For many the first weekend in August means one thing, Washington Street closes to vehicles and up pops art and music. Saturday is the first full day, if you are into the art exhibits, while Sunday offers up the puppet parade as the main attraction. Dining al fresco isn’t just limited to the food court. Many of the restaurants have outdoor tables, or air conditioning if the weather stays hot and humid.

It’s their 37th year and the complete line up of music and exhibiting artists is available here:

The Norwalk Library has organized some Titanic events to note that 100 year mark since the infamous sinking of RMS Titanic. Check out the events listed below:

*Titanic Summer

Family Fun on Saturday, July 28

• Start at the main library on Belden Avenue at 11:00 with Norwalk Reads’ Free Book Fair, featuring a giveaway of Stewie the Duck Learns to Swim, (all 500 copies donated by Stew Leonard’s).
• Move on to Mill Hill Historic Park at 11:45 to get started on the Letterboxing Trail.
• Back to the library at noon for CT state troubadour Tom Callinan’s Songs & Tales of Ships & Whales.
• At 1:00 move to Water Street for “Boats Afloat”. At 1:00, see the Norwalk Police department boat at 100 Water Street. At 2:00 go to Rex Marine’s small boat and dive shop, and at 3:00, when the oyster boats return, go to Hillard Bloom Shellfish’s dock at 132 Water Street. Librarians will be giving away more books at each location, along with the Titanic Reading List for all ages.
• At 11 am, 1 pm and 4 pm see Titanic at the giant IMAX screen at the Maritime Aquarium
• At the end of the day, don’t miss the Jim Clark Trio singing summertime songs back at the library from 4:30 to 5:30.

*other Titanic events:

1:30 to 3:30 every afternoon in July, Stepping Stones’ Studio Lab will host Titanic events for children.

July 21 at 2:00, Titanic Adventure book talk at Stepping Stones by author Jennifer Carter, the first woman to dive for the Titanic wreckage.

July 25 at 7:00, The Norwalk Public Library Mother-Daughter book discussion on The Time-Traveling Fashionista: On board the Titanic!

July 26 at noon, The Norwalk Public Library Books Sandwiched In will discuss Walter Lord’s A Night to Remember.

July 26 at 6:30, The Norwalk Public Library, film showing of restored print of the 1958 film, A Night to Remember.

August 8 7:00 pm Local author Charlotte Rogan will talk about her new book, The Lifeboat: a novel at The Norwalk Public Library, 1 Belden Avenue.

All summer long, download the Titanic Summer Reading List for readers of all ages, and don’t miss the Helen Candee exhibit at the Lockwood Mathews Mansion Museum!

Titanic Partners:

DiscoverNorwalk.com, Greater Norwalk Arts Council, Greater Norwalk Chamber of Commerce, Hillard Bloom Shellfish, Lockwood Mathews Mansion Museum, Maritime Aquarium, Norwalk 2.0, Norwalk Arts Commission, Norwalk Education Foundation, Norwalk Historical Society, Norwalk Jazz Connection, Norwalk Reads!, Norwalk Police Department, Norwalk Public Library, Rex Marine, Rex Dive Center, Small Boat Shop, Stepping Stones Museum for Children, and Stew Leonard’s.

What more can be said here. Art, music, food, fun. It’s the start of something new, at the spot of something old. It’s a celebration. You could almost say, it’s a marriage. Norwalk is getting hitched to the arts community. Now you just need to crash the party.

See the biggest, brightest images ever shot of the sunken Titanic – shown life-size on the giant IMAX screen – when “Titanica” returns for three special showings on Sat., July 28 at The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk.

The compelling documentary will play at 11 a.m. and 1 & 4 p.m. on the 28^th – in Connecticut’s largest IMAX movie theater, with a screen that’s six stories high – as part of the Norwalk Public Library’s “Titanic Summer” celebration.

This past April 15 marked the 100^th anniversary of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, which occurred after a collision with an iceberg mere days into her maiden voyage. Of the 2,224 people aboard, only 710 survived.

Titanic disappeared beneath the waves until its wreckage was located in 1985, in two pieces 2.5 dangerous miles down in the North Atlantic. “Titanica” lets audiences join a 1991 scientific expedition whose members dive in cramped deep-sea vehicles to search for and explore the wreck. And they hear the poignant recollections of Eva Hart, who survived the sinking at age 7.

“ ‘Titanica’ remains one of the most popular IMAX movies ever shown at The Maritime Aquarium,” said Chris Loynd, the attraction’s marketing director. “It made its New England premiere at the Aquarium in November 1983 and drew sustained crowds for more than four years. The Norwalk library’s Titanic event offered us a great opportunity to bring ‘Titanica’ back for these exclusive shows. Many people will thrill to seeing this amazing IMAX movie for the first time in Titanic’s anniversary year.”

Tickets for this 45-minute version of “Titanica” on July 28 are $9.50 for adults, $8.50 for seniors 65+ and $7 for children 2-12. Tickets for the film plus Aquarium admission are $20.95 for adults, $19.70 for seniors and $15.50 for children 2-12.

Other “Titanic Summer” events planned by the library include:

•  daily in July from 1:30-3:30 p.m.  – Titanic events in Stepping Stones Museum for Children’s Studio Lab.

•  Thurs., July 26 at noon – a discussion of Walter Lord’s famous 1955 book, “A Night to Remember” in the main public library.

•  Thurs., July 26 at 6:30 p.m.  –  Showing of a restored print of the 1958 film, “A Night to Remember” in the main public library.

•  Sat., July 28 at noon  –  Songs and tales of ships and whales by troubadour Tom Callanan in the main public library.

•  Sat., July 28 from 1 to 3 p.m. –  “Boats Afloat,” a show-and-tell of real boats moored at docks along South Water Street.

•  Sat., July 28 at 4:30 p.m. –  summertime songs by the Jim Clark Trio at the main library.

Fat Cat Pie Co. is a wine bar. You don’t realize this at first, because so much has been raved about over the super thin crust organic pizza, artisan cheese, charcuterie, and farm to table salads. Did I just say farm to table? Yes, and there’s so much buzz out there about local, organic, farm foodie pilgrimages that the words are becoming main streamed.

But let’s get back to what makes Fat Cat Pie Co. the place to chillax and sip a glass of wine or beer while munching on delicious food. It goes back to the philosophy of the cru at Fat Cat who spend time thinking about pairings and palettes and actually go to the producers who make the wines, grow the veggies and otherwise pick carefully the ingredients that go into their simple dishes.

Simplicity is the objective. This is not your fancy, over sauced and exotically paired items for menu porn type of establishment. This is the place you go to hang out and know that you are in real food land. Of course the 6-pack spice boxes let you choose what flavor your palette might be craving.

Ask for the day’s gluten free offerings (when available), and be sure to check out the house desserts.

April 15 is the 100 year mark on the tragic foundering of the RMS Titanic. With a healthy amount of Irish emigrants aboard, it is inly natural that O’Neil’s features the more unusual second fare menu in tribute following the research of “Last Dinner on the Titanic” by Rich Archibold and Dana McCauley.  Reservations are required. Music will be performed by John Whelan and fiddle accompaniment. John produced the music from the hit movie by James Cameron “Titanic”. The cost of the meal is $50 which includes Drink pairing for each course. The proposed menu is pictured below.

]]> http://www.discovernorwalk.com/things-to-do/oneils-irish-pub-recreates-the-last-meal-of-the-titanic/feed/ 0 41.1018677 -73.4197540 http://www.discovernorwalk.com/food/brendans-101/ http://www.discovernorwalk.com/food/brendans-101/#comments Tue, 03 Apr 2012 01:35:34 +0000 Jackie Lightfield http://www.discovernorwalk.com/?p=107

The Maritime Aquarium has been busy, $4 million dollars worth of busy, reimagining what an aquarium msueum should look like. Now 21 new exhibits, 27 new species, and an additional 300 new animals later, the Aquarium is FINally showing off its new look.

THE MARITIME AQUARIUM AT NORWALK, 10 N. Water Street, Norwalk, CT; (203) 852-0700, www.maritimeaquarium.org.   Hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily. Closed Thanksgiving Day & Christmas Day. The only Aquarium focused on Long Island Sound presents sharks, seals, river otters, sea turtles, jellies and more than 100 other species from Long Island Sound and its watershed, as well as two touch tanks, a “Go Fish!” exhibit focusing on the cultural aspects of fishing on the Sound, a not-behind-the-scenes Marine Lab, and an Ocean Playspace for toddlers. Harbor seal feedings at 11:45 a.m. and 1:45 & 3:45 p.m. daily.  Plus, Connecticut’s largest IMAX movie theater and study cruises onto Long Island Sound.

The Art Gallery at the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum will present Reflections on the Titanic, a juried exhibition opening on April 26, 2012 (Reservations required).  Free Admission, Wed.-Sun. 12-4 p.m.

The Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum is a National Historic Landmark and regarded as one of the earliest and most significant surviving Second Empire Style country houses ever built in the United States. It predates by 20 years the Vanderbilt homes in New York and Newport, R.I., and has been the set for several Hollywood movies and TV shows including Stepford Wives and House of Dark Shadows.

During the season, full tours at the mansion are $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and $6 for children and young adults ages 8-18. Children under 8 are admitted free. Tour hours are 12- 4 p.m., Wed.-Sun. Tours are on the hour, and the last tour is at 3 pm. For information on educational programs, events and rentals, call 203-838-9799 or e-mail: info@lockwoodmathewsmansion.com