1 PM on Sunday and stays closed Monday for Labor Day. Details.

The 48th Norwalk Seaport Association Oyster Festival takes Veterans Memorial Park September 11 through 13. Friday 6 to 11 PM, Saturday 11 AM to 11 PM, Sunday 11 AM to 8 PM, with Lita Ford on Friday, Parmalee on Saturday, and JUMP: America's Van Halen Experience on Sunday. Unlimited carnival rides are $35 on Saturday and Sunday between 11 AM and 3 PM, and kids under 12 get in free on Sunday with a paid adult ticket. Details.

Music Theatre of Connecticut opens its 40th season with "Harmony" on September 11, previews at 2 and 8 PM, running through September 27 at the MTC MainStage, 509 Westport Avenue. Tickets run $51 to $66 plus fees. Original Broadway cast member Constantine Pappas plays the Young Rabbi and Frank Mastrone, of Phantom of the Opera and Jekyll & Hyde, plays the Rabbi. Details.

"Arts Over Norwalk" hits the SoNo 50 rooftop on September 30, an Arts and Culture Commission party for the arts district. Details.

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Cooper

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